Closing Film

The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (4K Digitally Restored Version)

Dir/Scr: Patrick Lung Kong
Martial Arts Choreographers: Chan Lun-suen, Lau Kar-wing
Prod Co: Sun Ngee
Cast: Patrick Tse Yin, Sek Kin, Patsy Kar Ling, Wong Wai, Patrick Lung Kong
1967 | B&W | DCP | Cantonese | Chi & Eng Subtitles (with Korean projected subtitles) | 111min

The Story of a Discharged Prisoner is one of the most important films in Hong Kong film history, exacting great influence in artistic, industrial and cultural terms. John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow is a remake of the work, with the same Chinese title that roughly translates as ‘True Colours of a Hero’. While sharing the same story outline, they are two very different films, the difference between them highlighting at once the starkly divergent creative styles of two directors and also the dramatic change of times from the 1960s to the 1980s. Lung’s film follows Lee Jwo-horng (Patrick Tse Yin), a thief determined to turn over a new leaf after leaving prison. Yet his former life keeps haunting him, especially in the form of a gang boss (Sek Kin). His troubles affect even his brother, who loses his job. Seizing the opportunity, the gang boss manipulates the brother into committing a burglary, placing Jwo-horng in a difficult situation, one that ultimately brings out the ‘true colours of a hero’.

Drawing from real-life incidents provided by The Hong Kong Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society, the film is a hard-edged exposé of the discrimination and even oppression faced by ex-convicts, at the same time expressing heartfelt empathy for the marginalised. While persisting with the cherished tradition of moral education through entertainment in 1950s Cantonese cinema, Lung also gets inspiration from the west, making bold choices in both subject matter and aesthetics. While the story is likely modelled after Once a Thief (1965), starring the French idol Alain Delon who was very popular in Hong Kong, the brutal act of a character being pushed down the stairs comes straight out of the Hollywood film Kiss of Death (1947), its presentation echoing the famous montage in Battleship Potemkin (1925).

Courtesy of Film Magic Pictures Limited

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