Once a Thief, But Always a Badass
Once a Thief is a 1991 action comedy film directed by John Woo, starring Chow Yun-fat and Leslie Cheung, and is one of the softer, more light-hearted output from Chow Yun-fat's and John Woo's various collaborations.
Three orphans, Joe (Chow Yun-fat), James (Leslie Cheung) and Cherie (Cherie Chung), are raised by crime lord and triad leader Boss Chow (Kenneth Tsang), who trained the trio since young to be his lackeys in heist and assassination operations. But after an assignment in France involving recovering an insanely valuable painting of a princess from a castle guarded by the European mafia - goes wrong, with Joe seemingly killed in the process, James realizes he has feelings for Cherie upon returning to Hong Kong, but the triads under Boss Chow aren't willing to let them leave so easily.
Got a 1996–98 TV series adaptation (also directed by Woo), starring Michael Wong and Sandrine Holt. Not to be confused with the 1950 film noir starring Cesar Romero and June Havoc, or the 1965 heist film starring Alain Delon and Ann-Margret.
Once a Thief provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Well, abusive step-parent. Boss Chow may have taken the trio of main characters as children and raised them since young, but he frequently abuses them and berates them for failing him, besides demanding for them to go on dangerous assignments for him.
- Babies Ever After: At the end of the movie, James and Cherie are happily married with two children, and Joe gets to become the Honorary Uncle and babysitter.
- Badass Biker: James, who cruises around on a motorcycle and kicks plenty of ass while riding.
- Bad Boss: Boss Chow, besides treating the trio like crap, also demands complete loyalty from his mooks, using his Uzi to force two thugs to retrieve the priceless painting which had an electrical booby-trap installed on it.
- Big Fancy Castle: The priceless painting that Joe and James have to retrieve is hidden in the center of a huge castle owned by the European mafia, where the duo have to infiltrate to retrieve it.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Boss Chow, before the final shootout, gunning James' pistol out of his hand.
- Booby Trap: One scene in the final shootout had James booby-trapping a microwave oven with a basketball in its front, before tricking a few thugs to come at him. The oven's resulting explosion kills off the whole bunch of thugs, and the flaming basketball whacks one of them through a nearby window.
- Bulletproof Vest: Joe had one of these on during the climax, which allows him to survive when Boss Chow tries to eliminate him in a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness moment.
- Death Dealer: During the finale, one of Boss Chow's Mook Lieutenant which Joe ends up facing is an expert magician which can throw poker cards with deadly accuracy, using cards to slice apart objects with ease.
- Destination Defenestration: More than one henchman in the finale ends up being kicked or flung out of windows, balconies, or into furniture in Boss Chow's mansion.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: During the chase sequence in the French countryside, every car involved in the chase tends to explode upon overturning.
- Guns Akimbo: This may be one of John Woo's lightest and least violent output, but it's still a John Woo film, so that's a given.
- Handicapped Badass: Subverted with Joe, who appears to lose both functions of his legs after the accident in France and has to spend much of the movie in a wheelchair; it turns out he's only faking his injury and both his legs are perfectly functional.
- Human Ladder: In the climax, two of Boss Chow's mooks climb atop each other to retrieve the priceless painting.
- Human Shield: James briefly used a thug to absorb Uzi fire directed at him in the climax.
- Improvised Weapon: Joe uses a fishing rod in the finale to knock pistols out of some goon's hands, and beats up the whole bunch of goons using the rod single-handedly. Including toying with the last goon until he passed out.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to John Woo's previous films, notably A Better Tomorrow or The Killer (1989).
- Man on Fire: The Death Dealer Mook Lieutenant goes out in this way after Joe spills an entire bottle of paint thinner on him just as he's trying to intimidate Joe with his flash-fire gadget.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: The penultimate confrontation ends with Joe setting fire to the priceless mafia painting right in front of an incapacitated Boss Chow, leaving Boss Chow a cripple with the painting ultimately belonging to nobody.
- Obfuscating Disability: Joe is not crippled at all, and is faking his necessity of moving around in a wheelchair.
- Oddball in the Series: A John Woo and Chow Yun-fat joint output... which is an action-romance film. You don't see that all the time do you?
- Oh, Crap!: One thug during the night heist scene, who dodges a projectile Joe hurled at him by leaping into the nearby vault.... which is filled with C4. Said thug lands his foot on a trigger by the way, resulting in this look on his face before blowing himself up into dust.
- Playing with Fire: The Mook Lieutenant, besides being a devil with throwing cards, can also create instant flash-fires through a hidden gadget under his sleeves, which he uses to menace Joe in their confrontation. Ultimately this leads to him being Hoist by His Own Petard, when Joe throws up a bottle of paint thinner back into him, causing him to roast himself alive.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Joe is assumed to be dead after crashing his car in France, but shows up in Hong Kong later, alive, although crippled in a wheelchair. And then its further revealed that he's faking his crippling injury as well, and can walk fine without his wheelchair!
- Shot in the Ass: One unfortunate mook gets his anus pumped full of lead by James' shotgun in the ending shootout.
- Sticky Bomb: Joe uses one of these in the vault scene, throwing an explosive device at a thug coming at him. Said thug quickly headbutts the explosive aside, only for the explosive to get stuck on his forehead. BOOM.
- Taking You with Me: Subverted, Joe appears to, in a last-ditch move, crash his car into a boat containing enemy thugs, blowing up both vehicles in a massive explosion, but it turns out Joe actually survives the aftermath.
- Underside Ride: James clings to the bottom of the mafia's transportation truck during a heist scene, with Joe and Cherie tailing in a vehicle behind him.
- Unexplained Recovery: Cool as the plot twist is, it's still completely handwaved how Joe actually survived a vehicle explosion... one he's explicitly in the middle of. Without a scratch.
