I am very new to HK cinema but very interested in seeing and learning more about it and wanted to know what are people's favorite gang films.

Infernal Affairs 1,2,3 and Kung Fu Hustle. I'm new to HKMDB so I have not seen to many movies.

Young and Dangerous 1-3 and Prequel
Beast Cops
One Nite in Mongkok
War Named Desire
Casino
Once Upon a Time in Triad Society
Hero Never Dies
Longest Nite
Infernal Affairs I-III

Infernal Affairs 1+2
A Better Tomorrow
City On Fire
As Tears Go By
A Moment Of Romance
Century Of The Dragon
Mongkok Story
Jiang Hu, The Triad Zone
Too Many Ways To Be Number One
Young And Dangerous Prequel+1-4

Some of the most memorable gangster/triad films for me include,

A Moment of Romance
Beast Cops
Breaking News
Young & Dangerous 1-4
Sexy & Dangerous 1
Street Angels
The Rat Catcher
Infernal Affairs 1 & 2


from re-watching

Though it's often classed as a police procedural, HARD BOILED is a pretty fun gangster flick.

I'd also recommend BURNING AMBITION, with Frankie Chan and Yukari Oshima. Freakin' WILD movie!

thanks for the replies guys will definitely look forward to getting a hold of those joints and checking them out.

has anyone been following scorsese's remake of infernal affairs - the departed. actually spoke to an actor friend of mine in nyc who just had a small role as a triad member in a scene or two that was shot last thursday night.

anyways if anyone thinks of anything good that has not been mentioned please feel free to chime in.

I kinda lost track of the Scorsese remake, not that I thought it was necessary considering how nearly perfect the original was. Mind you, I suppose Martin Scorsese as good a choice as any to handle such a project. I see on IMDB that it's listed for release in 2006. Hopefully the opening credits will give credit to the original. As good as Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio are in many of their roles, they're no Tony Leung and Andy Lau. Of course, if they play the younger versions of their characters as well, then they'll have no problem whatsoever icing the work of Shawn Yue and the very limited talents of Edison Chen.

Apropos of nothing, really, the U.S. edition of Infernal Affairs has one of the most misleading pieces of sleeve art I've ever seen on a domestic release of an "import" film (an area where film distribs often dishonor the originals with their lame "marketing" hooks). There's a full length shot of a Chinese hottie in blue short-shorts brandishing a gun between the head shots of Andy and Tony - and she's not even in the picture. What a way to stir up false expectations on the part of ignorant American viewers, many of whom were probably kept waiting for T&A to show up on screen for a long, long time, and were thus disappointed in a truly fantastic film.

thanks again...as my former boss and mentor (ex VP of marketing of miramax and the defunct october films) once said to me, "his job is to sell it, not smell it." sadly enough filmmaking is a business and that seems to take precedent over the artistic or aesthetic merits of a work.

i guess they figured that was the only way the average american or (westerner) male aged 17 - 34 for was going to rent a chinese subtitled film with actors they never heard of or could care a less about. marketing goal is to try to reach the ignorant masses who often times need to be spoonfed what to see or think. by no means is this a defense of their actions but rather it is what it is. thank goodness for boards like this where there are diehard cineaesthetes who appreciate/discuss quality films before that get bastardized by hollywood.

The Killer
A Better Tomorrow
City on Fire
Hard-Boiled
Full Contact
Kung Fu Hustle
Infernal Affairs