Qi mou miao ji: Wu fu xing

Plot synopsis:
Five prisoners - Teapot (Sammo Hung), Curly (John Sham), Exhaust Pipe (Richard Ng), Vaseline (Charlie Chin), and Rookie (Stanley Fung) meet in their cell to form a friendship. Rookie assumes the leadership of the group, whilst Teapot is bullied by the others (in the later films, Roundhead, played by Eric Tsang, is the group's victim and Hung's character is the leader). Following their release, they team up with Curly's beautiful sister, Shirley (Cherie Chung), and form a company called the Five Stars Cleaning Co. While most of the group attempt to vie for Shirley's affection, Teapot ultimately forms a relationship with her.
A sixth convict, the wealthy Jack Tar (James Tien), is released on the same day. Upon his release, he commences work on his next criminal project: trading counterfeit US and Hong Kong currency with an American crime boss. Jack sends his chauffeur to do the exchange at a skating competition, but the chauffeur's insecure attitude attracts the attention of two muggers. The muggers steal the briefcase containing the counterfeit US money and take off. Police officer CID 07 (Jackie Chan) attempts to recover the briefcase containing the phony money, but the case accidentally ends up in the Five Stars Cleaning Co. van. CID 07 continues his pursuit of the muggers, which results in a massive freeway pile-up.
Teapot and his friends are unaware of the mishap, and drive away with the case. The chauffeur informs Jack, who orders his men to search for them. Later, Jack hosts a party at his mansion. Teapot and his friends decide to gatecrash, hoping to expand their business with the wealthy guests. They successfully enter the mansion undetected, and while socializing with the other guests, Jack privately meets a Triad boss to discuss a new deal for the counterfeit plates. A bodyguard then realizes the Five Stars Cleaning Co. are there, and alerts Jack, who interrogates Curly. Curly insists he has no knowledge about the case, and the ensuing ruckus causes a physical confrontation between the friends and Jack's bodyguards. The friends narrowly escape, only to be kidnapped by the Triad boss, who secretly wants to cut off the deal with Jack and obtain the plates himself. He orders the friends to give up the case, and holds Shirley hostage. The friends return home and finally discover the case. When they leave to make the dropoff, however, Jack's men arrives. Teapot, Exhaust Pipe, and Vaseline engage them in battle, while Curly leaves to fetch the Triad boss and Rookie goes for help. The Triad boss and his bodyguards arrive, where Jack learns of his motives and turns the fight against him instead. The police arrive, led by Rookie, who reveals himself to be undercover. They arrest Jack and the Triad boss and their men and rewards the friends for their assistance.

Tags: violence

Review:
The first of the Lucky Stars films is more winner than sinner..
More comedy than kung fu, Winners and Sinners is a crazy Hong Kong caper that follows the antics of a bunch of likable ex-convicts as they become unknowing recipients of a briefcase of missing counterfeit money and some printing platesitems much sought after by two gangs of criminals.The first in the 'Lucky Stars' movies, this good-natured and silly comedy succeeds in being very entertaining (despite not really being THAT funny) largely thanks to its charismatic cast.
Sammo Hung, Richard Ng, Charlie Chin, Jackie Chan, Shui-Fan Fung, John Sham and (token beauty) Cherie Chung all have starring roles, and even Yuen Baio and Lam Ching Ying pop up in cameos.Of course, how funny you find this film will depend entirely on your sense of humour (let's say that the laughs are not that sophisticated); the quality of the action, however, cannot be disputed.Jackie has only a couple of brief fight scenes, but truly shines during a roller skating sequence in which he performs some amazing stuntsfirst partaking in a competition, and then pursuing a couple of thieves.
And if you're not gob-smacked when he skates under a moving lorry and then causes a multiple pile-up, then you should give up watching films altogether.This being a Sammo Hung film, however, it is the portly one that takes centre stage when the real fighting begins, and fans of his work will not be disappointed.
Even if Hong Kong humour is not your cup of tea, Winners and Sinners is worth watching for the end battle alone..
Winners and Sinners (aka Five Lucky Stars) is a film that I liked better the second time I watched it.
After shaken off all expectations of a "Jackie and Sammo" film and accepted the uneven and scattered nature of this ensemble movie I enjoyed it more.
Producer Leonard Ho got the idea from Cannonball Run (which Jackie Chan and Michael Hui had parts in) to create an assemblage of popular Hong Kong stars to star in this film.
Winners and Sinners was a success spawning several sequels and reunited Jackie with Seven Little Fortune alums Sammo and Yuen Biao (who helped with martial art choreography; though his cameo as a fellow CID officer is less than a minute as a quick fight versus Jackie.)The Five Lucky Stars are cons who after spending their time in jail take a straight job with a cleaning company led by Curly aka Jack So (played by real life democracy advocate John Shum) who was framed for instigating a crowd to do harm in a parody of his real-life exhorts.
The other four are Ranks aka Larry (Stanley Fung), Teapot (Sammo Hung who also directed this) as a cat burglar, Vaseline (Charlie Chin) a slick thief, and Exhaust Pipe (Richard Ng who performance was nominated as Best Actor for the Hong Kong Film Awards) who is bad at thieving automobile parts.
However there are some great gags such as Richard Ng thinking he is invisible with Wu Ma's great response to shatter his misconception  "...pretty good vision even when it comes to small objects" and a blind couple playing a Rod Stewart song at a carnival.There are some great stunt and fight scenes led by 7086 (Jackie Chan) a bumbling CID officer who beats up wrong suspects, kills his superior's turtle and accidentally throws a kid's ice cream away.
This film definitely deserved the Hong Kong award for best Action Choreography.The story is mostly non-existent until the boilerplate briefcase full of counterfeit bills makes it's appearance.
It parodies the more serious films with scenes such as Charlie Chin and Fung Hark On doing a martial art pose-down fight and the final action scene that blends comedy and stunts takes place in a warehouse which gets me thinking on how many films I have seen that have the last fight scene in a warehouse (rhetorical thought of course).
Overall this is an enjoyable film that is fun to watch that showcases several outstanding Hong Kong comedians and several outstanding action performers..
I recently watched 'Winners and Sinners' with some friends when we thought we should celebrate Jackie Chan's birthday.
Oh well, maybe I'll celebrate Sammo Hung's next birthday (whenever it may be) by watching 'Around the World in 80 Days'.'Winners and Sinners' is the first 'Lucky Stars' movie.
Five inmates befriend each other in prison, and when they are released, they form the 'Five Star Cleaning Service', only to find themselves in the middle of a Triad war.'Winners and Sinners' is much more of a Sammo Hung film than a Jackie Chan film.
Sammo directed and starred in this, while Jackie had a minor role as CID officer.
However, most of action is performed by Hung, and he pulls it off very well.Apart from some entertaining action, 'Winners and Sinners' is one of those rather silly Hong Kong comedies that fans of Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan - especially their 80s work - should be somewhat familiar with.
Some people will find it funny - I did, but others might not be amused.'Winners and Sinners' is a nicely-done action / comedy, maybe not for everyone though - 7/10.
Winners and Sinners is the first of three films in which Jackie Chan 'co-starred' alongside Samo Hung and five Hong Kong comedians called the Lucky Stars.
Actually,'co-starred' is not really the word,because Chan's role in these films was little more than a glorified cameo,especially in this one.
Chan puts in small appearances in quite a few films,and distributors often give the impression that his role is larger in a film than it actually is.Still,Winners and Sinners is quite a fun film,actually one of the first Hong Kong films set in the present day that would combine comedy and action.
Chan would in time perfect the formula in later films,and Winners and Sinners has rather more comedy than action,which may disappoint action fans.
As is often the case,much of the humour,mainly revolving around the antics of the five 'Lucky Stars', does not really work for western audiences,the silly slapstick usually works {well,slapstick always travels well,something Chan had already learnt} but some of it is humour that will only be understood and found funny by a Hong Kong audience.
Still,there are some laughs,such as a scene when Richard Ng {easily the funniest of the Lucky Stars} thinks he has become invisable and the rest of the group decide to play along with him,and two very funny comedy fight sequences in which the Lucky Stars try and conceal the fact they can't fight by using silly moves and techniques.Even if there isn't a great deal of action,what there is is still good.
Chan's two scraps are two brief,but his chase scene,which has him rollerskate down a busy road and UNDER a moving lorry,climaxing with a car pile-up involving about thirty cars,is terrific,while Samo Hung has some great fight action in the climax.
Well, i bought Winners and Sinners, then i heard, Jackie has a pretty small role.
I like Samo hung's films a lot.
Especially i like the 'lucky stars' series, cos the humor is simple, funny and very unique.
Think it as 'The lucky stars' movie!.
Yes, Jackie Chan's in it, but he only appears in about 1/4 of the film - the rest is up to Sammo Hung and his co-stars.
The stunts and fight scenes are something to be proud of, as is the comedic touches in the script, which make it one of my favourite films of all time.
'Winners & Sinners' is not only the best Sammo Hung movie I've seen, but it's also the best altogether Hong Kong Comedy I've seen.
Jackie Chan's supporting role is also great and though I probably would have preferred him in the lead he is still incredibly funny as the clumsy cop of the film.Overall, the film is simply hilarious.
This is probably Sammo Hung's best work before embarking on his venture to start D&B films.
All star cast graces this movie including Jackie Chan, and Yuen Biao.
Other stars reads like who's who of Hong Kong movie industry of the '80s.
They find themselves in all sorts of strange situations, and compromising positions, but they use their ingenuity to get the best of the gangsters.It's hard to tell if this is a comedy or an action movie.
Most of the actors are not action stars, but regular movie actors, so it's not like endless action scenes in Jackie Chan's movies.
It's more like old school Hong Kong comedy with some good actions inserted in between the story.
Some action scenes involving Jackie Chan is a classic, like the one he hangs on to a car wearing his roller skates during a chase.This is one of the classics from the '80s, and is recommended for viewing..
The Best Film of Samo Hung and Jackie Chan!!!!!.
The first time I thought that this movie was the worst of all, because J.Chan had a small role, but after the second time I realised that this Film was exactly what a movie can give you to laugh!I like this movie because there are many characters as Samo Hung and so you can't get bored, because there are many scenes of action and of humor.
It has one of the best highway pile-up scenes I've ever seen in a movie, not completely overdone like most movies these days but done in a believable and funny way.
This is somewhat of a prelude to the lucky stars of the later hit 'My lucky stars'.Check it out as this is a funny film with a lot of laughs that you will enjoy in a typical Sammo, Jackie Chan film.
And yes Jackie is not in the film for that long, as the main characters are the 5 gang of Sammo, Richard Ng and I can't remember the rest.
First disappointed by the fact, that Jackie Chan's part is pretty small, I started to love the other characters of the movie, especially Teapot (Samo Hung) and Exhaust Pipe (Richard Ng).
It's very funny to see, how the members of the 'gang' get arrested (especially Exhaust Pipe trying to steal the wheels of a police officer's car while he is searching his keys).The humor of the movie is mostly created by the funny dialogues and the stunning fight scenes, which also are, at times, very funny.
But if you don't like this kind of 'silly' fun, you won't enjoy this movie.
It is one of the movies I have ever seen.Nevertheless, I highly recommend this movie to everyone who likes silly fun and stunning fight sequences!P.S.: If you like this movie, watch other 'five lucky stars' - movies like 'Fuk sing go jiu'!.
This is simply unique and Sammo Hung and his lucky stars are the only ones on Earth who can achieve this.
The lucky stars have made some other similar movies but this one is surely the most incredible.
Even in Cantonese, this Sammo Hung-led comedy (and directed by Hung) is a bonkers film that only Hong Kong could turn out when people could enjoy themselves at the cinema instead of being trapped at the stock market with cellphones.Famous HK stars accompany Hung, including Richard Ng and John Shum (in his usual comedic style), while Jackie Chan has a minor role as a CID detective.
Plenty of comed y is injected into the kung-fu fight scenes, too.It's not for most people - this sort of Hong Kong comedy is more of an acquired taste than the Jackie Chan stuntoramas.
The gang in the film is very silly and if you look Jackie Chan films you will see them again.It's a very good film, you have to see it..
A great Jackie Chan comedy.
I don't know why but I like that kind of movie.This movie haven't got a story but it's filled with great stunts and silly comedy.One of the great stunts is when Jackie drives under a truck with rollerskates and so makes a giant crash (up to 40 cars!).Who likes Hong Kong movies of that kind must see "Winners & Sinners!.
Watching "Winners And Sinners" is like going on a treasure hunt: you have to suffer through a lot of corny, childish comedy to get a few prizes.
The prizes include: Samo Hung's fight scenes, Yuen Biao's all-too-brief cameo, the long sequence with Jackie Chan that begins with an exhibition of rollerskating stunts, develops into a furious chase and ends with perhaps the biggest, most spectacular car pile-up ever staged, and the one funny scene with the "Lucky Stars", in which one of them believes he is invisible(!).
This movie is a mixed bag at best, a scam at worst (for Jackie fans, since the packaging fools them into thinking that he has a major role).
When we bought this flick for our last money, we expected to see an ever so thrilling Jackie Chan performing his best stunt moves and literally "kick some butt".
We might add that this movies contains several scenes with very lame humor and you have to be a lame sort of person to like it.
We are kind of lame so we liked it, even though we have seen much better Jackie Chan movies.
Jackie's got a small part, but this proves an enjoyable time-waster...I especially like the begginning when Sammo breaks into a building, and is greeted by the guests of a surprise birthday party for--Sammo Hung!
i looove chan, and i like sammo hung and yuen biao, but even as this film strives for greatness, it never quite gets there.
The ultimate Hong Kong action-comedy!.
This Hong Kong movie was one of my favorites from my childhood and still remains a definite must for pure entertainment after all these years.
It features an all-star cast, including Sammo Hung, Richard Ng, John Sham, Stanley Fung and Charlie Chin, who star as five reformed criminals that open up a cleaning business.
Soon, they find themselves having to deal with these bad guys and bring them to justice.The main plot is loosely tied together and not very solid; however, what you get throughout the movie in addition to the main counterfeit currency plot is interesting subplots one after the other, from the five friends' hilarious trip at an outdoor market to Exhaust Pipe's (Richard Ng) embarrassing attempt at being invisible, and from CID 07's (Jackie Chan) pursuit of two petty thieves to the massive car pile-up you would ever see on screen.It's nonstop laughs and gags from start to finish, with a good helping of Kung-Fu action, especially during the well-choreographed and funny ballroom showdown at Jack Tar's (James Tien) mansion, and excellent acting by all the actors involved.
In addition to the starring roles of the five friends and the co-starring role of Jackie Chan, you also get a wide range of cameo appearances from Yuen Biao, Moon Lee, Lam Ching-Ying, Wu Ma and the team of stunt-men who appear on screen from Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan's team.
And, the beautiful Cherie Chung starring as the female lead is definitely a treat.Any fan of Hong Kong movies would appreciate the action and HK humor this movie has to offer.
The problem with this film is that if you're not into the slightly over-the-top, Carry-On-esquire lecherous comedy, you'll probably ending up skipping forward to the fight scenes.The film does not follow Jackie in the same way that it would were it a Jackie Chan film.
Chan is given just as much screen time as all of the Lucky Stars.Many of the gags are sight gags that are easy to understand, if somewhat immature for most tastes, but there are some jokes that lose a lot in translation.The fighting, when there is any, is either incredible, when being displayed by Sammo, Jackie, or the one scene with Juen Biao, or comedic and unnecessary when we watch the Lucky Stars in combat.The three brothers (Sammo, Jackie and Yuen) fight incredibly, in a fast, entertaining and more realistic manner than Jackie and Sammo's films of the seventies.
There are funnier Chan and Hung films out there, and there are better comedies and better fights - even better Lucky Stars movies.
I like it extremely.Almost every single "Lucky Stars" man has a chance to fight in this movie.
Sammo looks great with the bottle of our good old vodka bottle in his hand.I was missing Blockhead (from a later movie) though.
He could have been very handy with his trash-talk.Still, not as good as the final incarnation, which is a polished product.A high mark - a 7 out of 10 - because Sammo Hung holds a bottle of our vodka in his hand and plays a fakir near the end of the movie.
First Lucky Stars movie offers a ton of comedy and some cool action.
Jackie Chan as a hard-assed American cop, a naked Chinese guy who thinks he's invisible, Lam Ching Ying as the strictest butler in the world and a multi-car pile-up to rival Grand Theft Auto are the ingredients of this comedy yarn from Hong Kong, shot in the streets with that raw low-budget look.
In fact the title is misleading when packaged as a Jackie Chan film, as the superstar only appears in a minor supporting role with about twenty minutes of screen time.
The rest of the movie really belongs to Sammo Hung (once again flexing his directing muscles) and the rest of the five-strong team of leads, all of whom are given equal screen time as criminals-turned-cleaners who find themselves up against some serious muscle when they decide to rob a guy working for a local crime boss.At first, I thought this film wasn't up to much, and was a little disappointed by the first hour which stresses comedy over martial arts action.
Sammo Hung is underused, but gets some great martial arts action at the finale, set in a warehouse, where he takes on dozens of villains (including veteran James Tien) and the like.