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The Head Hunter is most significant now for being a very early feature film outing for the soon-to-be-massive action star Chow Yun Fat. It's a pretty rough and ready effort in fairness but it has some good things about it. It focuses on a Vietnam veteran who works simultaneously as a movie stuntman and as a professional killer. He ends up in a personal vendetta against an unsavoury character from his past in Vietnam.

This one suffers a bit from having a messily conveyed plot-line. It often seems a lot more complex than it really is. It's also quite a bit more downbeat in tone than is typical for Hong Kong action flicks. In fact the martial arts quotient is more marginalised here, with more space for proper thriller material. There's some violence and grim moments sprinkled throughout and the serious tone ensures they are delivered in a more direct manner than most films of this type. It's still not a particularly good film though really, in that its story just isn't presented terrible well. On the other hand, I did find it quite amusing to hear a bunch of music from a smattering of famous western composers used throughout, from the likes of John Barry (James Bond), Goblin (Dawn of the Dead) and John Carpenter. Clearly these tunes were 'borrowed' by film-makers from a culture with somewhat liberal copyright laws.

On the whole, this one is lacking in a number of ways but it has its moments.

The Long Good bye aka The Headhunter is an early Chow Yun Fat action flick that is not nearly as bad as the other user reviews on here indicate. I can somewhat agree however that this movie could have been better and is nowhere near the quality of Chow Yun Fat's film work once his movie career took off. I will say if you expect this film to be along the lines of A Better Tomorrow or The Killer, you will be bummed out big time with The Headhunter. This film is a low budget post Vietnam war action film set in Hong Kong. Chow Yun Fat plays a Vietnamese immigrant and Vietnam war veteran working as a stuntman in the film industry. To make ends meet and support his family at home he also is employed by the local syndicate as a hit-man. There is nothing glamorous about Chow Yun Fat's character, Yuen Lick. He is a violent hood living in poverty. He ends up falling in love with a news reporter played by Rosemund Kwan. He also is being stalked by his former commander from Vietnam. He left behind his former c.o. to the enemy and is played by Phillip Chan. Phillip Chan is best known for playing Chow Yun Fat's boss in Hard Boiled and also a cop in JCVD's classic Bloodsport. He now is a professional killer as well and is on a collision course with his former brother in battle Yuen Lick. The tone of the film is bleak and there is nothing fancy or stylized going on here. The film is gritty and the characters are caught in a vicious circle of violence and misery. The action level is low for a HK production and not as crazy as I am used to watching in other films. However it is on par with what you would see from similar, low budget action films made in the west during the same period (late 70's/early 80's). For what this is, it is pretty decent. I could see this film being booked as a double or triple feature in one of those scuzzy grindhouse theaters with similar films.

Another selection from the Mill Creek 200 drive in cult classics box set.

What makes this one noteworthy is that Chow Yun Fat is the lead in this one. There is some good action scenes in this one. But it drags near the end with the industry is poisoning the children sub plot. Chow Yun Fat is good in this one you can sort of see why he became famous. Even tho he doesn't have very much to work with.

Not much here. Vietnam vet becomes a hit man and blah blah blah stuff happens and people get killed. Some good stuff but not enough to watch it again.

If you need to see it give it a watch.

Only the most rabid of Chow Yun-Fat fans will want to see this film, let along own it. (I must admit I own a copy.) This is far below the standards of even the "B" pictures which were his bread-and-butter in the early days after he left television for films (it's hard to believe today he was once nicknamed "box office poison"). Execrable production values, a muddy and trite plot, annoying music and unlikeable characters make this film one that you will want to watch only for one of two reasons: 1) You have to see everything in which Chow Yun-Fat has appeared or 2) you are planning a Hong Kong version of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000".

Chow Yun-Fat sleepwalks through this role; Rosamund Kwan is pretty but that's about it. Most of the actors seem to be embarrassed to be there. Me too.

I love Chow Yun Fat. I really do. However I would never wish this movie upon any of his fans, just watching it almost made my eyes bleed. The storyline and plot is overdone, the acting in a fog and the people running the cameras seem to be asleep on the job. All in all, it doesn't seem like anyone involved in making this movie put out any effort to making it jump off the dull script.

You can buy this movie in dollar stores and in 99cent bins badly dubbed, if you're willing to pay a few dollars more you can get it subtitled, which in this case only I'll say doesn't make it any better.

Go rent one of his wonderful dramatic movies that made him the man he is now. ^_^