- Once a Thief (1991)
- In 1990, Woo formed another production company, Milestone Pictures, with producers Terence Chang and Linda Kuk.[1]
- Saddened by the poor reception of Bullet in the Head, he decided to return to a more commercially-appealing premise with Once a Thief (1991).[2]
- The film, a heist comedy starring Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, and Cherie Chung as three art thieves entangled with their crooked mentor, was shot in Nice and Hong Kong without a script.
- It turned a profit by earning over $33.3 million HKD at the box office,[3]
- Woo had mixed feelings about the movie, as he felt it was nonsensical at times due to the lack of proper planning.[4]
- Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times liked the balance of comedy with action along with the charismatic performances of the lead actors, stating that "Once a Thief may just be the dizziest yet endearing Hong Kong caper since Peking Opera Blues."[5]
- At the 11th Hong Kong Film Awards, it was nominated in four categories: Best Film, Best Director (Woo), Best Actor (Chow), and Best Editing (David Wu)[6]
Plot
editCast
editProduction
editConception
editWriting and development
editCasting
editFilming and post-production
editMusic
editDesign
editRelease
editContext
editBox office
editReception
editCritical response
editAccolades
editPost-release
editHome media
editOther media
editThematic analysis
editLegacy
editCultural influence
editCritical reassessment
editSequels and spin-offs
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ Stokes 2007a, p. 51.
- ^ Elder 2005
- ^ "縱橫四海 Once a thief". LCSD Museums Collection Search Portal. Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ Elder 2005
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (1994-01-14). "'Once a Thief' Pulls Off a Delightful Caper". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
- ^ "第11屆香港電影金像獎提名及得獎名單" [List of Nominees and Awardees of The 11th Hong Kong Film Awards]. Hong Kong Film Awards (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
Cited literature
edit- Elder, Robert K., ed. (2005). John Woo: Interviews. Conversations with Filmmakers Series. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-776-3. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Heard, Christopher (2000). Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo. Lone Eagle Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58065-021-2. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Stokes, Lisa Odham (2007a). "Chang, Terence Jia-tsun (Zhang Jiacun) (1949–)". Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5520-5. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Further reading
editExternal links
edit- Once a Thief at IMDb
- Once a Thief at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
- Once a Thief at AllMovie
- Once a Thief at Letterboxd
- Once a Thief at the TCM Movie Database