The Brothers (1979 film)


The Brothers is a 1979 Hong Kong action crime-drama film directed by Hua Shan, written by Lam Chin Wai and Yuen Cheung, and produced by Runme Shaw under the Shaw Brothers Studio. The film stars Tony Liu, Danny Lee Sau-Yin, Chau Li Chuan, Ku Feng, and Nam Hung. It is a remake of Indian action crime-drama film Deewaar, written by Salim–Javed. In turn, The Brothers inspired John Woo's A Better Tomorrow and played a key role in the creation of the heroic bloodshed crime genre of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema.

Plot

Hong Kong Cinemagic provides the following plot summary.

Cast

The following are the film's main cast members.
The Brothers is a remake of Deewaar, a 1975 Indian crime film. Written by Salim–Javed and directed by Yash Chopra, the story was loosely inspired by the Bombay underworld gangster Haji Mastan. The original film stars Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy and Iftekhar. The Brothers is a mostly faithful remake, with many of the same scenes, as well as dialogues transcribed directly from the original in many places.
There are some notable differences. It has a shorter 90-minute length, compared to the original's 176 minutes. Other changes reflect the shift from Indian culture to Chinese culture, such as the setting changed from Bombay to Hong Kong, and the Bombay underworld changed to the Chinese triads. There are also cultural references changed to reflect Chinese culture; for example, the number on the criminal brother's badge is changed from 786, a number with symbolic significance in Islam, to 838, which signifies the Chinese Year of the Horse.

Legacy

The Brothers played a key role in the creation of the heroic bloodshed crime genre of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema. Plot elements of The Brothers was reimagined for John Woo's internationally acclaimed breakthrough A Better Tomorrow, which involved a similar conflict between two brothers on opposing sides of the law. In particular, Ti Lung's character in A Better Tomorrow is similar to Tony Liu's character in The Brothers. In turn, A Better Tomorrow was a landmark film, credited with creating the heroic bloodshed genre, which was influential in Hong Kong action cinema, and later Hollywood. The Brothers also established Danny Lee with a police officer persona later seen in Hong Kong crime films such as Woo's The Killer.