Hard Boiled (1992)

This film is said to be the precursor to the popular 2007 video game Stranglehold

Summary

-A tough as nails cop and undercover police officer team up to take down a mobster and his crew importing weapons into Hong Kong

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Inspector 'Tequila' Yuen

-Tony Leung Chiu-wai: Alan

-Teresa Mo: Teresa Chang

-Philip Chan: Superintendent Pang

-Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok: Mad Dog

-Anthony Chau-Sang Wong: Johnny Wong

-Hoi-San Kwan: Uncle Hoi

-Wei Tung: Foxy

-Bowie Lam: Benny Mak

Did You Know?

-In the scene where Tequila is running down the hall with the baby in his arms and the hall exploding in the hospital, director John Woo was not happy with the first take. He made sure the second take had the explosions far closer than Chow Yun-fat was expecting. Chow said "He really was running for his life". He was professional enough to ask how it looked after it was done, but he turned around and said a swear word

-The teahouse where the first scene was filmed was demolished five days after John Woo had filmed in it. When filming was in progress, neighbors called the police every night to complain about the noise, but since the police were fans of Woo, they allowed him to continue each night

-John Woo was known for making movies that glamorized gangsters. In this film, he turned it around and glamorized police

-Many of the characteristics Tequila shows in this film are based on a real police officer John Woo interviewed for the film, such as playing the clarinet in a jazz band. Tequila's love of jazz is taken from John Woo himself

-The more than 200 guns used in this film were real. Hong Kong has very strict laws regarding guns, and they had to be imported from England and inspected by the Hong Kong police prior to being used on set. The production crew also had to import a massive quantity of blank ammunition. It was said that over 100,000 rounds of blank ammunition were used in the film

-Philip Chan, who played Superintendent Pang, was, in real life, a Hong Kong police commander who actually did supervise undercover officers

-The scenes in the hospital took 40 days to shoot

-This was the final Hong Kong film that John Woo made before moving to Hollywood. He was being courted by people in Hollywood, and he wanted to make films that would be popular in his home country and a passport to Hollywood

-There was a sequel to this movie released in 2007. It was in the form of a video game called Stranglehold, with Chow Yun-fat and John Woo performing their roles

-Originally, John Woo wanted a jazz soundtrack for the 1989 film The Killer, but was overruled by producer Hark Tsui. He got his jazz soundtrack in this film

-While filming the warehouse scene, John Woo learned that the film's writer, Barry Wong, had passed away. "He was a true talent which I really admired." he said

-Despite John Woo telling the cast that the film would be grittier and less stylish than his previous films, it changed as filming proceeded

-The role of Inspector Tequila is based on "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) from the Dirty Harry series and Lt. Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) from the 1968 film Bullitt. Like Inspector Tequila, these men were "all guts, no glory" action heroes. Both of these fictional police officers were based on SFPD detective Dave Toschi, who was the lead investigator in the "Zodiac" case

-Script problems caused production to stop for one month. John Woo was having issues with Tony Leung Chiu-wai's character. He wanted to show how far Hong Kong society had fallen, with Leung's character being a psychotic villain who was based on a real life person who had poisoned baby formula. Despite Leung willing to do the role, Chow Yun-fat felt bad about this, as he felt it would be bad for Leung's career. He urged Woo to change the script. Woo agreed, and asked his friend Barry Wong to edit the script. He died prior to finishing the script, so Woo completed the script during filming

-The lead character was named Tequila as a nod to the Sam Peckinpah film The Wild Bunch. This film served as inspiration in many ways, including William Holden's character drinking an entire bottle of tequila

-The statue that Tequila and other officers do respectful prayers at is Guan Yu, known as the God of War. He was a military general in the Eastern Han Dynasty who made a deity as early as the Sui Dynasty. He is still worshipped among the Chinese people to this day. He is a deity that exemplifies bravery, leadership, righteousness, protection and triumph. He is commonly worshipped by Chinese law enforcement agencies so that Guan Yu's blessings will protect them in life and at work. In Hong Kong, every police station has a shrine to Guan Yu

-While researching the film, John Woo interviewed real police officers, including one detective who was known for being extremely rough on criminals. "But in the meantime, he's a drummer", John Woo said. Woo put that in the movie, making a cop who works in a jazz club

City on Fire (1987)

This is one of Chow Yun-fat's earlier movies and, not surprisingly, it's in Chinese. If you watch, be prepared to read subtitles in English. It's overall a good movie. Certainly was not prepared to see Chow Yun-fat's bare backside, though

Summary

-An undercover officer looking to retire is drawn into one final case - investigating a gang of jewel thieves planning to rob a jewelry store

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Ko Chow

-Yueh Sun: Inspector Lau

-Danny Lee: Fu

-Carrie Ng: Hung

-Roy Cheung: Inspector John Chan

-Lau Kong: Inspector Chow

Did You Know?

-Quentin Tarantino used this film as the inspiration for his film Reservoir Dogs

-In the scene where Ko Chow escaped from the police by jumping from the second floor to the eave on the first floor of the building and then down to the ground, that was not done by a stuntman; it was actually done by Chow Yun-fat himself. A stuntman had done a practice of this before shooting while the director had set up tatami mats and safety boxes for protection to keep things safe. These safety measures were hidden using specific angles

-Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee appeared in another movie together. John Woo's 1989 film The Killer. Chow Yun-fat plays a hitman while Danny Lee plays a police officer

-In the scene where Ko Chow (Chow Yun-fat) is running along Nathan Road to escape the police, the scene was filmed when director Ringo Lam put the camera in a van and suggested Chow Yun-fat to follow the van driving along the road

The One (2001)

A sci-fi film starring Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham

Summary

-Set in a world of Multiverses, where everyone has a version of themselves, two Multiverse agents track down a rogue criminal killing alternate versions of himself, to become stronger. The only thing stopping him from becoming "The One" is a humble LASD office

Cast

-Jet Li: Gabe / Yulaw / Lawless

-Carla Gugino: T.K. / Massie Walsh

-Delroy: Roedecker / Attendant

-Jason Statham: Funsch

-James Morrison: Aldrich / A World Inmate #1

-Dylan Bruno: Yates

-Richard Steinmetz: D'Antoni

-Harriet Sansom Harris: Nurse Besson

Did You Know?

-In the scenes where Jet Li appeared to be fighting himself, this was done with a stuntman with a similar physical build to him. The stuntman's face was painted green with CGI dots so Jet Li's face could digitally replace it later

-Jet Li uses two particular styles of kung fu here. For Yulaw, the "evil" one, he uses what is called Xingyi Quan, or "Mind-Form-Fist". It's seen as a very linear style meant for offense. Gabe is seen using what is called Bagua Zhang, or "Eight Trigrams Palm". This is known for open palm fighting, with circular footwork. Both styles are considered two of the three main styles of Chinese kung fu, with the third being Taiji Quan (Tai Chi)

-The 2001 TV program Scrubs is filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center - the same "University Medical Center" featured in this movie, where Gabe is going to get his MRI 

-In the film's initial shootout, the guns used by the LAPD in the Anubis Universe were M4A1 carbine assault rifles equipped with an M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. At the time, the M26 was a relatively new experimental shotgun being developed by the United States Army by C-More Systems. It was not available to the public. These were prototype weapons being used and were loaned to the film set by the C-More Systems company. It was done under a promotional agreement that required them to be returned to the company after production was completed

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was initially supposed to have the main role, but he had made plans to star as The Scorpion King in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns. At the time, this film was listed as Untitled Sci-Fi Project. When Jet Li came in, it was retitled The One

-When Yulaw is driving around in a car he had stolen, he is fiddling with the radio, trying to find music. The 4th song he comes to is "Sinner" by Drowning Pool. When the film was released in Asia, it was changed to Linkin Park's "Forgotten"

-Jason Statham and Jet Li would appear together once again in films such as 2007's War, 2010's The Expendables, 2012's The Expendables 2 and 2014's The Expendables 3. Jet Li would play a character called Yin Yang

-Both Jet Li and Carlo Gugino had movies come out the same year before signing on to do this one. Carla Gugino starred in Spy Kids while Jet Li starred in Kiss of the Dragon

-When Delroy Lindo's gas station attendant character calls the police, after reporting violence, he describes the appearance of one of them as "a Chinese man". All he would know is that the person in question was of eastern Asian appearance. The attendant was trying to guess whether the man was Chinese or Japanese and assuming that he was Chinese, as the larger population instead of a general description

The Corruptor (1999)

This is one of my favorite films

Summary

-An Asian NYPD detective is trying to stop drug trafficking and corruption by immigrant Chinese Triads with the help of his partner, but things get difficult when the Triads attempt to bribe the policemen off the case

Cast

-Chow Yun-fat: Nick Chen

-Mark Wahlberg: Danny Wallace

-Ric Young: Henry Lee

-Paul Ben-Victor: Schabaker

-Jon Kit Lee: Jack

-Andrew Pang: Willy Ung

-Elizabeth Lindsey: Louise Deng

-Brian Cox: Sean Wallace

-Byron Mann: Bobby Vu

-Kim Chan: Benny Wong

-Marie Matiko: May

Did You Know?

-Kim Chan plays a character named "Uncle" Benny Wong in two films: this film and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

-Originally, in the scene where Det. Nick Chen (Chow Yun-fat) walked in on Henry Lee being fed grapes by May, the scene called for May to be performing oral sex on him. Chow Yun-fat stated he would not continue his relationship with May after seeing this. The scene was changed to a more friendly scene of grape feeding instead

-Originally Ethan Hawke was supposed to play the role of Danny Wallace, played by Mark Wahlberg. Unfortunately, production had ended to accommodate Chow Yun-fat's production schedule

-Initially, in the scene where Det. Nick Chen finds out Danny Wallace is working with Internal Affairs investigating him, the scene called for Chen to go into the bathroom and knock a hand dryer off the wall and smash a mirror. It was changed to Chen doing a sort of deep breathing instead because the previous idea was deemed an American response and, since Chinese culture is so heavily present in the film, deep breathing was more appropriate

Javier Bardem

This Spanish-born actor can seemingly do any role perfectly

Birth Name: Javier Angel Encinas Bardem

DOB: 3/1/1969

Where: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

Trademark

-His deep voice

Trivia

-He brought his mother Pilar to the Oscars and dedicated his Oscar, which he won for the film No Country for Old Men, to her

-He married actress Penelope Cruz in a private ceremony at a friend's house with just family present

-His original interest was in painting. He studied at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Madrid. When he decided he would never be a talented painter, he worked a number of odd jobs, including bouncer, writer, construction worker and even a stripper

-He and Penelope Cruz became a couple while working on the 2008 film Vicky Christina Barcelona

-He is sometimes confused for actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan because they both so closely resemble each other

Filmography

Numbered Days (1994)

-Lisardo

Ecstasy (1996)

-Rober

Second Skin (1999)

-Diego

The Dancer Upstairs (2002)

-Rejas

Collateral (2004)

Felix

Goya's Ghosts (2006)

-Lorenzo

No Country for Old Men (2007)

-Anton Chigurh

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)

-Florentino Ariza

Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)

-Juan Antonio

Eat Pray Love (2010)

-Felipe

Skyfall (2012)

-Silva

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

-Captain Salazar

Thy Kingdom Come (2018)

-Father Quintana

Dune: Part One (2021)

-Stilgar

Being the Ricardos (2021)

-Desi Arnaz

The Little Mermaid (2023)

-King Triton

Dune: Part Two (2024)

-Stilgar

F1: The Movie (2025)

-Ruben Cervantes

15 Artists Worthy of Doing the Next James Bond Theme

James Bond is one of the most iconic film characters in the world. Each film has a unique theme to it, usually being the name of the movie. But, in years past, the films have had opening themes that are not always named after the film, for example "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell for the 2006 film Casino Royale. But, even if the song is the same as the film, it's still a pretty good opening theme. Ultimate Classic Rock has compiled a list of artists who could possibly pull off a successful James Bond theme

-Some of the artists who have written themes for the 007 series include:

• Paul McCartney: Live and Let Die
• A-Ha: The Living Daylights
• Duran Duran: A View to a Kill
• Madonna: Die Another Day
• Adele: Skyfall
• Chris Cornell: You Know My Name (Casino Royale)
• Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better
• Tina Turner: Goldeneye, License to Kill
• Jack White: Another Way to Die

It's a major honor for sure. In 1973, a former executive for The Beatles' Apple Records named Ron Kass approached Paul McCartney. He was working with Harry Saltzman, who co-produced the first 9 James Bond films. Kass suggested to McCartney the idea of writing the theme for the 1974 film Live and Let Die, which would be the first film to feature Roger Moore as the title role of 007. McCartney played it cool, writing in his book The Lyrics: 1965 to the Present "Writing a Bond song is a bit of an accolade. And I always had a sneaking ambition to do it. I said 'Yeah, I'd probably be interested.'...trying not to seem too enthusiastic."

At the time of the writing of this article, there are approximately 25 films officially in the 007 series. 27 if you consider the two films not made by EON, which is the primary production company making the James Bond films. Director Dennis Villeneuve is said to direct the next outing for 007, though it's not clear who the role will go to, when the movie will be released or who will write the theme song

Oasis. Or at least Noel Gallager

-December 2025 seen a fan asking Liam Gallagher on social media about the rumors of Oasis being asked to write the next Bond theme song. His reply was as follows: "It's happening you wait till you hear it it's the best BOND tune ever." Oasis fans tend to take his words with a bit of skepticism. the following month, his brother / bandmate Noel cleared the rumors, stating there had been no contact with any of the film's producers, but he did state that if there were any offers, he would accept an offer "in a heartbeat" if it were presented. He told TalkSports "I think those kinds of things should be done by Brits not Yanks."

Bob Dylan

-Certainly an unusual choice. Maybe not. His songs "Man in a Long Black Coat" and "Murder Most Foul" have an aura of mystery about them. That would certainly apply to the Bond theme, lending an air of mystery about the film. He's not a stranger at all to making film references in his music. He's very well versed in film history. In his 2022 book The Philosophy of Modern Song, "People will tell you that they don't watch old movies for a bunch of reasons, because they are in black and white or maybe there's a two-minute sequence that changing times have rendered politically incorrect. These people lack imagination and are fine throwing out the baby with the bathwater."

Nick Cave

-His theatrical style is dark, gloomy and dramatic, making you feel like you're watching Phantom of the Opera more than rock music. But, at least one thing going for him is that he does have prior acting experience. His style of music would actually make a pretty good Bond theme. It's said he could even play Bond himself. His music is intense, emotionally, at times, and he does write songs centering on revenge, death, violence and evil, all topics that seem to pop up in the 007 films

Radiohead

-This band did actually do a Bond song. In 2015, they wrote and recorded a song called "Spectre", which was intended for use on the film of the same name. This song and "Man of War" were rejected, using Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" instead. "Spectre" and "Man of War" were released by Radiohead on their own, but many feel they need a second shot at writing a Bond theme

Tears for Fears

-Curt Smith of the band has some experience writing film scores. He wrote the music for Meth Head, a film that came out in 2011 and Gravy, a film that came out in 2015. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a possible consideration for a Bond song

St. Vincent

-This singer is known for moody, emotional music that practically advertises itself as perfect for 007. During a 2024 interview for Rolling Stone UK, she jokingly said her song "Violent Times" give a mysterious Bond vibe. "It was not intentional when I was writing the song whatsoever, but I have noticed that and, yeah, I totally hear it." She stated that if producers came to her to ask for a theme song, she would not object at all. "H--- yeah! I love those movies. Can we just put "Violent Times" in there as the song? Stick it straight in, because if [Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is] reading this it'll save me a h--- of a lot of work."

Elton John

-He's a legend in British music. His voice is filled with emotion on many of his slower songs and it's absolutely gorgeous. Elton John seems like the type who would already have a Bond theme associated with his name, but sadly, this is not the case. He certainly does have his two cents on what would make a good theme. In 2002, during an interview with Sky Sports, he described the theme Madonna sang, "Die Another Day" as "the worst Bond tune ever," despite being a fan of her music. "It hasn't got a tune. James Bond themes are usually very camp and this one's different...They should have gone for somebody like Lulu and Shirley Bassey, or maybe I'm in that league?"

The Killers

-Rumors were a plenty in 2006 that The Killers were being considered as the artists to compose the next Bond theme. The Sun found out from an anonymous source "The Killers have reached the perfect point in their career to do a Bond track. They have the right sound, right look and a huge fanbase, making them the perfect choice." Obviously it has not come to completion, but there's always a chance for them

Alanis Morissette

-There are plenty of women who have composed a James Bond song, including Carly Simon, Shirley Bassey, Nancy Sinatra, Gladys Knight, Madonna, Adele Rita Coolidge, Tina Turner and others. Alanis Morissette would make an interesting addition to that list, with his multi-octave voice and adaptable singing voice

Johnny Marr

-It might be a bit far fetched to suggest him, but technically speaking, Johnny Marr already has his name attached to a Bond theme. On the soundtrack for the 2021 film No Time to Die, he played guitar on the title theme, which was performed by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell. It would be interesting if Marr wrote and even sang it

Chris Stapleton

-Some feel that James Bond and country music simply don't mix. Chris Stapleton is very far from average country music. He's more southern rock, pulling bits and pieces from blue and traditional rock and roll. His song "Cold" has been suggested as sounding like something from a Bond film

Queens of the Stone Age (or at least Josh Homme)

-Someone with a bit too much time on their hands decided to make a mashup of Adele's "Skyfall", the titular track from the 2015 Bond film of the same name and Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows". Together, both songs worked well. That should state they should have a fair chance of writing the next Bond theme. Or at least Josh Homme should have a say in writing it

Iron Maiden

-Certainly a metal Bond theme would be interesting and even incredibly awesome. Who better to do it than one of the biggest names in metal themselves? Iron Maiden. To put it in an alternative way, Iron Maiden is to metal what James Bond is to spy films. Plus, Iron Maiden does have extensive experience working with a full orchestra. Sounds like Iron Maiden deserves a chance

Patti Smith

-Patti Smith had never written a song for a movie up until 2014. That rule changed with "Mercy Is", which appeared in the film Noah. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Smith said "Well, I mean, if they want a song for a James Bond film, they wouldn't go to me, you know? They'll go to someone that, you know, has the touch on the public consciousness, who has a strong contemporary voice and I understand that. I really actually never have been sought after to write songs for a movie - but my songs have been in movies." I think she would write an interesting one

Annie Lennox

-She is another vocalist who had rumors swirling about her involvement with writing the next Bond theme. See the cover of Lennox's solo album Diva. She's wearing a headdress that was actually used in the 1983 film Octopussy. With her strong status as a British icon of music, her voice would make a great song for a Bond film