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Ringo Lam

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Filmmaker

The Resume

    (December 8, 1955-December 29, 2018)
    Born in Hong Kong
    Birth name was Lin Lingdong
    Directed the films ‘Esprit d’Amour’ (1983), ‘Aces Go Places IV’ (1986), ‘City on Fire’ (1987), ‘Prison on Fire’ (1987), ‘School on Fire’ (1988), ‘Undeclared War’ (1990), ‘Prison on Fire II’ (1991), ‘Twin Dragons’ (co-directed with Tsui Hark, 1992), ‘Maximum Risk’ (1996), ‘Full Alert’ (1997), ‘Victim’ (1999), ‘Looking for Mr. Perfect’ (2003), ‘Triangle’ (co-directed with Tsui Hark and Johnnie To, 2007), ‘Wild City’ (2015), and ‘Sky on Fire’ (2016)

Why he might be annoying:

    His Hollywood career consisted of helming three Jean-Claude Van Damme action flicks – two of which went direct to video.
    He noted about his attempts to break away from action films, ‘Audiences would only embrace me for making the same movie over and over again.’
    In the pursuit of realism, he demanded that the actors use real knives for a fight scene in ‘Wild City.’
    Similarly, the car chase scenes in ‘Full Alert’ were shot without a permit in the streets of Hong Kong with stunt drivers weaving thru the actual city traffic.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He originally studied to be an actor and was in the same class as Chow Yun Fat, who would star in several of his films.
    He was a member of the ‘Hong Kong New Wave’ that revitalized the city’s cinema in the late ‘80s.
    He collapsed from heat stroke on the first day of filming ‘Wild City,’ but returned to complete the project.
    His ‘City on Fire’ heavily influenced Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs.’
    He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the New York Asian Film Festival (2015).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying