''The Conman'' is a 1998 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by

Wong Jing Wong Jing ( born 3 May 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, actor, presenter, and screenwriter. A prolific filmmaker with strong instincts for crowd-pleasing and publicity, Wong Jing played a prominent role in Hong Kong cinema duri ...

and starring

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

Athena Chu Athena Chu (born 25 October 1971) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Zixia Fairy in ''A Chinese Odyssey'' (1995). Early life and education On 25, October 1971, Chu was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Her father was ...

and

Nick Cheung Nick Cheung Ka-fai (; born 2 December 1964) is a Hong Kong actor, singer and director. Background He was formerly a Royal Hong Kong Police officer for four years, but he left the job after his request to be transferred to the criminal investigat ...

. Despite the Chinese title, which translates as ''Knight of Gamblers 1999'', Andy Lau does not reprise his role as the "Knight of Gamblers" from the ''

God of Gamblers ''God of Gamblers'' (; lit. ''God of Gambling'') is a 1989 Hong Kong action comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Jing featuring an all-star cast led by Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau, Joey Wong and Sharla Cheung. Plot Ko Chun is a world-fa ...

'' series, which was also directed by Wong Jing. The film was followed by a sequel, ''

The Conmen in Vegas ''The Conmen in Vegas'' is a 1999 Hong Kong action comedy film produced, written and directed by Wong Jing and is a sequel to the 1998 film '' The Conman''. The film stars original returning cast members Andy Lau and Nick Cheung with new cast m ...

'', in which Lau and Cheung return with new cast members

Natalis Chan Natalis "Nat" Chan (born 3 December 1950 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong television host, film actor, singer and producer. Besides his duties as a variety show host, he has also been a horse racing commentator and horse trainer. In total, his hor ...

Kelly Lin Kelly Lin or Lin Hsi-Lei () is a Taiwanese actress and model who has appeared mainly in Hong Kong films. Biography Lin was born in Taiwan in 1973. She moved to Santa Barbara, California with her family at the age of 12. She graduated from the U ...

, Meggie Yu and

Alex Man Alex Man Chi-leung () is a Golden Horse Award-winning Hong Kong actor. Born in Hong Kong to Hakka parents, Alex Man became a television actor for ATV in the 1970s. He joined TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television bro ...

Plot

When King stays overnight at his mistress' place, his pregnant wife Fanny discovers them and Fanny sadly leaves King. One time King and his assistant, Chung, were gambling cards with Chimney and Chimney finds out that they were secretly videotaping him, they start to fight. King kills Chimney with a knife in self-defense, and himself is left colorblind. While in prison for the manslaughter, King learns horse racing skills. Five years later King is released from prison, and a small-time gambler, Dragon, who always worshipped King, greets him when King's friend Uncle Leng tells Dragon to pick him up. King and Dragon become partners and make money together from horse racing. King also meets Dragon's younger sister, Ching. King discovers that Ching's fiancé, Raymond, is a swindler who lies about going to college in the United States, and cheats women out of their money. With help from Dragon and Rocky (whom King beat in billiards, and is later mentored by King), King stages a plan where they make Raymond think that he killed King forcing him to flee to Cambodia. After King helps Ching, he wins her love. At the same time, King is also looking for Fanny and his son. One day Rocky brings King to Macau Mon's gambling cruise boat and King is recognized by Handsome, who is Chimney's younger brother. On the boat, King also sees Chung, who lied to him by saying that after he went to prison, Fanny committed suicide by jumping off a building. When King finds Chung's residence, he finds out that after he went to prison, Fanny was taken care by Chung and his son Little King now lives with Chung. Later, when King is playing with his son, they encounter Handsome, who is seeking revenge and causes Little King to be injured and hospitalized. Handsome also kidnaps Fanny and Chung and blackmails King to help him get rid of his own boss Macau Mon. Macau Mon has invested a large number of stakes bet on the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

for the French team to win, and as long as they can create an image of the Brazilian Team winning during the time when several experts are gambling with cards, it will give Macau Mon a heart attack and allow Handsome to replace his medicine with poisoned water. After suffering from a big blow, King becomes depressed but is consoled by Ching. In order to save Fanny and Chung, King and Dragon hire an adult film director, Squirrel, to film some fake footage of the World Cup. After completing this, King decides to fulfill Ching's wish of traveling to Europe together and meets her at the bus station the next day. On the night of the World Cup final, King, Handsome, Winning Gary and Macau Mon are gambling cards while watching the live broadcast of the World Cup in which they bet on (King bets on Brazil while Macau Mon bets on France). At the same time on the other side, in order to create a false game screen performance of the horse cross to stimulate Macau Mon, they take the footage filmed by Squirrel which features anchor Lam Seung-wai and Dragon pretending as Ronaldo and other players to intersperse with the real broadcast. In the end, Brazil wins three to two against France, but in reality, France wins 3–0 against Brazil. After seeing this, Macau Mon suffers from a heart attack and dies. Just when Handsome thinks Macau Mon's casino belongs to him and is ready to get rid of King, Macau Mon unexpectedly stands behind him and points a gun at him. It turns out that during the card game, King gave a two of spades card to Macau Mon telling him the water is poisoned in order to help him. Macau Mon shoots and kills Handsome. In the end, King goes to the bus station the next morning to wait for Ching but King was unexpectedly run over by Dragon who was in a hurry.

Cast

as King *

as Ching *

as Dragon *

Waise Lee Waise Lee Chi-hung (born 19 December 1959) is a Hong Kong film and television actor best known for playing the roles of villains and antagonists in various films. Biography Lee graduated from TVB's Artist Training Academy in 1982 and was from the ...

as Handsome *

Jack Kao Jack Kao (, born 23 April 1958) is a Taiwanese actor. Career He began his career in the late 1980s films of Hou Hsiao-hsien. Kao credits his success to the many real-life gangsters he knew when he was young. He appeared in '' City of Sadness'' ...

as Macau Mon *

Angie Cheung Angie Cheong Wai-yee is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian Chinese actress. She won the Miss Chinese Malaysia in 1992 and went to Hong Kong to compete for the Miss Chinese International in 1993. After that, she signed a contract with the Hong Kong ...

as Fanny *Emotion Cheung as Chung *

Bonnie Law Bonnie Law (September 11, 1968 – May 27, 2016) was a Hong Kong actress and singer. She was best known for her role in the 1984 Hong Kong comedic film, ''Happy Ghost'', opposite Raymond Wong. ''Happy Ghost'' marked her film debut at the age of 15 ...

as King's mistress * Lee Siu-kei as Winner Gary *Frankie Ng as Rocky *Karel Wong as Eastwood *Ben Ng as Bad Temper / Chimney *

as Squirrel *

Lam Sheung Yee Spencer Lam Sheung Yee (; 14 December 1934 – 23 April 2009) was a football defender, coach and announcer, as well as an actor. Spencer was a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong with an economics major. He was once a second ...

as Lam Seung-wai *Alan Man as Raymond Chou *Yeung Kin-wai as Angela *Wong Kam-tong as Uncle Leng *

Aman Chang Aman Chang (張敏) is a Hong Kong film director. Filmography *'' Raped by an Angel 2: The Uniform Fan'' (1998) *'' Raped by an Angel 3: Sexual Fantasy of the Chief Executive'' (1998) *''Sex and Zen III'' (1998) *''Fist Power ''Fist Power'' i ...

as man in toilet *John Cheung as cop *Gary Mak as cruise gambler *Johnny Cheung as Bad Temper's gangster *So Wai-nam as Bad Temper's gangster *Eddie Che as Handsome's gangster *Vincent Chik as Handsome's gangster *Chow Man-sing as Handsome's gangster *Tam Tin-po as woman in advertisement *Yu Ka-ho

Box office

The film grossed HK$17,369,190 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 18 December 1998 to 19 January 1999 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Award nominations

* 18th Hong Kong Film Awards **Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (

)

External links

* *
The Conman
' at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The websi ...

*
''The Conman'' film review
at LoveHKFilm.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Conman 1998 films 1998 action comedy films Hong Kong action comedy films Films about con artists Gambling films 1990s Cantonese-language films China Star Entertainment Group films Films directed by Wong Jing Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong 1990s Hong Kong films

Plot

Cast

Box office

Award nominations

See also

External links