A Better Tomorrow (Chinese: 英雄本色; Mandarin Pinyin: Yīngxióng běnsè) is a 1986 Hong Kong action film directed by John Woo and starring Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung. The film had a profound influence on the Hong Kong film-making industry, and later on an international scale. Although it was produced with a tight budget and was relatively unknown until it went on screen (due to virtually no advertising), it broke Hong Kong's box office record and went on to become a blockbuster in Asian countries. It is highly regarded, ranking at #2 of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures.
This story is the tale of two brothers: A reforming ex-gangster (elder brother Sung Tse-Ho) tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother (younger sibling Sung Tse-Kit played by Leslie Cheung), but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break. Along the way are plenty of heists, double-crosses, and shoot outs.
Chow Yun-fat played Mark 'Gor' Lee, a high-ranking member of the counterfeiting group, who was the best friend and partner in crime of Sung Tse-Ho (Ti Lung). Now from ZCWO and Iminime will come this 1/6th scale "A Better Tomorrow" Mark 12-inch Figure with an amazing head sculpt of Chow Yun-fat as Mark Lee (NOT the Singaporean actor)
Scroll down for pictures :) This will blow your mind if you are a fan of Chow Yun-fat and the movies he has made. He was already big in Asia before he headed over to Hollywood and America.
He's certainly held in high esteem by his fans here in Asia and even though Mr Chow Yun-fat don't make a lot of films nowadays, he's still extremely popular and well respected for what he has done.
Historically, the use of two guns at once, one in each hand (dual wielding), is most associated with the American Old West, where revolvers holding only six rounds of ammunition were the highest capacity handguns available and reloading was a slow process. Use of two guns was therefore a reasonable compromise, as this allowed one gun to be cocked as the other is being fired, in practical terms doubling the rate of fire and the available number of bullets.
It is unknown when dual wielding was first used in fiction, but it was likely from early western novels before spilling over into other works. In the early 20th century, numerous examples abound of heroes and heroines of pulp novels, paperbacks and comics depicted wielding two pistols, most notably the pulp hero, the Shadow.
It is unknown when the style came out of fashion until being resurrected by Hong Kong cinema, notably movies directed by John Woo and often featuring Chow Yun Fat.
The use of this tactic was initially a rarity in Western films, as up till then it was thought to look cumbersome. The use of dual wield became more acceptable and achieved somewhat of a cult status after much influence from Hong Kong action cinema
Close-up picture of the weapons and accessories that will come with this ZCWO & Iminime: 1/6th scale "A Better Tomorrow" Mark Lee 12-inch Figure. I'm liking this a LOT :)
I like the back drop in the last picture.does it come with that @lex.remines me of a xbox video game with a very close look alike to the main player.(forgot the name)
ReplyDeleteLooks like it Shuan :) The same setup was seen at the recent 2012 Singapore Toy Game & Comic Convention (STGCC 2012 from September 1 & 2). See my post here http://toyhaven.blogspot.sg/2012/09/other-action-figures-seen-stgcc-2012.html
ReplyDeleteStranglehold was the game here is a cover picture.going to get this to make him i think.
Deletehttp://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&tab=wi&q=xbox%20360%20stranglehold&sa=N&biw=320&bih=508#i=96
Wow! I'm a huge fan of Chow, so I hope I can purchase on of these. Fell privileged to have met him after a screening of "Hard Boiled" in NYC.
ReplyDeleteWhat a privilege Winston :) hope you can score this figure too
ReplyDeleteNicely made. I personally like Iminime Jim Gordon and Ras which I think are one of their best work.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that I once watched this movie when I was a child. Well, I cannot remember it clearly! Anyway,I have great interest in Runfa Zhou. He is so cool in many Hong Kong movies!
ReplyDeleteWhere can I order one?
ReplyDeleteJamie, you can try TFH - http://www.tfh.com.sg/product_details.php?prod_id=4460
ReplyDelete