HK Cinema - 1973
In 1973 John Woo directed his first film – The
Young Dragons. It was far from a great debut, but it marked the end of
a long journey for Woo. He was born in the late 1940’s in the Chinese city
of Canton. At the age of three his family moved to HK, but the family was
so poor that he was not able to go to school until he was nine. The school
was Christian Methodist and that partly explains the usage of Christian
symbolism is some of his films. It was a tough life for a young boy, but
he found escape in the movies. He developed a love for all cinema and his
films certainly show the influences of French (Melville) and American (Peckinpah)
directors.
In 1969 he got his foot in the film industry door
as a production assistant at Cathay Studios. He later moved to Shaw Studios
and worked under Chang Cheh on a number of films. He formed his own independent
company at the age of 26. Young Dragons was initially considered too violent
and was banned, but Raymond Chow saw promise in the director and bought
and re-edited the film. Golden Harvest signed Woo to a three-year contract
to direct films.