Once a Thief (1991) Zong heng si hai (original title)

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

John Woo (screenplay)
John Woo (story)
(more)

Release Date:

14 January 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

They only stop to reload.

Plot:

A romantic and action packed story of three best friends, a group of high end art thieves, who come into trouble when a love-triangle forms between them.

Plot Keywords:

Art | Painting | Thief | Wheelchair | Gun Fu

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Red Bean Pudding (Joe) (as Chow Yun Fat)
Leslie Cheung	...	James (Jim)
Cherie Chung	...	Red Bean (Cherie)
Kong Chu	...	Chu / Godfather
Kenneth Tsang	...	Chow / Dad
Fung Woo		(as Fung Wu)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cheung-Tak Hung	...	Chow's henchman
Leila Tong	...	Red Bean
Declan Wong	...	Magician Henchman
John Woo	...	Stanley Wu (uncredited)
David Wu	...	Auctioneer (uncredited)

Directed by
John Woo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Janet Chun
Clifton Ko
John Woo		screenplay
John Woo		story

Produced by
Terence Chang	....	producer
Amy Chin	....	associate producer
Linda Kuk	....	producer

Original Music by
Man Yee Lam		(as Violet Lam)

Cinematography by
Hang-Sang Poon
William Yim

Film Editing by
David Wu

Production Design by
Fanny Leung

Art Direction by
James Leung

Costume Design by
Shirley Chan

Production Management
Daniel Baschieri	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Catherine Joubé	....	first assistant director: second unit
Patrick Leung	....	assistant director
Sylvia Liu	....	second assistant director
Chung-Kan Tang	....	assistant director

Art Department
Catherine Leighton	....	assistant property master
Hsi-jen Yang	....	props

Special Effects by
Bruce Law	....	special effects supevisor: Hong Kong

Stunts
Jim Dunn	....	stunt performer
Jim Dunn	....	stunts
Max Garnier	....	stunt driver
Rémy Julienne	....	car stunts
Philip Kwok	....	action coordinator (as Chin-feng Kwok)
Bruce Law	....	car stunt coordinator: Hong Kong
Bruce Law	....	stunt coordinator: fire sequences and body burns: Hong Kong
Bruce Law	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Pui-Chi Lam	....	electrician
Gam-Fai Lee	....	electrician
Wing Lok Lee	....	assistant camera
Lin Yau Tsou	....	assistant camera
Wai-Keung Tung	....	lighting technician

Editorial Department
Chan-kuen Pang	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Patrick Boshart	....	location scout
Heung-Yeung Tsim	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Golden Princess Film Production Limited
• John Woo Film Production
• Milestone Pictures

Distributors

• Golden Princess Amusement Company (1991) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• STAR TV Filmed Entertainment (1993) (worldwide) (all media) (copyright holder)
• Cinema Mondo (Finland)
• Highlight Video (Germany) (VHS)
• Hong Kong Legends (2001) (UK) (DVD)
• Joy Sales Film and Video Distributors (2006) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Manga Films (Spain)
• Reserva Especial (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Rim (1994) (USA) (subtitled)

Special Effects

• Unlimited Effects Ltd.

Other Companies

• Chevalier (OA)  thanks
• Cinema City Recording Studio  sound re-recording
• Cinerent  equipment provided by
• Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club  thanks
• DHL  thanks
• David Chan Company  thanks
• Hagemeyer  thanks
• Harbour Centre  thanks
• Hong Kong PHAB Centre  thanks
• Hop Shing Loong Lighting  thanks
• International Subtitle Co.  subtitles
• Kodak  film supplied by: France scenes
• Kwun Kee Tailor Shop  thanks
• Laboratoires Éclair  film processing: France scenes
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  film processing
• Master Facsimile  thanks
• Master Victory Investment  thanks
• Milan Motors  thanks
• Podia International  thanks
• Sound Wave Film Post Production  sound post-production
• Telecom Service  thanks
• Toshiba  thanks
• Towereed  thanks
• V.D.S. Transport  thanks
• Wellcome  thanks
• YSK  thanks
• Yau Yat Chuen Garden City Club  thanks

Also Known As:

"Zong heng si hai" - Hong Kong (original title)
"Letters to Wolves" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

French | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 | New Zealand:RP13 | South Korea:12 | UK:15 (cut) | Australia:M | UK:15 (video re-rating) (uncut) (2004) | Ireland:15 | Singapore:PG | Iceland:16 | USA:R | Malaysia:U | Hong Kong:II

Filming Locations:

Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Golden Princess Film Production Limited

Trivia:

The time elapsed between the first day of shooting and the first public screening of the finished film was ten weeks.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Joe and Cherie are driving behind the truck, that is transporting the paintings (including their marked one), you can clearly see the rope holding the car of Joe and Cherie close to the truck during the stunt scene.

Quotes:

Red Bean:I want to live somewhere peaceful, that isn't at war.
Red Bean Pudding:Iraq? There's no war in Iraq. Or go to heaven, they have clean air!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Big Hit (1998)

Typical Hong Kong action comedy

Chow Yun Fat's one of a trio of art thieves who grew up together on the city streets. Bought up by a harsh criminal mentor, they find kindness from the local bobby. As adults they pull off seemingly impossible heists, but find themselves double-crossed by their mentor and determine to get revenge.

This is a typical Hong Kong action-comedy – although perhaps not the kind of typical John Woo film we're used to in the West. When it focuses exclusively on action set-pieces it's pretty spectacular; when combining action with comedy it's fitfully successful, but when trying to be funny in its own right it's a complete stinker. The storyline would never get green-lighted in the States, but it's entertaining enough. It might have been even more enjoyable had anyone bothered to write half-way decent subtitles, but as usual we get the kind of stuff a twelve-year-old would write.