A Better Tomorrow is a 1986 Hong Kong action film directed and produced by John Woo, with a screenplay by Woo, Chan Hing-ka, and Leung Suk-wah. The film stars Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat, Emily Chu, and Waise Lee. Ti plays Ho, a Triad gangster and money counterfeiter who is sent to prison after being betrayed by his subordinate, Shing (Lee). After his release, Ho tries to reform himself and reconcile with his estranged brother Kit (Cheung), a police officer who resents him for his criminal past. Ho becomes torn between trying and failing to make amends with Kit, and following the advice of his friend Mark (Chow) to seek revenge for Shing's treachery.

Plot

Triad member Sung Tse-ho and his best friend, Mark Lee, run a money counterfeiting business for their boss, Mr. Yiu. This activity is kept secret from Ho's younger brother Kit, a police cadet. Out of respect for their ailing father, Ho promises to stop being a gangster after completing his next business deal. At Mr. Yiu's request, Ho lets a subordinate named Shing accompany him to Taiwan to conduct business with a local mob. However, the gang ambushes them, causing a shootout that alerts the Taiwanese police. Ho tells Shing to escape while he surrenders; he is then sentenced to three years in prison. To ensure Ho doesn't implicate anyone, the Taiwanese gang send a kidnapper to abduct his father, who is fatally stabbed in the scuffle. Before he dies, Ho and Kit's father begs Kit to forgive his brother, but a furious Kit blames Ho for their father's death. Mark travels to Taiwan to exact revenge on the gangsters, shooting them dead in a restaurant. However, he is shot twice in his right leg, leaving him crippled and needing a leg brace to walk.

Awards