Once a Thief (1991)
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, (more)
- Director(s):
- John Woo
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R
- Format(s):
- DVD
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Synopsis of Once a Thief
For this 1991 action comedy from Hong Kong, director John Woo took a break from his ultraviolent thrillers; it was made a year after Bullet in the Head, and a year before Hard-Boiled. Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, and Cherie Chung portray a trio of orphans who have grown to become art thieves. When their foster father (Kenneth Tsang), a powerful crime boss, forces them into stealing a painting, they pull off the job but are double-crossed. To get even, the trio plans a heist to steal the painting back. The three lead characters are funny and romantic; they're daring art thieves in the tradition of "The Cat" from To Catch a Thief or The Pink Panther, and the film evokes the same cosmopolitan feel. Once a Thief is far less bloody than Woo's gangster pictures, but in this film, the burglary sequences possess all the astounding grace of his other films' gunfights. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 104 mins
Complete Cast of Once a Thief
- Director(s):
- John Woo
- Writer(s):
- John Woo
- Producer(s):
- Terence Chang, Linda Kuk
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R(Questionable for Children, Violence, Adult Situations)
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