Once a Thief (1996 film)
Once a Thief is a remake of a 1991 film of the same name. Both films were directed by John Woo. The movie was also made into a 1997 television series also of the same name. The remake aired on the Fox Network and was hoped to be the beginning of a weekly series, but Fox passed on it, and the series aired instead on the CTV Television Network in Canada.
| Once a Thief | |
|---|---|
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| Written by | Glenn Davis William Laurin |
| Directed by | John Woo |
| Starring | Sandrine Holt Ivan Sergei Nicholas Lea |
| Music by | Amin Bhatia Michele Worth |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Terence Chang Glenn Davis Christopher Godsick Wendy Grean William Laurin John Woo |
| Cinematography | Bill Wong |
| Editor(s) | Bert Kish David Wu |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Distributor | Fox Network |
| Release | |
| Original release | September 29, 1996 |
Plot
The film is about two orphans - Mac Ramsey (Ivan Sergei) and Li Ann Tsei (Sandrine Holt) who have spent their life living with the Tang family - a ruthless Chinese organized crime syndicate. Mac and Li Ann were taken in by the Tang Godfather (Robert Ito) and have formed a close friendship with his son Michael (Michael Wong).
When they grow up, Li Ann is betrothed to Michael, but falls in love with Mac so the two scheme to steal money from the Tang family and run off to start a new life. During the heist, Mac is arrested and Li Ann flees to Canada. 18 months later, Mac is released into the charge of a menacing woman known only as the Director (Jennifer Dale) who takes him to Canada to work for her crime-fighting team. He soon realizes he will be working with Li Ann and her former cop boyfriend Victor (Nicholas Lea).
Cast
- Sandrine Holt as Li Ann Tsei
- Ivan Sergei as Mac Ramsey
- Nicholas Lea as Victor Mansfield
- Robert Ito as The Godfather
- Michael Wong as Michael Tang
- Alan Scarfe as Robertson Graves
- Jennifer Dale as The Director
- Nathaniel DeVeaux as Dobrinsky
- Greg Chan as Dance MC
- Young Ryu as Li Ann's Dance Partner
- Matthew Walker as Interpol Judge
- Paul Wu as Judge's Aide
- Phillip Tsui as Fong
- Derek Lowe as Mill Security Guard
TV series
The spin-off series ran for one season.