''Shanghai Grand'', also known as ''Shanghai Grand 1996'' to differentiate this film from the more illustrious 1980 television series of the same Chinese title, is a 1996 Hong Kong action

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

film directed by Poon Man-kit 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 ...

Leslie Cheung Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...

, and

Ning Jing Ning Jing (; born April 27, 1972) is a Chinese actress and singer. She is best known for playing Milan in ''In the Heat of the Sun'' (1994), Danzhu in '' Red River Valley'' (1997), Angel in '' Lover's Grief over the Yellow River'' (1999) and Emp ...

. This film was directed by Poon Man-kit and produced by

Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as '' Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...

and his production company Film Workshop. It is a loose adaptation of the 1980 television series ''The Bund'' in many respects, even though it was done by narrating the action in three segments, each featuring the main characters of the film.

was cast as Hui Man-keung, the original protagonist of ''The Bund'', while

was cast as the film's protagonist - Hui's close friend Ting Lik, a well-meaning but somewhat naive triad leader who was not amused when Hui fell in love with the same girl as the one of his affections.

played their love interest Fung Ching-ching. The story was set in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

during the

Republican era Republican Era can refer to: * Minguo calendar, the official era of the Republic of China It may also refer to any era in a country's history when it was governed as a republic or by a Republican Party. In particular, it may refer to: * Roman Rep ...

, when the city was dominated by triads shortly before it was occupied by the Japanese in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

Plot

Hui Man-keung (

), an agent the Taiwan People's League participates in fighting against Japanese invaders with his fellow comrades. While on their ship back to Taiwan, they were ambushed by the Japanese troops (with the help of a traitor), who want the list of all the nationalists. Hui becomes seriously injured in a gunfight with the Japanese and falls in the water, and ends up in

and is found by Ting Lik (

), a young, low-class labourer but dreams being a powerful triad leader. Ting takes Hui back to his home while confiscating the latter's revolver. Ting has a crush on major triad leader Fung King-yiu's ( Wu Hsing-kuo) daughter, Fung Ching-ching (

), and purchases two film tickets of ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

'' for her and her teacher, Man-lai ( Amanda Lee). However, rival triad leader Shorty Chiu attempts to abduct Ching-ching and Ting rescues her and beats up Chiu and trapping him under a truck. This angers Wing, Chiu's boss and leader of the Axe Gang, who sets Ting's house on fire and demands Ting to settle the score in person. Hui saves Ting's mother from the fire and Ting befriends him and promises to take him under his wing while returning him his revolver. Ting and Hui meet with Wing, but they were held with axes to them by Wing's underlings. Wing chops off Ting's right pinky, but Ting's friend, gives Hui his revolver from outside the window and Hui shoots Wing. Together, Ting and Hui kill Wing's underlings before pushing Wing out the window falling to his death. Fung's butler, Uncle Lau (Lau Shun), bribes the police to prevent Ting and Hui's arrest and Fung puts Ting in charge of Wing's territories and Ting rises up as an influential triad leader in Shanghai. Ting becomes more and more ambitious and kills another triad leader and the police chief while also expresses his love for Ching-ching and wins Fung's approval. At this time, Ting unexpectedly finds Hui and Ching-ching showering together at the former's home. It turns out Hui and Ching-ching met during the summer last year in Northeast China while the former was being chased by the Japanese and had a brief romance but he did not know her name and was shocked she was the woman who Ting was in love with. It turns while Ting was writing love letters to Ching-ching, Lai-man was pretending to be Ching-ching writing letters to Ting and is in love with him. Before reuniting with Ching-ching, Hui notices Man-lai's

cheongsam ''Cheongsam'' (, ), also known as the ''qipao'' () and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the , the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often s ...

being similar to a Japanese female assassin (Almen Wong) who tried to kill on the ship earlier which leads him to a clothing shop where he is ambushed by the said assassin and some henchmen. Hui kills several henchmen in a gunfight before fleeing with Ching-ching to his home where Ting encounters them. Hui tries to explain his relationship with Ching-ching to Ting, but Ting rebuts him. Hui says he will leave Shanghai with Ching-ching once he settles his business and Ting warns him to take care of Ching-ching or he will kill him. At the time, other members of the People's League find Hui and suspects him to be a traitor due to the incident on the ship, but Hui claims to know who the traitor is and persuades them to give him chance to kill the traitor and avenge their comrades. Fung arranges Ting to meet with a business partner, which is actually a trap for his assassin (the Japanese female assassin who tried to kill Hui) to kill Ting as Fung thinks Ting is too ambitious and sees him as a threat. The assassin attempts to strangle Ting with a phyton snake, but Ting shocks the snake with a chandelier, causing it strangles the assassin instead. At this time, Fung also invites Hui to his mansion where Hui recognizes Fung as the traitor at the ship. Fung also discovers Hui's true identity and orders his henchmen to kill him, but Hui ends up killing Fung instead while Ching-ching goes insane after witnessing it. Uncle Lau pleads Ting to care for Ching-ching as well as avenging Fung as everyone in Shanghai is fighting to kill Hui. Ting arranges a meeting with Hui in his bar on New Years Eve where Ting tells Hui the latter broke his promise to take care of Ching-ching. Right after countdown, the two engage in a Mexican standoff with Ting on the upper hand as Hui was shooting blanks as he wanted to repay his "debt" to Ting. Ting also intentionally misses shooting at vital organs and arranges Hui to safely leave Shanghai. Ting walks out his bar and tells Fung's former underlings he has killed Hui, which is overhead by a People's League agent (

Jung Woo-sung Jung Woo-sung (born March 20, 1973) is a South Korean actor and the first Korean UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Jung started his career as a fashion model, rising to stardom and teenage cult status with the gangster movie '' Beat'' (1997), for which ...

), who shoots Ting dead before he himself was gunned down by Ting's underlings.

Cast

as Ting Lik (丁力), an ambitious labourer who dreams of being a major triad leader. After killing Axe Gang leader Boss Wing, he reaches his dreams and rises up as a powerful triad leader, gaining fame and fortune. *

as Hui Man-keung (許文強), an agent of the Taiwan People's League (台灣民族同盟會) who is determined to eliminate Japanese troops who intend to invade China. *

as Fung Ching-ching (馮程程), daughter of Shanghai's biggest crime lord, Fung King-yiu, and object of affection for Ting and Hui, although she is in love with the latter. * Wu Hsing-kuo as Fung King-yiu (馮敬堯), Shanghai's most powerful crime lord who is a traitor for the Japanese. * Lau Shun as Uncle Lau (柳叔), Fung's butler. * Amanda Lee as Lai-man (麗文老師), Ching-ching's personal teacher who has a crush on Ting. * Almen Wong as a Japanese female assassin who works for Fung. * Chan Kin-yat as "Shorty" Chiu (矮仔超), a cocky triad leader who looks down on Ting and belittles him. *

as an agent of theTaiwan People's League. *

Lee Kin-yan Lee Kin-yan (; born 12 May 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, who frequently makes comic cameo appearances in Stephen Chow's films, as a cross-dressing man with a finger up his nose known as Yu Fa (Chinese: 如花; Cantonese: yu fa; Mandarin: ru2 hua1 ...

as Ting Lik's henchman. * Tse Liu-shut as Ting Lik's henchman. * Yip Chun as Brother Four (四哥), a triad leader who was assassinated by Ting. * Wong Ming-sing as Fung King-yiu's henchman. * Ng Fei-kit * Leung Ka-chun * Cheung Kam-bon * Pak Ham-yat * Ngai Tsang-siu

Box office

The film grossed HK$20,837,056 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 13 July to 7 August 1996 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 Delta i ...

Awards and nominations

16th Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony for the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards was held on 13 April 1997 in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and hosted by Lydia Shum and Nancy Sit. In total, sixteen winners in fifteen categories were unveiled. Peter Chan's '' Comrades: Almost a Lov ...

**Nominated: Best Action Choreography (Stephen Tung) **Nominated: Best Cinematography (Poon Hang-sang) **Nominated: Best Art Direction (Bruce Yu)

Music

*Theme song: ''Shanghai Beach'' () () / ''Most Beloved Shanghai Beach'' () () **Composer:

Joseph Koo Joseph Koo Kar-Fai, MBE, GBS (born 3 February 1933), is a Hong Kong composer, who is considered one of the most respected composers in Hong Kong. He used the pen name Moran (莫然) for Mandarin songs early in his career. Early life Koo h ...

**Lyricist: James Wong **Arranger: Ting Chi-kwong **Singer:

*Insert theme: ''Sleeping Alone'' () () / ''Most Afraid of You Sleeping With Someone Else'' () () **Composer/Lyricist: Christopher Wong **Arranger: Chiu Sang-hei **Singer: Andy Lau

External links