Du shen (1989)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Jing Wong

Writer:

Jing Wong (writer)

Release Date:

14 December 1989 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A master gambler loses his memory, and is befriended by a street hustler who discovers his supernatural gambling abilities.

Plot Keywords:

Gambler | Gambling | Cult Favorite | Gambling Syndicate | Chocolate

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ko Chun / 'The God of Gamblers' (as Chow Yun Fat)
Andy Lau	...	Michael Chan / Little Knife / Dagger
Joey Wang	...	Jane
Fong Lung	...	Ko Yee (as Lung Fong)
Fui-On Shing	...	Kau
Charles Heung	...	Lung Wu / 'Dragon'
Sharla Cheung	...	Janet (as Man Cheung)
Man Tat Ng	...	Brother Shing
Hon Lam Bau	...	Chan Kam-Shing
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dennis Chan	...	Doctor
Lap Ban Chan	...	Knife's grandmother
Michael Chow Man-Kin	...	Casino Manager
Ching-Ho Law	...	Skinny
Michiko Nishiwaki	...	Ko Chun's female Yakuza opponent
Maggie Blue O'Hara	...	Betty (voice: English version)
Yasuyoshi Shikamura
Jing Wong	...	John in Bordello
Ronald Wong	...	Crawl
Sen Wong	...	Jane's Father
Tse Lin Yang	...	Nam (as Chak Lam Yeung)
Shangguang Yu	...	Jane's Mother

Also Known As:

Dao san (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
God of Gamblers (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | UK:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | USA:R

Company:

Win's Movie Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

This movie started a new wave of Chinese gambling movies.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Yee and Ko Chun are in the hospital, Ko Chun has a large, circular blood stain on his head bandage. But when Knife breaks in, the blood stain is smaller and changes shape.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Du xia da zhan Lasi Weijiasi (1999)

Soundtrack:

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Playing cards, guns and chocolate

Do you play the gamble?

While the British release is marred by terrible subtitles, this is still a great film. It isn't John Woo-style action all the way, but has so cool gambling, and John Woo playing a character who isn't just an action hero, but becomes an idiot, obsessed with chocolate.

And, regardless of everything else, the entire film is made near-perfect by the character of Dragon, the bodyguard of the God of Gamblers. He's the man we all would like to be.

If you like gambling, Honk Kong movies, or Chow Yun Fat, give it a try... you may like it...