Once a Thief

Three orphans are raised together in Hong Kong by a crime boss who trains them in the art of stealing. As adults, Joe, Jim and Cherie have become skilled thieves specialising in valuable paintings, working as a tight-knit team. Cherie wants the trio to give up the criminal life and settle down, and her friends agree to pull off one last, lucrative job before walking away. The plan goes wrong, and the betrayal that follows turns their partnership into a struggle against the man who raised them.

Once a Thief is a 1991 Hong Kong action comedy directed by John Woo, the eighth of the twenty-two films listed in his directing career, arriving between Bullet in the Head and Hard Boiled. The screenplay is credited to Janet Chun, Clifton Ko Chi-Sum and John Woo, with Terence Chang and Linda Kuk Mei-Lai producing. Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung Cho-Hung lead the cast as the three thieves, alongside Paul Chu Kong, Kenneth Tsang and Fung Woo. The film combines caper plotting with action set pieces and comedy.

Its worldwide box office reached about four million dollars. Audience responses place it at 6.7 out of 10 on IMDb, based on roughly eight thousand votes, and 6.9 out of 10 on TMDB from a much smaller pool of under two hundred votes. A critics' rating of 6.5 out of 10 from eight reviews sits close to those audience scores, indicating generally comparable, moderate appreciation across viewers and reviewers.