Every genius has to start somewhere. Not everything can be perfect, but it’s always interesting to take the time to track the evolution of someone you admire. In the early ’90s, I discovered films like the A Better Tomorrow series, The Killer and Hard-Boiled. These were films all from the mind of John Woo. At that time, there was nothing quite like them. Even today, the action ballet he unleashed on the screen elicits excitement and an energy rarely matched. Every genius has to start somewhere and for John Woo, it was in martial arts films. He directed The Hand of Death (1976) that starred a very young Jackie Chan and wuxia classic Last Hurrah for Chivalry. He dabbled with drama and comedy but with Chivalry, the themes of brotherhood, betrayal, and the sense of heroic bloodshed began to appear. With Heroes Shed No Tears, you really begin to see a style begin to emerge. It’s not quite as emotional as something like Bullet in the Head but the themes he’s most known for begin to move to the forefront. Film Movement Classics has brought a beautifully mastered 2K Digital Restoration to Blu-ray, and it’s a must have.
Chan Chung (Eddy Ko) is the head of a group of Chinese mercenaries who are recruited by the Thai government to locate and take into custody General Samton. He’s a vicious drug lord with a huge force of men on his side, ready to do whatever they have to to get him back. To make matters worse, there’s a Thai colonel (Lam Ching Ying) who wants nothing more than for them to fail. He has his own group of men he sends after the mercenaries as well. The only way to safety is for them to make a run for the Thai border. Is it possible that a small group of under-equipped men can make a stand against a heavily armed horde coming at them from every direction? The odds are against them, but Chan Chung isn’t the type of man to lay down and surrender.
John Woo’s first real breakout film was the superb action epic A Better Tomorrow. In the wake of its success, his (at that time) unreleased film Heroes Shed No Tears made it to the screen. While not nearly as polished as Tomorrow, it basically set the stage for what was to come. You see where he’s heading and an almost experimental approach to action that he would later refine. It can be a bit crude at times, but it’s great to see a filmmaker basically practicing his craft in order to be the best. Heroes does suffer from several problems. While the insanity and graphic nature of the action is the saving grace, other scenes seem out of place, such as sex scenes that just never seemed to belong. They always rubbed me the wrong way. While reading the essay by Grady Hendrix that’s included, he reveals that those scenes, along with several others, were shot by someone else after Woo had turned the film in to the studio, Golden Harvest. This made a world of sense to me and it’s something I think I may have known already, but had forgotten about.
Woo tried to blend action with a deep emotional core, which would later become a trademark of his style, but ultimately it feels really campy here. The delicate balance needed to buy into it wasn’t really improved upon until films like A Bullet in the Head and The Killer. We know he would later make things work, so it’s interesting to see the actual process in his evolution begin.
Heroes Shed No Tears isn’t what I would call one of the must-see classics from the John Woo library, but for hardcore fans seeing his journey begin and how he would later evolve into one of the most innovative directors of his generation is well-worth your time if you’ve never seen it before. If you have, then you already know what I’m talking about will have already picked up this fantastic presentation by Film Movement.
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