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Interesting trivia:
Many of the themes and elements of The Killer were taken from or inspired by other movies, which include:
- The beach shootout where Jeff saves the little girl is Woo's homage to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo.
- The "sunglasses gag" (where Jeff sees the reflection of his would-be killers in his sunglasses) was taken from Narazumo.
- The shootout that happens after Sydney's double-cross was inspired by Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver.
- Jennie's "vision" of Jeff behind a sea of blood is taken from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
- Another Kubrick film, Barry Lyndon, provided the inspiration for using candles for dramatic lighting.
- Jeff and Li are based on the protagonists from Chang Cheh's
- The opening shootout in a bar and rescuing of a singer were taken from Le Samourai. Much of Chow Yun-Fat's performance of Jeff is derived from Le Samourai's Alain Delon.
- The use of extreme close-ups and slow motion were inspired by Scorsese's Mean Streets.
- Jeff and Li's "Mexican standoff" in Jennie's apartment was inspired by Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Woo notes on the Fox Lorber DVD commentary that Mad magazine's "Spy vs. Spy" also played a part in constructing this scene.
- The Wild Bunch also provided the inspiration for Jeff and Li's "pep talk" to each other before they enter the last part of the church shootout.
- Using a church as the "entrance to Hell" (as Woo puts it on the Fox Lorber DVD commentary) or the place of the final confrontation between good and evil was inspired by the finale of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.
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| Die hard Chow Yun Fat fans may have heard of the longer version (or Taiwanese version) of this film which runs an astounding 25 minutes longer than the director's cut which is the version we sell. Woo is rumoured to dislike the pacing of the longer version, which was released before he'd edited to his satisfaction. There are a few minutes of extra dialogue in the scenes between John and Jennie when they first 'meet', after the punks have attacked her; between John and Sidney when they're talking by the road overlooking HK; and between John and Lee after the gunpowder surgery. In addition, the body count at the church is a little higher, and there's an extra sequence of Chow Yun Fat being injured. Overall most people seem to think the emotional impact and intensity are the same (a testament to the editing ability of Woo). Personally, I would have liked to see the extra scenes between Jeff and Jennie in the HK version. |
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