History Trivia / HardBoiledMovie

** Creator/JohnWoo intended for the film to be less stylized and more gritter than his past works, citing the ''Film/DirtyHarry'' films as inspiration. Creator/MichelleYeoh was to play Tequila's partner on the force, and Creator/TonyLeungChiuWai was picked to play the ''villain'', a psychopath [[WouldHurtAChild poisoning baby formula]]. Woo was talked out of the idea, and a new plot was written with Leung playing an undercover cop.

* HeyItsThatPlace: The pier where Foxy gets his beat-down is the same one where the botched undercover gun buy took place in ''Film/TheKiller''.

* PropRecycling: The statue of General Kwan in the police station is the same one used in ''Film/TheKiller''.

* BannedInChina: Due to its brutal and over-the-top violence, the film was banned from commercial distribution in Finland shortly after its 1993 film festival premiere. The ban was lifted in 2001 when the rating system was renewed.

* BannedInChina: Due to its brutal and over-the-top violence, the film was banned from commercial distribution in Finland shortly after its 1993 film festival premiere. The ban was lifted in 2001 as the rating system was renewed.

** Creator/JohnWoo intended for the film to be less stylized and more gritter than his past works, citing the Film/DirtyHarry films as inspiration. Creator/MichelleYeoh was to play Tequila's partner on the force, and Creator/TonyLeungChiuWai was picked to play the ''villain'', a psychopath [[WouldHurtAChild poisoning baby formula]]. Woo was talked out of the idea, and a new plot was written with Leung playing an undercover cop.

* DeletedScene: Around a half-hour of scenes were cut during filming, among them were a relationship sub-plot between Teresa and Tequila, of which there's a few bits left over in the final film, and Tequila playing the clarinet over Benny's grave. Due to these cuts, Creator/ChowYunFat felt his character was not as deep as Creator/TonyLeung's, and convinced Woo to play a mentor character to Tequila.

* OnSetInjury: During the hallway shoot-out, Creator/TonyLeung was cut in the eye by a shard of glass. If you pay attention, Leung suddenly covers his face with his arm, an indication of when he was hit with the glass. He was given a day off to get medical attention and returned to the set to finish filming without problems.

** Originally, Tony was not supposed to cry after killing Mr. Hui, but Creator/TonyLeung felt the character should show some sign of breaking down. Woo filmed the scene both ways and decided to keep the "crying take" in.

** Creator/JohnWoo intended for the film to be less stylized and more gritter than his past works, citing the Film/DirtyHarry films as inspiration. Creator/MichelleYeoh was to play Tequila's partner on the force, and Creator/TonyLeung was picked to play the ''villain'', a psychopath [[WouldHurtAChild poisoning baby formula]]. Woo was talked out of the idea, and a new plot was written with Leung playing an undercover cop.

* FatalMethodActing: Averted. During the filming of the scene in which Tequila is running down the exploding hallway with the baby, Creator/JohnWoo wasn't satisfied that the explosions were big and frightening enough in the scene. According to Woo in his Dragon Dynasty DVD interview, he asked the special effects technicians to reset the explosives and give him the trigger. When Creator/ChowYunFat ran down the hall, Woo immediately set the explosives off, nearly incinerating Chow, who barely made it. According to Woo, Yun-Fat Chow exclaimed to the producer afterwards "John's trying to kill me! John's trying to kill me!". When Woo heard Chow screaming, he went up to apologize to Chow and saw that the back of his head and coat were in fact singed from the explosions.

** The ending originally had [[spoiler: Tony dying from his self-inflicted ShootTheHostage gambit]], but during filming the cast and crew begged Woo not to end the film on such a bitter and tragic note, and convinced Woo to rewrite the ending.

* TheDanza: Anthony Wong plays Johnny Wong, the film's villain.

* ThrowItIn: Like many of Creator/JohnWoo's other films, elements of the film's action sequences were improvised, such as the famous "staircase slide" in the teahouse. Creator/ChowYunFat came up with the idea of using flour in the climax of the teahouse shootout.
* TrashTheSet: The teahouse that served as the setpiece for the first big shootout of the film had been slated for demolition, and Creator/JohnWoo got permission to use the teahouse for the shootout in question.

* DeletedScene: Around a half-hour of scenes were cut during filming, among them were a relationship sub-plot between Teresa and Tequila, of which there's a few bits left over in the final film, and Tequila playing the clarinet over Bennie's grave. Due to these cuts, Creator/ChowYunFat felt his character was not as deep as Creator/TonyLeung's, and convinced Woo to play a mentor character to Tequila.

* TrashTheSet: The teahouse that served as the setpiece for the first big shootout of the film had been slated for demolition, and John Woo got permission to use the teahouse for the shootout in question.

* ActorAllusion: Philip Chan, who played Superintendant Pang, was a CID cop in the '70s and for a while was the head of one of the first undercover units of the Hong Kong Police.
* CreatorBacklash: Anthony Wong wasn't happy with the film as he thought that his character, Johnny Wong, was a two-dimensional and thinly characterized villain. He also considered Woo hard to work with.

** John Woo intended for the film to be less stylized and more gritter than his past works, citing the Film/DirtyHarry films as inspiration. Creator/MichelleYeoh was to play Tequila's partner on the force, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai was picked to play the ''villain'', a psychopath [[WouldHurtAChild poisoning baby formula]]. Woo was talked out of the idea, and a new plot was written with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai playing an undercover cop.

** Around a half-hour of scenes were cut during filming, among them were a relationship sub-plot between Teresa and Tequila, of which there's a few bits left over in the final film. Due to these cuts, Chow Yun-Fat felt his character was not as deep as Tony Leung Chiu-Wai's, and convinced Woo to play a mentor character to Tequila.

** John Woo originally intended for the film to be less stylized and more gritter than his past works, citing the Film/DirtyHarry films as inspiration. Creator/MichelleYeoh was to play Tequila's partner on the force, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai was picked to play the ''villain'', a psychopath [[WouldHurtAChild poisoning baby formula]]. Woo was talked out of the idea, and a new plot was written with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai playing an undercover cop.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Hard Boiled was intended to be less stylized and more gritter, akin to a Film/DirtyHarry film, with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai picked to play a psychopath [[WouldHurtAChild poisoning baby formula]]. Most found this idea too disgusting, and a new plot was written with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai playing an undercover cop. A number of story elements were improvised during filming and not part of the script, such as the character of [[TheDragon Mad Dog]].