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Rich And Famous
1997
A gambling debt gone awry now has Yung (Alex Man) running for his life. In desperation, he turns to triad leader Lee Ah-Chai (Chow Yun-Fat, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) for money, protection and employment for himself, his sister and stepbrother Kwok (Andy Lau). Things looking pretty good for a while in this rags-to-riches .. Read more
| Starring | Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee, Andy Lau |
|---|---|
| Director | Taylor Wong |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
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Rich And Famous
A gambling debt gone awry now has Yung (Alex Man) running for his life. In desperation, he turns to triad leader Lee Ah-Chai (Chow Yun-Fat, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) for money, protection and employment for himself, his sister and stepbrother Kwok (Andy Lau). Things looking pretty good for a while in this rags-to-riches story, but eventually resentment and greed divide the brothers and Yung soon strays from the fold and goes to work for Lee Ah-Chai's gang rival. Soon Yung is pitted against both his own flesh and blood and the man who saved his life.
| Starring | Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee, Andy Lau |
|---|---|
| Director | Taylor Wong |
| Studio | MIA VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT LTD |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 30 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
| Language | Cantonese, Chinese |
| Released | DVD: 15 Sep 2003 Production year: 1997 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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The last film from the great womens' director George Cukor is a disappointingly ho-hum remake of 1943's Old Acquaintance. Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen step into roles Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins made their own, as childhood friends who become rivals in their writing careers and in love. Playing spot the celeb offers more entertaining diversion than their tiresome jealous, bitchy confrontations or Bisset's crisis with a younger lover. Teenaged Meg Ryan, cute as a button, makes her film debut as Bergen's daughter; guests glimpsed in two party scenes include playboy film-maker Roger Vadim, and writers Christopher Isherwood and Ray Bradbury.
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Considering neither Bisset nor Bergen had ever shown the slightest acting ability before in movies, their performances... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
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Extremely dubious dubbing, poorly acted and lacking in storyline and decent martial arts as well. Stay clear.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Hollywood inspired crime thriller!
This film borrows liberally from Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather and Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in America (interestingly, Leone was originally called upon to be the director for The Godfather) as one may find with this being a period crime thriller involving betrayal (particularly amongst relatives) which takes place over a series of decades (complete with a wedding assassination sequence, which to be honest is fairly gripping and engaging as we feel involved with the characters despite not getting to know that much about them -
only the problems they're dealing with and certain character traits they possess).
In the book Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions, Stephen Teo had noted Once Upon A Time in America as a direct inspiration for the heroic bloodshed/crime thrillers that came out of Hong Kong in the 80s (starting with Johnny Mak's {the producer of this film} Long Arm of the Law). Johnny has been well known to be more like Tsui Hark (interfering with a director's work) so it's likely he directed some scenes in this film).
Rich & Famous is hardly one of Chow Yun Fat's best films but it contains a great performance from him which makes this worth watching. It was nice seeing some familiar character actors and big names like Andy Lau and Danny Lee.
The story could have been more developed for the segments involving the protagonists' youths (their motivations, the causes for those motivations and where it takes them) as well as their lives before entering the lifestyle of the Triads. We also could have seen more of their experiences within the Triad lifestyle and how it's changed them (the original Hong Kong trailer shows scenes not seen in this film so this could have been a film of epic length like its American inspirations).
Alex Man delivers a very good performance as an initially amiable friend who turns downright rotten - he's realistically sinister. Alan Lau deserves some kudos for his performance as a loyal campanion who's torn between his bonds with Alex and Chow.
There's not as much action as there is in the sequel, Tragic Hero, though what's in here is decent enough entertainment if somewhat unrealistic (you wouldn't believe how people fight, let alone survive, after receiving a fatal amount of wounds) which makes Woo's work appear to be a semi-stylistic form of documentary-style realism.
Chow offers a variation on what he was well known for in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow. In that film, he held two pistols in both hands directly in front of him as he was firing away (a familiar icon which has been ripped off left, right and center). In this film, he holds two machine guns in both hands but with each hand crossed over the over so that he can take on adversaries from less-than-linear directions.
Whilst this film has better production design (i.e. props and sets) than A Better Tomorrow (though the soundtrack is slightly cheap save for a few moments), it's certainly no classic and it just about manages to be accepted & classified as a good film if not a very good one. -
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Rich And Famous
A gambling debt gone awry now has Yung (Alex Man) running for his life. In desperation, he turns to triad leader Lee Ah-Chai (Chow Yun-Fat, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) for money, protection and employment for himself, his sister and stepbrother Kwok (Andy Lau). Things looking pretty good for a ...
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