Film Review: Winners and Sinners (1983) by Sammo Hung

“Winners and Sinners” inaugurated a series of movies that eventually reached number seven, although, starting with number four it strayed away from the original trilogy. Featuring a rather entertaining combination of martial arts and comedy, with the latter being the main focus, the film was a big success commercially, also winning a Hong Kong Film award for Best action choreography, for the work by Sammo Hung, Lam Ching-ying and Yuen Biao, who also stars in the film. The latter has a small part, while Jackie Chan also appears, although in a secondary role.

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The story revolves around five men, who, as the movie begins, and in hilarious fashion, end up getting arrested due to a number of failed attempts at various crimes. Teapot, who is constantly bullied despite being the strongest among them, Exhaust Pipe, who reads books on how to get supernatural powers, Vaseline, who cannot stop flirting with women although with very little success, Rookie, who is essentially the leader, and Curly, who constantly boasts for having friends in high places eventually start living in the house of the latter, along with his gorgeous sister, Shirley, and form a cleaning company. They spend their days playing pranks to each other, trying to win Shirley's favor, with Teapot being the winner almost from the start, and working while having fun. However, a sixth convict, Jack Tar, who was also released on the same day as them, is trading counterfeit US and Hong Kong currency with an American crime boss and the group find themselves entangled between the operations of the two bosses. CID 07, aka Jackie Chan, also comes to their help.

As mentioned before, the film is more a comedy than an action, with the majority of the second element taking place when Jackie Chan appears on screen. However, the comedy part is truly great, with Hung taking full advantage of the charisma, the different styles of acting, the different appearances, and the rather evident chemistry of the cast to present a series of hilarious episodes and a plethora of hysterical dialogues. Starting with the way they get arrested, with Teapot stumbling upon a surprise party for someone named Sammo Hung, as he breaks into a house, and continuing with the series of shenanigans from the whole group in an effort to seduce Shirley, up to the fights in the finale and a rather surprising plot twist, the comedy never actually stops here. The most memorable scene comes when the group agrees to pretend Exhaust Pipe has actually managed to make himself invisible, in one of the most memorably funny sequences of HK cinema.

The aforementioned, however, do not mean that the action aspect is on a lower level. The martial arts sequences involving Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung are all intricately choreographed and impeccably performed, with the disregard for almost any health measures that was one of the trademarks of HK cinema leading to a number of intircate scenes. Furthermore, the movie includes a rather memorable car chase that results in multiple car crashes, adding even more to the entertainment aspect.

Ricky Lau's cinematography and Peter Cheung's editing find their apogee in these scenes, with the latter implementing a very fast pace that suits both the action and the episodic nature of the movie.

John Sham as Curly, Charlie Chin as Vaseline, Stanley Fung as Rookie, and Richard Ng as Exhaust Pipe all give great performances, with their knack for comedy becoming evident from the beginning. Cherie Chung as Shirley mostly reacts to their acting, but her beauty definitely adds to the aesthetics of the movie, while her romance with Teapot is as funny as it is well implemented in the narrative.

Great cast, great direction and writing, and enough action scenes to satisfy fans of martial arts movies result in a film that remains absolutely entertaining almost four decades after its initial release.