| Great Pretenders | |||||||||||||||
| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Ronny Yu | ||||||||||||||
| Producer: | Clifton Ko | ||||||||||||||
| Screenplay: | Raymond Wong | ||||||||||||||
| Starring: | Raymond Wong Tony Leung Simon Yam Amy Yip | ||||||||||||||
| Music: | Lam Manyee | ||||||||||||||
| Cinematography: | Sander Lee | ||||||||||||||
| Editing: | Ronny Yu | ||||||||||||||
| Studio: | Mandarin Films Ko Chi Sum Productions | ||||||||||||||
| Distributor: | Golden Princess Amusement | ||||||||||||||
| Runtime: | 95 minutes | ||||||||||||||
| Country: | Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||
| Language: | Cantonese | ||||||||||||||
| Gross: | HK$4.3 million | ||||||||||||||
Great Pretenders is a 1991 Hong Kong comedy film edited and directed by Ronny Yu and starring Raymond Wong, Tony Leung, Simon Yam and Amy Yip.
Taiwanese swindler Mr. Giant (Teddy Robin) loses in a poker match against Hong Kong swindler Wong Seung-chin (Raymond Wong) and they become sworn enemies. Meanwhile, Wong's apprentice Snake Wai (Tony Leung) meets Susan (Lok Wai), a widow who has recently returned to Hong Kong from Singapore. Planning to con a large sum of money from her, Wai sets up a plan with his acquaintances Yam Sai-sung (Simon Yam) and Yip Mei-mei (Amy Yip). However, Susan turns out to be swindler as well. Unable to salvage a fortune from Susan, Wai, Sung and Mei become indebted to her. In desperation, Wai seeks help from his mentor who wins back all the debts they owed Susan. Susan then becomes acquainted with Wong and his apprentices and they work together to swindle profiteer Lung Cho-tin (Leung Tin). They able to acquire HK$2 million form Lung very easily. Not wishing to be cheated, Lung hires Mr. Giant to battle against Wong.
The theme song of the film is Only Remembering the Old Deep Love (只記舊情重) composed by Joseph Koo with lyrics by Thomas Tang sung by Liza Wang.
Andrew Chan of the Film Critics Circle of Australia gave the film a score of 2/10 and wrote "The Great Pretenders is by no means a good movie. In fact, it is terrible and hard to finish…"[1] Hong Kong Film Net gave the film a score a 6/10 and wrote "The Great Pretenders certainly isn't an example of great cinema from Hong Kong, but it is good enough to set aside ninety minutes of your life for, especially if you're a fan of the actors involved."[2]
The film grossed HK$4,333,406 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 16 to 28 May 1991 in Hong Kong.