| A Better Tomorrow 3: Love & Death in Saigon | |
|---|---|
 Film poster |
|
| Directed by | Tsui Hark |
| Produced by | Tsui Hark John Woo |
| Written by | Yiu Ming Leung Foo Ho Tai Tsui Hark (novel) |
| Starring | Chow Yun Fat |
| Music by | Lowell Lo |
| Cinematography | Wing-Hung Wong |
| Editing by | Marco Mak Tsui Hark David Wu |
| Distributed by | Golden Princess |
| Release date(s) | 1989 (Hong Kong) |
| Running time | 145 min. |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | English Vietnamese Cantonese |
| Preceded by | A Better Tomorrow 2 |
A Better Tomorrow 3: Love & Death in Saigon (traditional Chinese: 英雄本色3-夕陽之歌; pinyin: Yīngxióng běnsè sān – xīyáng zhī gē; Jyutping: Jing1hung4 bun2sik1 saam – zik6joeng4 zi1 go1) is a 1989 Hong Kong action film co-produced and directed by Tsui Hark. It is a loosely-based prequel to John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, though it was released after A Better Tomorrow 2.
The film was directed by Tsui Hark, the producer behind the first two films in the series. John Woo wrote a screenplay for a third installment, but he never got to direct it due to having had artistic differences with Tsui Hark during the filming of the second film. Instead, the original screenplay would later become Bullet in the Head. The two films have many parallels, most notably, both being set in the Vietnam War.
The film stars Chow Yun Fat, who reprises his role of Mark Gor from the first film, Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Anita Mui. Set during the Vietnam War, it sets up the story of how Mark became the character he was in the original film. The second part of the title Love & Death in Saigon (夕陽之歌 or Song of the Setting Sun in Chinese) is also the title song for this movie, sung by the late Anita Mui, who was also the leading lady in this third instalment.
Contents |
Mark heads to Saigon 1974 and hooks up with his cousin Mun (Tony Leung Ka-Fai). Together, he and Tony run into tough-as-nails gangster Anita Mui, who takes a shine to the two boys. She teaches Mark his gun moves and begins to fall for him, but he is oblivious. Meanwhile, Mun gets the idea that Anita fancies him. This love triangle creates most of the drama for a good two-thirds of the film before the darkness of their world crashes in on them. It seems Anita’s last lover was a gang boss, so he doesn’t take kindly to the idea of Mark romancing his former flame. Even worse, the VC are taking Saigon, so it isn’t the best time to be hanging around Vietnam.
The film grossed HK$18,476,116 at the Hong Kong box office.
The Taiwan version runs 145 minutes long which is the complete uncut version. The Hong Kong version runs only 114 minutes long despite saying 130 minutes on the cover. On a special 2004 DVD release, there's a few minutes of scenes that were deleted from the Hong Kong version as a separate feature. A Chinese Out of print DVD dubbed from Taiwan (but actually published in China) runs 130 minutes long which is the extended version which is shorter compared to the Taiwanese Out of print 145 minute VCD. A Taiwan Long Shong VHS dubbed in Taiwan (and distributed from Taiwan) contains an alternate scene where Anita kisses Tony Leung's hand which is also shorter than the 145 minute Taiwan VCD.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Search
