Du sheng (1990)

Directors:

Jeffrey Lau
Corey Yuen

Writer:

Jeffrey Lau (writer)

Release Date:

18 August 1990 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Plot:

A man discovers that his dumb, lovable nephew can see through objects and decides to unleash him into the world of gambling.

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Stephen Chow	...	Chow Sing Cho / 'The Saint of Gamblers' (as Sing-chi Chow)
Man Tat Ng	...	Blackie Tat (as Mang-tat Ng)
Sharla Cheung	...	Yee Mong / 'Beautiful Dream' (as Man Cheung)
Sandra Ng Kwan Yue	...	Ping (as Kwan-yue Ng)
Paul Chun	...	Wong Hung Kwong / 'The King of Gamblers' (as Pui Chun)
Wan-Yin Angelina Lo	...	Luk (as Yuen-yan Lo)
Corey Yuen	...	Fishy Shing (as Kwai Yuen)
Jeffrey Lau	...	Chung Chan (as Chun-wai Lau)
Yeung Ming Wan	...	Billy (as Yeung-ming Wan)
Sheila Chan	...	Ying (as Suk-lan Chan)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ka Sang Cheung	...	Killer (as Ka-sung Cheng)

Also Known As:

All for the Winner (International: English title)
Do sing (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Paragon Films Ltd.

Trivia:

Instead of doing a proper sequel, Stephen Chow took his "Gambling Saint" character into Wong Jing's God of Gamblers franchise for two subsequent features. The only true sequel/spin-off to All for the Winner is the film The Top Bet, which cast Anita Mui as Sing's sister. Stephen Chow had a minor cameo in that film.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Ga yau hei si 2009 (2009)

You win some, you lose some.

All for the Winner, a parody of the Chow Yun Fat movie God of Gamblers, was a huge hit in Asia, further cementing Stephen Chow's reputation as a sure-fire box-office success. Personally, I found the film rather tedious; Chow may have had them rolling in the aisles in Hong Kong, but I watched rather stony-faced, only really enjoying the occasional fight scene or high-octane shoot-out (courtesy of action director, Corey Yuen).

Chow plays Sing, a young man from the mainland, who travels to Hong Kong to stay with his uncle Tat (Man Tat Ng). When Tat discovers that Sing possesses supernatural powers, he tries to exploit them by taking him gambling. But Sing's success at the tables attracts the attention of two rival gamblers/gangsters, both of whom wish to take advantage of his mysterious talents…

I'm guessing that a lot of the movie's comedy was lost in translation (some particularly dodgy subtitles didn't help), since I didn't find it very funny; add to that my general indifference to the gambler genre and I suppose I wasn't destined to love this film as much as I had some of Chow's other offerings (King of Comedy is my favourite so far).

Corey Yuen's deft handling of the action sequences make the film a not entirely worthless viewing experience, but there just aren't enough of them. A few more high-kicking bullet-spraying scenes and I'd have been a much happier bunny.

After the worldwide success of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, Chow is at last receiving global recognition and I hope that future projects will be as accessible to an international audience as these were. It would be a shame to see Chow losing fans around the world due to his sometimes more baffling and distinctly Chinese 'humour'.