The Killer (1989) on Netflix
Ah Jong is a Triad hitman who wants to retire. A shootout leaves nightclub singer Jennie blind, and he takes one last contract to pay for surgery that could restore her sight.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.7/1056,247 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ah Jong works as a hitman for the Triads and intends his current assignment to be his last. A shootout with gangsters goes wrong and Jennie, a nightclub singer, is left blind, her eyes burned by a gun fired close to her face. For six months Ah Jong watches her perform without showing himself. After he steps in to stop a mugging, she asks him into her apartment and the two become close. Jennie's doctor then tells her that the sight she still has will go unless she receives a corneal transplant. To cover the cost, Ah Jong accepts a contract on a senior Triad boss. Detective Li Ying, demoted after a failed undercover operation, is hunting him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Killer (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While shooting Danny Lee's chase of a gunman onto a tram in Causeway Bay, the crew had only three hours, and residents who believed it was a real gunfight phoned the police; Lee talked to the superintendent so filming could continue.
- Producer Terence Chang said Tsui Hark believed John Woo had ruined A Better Tomorrow 2 and asked Chang to fire Woo from the studio; when Chang refused, Hark began rejecting Woo's ideas, including what became Bullet in the Head and Once a Thief.
- John Woo wanted Danny Lee to play Detective Li Ying, but Lee was under an exclusive contract with Cinema City and could only take the part if his own production company, Magnum, was involved.
- For the Dragon Boat festival chase, the plan was for the boats to flip over, but their owners refused because they thought it would bring bad luck; footage of the races and footage of the actors were shot months apart.
- The original ending had Jennie waiting at an airport for Li to bring her the money so they could travel to the United States; because of Sally Yeh's tight filming schedule it was never shot and was replaced with Ah Jong playing the harmonica.
- John Woo filled the church with doves and pigeons to represent the spirits of people; The Killer was the first of his films to use the dove symbolism he later repeated in Hard Target and Face/Off.
- Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon sampled dialogue from The Killer on his 1995 debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., and producer RZA used the film's Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee pairing as a model for the album's two rappers; Woo was honored and asked for no money.
- Quentin Tarantino added dialogue referencing The Killer to his Jackie Brown script that was not in the source novel; Robert Rodriguez paid stylistic homage in El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
