Heroes Shed No Tears (1984) User Reviews

This time Woo's pigeons were lucky not to be around in so much explosions n machine gun firing.

[Fella_shibby · 6/10 · 17 February 2020]

Saw this for the first time recently after reading some glowing reviews, esp that of Ba_Harrison. The name John Woo was another factor too but this film is nowhere close to the director's other films. This film doesn't deserve the glowing reviews.

A group of mercenaries capture a drug Lord n r retreating but r met with fierce reciprocation by the drug lord's men, along the way they save a girl n injure a sadistic Vietnamese colonel, thereby creating more enemies on the trail.

The film has tons of action, lots of explosions, bullets, machine guns, grenades, etc but the film is filled with atrocious acting n horrendous editing.

There is a scene where the crime lord keeps throwing pieces of a pendant while being driven in a jeep a la Hansel n Greetel style, where his men somehow catches with him on foot. In one scene a person is seen holding a woman's body then suddenly in another he is busy shooting. Before a grenade hits the ground/target, people jump as if they r blown away. The film has two lousy sex scenes that too directly out of the blue. The child's idea of burrowing himself when engulfed by fire all around is lol. I felt sad for the American soldier who was living peacefully in the middle of nowhere, that too with three beautiful chicks.

Strange early John Woo

[bastos · 6/10 · 24 May 2020]

This is a strange movie. It starts in what seems like the climax of a movie we didn't see and picks up from there to give us a kind of men in mission movie, where the mission already happened... So this group of Rotten Magnificent Basterds has to escape, and through the journey they pick up a kid and his mother to give us some emotional connection. All of director Woo's trademarks are present with one noticeable exception, no doves! But if you want extreme violence in slow motion, lots of explosions, lots of very forced emotional manipulation with the kid and the girls, and an enormous body count, this is the movie for you. I was kind of surprised with the violence here and there's also a psychedelic sex scene that feels very out of place as John Woo usually stays clear of such scenes, not to mention a very bizarre gambling scene that comes out of nowhere. In conclusion a very raw early movie by John Woo, that has its charm but is very unpolished and remembered more for its oditties than its merits.

Truly mindless violence

[Mike Astill · 7/10 · 15 October 2003]

Ludicrously violent war movie, notable only for being director John Woo's first foray into gung-ho gunplay that's since become his forte.

Every plot twist is improbable or just plain ridiculous, every character a hackneyed stereotype or just there for cannon fodder, and every line of poorly subbed dialogue unintentionally funny. In other words, I thought it was great.

Definitely worth taking a look at if you're in the mood for some truly mindless violence, or if you're a Woo completist.

A Rhyming Review

[Samoan Bob · 31 May 2004]

There was a film that I saw

Just the other day

And I sat there in awe

As it blew me away.

It was made by John Woo

Who is now a sell out

His fans he does screw

As the cash they shell out.

So get a six-pack

Full of cold, frosty beers

And then sit back

For Heroes Shed No Tears

Watch with devotion

This huge action feast

With enough blood to fill an ocean

To say the frickin' least

Our heroes in this tale

Are a group of Mercs

Who blast folks all to hell

'Specially drug lord jerks

There's fighting, there's stabbing

There's nuking, there's looting

There's biting, there's grabbing

There's puking, there's shooting

Punches are thrown

Black soldiers are eaten

Eyeballs are sewn

Children are beaten

A fight goes on

With nails and a tire

Our hero loses his son

Almost in a fire

There's tons of dying

But where the film falters

Is all the damn crying

Like it was Barbara Walters

When our hero does cry

It gets really lame

For the movie does lie

With its very own name

But please do not fret

It does little harm

And I'll make you a bet

About the scene with the arm

If you do not jump

When the dude gets the spears

Shoved straight up his rump

You've drunk too much beers

And if you don't find it nice

When the hut does explode

After the role of a dice

Then you're a humorless toad

So get off your fat ass

And get the hell out of here

Cuz you'll have a damn blast

With Heroes Shed No Tears

The first war action movie in John Woo style

[phanthinga · 6/10 · 23 January 2019]

After the groundbreaking A Better Tomorrow that put John Woo name into action movie Hall of Fame for single handedly create a new action sub genre: "Heroic Blooshed" and "Gun-fu" action style in which both has become a staple factor in modern action films and before he return with a bigger and louder sequel A Better Tomorrow 2 John Woo directed an action movie called Heroes Shed No Tears that super hard to watch for me not because of the amount of blood and gore but how disgustingly racist this movie is when it represent the Vietnamese in the 80s. Granted, talk about realism in a movie is kinda wack and most of B-grade war action movie are like this back in the day but when it comes to my country representation and one of my favorite director of course I will put my country first. That being said Heroes Shed No Tears still a fun and over the top action movie that every Woo fan and action fan need to check out

Flawed, but still worth a watch

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 6/10 · 9 July 2023]

I can suspend a lot of disbelief, but not unlimited disbelief. Some of the things done by good and bad guys alike here just went a step too far.

That being said, if you're looking for plenty of John Woo shoot-em-up action presented within a fairly short runtime, I think Heroes Shed No Tears delivers. It's very direct, and quite scrappily made in parts, but a good deal of the big set pieces prove to be visceral and engaging.

It's ultimately a little disposable, and I feel like his 1990 film Bullet in the Head scratches a similar itch, but much more effectively. Yet this still delivers for fans of Woo, and honestly rode the line between a 3/5 and a 3.5/5 for me throughout (but I still think I'm going to round down here, at the end of the day).

A film Woo should have forgotten

[BeyondHardBoiled · 4/10 · 28 February 2015]

What do you get when you put a Thai Drug cartel, Tribal Warriors, the Vietnam People's Army, Chinese mercenaries and a small child in a John Woo film? An absolute mess.

I am a Woo fan myself, so I was curious to see his first "true" film as he calls it. It was a bit hard to find, which is not surprising after seeing it. It should have been completely forgotten.

It's bad. There is little to no plot, and all it really serves itself as is an action film. This was made before Woo was established as the master of Heroic Bloodshed, so his style was no where near perfected, meaning the action scenes in this film are lackluster. The whole thing is basically worthless then.

This was released after the success of Woo's "A Better Tomorrow", which is actually pretty decent. I'm not sure why he thought to put this out after that, it only degrades his image. He thankfully then came out with "The Killer" which made up for it.

Avoid this film, even if you're a Woo fan.

Incredibly fierce action film by John Woo

[Bogey Man · 8/10 · 12 July 2002]

Heroes Shed no Tears was filmed in 1984/1985 but was released only when the huge success of his next film, A Better Tomorrow, was born. Heroes Shed no Tears is not as philosophical and personal as Bullet in the Head (Woo's most personal film to date, set in Vietnam war), but it is no less fierce. A group of mercenaries is sent to get one drug smuggler, kidnap him and deliver to court. They kidnap him, but get an angry league of the drug boss' men after them in the jungle and so the savage chase and fight for life has begun.

The usual elements of Woo are not as primary as in his more recent films, like A Better Tomorrow 1-2, The Killer and Bullet in the Head, but there are similar scenes and segments in this early film, too. Men get killed "with honor" and there are couple of "heroic bloodshed" scenes, too, like the human bomb, for instance. One important element not found too often in Woo's films is that there are many female characters in this film and they are depicted very warmly and lovingly, so Woo definitely can direct females, too, if he wants. The brief love making scene between male and female at one point is very emotional and erotic as the female is so full of love and emotion, and that really tells something about Woo's ability to direct his characters and give them charisma.

This film is pretty close to Japanese Babycart samurai films Lone Wolf & Cub from the 1970's. The main character in Heroes Shed no Tears has a son and their relationship is very similar to Ogami Itto's and his son Daigoro's, in Lone Wolf & Cub. I don't think this is any rip off of these Japanese films, but it is obvious that Woo had seen these Japanese films and found inspiration from them. After all, Lone Wolf & Cub films are pretty close to Woo's films in their content and philosophy.

The adrenaline amount in Heroes Shed no Tears is incredible as it is hard to think a film more fierce and angry than this. The action scenes are totally unbelievable and Ultra violent, and I was totally stunned at the fight scene near the water/lake/river at the first part of the film. The mayhem is so over-the-top and something never found in Western film. Fast paced action never lets up during the 80 minutes running time of the film. The camera use in these action scenes and other scenes as well is very professional and it is easy to see what kind of talent was hiding in Woo. This is very violent film and definitely wouldn't get the R rating in US. There are hyper bloody gun battles, head shots, stabbings, impalings, choppings and other acts of violence that truly are savage, but still pretty stylish and symbolic, as always in Woo's films. It tells something about his films' characters' values and moral, even though violence this brutal is not without its consequences in his subsequent films. Woo depicts violence, but that doesn't mean he glorifies it. Violence is always bad in Woo's films and that is left for viewer to interpret and there are no easy solutions in his films. So this kind of cinema would never come from some big studio in Hollywood, I think. This kind of cinema is too challenging for mainstream audience. Still, as I mentioned earlier, this is not as symbolic, deep and polished as Woo's subsequent films and also violence is not as symbolic as in his other films, but this was only the beginning and the director was still inventing his cinematic philosophy.

Heroes Shed no Tears is very great piece of Hong Kong mayhem cinema, and early work of John Woo. I was very surprised when I watched this since I didn't have any expectations even though I of course knew this was Woo's film. The film is little stupid at times (there are some scenes of usual "humor" often found in Hong Kong films), so I give this 8/10 rating, which I feel is the right for this film, but this is definitely not for the casual and mainstream viewer due to its extreme imagery and attitudes! It would get more stars from me if the film had more content and something more to think about, but still I love this early effort of this great director.

Humble beginnings...

[poe426 · 3/10 · 15 August 2002]

My first exposure to John Woo was THE KILLER. Needless to say, I was impressed. Very. Then A BETTER TOMORROW blew me away (so to speak). By this time, I was hooked. Next came my favorite, HARD BOILED. Woo could do no wrong. Or so I thought. HARD TARGET, while entertaining, was a big step backward as far as I was concerned: missing were the fascinating "gray-area" characters that had helped make the three aforementioned films so memorable. It was watered-down Woo. I won't even mention the films that followed. It was clear that, if I wanted to once again enjoy a John Woo movie, I would have to seek out his earlier work. I searched (if you'll pardon the Kurosawa pun) HIGH AND LOW, but the only copies I could find were washed-out bootlegs at comic book conventions, at ridiculous prices. I finally gave up the chase. The seasons changed. Years passed.

Then, by chance, I happened to switch on a cable channel just the other day and there, listed in the night's offerings, was a title I immediately recognized: HEROES SHED NO TEARS. My jaw dropped. I may have fainted. I popped a tape in the vcr and set the timer. Halfway through the movie, the vcr cut off, of its own accord. Had this been one of Woo's later films, I would've hit the ceiling. But this was done BEFORE Woo had mastered the medium. This was very crude filmmaking, of the Old School kung fu movie variety (only with guns). That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but I'd been spoiled by several of his later films (and VERY disappointed by all of his U.S. films). A matter of taste, I suppose, but I'd hoped to discover that Woo had always been the dazzling stylist he became following this film (up until he started making movies in this country, that is). But such was not the case. HEROES SHED NO TEARS isn't a complete waste of time, but it's not vintage John Woo, either. Pity.

Hong Kong Action, The Woo Way

[jonahwp · 8/10 · 30 March 2017]

Walking into Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles with a bunch of other 18-35 year old males, I had never even heard of the movie that I was about to watch; John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears. In fact, the only reason I went to the movie at all was because it was selected by Mr Tarantino. Tarantino encompasses the fantasies of the male mind in every movie he makes, and surely, would recommend a movie that has a similar impact on my testosterone levels. With this in mind, I expected a fun Hong Kong action film. What I drew from the movie was more than this mindless action I expected.

The film's plot, as with most films directed by John Woo, is just an excuse to film long action scenes. It follows the campaign of a group of Chinese Soldiers who are tasked with capturing a drug lord and bringing him from China to Thailand. Such an open plot allows Woo to get away with over-the-top action scenes and marvelously ridiculous plot twists.

Yes, I know what you are thinking, "so it is just another movie that is one massive shootout. Might as well go back to watching my 'important' American drama TV series". Sure, this movie does have these scenes, but they are all quite special. First of all, as this is John Woo's first film, he says he was less cautious with the amount of violence and gore. His lack of caution is apparent in the scenes where Chan Chung (Eddy Ko) guns down endless waves of drug dealers. All of these scenes are doused in over-the-top practical effects and unnecessary gore. This gives them a special feel. This is Eddy Ko's unrestricted, pure, and gritty film making style. This style was also an inspiration to some of Tarantino's action scenes, notably, those in the Kill Bill franchise.

Secondly, Woo's action scenes are all entertaining as hell. Whether it is the the acting that is sometimes so bad it's funny or the direction of John Woo that enthralls the audience right into the action, there is rarely a dull moment in the action scene's of Heroes Shed No Tears.

I vividly recall the whole audience bursting out in laughter and joy every time another body exploded or compound was lit on fire by the Chinese Mercenaries. A movie that has this effect on an audience deserves reverence.

While the scenes between action sequences have much to be desired in terms of capturing audience emotion, I am always one to judge a film for what it is. Few people expect the sadness and deep psychological depth of a movie like The Elephant Man in a Hong Kong action flick from the 80's. If you do, well, I am sorry that Heroes shed no tears disappointed you.

The dialogue scenes did a few things nicely, however. Firstly, they provided a nice explanation to the plot that makes the action scenes feel at least somewhat deserved. They also allowed the audience to laugh at some of the blatantly terrible acting that would rarely be permitted in today's cinema. John Woo includes some humor of his own in these scenes as well. I recall a sex scene that Woo takes a comedic approach to. This really hit the audience with a boom. Finally, the dialogue of the characters taught me aspects of Chinese culture and cinema. I can honestly admit that some of John Woo's other films are on my future watch list after being inspired by this film.

So, is it worth taking time out of your busy schedule to watch Heroes Shed No Tears? Firstly, be quiet, your schedule is not that busy. Second, if you are in the mood for a radical, over-the-top Hong Kong action film that brings the charm of John Woo's direction to the floor, watch it. If you are in the mood for a funny film that delivers both witty and deadpan humor (while sometimes not doing so purposely), watch it. If you are interested in what Hong Kong action films are like, this movie is a good reference. I reiterate, however, this is a movie filmed on a limited budget in the 1980's so it will not deliver the special effects or great acting expected in today's films. It is a fun film to be watched by a non-critical eye. Basically, watch the film if you can have any fun and do not mind subtitles!

Grade: B+ (7.7/10)

Before Eastern Condors There Was Heroes Shed No Tears

[eibon09 · 28 November 2000]

Ying Xiong Wei Lei/Heroes Shed No Tears(1986) was a pivotal feature in the early 80s for the director, John Woo. This was the first John Woo movie that included heavy use of gunplay. Although filmed in 1984/85, Heroes Shed No Tears(1986) did not get released until after the box office success of A Better Tomorrow(1986). Before this, Woo was mainly known for his comedies and Kung Fu flicks. Heroes Shed No Tears(1986) combines explosive action with some good martial arts.

Even if the film isn't as great or polish as John Woo's best, its still better then most of the ones that he has done in Hollywood. There are a few terrific set pieces within the movie. One, the opening gun battle with some drug runners. Two, the fight between the mercenaries and the Thai natives. Three, the martial arts fight between Eddy Ko and Ching Ying Lam.

It was one of the few war films besides Eastern Condors(1987) and Bullet in the Head(1990) to come out of Hong Kong. Ying Xiong Wei Lei(1986) is a precursor to John Woo's Bullet in the Head(1990). The plot of the film is very similar to Eastern Condors(1987) in that both films deal with mercenaries who are sent to Southeast Asia on a secret mission. Heroes Shed No Tears is the most grim and nihilistic of all John Woo movies(that includes Bullet in the Head). Its in the tradition of films like Aguirre:The Wrath of God(1974), The Deer Hunter(1978), and Apocalypse Now(1979).

Heroes Shed No Tears(1986) is a modern day retelling of the Lone Wolf & Cub comics. The relationship between Eddy Ko's soldier and his son has the same fatalistic bond that was present with Ogami Itto and his son, Daigoro. Its the closest thing that John Woo has ever come to doing a Lone Wolf & Cub feature. There is a scene that's right out of Lone Wolf & Cub(involves a child who covers himself in a mudhole in order to avoid being burned alive in a fire). The big influence for the one sequence is a similar sequence from Lone Wolf & Cub:Baby Cart in Peril(1973).

Ching Ying Lam is very convincing as the cruel and sadistic Vietnamese officer. The torture scene involving Eddy Ko is the most brutal one ever done by Woo. Heroes Shed No Tears(1986) has many traits that would become part of the Heroic Bloodshed genre in Hong Kong. Has its share of fogish atmosphere and stylish cinematography. The fight near the end of the movie would be done again in the terrible Mission:Impossible 2(2000)(there was also a exact scene in Strike of Death{1975}).

John Woo's gory, nihilistic, war adventure

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 30 July 2016]

After making his fair share of comedies and martial arts movies in the late '70s and early '80s, John Woo turned his hand to the modern-day action genre with this explosive war thriller which feels like a Chinese version of APOCALYPSE NOW. Whilst his later genre movies have garnered much fame and respect with worldwide audiences, HEROES SHED NO TEARS seems to be unjustly forgotten. This is unfair, a) because it's Woo's most violent film, and b) because it's a great movie. The plot is straightforward and set up within the opening minutes: a squad of soldiers are enlisted to kidnap and transport a Chinese drug lord over the border to a Chinese prison. Unfortunately their journey is anything but simple as they are pursued by hundreds of the dealer's men, and also get chased by an insane wounded Vietnamese Colonel and his troops who enjoy murdering and raping innocent folk.

What follows is a film of unrelenting action, dished out with intelligence, grace, and style and a long way from the mindless shoot-em-up antics of the Rambo flicks made in America at the same time; although the two kinds of film do look superficially similar, Woo has the Yanks beaten by a clear distance. His fights are expertly choreographed but he still retains strong characters, tight scripting, and holds the excitement throughout instead of just letting things become repetitive. The cast assembled for this film is uniformly good, especially Eddy Ko's hard man hero who must be one of the most beaten and battered leading characters (come the ending) out there. Lam Ching Ying also deserves attention as the unstoppable, one-eyed madman with a vengeance who hunts for Ko and his men. The film is pretty grim and dark throughout, with one notable exception being a hilarious gambling sequence which provides the much-needed laughs.

Although the majority of the action involves large-scale gun battles and explosive weaponry, there's a smattering of kung fu action to appeal to martial arts buffs, especially the savage one-on-one fight between Ko and Ching Ying at the film's finale. HEROES SHED NO TEARS is also an incredibly gory movie, complete with people being impaled, having limbs lopped off, being bloodily shot to pieces, and getting their heads blown open by bullets. The torture scene in which a man's eyes are sewn open is also pretty horrible. The best scene in the film is the attack on the wooden house at around the hour mark, a battle which is incredible, never-ending and beautifully shot. HEROES SHED NO TEARS may not be Woo's best work, but it's up there with the best at least and is a testament to the man's talent. Action movie-making at its most extreme.

Amongst all the bullets and explosions, there might be a movie

[AwesomeWolf · 8/10 · 4 June 2005]

Version: Cantonese audio, English subtitles (by SBS)

While watching the first scene of 'Heroes Shed No Tears':

Me: "Wow, I wonder how much the producers spent on explosions in that 5 minutes alone?"

My Friend: "Why is he carrying two machine guns?"

Me: "Why not?"

Later:

My friend: "Do you understand this?"

Me: "I understand machine-guns and explosions."

My friend: "I don't get it, but those cadavers fly a lot..."

Got the idea yet? I think 'Heroes Shed No Tears' was Woo's first film in the explosive style has since become famous for. I've seen some of his early kung-fu and comedy movies, but this is earliest Woo film I've seen where there were more explosions than words spoken in the movie. Awesome.

Chan Chung (Eddy Ko) leads a group of Chinese mercenaries in capturing a Thai drug-lord. Capturing him easily enough, the Chinese mercenaries find themselves on the run from angry drug-runners, a corrupt Thai army unit (whose officer is missing an eye thanks to Chung), and a group of native hunters hired by the Thai soldiers. Ohohoh, there'll be plenty of blood and explosions before this one is half over.

Essentially, 'Heroes Shed No Tears' is an old kung-fu film, replacing kung-fu with explosives and machine guns. There's a hell of a lot of people shooting and blowing stuff up, much like the old kung-fu films where there was a hell of a lot of kung-fu, and not much else. Most of the time that may have been used to develop the plot is used to blow stuff up, which I guess does kind of further the plot by allowing the characters to move to the next scene, blow something up, and then move to the scene after that. Most of the characters are cannon fodder, while Chung and his son play out the movie as if it were 'Lone Wolf with Cub', replacing swords with guns. Awesome

'Heroes Shed No Tears' is so mindlessly violent that even the most hardcore might get bored after a while, but it was so explosively compelling and awesome enough to entertain me. Woo fans should really check this out - 8/10

Awesome count: The word 'awesome' was used three times in this review.

A vision of things to come

[Azzy · 10/10 · 11 February 1999]

This movie is notable as being John Woo's first gun-fight movie. It is an extremely brutal and nihilistic war movie, at times more gut wrenching than BULLET IN THE HEAD. The movie centers around a small group of mercenaries who are sent to capture a drug lord in the golden triangle. The body count is massive and the action is unrelenting. Although it lacks the finesse of the director's later movies it has some brilliant scenes such as a swamp fist-fight against the manhunters, a torture scene straight out of a H.P. Lovecraft image, a hilarious gambling scene, and a sniper shot in the eye through the scope. This scene was imitated later for SNIPER and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but is done best here. I would recommend this movie to all John Woo fans, especially those who liked BULLET IN THE HEAD, and Copolla's APOCALYPSE NOW.

90 minutes pure adrenalin!

[DJ Inferno · 3 February 2002]

The 1980s were the decade when the Americans produced lots of patriotic action films like "Rambo 1-3" or "The Delta Force"-series, for example. Now, John Woo´s version of a mercenary-movie is quite different: of course, there are lots of heavy gunfights and giant explosions, however without being too one-dimensional as the US-movies are! The fast-paced plot is improved by well-developed characters, typical Asian humor and allusions to father and son, friendship and honour without being too pathetic in any way! Maybe not John Woo´s best, but still an action movie far above average!!

Heroes Shed No Tears, but they sure do shed a lot of blood.

[BA_Harrison · 9/10 · 24 June 2016]

A team of tough mercenaries attempt an extremely dangerous mission: enter the 'Golden Triangle', kidnap a drug lord and bring him to justice, all the while pursued by the drug lord's men, and the forces of a corrupt Thai officer (Lam Ching-Ying) seeking revenge for the loss of his eye. At the same time, one of the team, Chan Chung (Eddy Ko), tries to escort his young son, Little Keong, to the safety of the Thai border.

My first experience of John Woo's film-making brilliance was in 1989, when I caught a trailer for one of his 'Heroic Bloodshed' films—possibly The Killer—at a horror film festival; it opened my eyes to a whole new kind of entertainment, the crazy Asian action flick. I've been a fan ever since, but for some reason, I have rarely delved into Woo's earlier work (my only experience of his pre-Killer repertoire being A Better Tomorrow and Hand of Death). Having just watched and thoroughly enjoyed Heroes Shed No Tears, I now realise my mistake.

An extremely violent, gung-ho men-on-a-mission movie, this hugely entertaining action flick is like a cross between one of my favourite '80s martial arts movies, Sammo Hung's Eastern Condors, and the brilliant Lone Wolf & Cub series. If you've already seen those films, then you'll understand what a great combination that is: stylish action, cool martial arts, explosions, slo-mo stunts, bullet squibs and excessive bloodletting, with some overwrought drama and just a couple of quieter moments to allow the viewer to catch their breath (and if you haven't seen them, I strongly suggest that you rectify that situation ASAP!).

8.5 out of 10, rounded up to 9 for the guy who is skewered by multiple spears, and for the sexy naked Thai chick who gives one of the soldiers of fortune a soapy full body massage (yup, this film even finds time for some gratuitous female nudity!).

Very brutal war/action film from John Woo.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 12 November 2001]

This film is amazing.It's loaded with extreme violence-thousands of bullets fly and the blood flows freely!Again the action scenes are breathtaking and the violence is truly brutal-stabbings,impalings and head explosions.One of the best John Woo's films he ever created.Check it out and enjoy the violence!

John Woo did shed some tears

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 18 August 2021]

I am assuming, but having been told the backstory of the making of the movie ... and the remaking of it too in a way, I can only imagine. Also he allegedly does not like to talk about this movie. And again given the way this was treated it is kind of understandable. In a time where people demand different/director cuts of movies they like, this would be one to look out for. Especially since there seems to be a source with a cut that seems to be way closer to what Woo delivered back then, than the movie we get served here.

And still as you can see I was more than entertained by it. Yes there were weird moments (and nudity, which almost threw me off, just because I am not used to see any in Woo movies), but the action as silly as it sometimes seems (bad guys lining up to be shot at) is really powerful.

Wonderful extra on the disc I got showed the differences between the "Heroes" cut (as they called it) and the "Warrior" cut from South Korea - the latter being the one closer to Woos vision ... but not in a good quality at all.

The one thing that is amazing here, where I believe no one can disagree with: the kid! That actor really was very well cast - or they had tremendous luck. Whatever the case, it is amazing to see him go at it and he is the heart and cornerstone of the movie. Not an easy task considering kids mostly have not much to do in war movies like this ... but he is scene stealing to say the least. Fake blood has aged badly, but all the other effects are still decent. Watch at your own peril and don't be surprised if this does not meet your Woo standards (if you have some)

NonStop Action + Violence. John Woo is the best Action Director of All Time !

[BloodyPredator2 · 9/10 · 4 November 2021]

Before Hard Boiled, before The Killer - there was Heroes Shed No Tears.

Heroes Shed No Tears (International Title , which sounds so cool !) Is John Woos First "Real " Action Film. This Movie starts with a prolog about mercenaries and with a real good Action scene (Including a flamethrower scene ! ). Even when there are no Slo-mo Action Scenes like in Hard Boiled or A Better Tomorrow, the Action scenes in Heroes shed no tears are really Intense, Violent and gory. Even when this movie is less emotional like The Killer, there are also Woo typically themes like Honor and Friendship, and even when the lead actor is no chow yun fat his performance was decent. In Summary I Recommend "Heroes Shed No Tears" to all Action Fans, this Movie deserves way more credit.

Kudos to 88 Films who released this movie with a new 2k master on Bluray and with a fantastic Artwork Movie Cover.

John Woo's "Man from Deep River"

[Captain_Couth · 9/10 · 12 October 2003]

John Woo's Heroes Shed no Tears (1986) is a sort of homage to the film Man From Deep River. This violent tale also plays tribute to the Lone Wolf and Cub series. Eddy Ko plays a soldier of fortune working for the US Government. Ko and his men are offered US citizenship along with several thousand dollars in cash for their services. All they have to do is take a Drug Lord into custody, that's the easy part. Taking him back to civilization, well that's another story. Ko, his team of mercenaries and child must endure a trip through hell that'll take them through the jungles, running a gauntlet of death.

Ching-Ying Lam co-stars as the Vietnamese Officer hellbent on taking Ko alive, no matter what the costs. HSNT is very bloody and dark. Unlike any of Woo's previous films.

Highly recommended for John Woo fans.

Early and under-appreciated John Woo classic

[dworldeater · 8/10 · 21 March 2017]

Heroes Shed No Tears is John Woo's first action movie that has guns and is not a martial arts movie. Woo made A Better Tomorrow right after this. Eddie Ko leads a group of Chinese mercenaries that are to capture a drug lord from The Golden Triangle Area near the Vietnamese border with Laos and protect his family that live in a village near the border. Eddie Ko and his men also in addition to fighting the drug lord's men who are trying to set him free, they must also contend with the Vietnamese army led by a vicious colonel played by Lam Ching Ying. This is absolutely for the most hardcore of action fans. Heroes Shed No Tears is raw and nihilistic action at its finest. This is ultra violence with brutal shoot outs, bodies exploding, people getting impaled, chopped up etc. The acting performances are good, especially Eddie Ko who brings a lot of depth and emotion to his role. The action is incredible, but much more gritty than Woo's future efforts and the mayhem level is kicked to eleven. This gets compared to Eastern Condors sometimes, but this is way more unpolished and fierce. I would recommend this for fans of extreme cinema for sure. Plus this movie is very well made and ahead of its time.

well, just for Woo fans, being generous

[sapoguaton · 24 September 2012]

Nothing that anybody looking for a war movie, or a kung fu movie, or an Asian movie, or just a movie, can bare to watch...the absence of any kind of actoral performance, people flying in the air very acrobatically but in complete "out of tempo" with the explosions that its suppose are impelling them, commandos using a military tactic probably designed for some freshman in lit class and a "human plot" taken from a very more decent manga, are the best part of this movie, because have a half laughing effect, but sadly not are enough to compensate the 84 minutes of patience and indulgence required from the viewer... Is a pity for all that tape rolled and the powder for so many unuseful explosion, the only victims of this so called "movie".