A Better Tomorrow

A Better Tomorrow is a 1986 Hong Kong crime film about a reforming ex-gangster who tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but finds that the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
 * Directed by John Woo. Written by Chan Hing-Ka, Leung Suk-Wah, and John Woo.

'''Brothers by blood. Enemies by chance. Killers by nature.''' (taglines)

Sung Tse-Ho

 * Kit, you're right. We live in separate worlds apart. Your world is the right one...I may have taken the wrong path, but I am willing to make things right again, even if it's not too late.

Mark Lee

 * Kid, don't point the gun at my head! If you have the guts, shoot me!!
 * That's enough!!! I don't need your pity!!...You don't owe me anything! I would never force my own friends to do something they wouldn't do! I have my own principles! I just don't want to live like this anymore!!...Do you think I like to beg!?...I've been in bad shape for three years, waiting for this opportunity! This is my only chance, not to prove that I'm the best, but to simply take back what I have lost!!!...Look at yourself. Look at what you've become!!...Back then, people rejected you! Now, you can't even take two steps without someone following you!!! Have you ever fought for a chance? You never have. Never!!!...I don't want to be like you...

Sung Tse-Kit

 * Father was killed because of him! Why should you force me to accept him now!? He has no one to blame but himself!! I'm a cop, he's a criminal...in the eyes of the law, we are traveling on separate paths...

Dialogue

 * Ho Tse Sung: Do you believe there's a God?
 * Mark Gor: Yes. I'm a God. A god can be human. Anyone who controls their own destiny can be a god.
 * Ho Tse Sung: Sometimes, there are things you can't control.
 * Mark Gor: You win some, you lose some.


 * Tse-Kit Sung: What did Shing talk to you about?
 * Ho Tse Sung: Bullshit.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: Don't play with me. You weren't in there for a drink. Were you talking business or bullshit?
 * Ho Tse Sung: Just bullshit.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: What are the shipments?
 * Ho Tse Sung: I don't know.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: When is the arrival? Where?
 * Ho Tse Sung: I don't know.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: ...How can you be the Big Boss if you don't know anything!?
 * Ho Tse Sung: Kit...
 * Tse-Kit Sung: Don't ever call me Kit again! Call me "Officer!"
 * Ho Tse Sung: Officer... I haven't been the Big Boss for a long time.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: [writes on his notepad] Where do you work?
 * Ho Tse Sung: United Taxi Company.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: Legit work... Robbing people with a cab? Huh? Where do you live?
 * Ho Tse Sung: United Taxi Company.
 * Tse-Kit Sung: So someone decides to shelter criminals like you?


 * Mark Gor: You think learning will help you? Don't think reading gangster books will make you the boss. Have you ever had a gun pointed at your head? You haven't. Twelve years ago... It's been twelve years, right? For the first time, I went with Ho to bring goods to Indonesia. The boss there treated us to dinner in the night club. I said something wrong to displease the boss. Next thing I knew, there were two guns pointed at my head. I was forced to dring a bottle of whiskey. I was so scared, I pissed my pants! Fortunately, Ho was there and drank the whole bottle of whiskey for me. But guess what, it got even worse after that. Now there's four guns were pointed at my head! You know they made me drink? Piss! Drinking piss in a night club! You want learning? That's learning!...And that's how we got through our first job.
 * Ho Tse Sung: That's all in the past. Forget about it.
 * Mark Gor: No! I...I have never cried before; that was the first time I cried. I swore right then that I'd never let anyone point a gun at my head again!

Taglines

 * The movie that began it all.........


 * Brothers by blood. Enemies by chance. Killers by nature.

Cast

 * Ti Lung - Sung Tse-Ho
 * Leslie Cheung - Sung Tse-Kit
 * Chow Yun-fat - Mark Lee
 * Emily Chu - Jackie, the girlfriend of Kit
 * Waise Lee - Shing
 * Shing Fui-On - Shing's right-hand man
 * Kenneth Tsang - Ken, the leader of the taxi company Ho joins
 * Tien Feng - the father of Ho and Kit
 * John Woo - Taiwanese police chief
 * Tsui Hark - a music judge (cameo)