Winners And Sinners (HK 1983)

Rating: **
Director: Samo Hung
Cast: Samo Hung, Jackie Chan, John Sham, Richard Ng, cameos by Yuen Biao, Moon Lee, Dick Wei, Wu Ma, Lam Ching Ying, Philip Chan

This is the first of the "Lucky Stars" movies. The Lucky Stars are a group of bumbling thieves that always seem to get themselves into trouble no matter how good their intentions are. Amidst all of their goofing around and skirt chasing they get their hands on a briefcase full of counterfeit money and printing plates. After being chased around by two different crime bosses, they manage to round everyone up and escape unscathed. Samo once again plays the runt of the group who always gets teased and picked on, but he ends up with the girl at the end. Jackie Chan is a hot tempered cop on the trail of the thieves and he performs some truly amazing rollerskating stunts, including skating underneath a speeding semi-truck. Yuen Biao and Moon Lee sadly have the tiniest of cameos, but at least he and Jackie have an energetic exchange. There's also a small amount of delicious kung fu served up Samo style, and one of the most outrageous car pile-ups ever captured on film. But, like the other Lucky Stars movies, it's mostly tiresome sit-com material.