Lucky Stars

Lucky Stars (or Five Lucky Stars) was a Hong Kong action comedy film series in the 1980s and 90s, blending Chinese martial arts with bawdy comedy. The films featured an ensemble cast, with many of the actors appearing in successive films.

The characters of the Five Lucky Stars were originally petty criminals recently out of prison, who started their own cleaning company. By the second film, the cleaning company idea was discarded, and the bumbling gang were instead employed to assist the police.

The first three films were the most successful, directed by and starring Sammo Hung along with his troupe of Five Lucky Stars, and featuring supporting roles and cameos from a variety of Hong Kong film stars, notably his Peking Opera School "brothers", Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, as well as stars such as Andy Lau and Michelle Yeoh.

The original quintet in the film Winners and Sinners consisted of Sammo Hung, [[Richard Ng], Charlie Chin, Stanley Fung and John Shum. In the second film, My Lucky Stars, Shum was replaced by Eric Tsang. In the third film, Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, Chin played a cameo wherein he handed over the reins to his brother, played by Miu Kiu Wai. Shum returned in a supporting role.

In several cases, the Lucky Stars films were not true sequels of one another. Rather they had themes and actors in common. The majority of the later films centred around Richard Ng, Eric Tsang, Stanley Fung and Walter Cho. Other actors returned in small roles to help boost the sales of the films, including the big names of Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung and Andy Lau.

Additional actors in the series include Corey Yuen, Mark Houghton, Mars, Sylvia Chang, Kent Cheng, Alan Tam, Dick Wei, Wu Ma, Yuen Wah and Bolo Yeung.

The series consists of:

• Winners and Sinners (1983)
• My Lucky Stars (1985)
• Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985)
• My Lucky Stars Go Places (1986)
• Return of the Lucky Stars (1989)
• Lucky Guys (1989)
• How to Meet the Lucky Stars (1996)

My Lucky Stars Go Places was an attempt to combine the Lucky Stars troupe with the similar action comedy ensemble from the Aces Go Places series.

The Lucky Stars films were generally released in time for Chinese New Year.

• Winners and Sinners 1983
  Winners and Sinners
  1983
  
• My Lucky Stars 1985
  My Lucky Stars
  1985
  
• Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars 1985
  Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
  1985
  

Pom Pom

Sometimes, the Pom Pom series of films is also included along under the banner of "Lucky Stars films", primarily due to the series' sharing the stars, Richard Ng and John Shum. However the pair play official cops, rather than former criminals turned good.

• Pom Pom (1984)
• The Return of Pom Pom (1984)
• Mr. Boo Meets Pom Pom (1985)
• Pom Pom Strikes Back (1986)