The Conman 賭俠1999 (1998): The Time Andy Lau Went to Prison, Athena Chu Fell in Love, and Wong Jing Kept the Franchise Alive — With a Soccer Match Twist
First, Please enjoy this movie clip
The Sequel That Kept the Franchise Alive
By 1998, the gambling film genre was dying. The golden age of Stephen Chow and Andy Lau gambling comedies was over. The audience had moved on.
But Wong Jing wasn't done.
He created The Conman — a film that brought back Andy Lau as a new character, added Athena Chu as his love interest, and introduced Nick Cheung as his comic sidekick. It wasn't a classic, but it was a hit. It earned HK$15 million at the box office and kept the franchise alive .
What Is It About?
The film opens with a tragedy. Ah King (Andy Lau) is a gambler who gets caught cheating. He kills his opponent in self-defense. He goes to prison for five years. His wife leaves him. His life falls apart.
When he's released, he's a broken man. He meets Wa Guk Lung (Nick Cheung), a young man who worships him. He also meets Wa Guk Lung's sister, Ching (Athena Chu). She's beautiful, kind, and completely out of his league.
They start a gambling business together. They win. They lose. They fall in love.
Then the villain appears. Saang Geng (Waise Lee) is the brother of the man Ah King killed. He wants revenge. He's also working for Ma Gaau Man (Jack Kao), a gambling kingpin. He uses Ching as leverage. He forces Ah King to win a high-stakes match.
The climax involves a soccer match — not a real one, but a fake one filmed by a porn director. It's absurd. It's hilarious. And it's the perfect ending for a Wong Jing film.
The Cast That Made It Work
Andy Lau as Ah King — the gambler who lost everything and must win it back. He's cool, composed, and deeply human.
Nick Cheung as Wa Guk Lung — the young man who worships Ah King. He's the comic relief, but he also provides the heart.
Athena Chu as Ching — the woman who falls for Ah King. She's beautiful, kind, and the emotional anchor of the film.
Waise Lee as Saang Geng — the villain who wants revenge. He's cold, calculating, and utterly without conscience.
Jack Kao as Ma Gaau Man — the gambling kingpin. He's mysterious, powerful, and completely out of Ah King's league.
Why It Still Matters
The Conman is not the best gambling film ever made. It's not the funniest, the most dramatic, or the most memorable. But it's a film that kept the genre alive when it needed to be kept alive.
It also introduced a new generation of actors — Nick Cheung, Athena Chu — to a new generation of audiences. And it proved that Wong Jing could still make a film that audiences wanted to see.
Final Thought
The Conman is a film about a man who loses everything and must win it back. It's about revenge, redemption, and the power of love.
And it's about a soccer match that never actually happened.
Have you seen The Conman? What's your favorite scene — the soccer match fake-out, the prison release, or the final showdown? Let me know in the comments.
Tom De · The Movie Prince 🎬
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