Rich and Famous - Tragic Hero

This epic, two-film Triad crime saga from 1987 is not only ultra-violent (as you might expect it to be) but also cleverly constructed – charting the tale of two ‘brothers’ who become sworn enemies when they are caught up in a merciless war between rival syndicates. Hong Kong film director Taylor Wong although clearly influenced by American crime thrillers such as ‘The Godfather’ trilogy, and his scriptwriters attach their own unique note.

The first film, RICH AND FAMOUS, begins with a brief historical prologue scene in which the viewer is informed that between 1949 and 1953, two million refugees fled from Hong Kong to mainland China – leading to an exceptional growth in Hong Kong’s population. Therefore, by the end of 1953, both Hong Kong and China agreed to a blockade which ended Chinese citizens’ freedom to cross the border. Among the refugees are little Tang Kar-Yung, his sister Wai-Chiu and their father Kwan (Chun Yang) – plus Lam Ting-Kwok, the orphaned boy of a deceased family friend who Kwan adopts as his own son. Fast forward to 1969 and ‘brothers’ Yung and Kwok seem inseparable, although the family has fallen on hard times: father Kwan is ill due to an injury sustained at work and his ne’er do well son Yung (Alex Man), a passionate gambler, has racked up huge debts. When he gets caught forging a ticket in a gambling hall, Kwok (Andy Lau) comes to his aid and an almighty fight breaks out – it’s the latter who saves Yung from getting his finger cut off for cheating. Back home, we learn that Yung’s sister Wai-Chiu (Pauline Wong) is working as a call girl to help make ends meet – one of her acquaintances is Lee Ah-chai (Chow Yun-fat), a powerful gangster with serious influence. After a failed attempt by the two brothers to steal a shipment of gold from a local crime boss, Wai-Chiu ends up getting badly stabbed and Kwok, who is made an example of, gets kidnapped. It’s thanks to Wai-Chiu asking rival boss Ah-chai for help that Kwok is freed… and Ah-chai also settles the debts of Yung and his family. Four years later and both Yung and Kwok are now in the employ of Ah-chai’s mighty gang, whilst Wai-Chiu is no longer working as a call girl but is now Ah-chai’s well looked after housekeeper.

Things soon turn sour when news begins to circulate that Ah-chai is hiding his seriously ill friend Fan, who has fallen foul of some Thai drug lords and as a result, there are no further shipments to Hong Kong. Suffice to say that this annoys several Hong Kong gangs, as they now have no drugs to peddle and are losing income on an epic scale. They demand that Ah-chai hand over Fan or better still, kill him – something which he refuses to do on grounds that he wishes to remain loyal to his old friend Fan. Yung, always a bit of a rotten egg and hot-tempered, sees his chance of climbing up in Hong Kong’s underworld and secretly joins forces with rival gang leader Chu Lo-tai (Ko Chun-hsiung), who pays Yung to bump off Fan. After the deed is done, Ah-chai confronts Yung and orders his personal henchman ‘Number 6’ (Shing Fui-On) to bump off Yung and it’s only thanks to Kwok’s interference that his life is spared. However, the incident has caused a rift between the ‘brothers’ and Ah-chai wants nothing to do with them anymore. Having fallen from grace yet again, Kwok has a colossal argument with Yung over his killing of Fan. Incensed, Yung hatches plans to have Kwok killed by his now boss Lo-tai but Kwok manages to hide in his cousin Mak’s (Alan Tam) pad. Time passes and new events happen, for example, Ah-chai falls in love with a nurse called Po-yee (Carina Lau) who he met while Fan was being looked after in hospital. He also reconciles with Kwok and Mak (not with Yung, though) and invites them to his wedding… and what a wedding it turns out to be, albeit for all the wrong reasons: disgruntled over the fact that his ‘brother’ Kwok and Mak have been accepted again into Ah-chai’s circle, Yung and his men ambush Ah-chai just as he and his newly-wed bride step out of the church. What follows is an unbelievable blood bath and a no holds barred car chase which leaves Mak dead, Po-yee severely wounded and the rift between Kwok and Yung bigger than ever. When Yung is caught by the police, we know this is only the beginning of yet more bloodshed…

In TRAGIC HERO, we’re now in the 1980’s and Yung, free again, has progressed to the status of a ruthless gangster while Kwok has looked the other way and - fed up with a life of crime after the ‘blood wedding’ - is now running an orphanage and a restaurant on the island of Malacca, together with his Malayan wife – much to the delight of father Kwan, who comes to visit them. On the crime front, Ah-chai is now in cahoots with Lo-tai although he too has mellowed considerably since the birth of his son. Wai-Chiu is still working at the household although it becomes evident that she harbours feelings for her employer. Not content with being an influential gangster in his own right, the ever greedy and increasingly psychotic Yung now wants to have the complete upper hand and Lo-tai out of the way. Although Ah-chai has warned his business partner that Yung is most likely to kill him, Lo-tai thinks that even Yung would not go that far. Wrong thinking, because during a New Years dinner party, Yung kills Lo-tai with a champagne bottle and announces himself as the new leader of the gang!

Upon hearing the news of Lo-tai’s brutal death, Ah-chai meets up with his henchmen ‘Number 6’ and ‘Big Eye’ (Lam Chung) to discuss plans to remove Yung once and for all. How did you guess things go spectacularly wrong? So wrong in fact that Ah-chai finds himself arrested although Inspector Cheung (Danny Lee), who has wanted nothing more than to see Ah-chai behind bars for a very long time, also admires his loyalty towards friends and so it is that Ah-chai gets out of custody. Aware that Yung will now stop at nothing to destroy him, Ah-chai, his wife and their young son seek refuge in Malacca in Kwok’s house. Ah-chai plans to escape to another country under a new identity and with a new passport but tragedy strikes when a delivery – a huge parcel filled with presents for the orphaned kids – turns out to be a bomb… Devastated over the loss of their loved ones, and knowing full well that Yung is behind the atrocity, both Kwok and Ah-chai return to Hong Kong to get rid of Yung and his reign of terror once and for all. Let’s just say the climax puts Brian De Palma’s ‘Scarface’ in the shade. It is a relentless and seemingly endless orgy of violence which almost beggars belief. I won’t tell who survives and who doesn’t and in the wider scheme of things, it almost doesn’t matter as everyone’s life has already been ruined in one way or another.
The acting is impressive throughout, however, it is Alex Man as psycho gangster from hell Yung who steals the show!

RICH AND FAMOUS / TRAGIC HERO is available as a 2-Disc Blu-ray release, with the first 2000 copies presented in O-card Slipcase and Collector’s booklet. Bonus audio commentaries, video pieces and trailers. In Cantonese with English subtitles.