The Last Tycoon

The Last Tycoon is a 2012 Hong Kong period drama film directed by Wong Jing, starring Chow Yun-fat, Sammo Hung, Francis Ng and Huang Xiaoming. The film was released in mainland China on 22 December 2012, and in Hong Kong on 3 January 2013. The story is loosely inspired by the life of Du Yuesheng, a prominent mob boss in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. Plot The story begins in the 1910s in Republican China. Cheng Daqi, a fruit vendor from Chuansha, is arrested and imprisoned after being framed for murder. After he is saved by a military officer Mao Zai, he travels to Shanghai in search of a new life. In Shanghai, he meets mob boss Hong Shouting and becomes one of Hong's protégés. He also falls in love with Bao, a singer whom he eventually marries. His true love, however, is Ye Zhiqiu, an opera actress from his hometown. When Hong unknowingly offends the son of the warlord General Lu and gets captured by the general's men, Cheng negotiates with General Lu and manages to persuade him to release Hong and invest in Hong's bank. A grateful Hong becomes sworn brothers with Cheng, putting Cheng in a more powerful position in Shanghai's underworld. 20 years later, a middle-aged Cheng has become one of Shanghai's most influential tycoons; amongst his entourage are his childhood friend Xiaopang and rival-turned-bodyguard Lin Huai. He maintains close ties with Hong and Hong's wife, Ling Husheng. At the same time, he has a shaky relationship with Mao Zai, now a general in the National Revolutionary Army. He meets his old flame, Ye Zhiqiu, when she visits Shanghai, but she is already married to Cheng Zhaimei, an anti-government activist. They are caught up in the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which breaks out in 1937. After surviving an air raid and an abduction attempt by the Japanese, Cheng gets Mao to help him arrange for him, Ye and her husband to escape to Hong Kong. However, he is forced to leave Bao behind as a hostage. After the fall of Shanghai, Mao defects to the Japanese and becomes a provincial governor. The Japanese general Nishino wants to make Cheng the puppet mayor of Shanghai, so Mao suggests that he keeps Cheng's loved ones alive and use them to lure Cheng back to Shanghai. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Cheng and Ye learn that Hong, Ling and others have been captured, tortured and humiliated by the Japanese. Cheng and Ye return to Shanghai and reluctantly cooperate with the Japanese.