"Joshua Tree" also contains clear references and homages to Sam Peckinpah's "The Getaway" starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw (the shoot at the grocery store and the cop cars at the bus station), as well John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow", "The Killer" (and possibly "Hard Boiled" but it had not been officially released when the movie was in production) (the garage shoot out). When director Vic Armstrong apologized to Woo for copying him the Hong Kong director replied "Don't worry Vic, I've been stealing your ideas for years!"