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When Woo's Christian parents were faced with persecution, his family fled to Hong Kong when he was five years old. During this time, the Woo family led a hard life in the slums since his father had tuberculosis and could not work. In 1953, the family was made homeless when their house was burned to the ground in a brush fire. It was only thanks to donations from Christian charities that his family were able to move into another house. Unfortunately, by this time, a wave of crime and violence was beginning to infest Hong Kong's housing projects. One of Woo's most vivid childhood memories was of seeing a man being killed on his front steps.
In order to escape his dismal surroundings, Woo would retreat to the local movie theater. It was through musicals like The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical fantasy film based on L. Frank Baum's turn-of-the-century children's story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in which a resourceful American girl is snatched up by a Kansas tornado and deposited in a fantastic land of witches, —a film that still stands as his all-time favorite—that the young Woo came to realize that the world was not just filled with violence and suffering; it could be beautiful and happy as well.
Woo has been married to Annie Woo Ngau Chun-lung since 1976 and they have three children. He plans to stay in the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in.
In 1969For other uses, see Number 1969. For the movie, see 1969 (movie). Events January January 1 Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World January 5 The Derry Riots leave over 100 people i, when he was 23, Woo got a job as a script supervisor at Cathay Studios . In 19711971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). Events January January 1 British divorce Reform Act comes into force January 2 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster. Janua, he became an assistant director at Shaw Studios, where the famous Chang ChehChang Cheh film director. The "Father of New Gongfu Film". took him under his wing. In 1974See also 1973 in film 1974 1975 in film 1970s in film years in film film Events February 7 Blazing Saddles is released in USA May 1 George Lucas creates the first draft of what would eventually become Star Wars''. August 7 Peter Wolf, lead singer of the J he directed his first feature film The Young Dragons (Tie han rou qing). Choreographed by Jackie ChanJackie Chan born Chan Kong-sang (; Gwohngdongwa pengyam: Can4 Gohng2 Sang1; Jyutping: can4 gong2 sang1; Pinyin: Chen Gngsheng, WG: Ch'en Kung-shang) (born April 7, 1954), Chinese screen name Sing Lung (; Gwohngdongwa pengyam: Seng4 Long4; yp Sing4 Lung4;, it was a Kung fu action film that featured dynamic camera-work and elaborate action scenes. The film was picked up by Golden Harvest Studio where he went on to direct more martial arts films. He later had success as a comedy director with Money Crazy (Fa qian han) ( 1977), starring Hong Kong comedian Ricky Hui .
By the mid- 1980s, Woo suffered a burnout. His films were failures at the box office and he retreated to Taiwan in exile. John Woo— once called the new comedy king of Hong Kong— seemed to be on the way out. It was then that director/producer Tsui Hark provided the funding for Woo to film a longtime pet project called A Better Tomorrow ( 1986). The story of two brothers— one a cop, the other a criminal— the film became a sensational blockbuster. A Better Tomorrow singularly redefined Hong Kong action cinema with its emotional drama, slow-motion gun-battles and gritty atmosphere. The film's trenchcoat/sunglasses fashion sense, and combat style of using a gun in each hand in close quarters— often referred to as ' Gun fu'— would later be imitated by Hollywood filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski brothers.
Together with leading man Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo would make several more Heroic Bloodshed films in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His violent gangster thrillers typically focused on men who were steadfast in their honor and friendship, even though such values forced them to become outcasts in a rapidly-changing world that was more concerned with money and progress. In this respect, Woo's characters were modern-day knights who used guns instead of swords.
The most famous of these movies would be The Killer (Die xue shuang xiong) ( 1989), which brought Woo international recognition. Often called the best Hong Kong movie ever made, it was widely praised by critics and fans for its action sequences, acting and cinematography, and often referred to as "the perfect action film." With The Killer becoming the first Asian film since Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon to be released in the United States, John Woo became a cult favorite.
It was only a matter of time before Hollywood took notice. By this time, John Woo had many American admirers, including the likes of Martin Scorsese, and Sam Raimi - who compared Woo's mastery of action to Hitchcock's mastery of suspense. Enormously impressed with his work, American executives green-lighted a contract for Woo to work in America. With the 1997 handover of Hong Kong fast approaching, Woo decided that it was indeed time to leave.
John Woo's last Hong Kong film was Hard-Boiled ( 1992). It featured a Hollywood-scale spectacle in its second half with policemen and criminals waging war inside a hospital - while helpless patients are caught in the crossfire. The film climaxes with supercop Chow Yun-Fat singing a lullaby to a baby while gunning down incoming gangsters.
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