Winner Takes All (1982: Wong Jing: Hong Kong)

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

"Do you think you are in a martial arts movie?" -- Fanny
"S.O.B. Disco" and "Smoke causes cancer so take L.S.D." -- authentic graffiti found in film

Some directors like Johnnie To seem to form a auteuristic style later in their career while some directors like Wong Jing seem to be fully formed when they first start directing. Winner Takes All, his second film as both a director and script writer, can easily be seen as a Wong Jing creation. The mahjong gambling scenes here and in his first film Challenge of the Gamesters (1981) are certainly precursors to God of Gamblers. He is an auteur in a way that Adam Sandler is or Michael Bay is. You may not like them, but there is certainly an authorial content to what they do even when they are creating populist entertainment that is not popular among critics. Wong paints his pictures in crowd-pleasing pastiche. He has been very successful.

In the prologue we witness a jewelry heist by Yiho clan ninjas. The head ninja leaves a red rose and a white glove as a calling card trying to pin the crime on the retired Thief of Thieves the dashing Shi Ka Lok (Patrick Tse Yin) and his family whose lineage dates back to the Water Margin. The white glove being a reference to the Pink Panther series and the rose being an homage to the Hong Kong film The Black Rose (1965: Chor Yuen) which, to add another cinematic connection, Patrick Tse Yin stars in. Shi is now a security consultant and is leading a straight life.

The Michael Hui influence is quite noticeable and there is probably a whole lot more homages than what I note below. The whole structure of the private investigators is directly out of The Private Eyes. You have a penny pinching owner (director Wong Jing) of Yeungs Private Detective agency with two assistants Kwan Yuan Cheung (Wong Yu) and Li Cha Bo (Robert Mak Tak-law) who do not like their egotistical boss and want to strike out on their own. What better way than to capture the culprit of the recent crimes.

Enter Mr. Miyamoto (Chen Kuan-tai) who has the Baseball Mark II-- the latest in impregnable vault systems. He also has hired the three ninjas for his International Security Group to do his evil bidding. His niece (Lau Yuk-pok) is suspicious of the way he obtained the company and enlists the help of Kwan to pose as her boyfriend and infiltrate to find out the truth. But what is Miyamoto up to, why is he always wearing gloves, why does he want to frame the Shi family and just who is the famous Flying Mouse (which they answer way too soon)? The two private detectives get themselves mixed up in all of this but without giving the gag away I bet you too would sympathize with the bad guys for wanting to kill Wong's character. If you have seen this, you know what I am alluding to.

Since Wong Yu is the star he is supposed to appear to be a better fighter than partner Robert "Dance King or Disco Bumpkins" Mak though with Mak's flexibility and ability to do forms (shapes) even in jest he looks better than Wong. Luckily Mak does get to do a dance scene in the film. However, the dual yo-yo fight scene with Wong is quite fun, if too short, and will want to be seen by martial art fans especially those who like esoteric weapons. Wong is doubled in the more difficult yo-yo scenes, but does do some of the tricks and the editing helps the illusion. The end fight scene overuses slow motion, is played serious, but at least you finally get to see Chen Kuan-tai fight with a special weapon.

When you are watching this you may ask yourself questions such as why do the vaults look exactly alike, why are the vaults so huge, how much material can Wong actually lift from Michael Hui or are oversized sunglasses actually funny? But given this is a Wong Jing film it is best not to think too much about cohesion, comprehension, toilet jokes or making sense. I tend to like his films more for scene specific gags, homages and characters than for the whole and this film have plenty of those moments. I am not going to forget Lo Lieh's insanely large wine glass, the secret hidden nipple buttons, the yo-yo fight or the mahjong of death playing robot (the 1950's era robot was a little stupid, but I am not going to forget it.) It has one of the better Cyrano de Bergerac gags. There are references to older films, classic literature (Wong Jing's degree was in classic Chinese literature), Bruce Lee and much more. It is a fun film with many hit-and-miss gags but they are done in an entertaining way. Now only if there was a better way to connect the scenes.

This was seen in the R3 IVL with mono Cantonese or Mandarin language track and English, Traditional Chinese subtitles. The English subtitles are good though some of the English dialog is off (yet again.) There is a new trailer for this film along with others for Hong Kong 73, A Friend From Inner Space, On The Wrong Track, Challenge Of The Gamesters. In the Movie Information section there is: Photo Gallery, Original Poster, Production Notes and Biography and Selected Filmography.

Tags:
Bruce Lee imitations, exploding darts, exploding excrement, gambling, jet packs, jewelry heist, mahjong, New World Tower, ninjas, nunchaku.

Questions:
The credit opening seems familiar. Is this a possible homage? Feel free to post any homage I have failed to mention.
Not counting the original music where is the non-original music lifted from?
Does anyone know the title of the book(s) Lau Yuk-pok (Liu Yu-Po) cowrote?

Trivia Notes:
While the subtitles do not write it correctly (Kwan Yuan Cheung and Tso Tso), the Cantonese dubbing does a Kwan Tak-hing and Sek Kin reference when the two are captured in the thieves house. I think the best use of this running cinematic gag, reminding me somewhat of the running gags between Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, has been in Aces Go Places IV (1986).
Wong Jing was influenced early on by Norman Jewison's The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and Jewison in general.
This film also uses stock footage. It took me awhile to remember and double check it was from The 14 Amazons (1972).

Sources:
KFC Thread: Not too much information, a couple of nice pics though.
Far East Films Review: It seems weird to think that this film was trying to emulate Aces Go Places when that movie just came out less than a month before and the opening credits have a copyright date of 1981. I know Wong Jing is fast, but not that fast.
5 Things to Love About Winner Takes All
The Black Rose from The Illuminated Lantern: I would love to see this film.
Hong Kong Cinemagic Interview (2007): Great interview of Wong Jing.
Wong Jing Biography HKFlim.net
Book: Planet Hong Kong 2[sup]nd[/sup] Edition by David Bordwell pgs. 109-113: The link above takes some material from here.

[RetroRobot]

Good review, Master....

I couldn't get through this... tried twice. It had some cool bits here and there, but there was just too much silliness for me.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Good review, Master....

I couldn't get through this... tried twice. It had some cool bits here and there, but there was just too much silliness for me.

Thanks.

I understand that. Going into it knowning it is a Wong Jing film helps. The last half increases the action (the ending is not a good action scene, describing it too much is a spoiler for a few reasons, but the short yo-yo fight scene is good for comedic action), but going into thinking Shaw Brothers action will definitely hurt a watch of it. Think mo-lei-tau with a liberal dash of Michael Hui.

Of course Wong hurts himself by his hurried pace, though I do not know here how much of it is him and how much it is the Shaw Brothers factory attitude. Later he would keep that pace and never spend too much time on his films with varying results.

What Wong Jing films do you like?

[RetroRobot]

Of his directed ones I like these to various degrees. God of Gamblers and The Last Blood would probably both be in my top 5 of all time HK movies, if someone put a gun to my head and made me do one.

Mercenaries From Hong Kong
Magic Crystal
Casino Raiders
God Of Gamblers
Crocodile Hunter
The Big Score
The Last Blood
Last Hero in China
Return to a Better Tomorrow
High Risk
A True Mob Story
My Schoolmate the Barbarian
Colour of the Truth
Moving Targets
I Corrupt All Cops

Of course he also had a hand in tons of other flicks I like, whether it be producer, writer or whatever.

[RetroRobot]

oops, forgot Challenge of the Gamesters, and Casino Tycoon 1 and 2 also had their moments. I guess I could be labelled a Wong Jing fan.... if you had to get absolutely technical

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

oops, forgot Challenge of the Gamesters, and Casino Tycoon 1 and 2 also had their moments. I guess I could be labelled a Wong Jing fan.... if you had to get absolutely technical

I knew a couple of his films you would mention. I too am fond of several on there and nice to see My Schoolmate the Barbarian. I think Wong often has his moments, just not always for the whole film. I have disliked some of his animal abuse moments (though still nothing like Louis Malle or Sam Peckinpah with animals since those two it was not faked.)

[RetroRobot]

I think Wong often has his moments, just not always for the whole film.

Very true. The ones I like that I listed are the ones where the good outweigh the bad. that's usually how it goes with him.... and many other HK directors for that matter.