John Woo where are you?

[jimjimmyjones85]

I am trying to curate a collection of John Woo's early non-Hollywood works but I cannot seem to be able to find them on blu-ray much less 4K.

Some that come to mind are:

• The Hand of Death
• Last Hurrah for Chivalry
• A Better Tomorrow
• A Better Tomorrow II
• The Killer
• Just Heroes
• Bullet in the Head
• Once a Thief
• Hard Boiled
• Heroes Shed No Tears

Any help or direction is appreciated.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Tangled rights issues. The big ones especially are so wrapped up in red tape.

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by jimjimmyjones85

I am trying to curate a collection of John Woo's early non-Hollywood works but I cannot seem to be able to find them on blu-ray much less 4K.

Some that come to mind are:

• The Hand of Death
• Last Hurrah for Chivalry
• A Better Tomorrow
• A Better Tomorrow II
• The Killer
• Just Heroes
• Bullet in the Head
• Once a Thief
• Hard Boiled

Any help or direction is appreciated.

Every title in your list has had a blu-ray release in either HK, The UK, Korea, or The US. Ebay is likely your best bet to find most of them.

[flansered]

Last Hurrah for Chivalry is getting a release from Criterion in March, which will hopefully be the start of more rereleases of John Woo's films.

[benricci]

These are all on blu-ray already, and Last Hurrah for Chivalry gets a new re-issue next month from Criterion.

You might need to hit up eBay or some foreign retailers, but I can personally attest that every title listed has a Region-free or Region-A blu-ray release somewhere. I've got all of them in my collection.

Hit up Johnny at https://www.dddhouse.com if you need some assistance with any HK releases.

[filmlover22]

My understanding is that all the major titles all that is available is poorly upscale SD on bluray. I am not aware of one good hd transfer of hard boiled, killer, etc.

[DukeTogo84]

I believe A Better Tomorrow I and II are with Mei Ah and Vinegar Syndrome recently got a deal with them, so there is hope for those maybe? I remember when the Kino Insider said someone picked up The Killer and Hard Boiled, but it's looking like that may not be the case as other labels have said they tried, but the asking price is simply too high.

[Grethiwha]

Hand of Death and Last Hurrah for Chivalry were released as a double feature in new 2K restorations by Eureka a couple years ago in the UK, and Criterion has since picked up Last Hurrah for Chivalry (not Hand of Death) for a US/Region A release.

The Killer and Hard Boiled have US releases from 2010 but they are dated upscales and we have all been waiting a long time for these films to get new releases.
The rest of the films on your list have English-friendly Region-A releases you can import from Hong Kong, but probably also not great quality.

The only other early John Woo movie (not on your list) which has a good (recent 2K-restored) release in the West is Heroes Shed No Tears which is available from 88 films in the UK and Film Movement in the US.

[fred25_Ca]

With Hard target released last year on 4k and Face off coming to 4k sometime this year and Last Hurrah being released by Criterion, it's actually a pretty good time to be a Woo fan. Could it be better? Hell yeah but i'll take what we can right now. I still have my old dragon dynasty blu ray of Hardboiled and The killer, so I guess i'm less in a hurry than others haha.

[DukeTogo84]

I would be ok with the Dragon Dynasty of Hard Boiled if it didn't have a damn brown bar on the bottom of the screen! I really wonder how that happened as I've never seen anything like that on any DVD or Blu-ray in my entire life. I'm not sure how they could mess that up.

[peruguy]

I for one am badly wanting a 4K upscale for WINDTALKERS.
When I saw that FACE OFF got the green light I was like "Sit tight,just a matter of time"
Fingers crossed.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

My understanding is that all the major titles all that is available is poorly upscale SD on bluray. I am not aware of one good hd transfer of hard boiled, killer, etc.

Didn't A Better Tomorrow get a 4K Remaster?

[Burt Lancaster]

The Killer from Dragon Dynasty is one of the worst-looking blurays of all-time.

[drush9999]

I have the Scooby Doo music playing in my head thanks to the thread title. "Johnny Johnny Woo, where are you?"

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

Tangled rights issues. The big ones especially are so wrapped up in red tape.

In addition to a relative lack of interest compared to what there was decades ago, but the rights issues have played a definite role in that.

Woo's classic films have been treated poorly in the DVD and Blu era. It's a real shame.

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by drush9999

I have the Scooby Doo music playing in my head thanks to the thread title. "Johnny Johnny Woo, where are you?"

Johnny, Johnny Woo, where are you?
We've got some Blus we need now.
Johnny, Johnny Woo, where are you?
We need some help from you now.

[thebrid]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

Didn't A Better Tomorrow get a 4K Remaster?

You're absolutely right - it's out on Blu Ray in Hong Kong with decent quality video, English subtitles, though missing the original audio (has a 7.1 remix):



Screen caps on caps-a-holic.

There's supposed to be an actual 4K Blu Ray out in Japan but it's not English-friendly so I've not got it:

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by Burt Lancaster

The Killer from Dragon Dynasty is one of the worst-looking blurays of all-time.

That was I was thinking of. Killer and Hard Boiled are my 2 most wanted, and I am not aware of any decent HD versions of those.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by thebrid

There's supposed to be an actual 4K Blu Ray out in Japan but it's not English-friendly so I've not got it:

Ah, dang. Did not know about it getting a 4K release at all. Shame no English subtitles though.

[DukeTogo84]

That Better Tomorrow 4K looks pretty good! I'm hoping we get that from VS as they have a deal with Mei Ah now.