THE FILM THAT PROVIDED THE INSPIRATION FOR TARANTINO’S “RESERVOIR DOGS"
The original inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs", Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE is an explosive Hong Kong crime thriller that utilises the always dynamic pairing of Chow Yun Fat (Bulletproof Monk; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hard Boiled; The Killer; Tragic Hero; Rich And Famous) and Danny Lee (The Killer; Tragic Hero; Rich And Famous) to devastating effect.
Chow Yun Fat stars as Ko Chow, an undercover cop assigned to infiltrate a gang of ruthless jewel thieves after the officer originally in charge of the case is brutally murdered when his cover is blown. Haunted by his own honour-bound betrayal that led to the death of a criminal friend, Chow wants out of the force but agrees to one last job, after which he has promised to marry his long-suffering girlfriend, Huong (played by Carrie Ng, star of Naked Killer, Sex And Zen and Skinny Tiger And Fatty Dragon). As he gradually earns the respect of the gang members and their boss, Chow begins to develop a close friendship with one of the thieves, the charismatic Fu (Danny Lee), and is eventually trusted enough to take part in a carefully planned heist. But when the robbery goes horribly wrong, resulting in a bloody shoot-out with the police, suspicions are raised about who the traitor might be.
Following the “heroic bloodshed" themes of brotherhood, honour, loyalty and revenge, CITY ON FIRE is one of seminal examples of the genre - a hard-hitting thriller full of explosive gunplay, bone-crunching violence and incendiary action sequences.
The Special Collector’s Edition of CITY ON FIRE (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£16.99) by Hong Kong Legends on 25th April 2005.
Special Features include:
Digitally re-mastered and restored 16:9 anamorphic version (enhanced for widescreen TVs)
Dual language format (English dubbed and Cantonese with re-mastered English subtitles)
Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks
Exclusive feature-length audio-commentary by Hong Kong film expert, Bey Logan
“Portrait Of Anger" - an exclusive interview with acclaimed cinematographer, Andrew Lau
“The Long Arm Of The Law" - an exclusive interview with prolific star, Roy Cheung
Usually. Some of their older dvds are cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1 (Drunken Master, Legend of a Fighter…). Some are in mandarin instead of cantonese (Drunken Master…) and some are cut (Eastern Condors). Warriors Two had a new soundtrack with pop music added to background. But I believe they have learned their lesson as their new release for The Master had mono soundtrack included.
And yeah, City on Fire is a must buy. I waited years for HKL to release it and now it’s finally happening.
I’m not surprised they are using Tarantino on the marketing. But “I loved City On Fire…Its a great movie” quote kind of bothers me. There are at least a million movies that Tarantino loves and thinks are great…
Fortune Star will release City on Fire in august. I’m gonna wait for that release, and then make my decision on which release to get (HKL / FS / Universe).
This is the first time I read the storyline of city on fire. And damn, the storyline is almost exact as that of Reservoir Dogs. And the original Reservoir Dogs script also includes some of City on Fire’s storyline not included in the film. The only thing different is the names…
Reservoir Dogs and City on Fire are similar, and its obvious that Tarantino ripped it off. City on Fire is much more conventional than Reservoir Dogs with a build up to the heist, the heist, and then the violent stand off at the end - everything going in sequential order. Reservoir Dogs is so much better because Tarantino just drops you right into the middle of the fucking thing and lets you figure it out for yourself. Reservoir Dogs is basically the third act of City on Fire stretched out into a two hour movie, but so much better because of it.
Oh yeah he ripped it off and a lot of things. I’ve watched the movie a couple of nights ago. And I thought : did QT recognize it officially that he ripped it off ? Because there are so much similar things that it’s sometimes disturbing. Like Madonna speech, there is a Madonna poster in COF, and at the end the 3 characters tend their guns just like in RD, and Chow Yun Fat “begins to develop a close friendship with one of the thieves, the charismatic Fu (Danny Lee)”…
I mean, you’re right Puck, RD is like the 3rd act of COF but it’s still disturbing how QT ripped it off. At least, RD is much more original and that’s why I prefer it. COF is more conventional as you said it. But then because I saw COF, I can’t see QT works as before. I don’t know, why can’t he said it officially he ripped it off ? I mean, he’s such talent writer why did he need to copy some much details ?
Oh did you watch the movie ? I don’t believe Popart is rippin off either. And I didn’t consider Qt work was rippin off too ! BUT there are things which are just… ripped off ! And with no style. Otherwise for sure I love how QT refers to other movies, and love his style.
