History Film / MyLuckyStars

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucky.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Five Lucky Stars, clockwise: Rookie, Vaseline, Teapot, Pipe and Curly]]

The ''Lucky Stars'' is a series of Hong Kong action-comedy films that started with ''Winner and Sinners'' in 1983, written by and starring Creator/SammoHung, and starring Creator/JackieChan.

The first three films revolve around the misadventures of five prison buddies -- Teapot (Sammo Hung), Curly (Creator/JohnSham), Exhaust Pipe (Creator/RichardNg), Vaseline (Creator/CharlieChin), and Rookie (Creator/StanleyFung) -- and their associate Muscles (Creator/JackieChan).

Films in the series:

* ''Film/WinnersAndSinners'' (1983)
* ''Film/MyLuckyStars'' (1985)
* ''Film/TwinkleTwinkleLuckyStars'' (1985)
* ''Lucky Stars Go Places'' (1986)
* ''Return of the Lucky Stars'' (1989)
* ''Ghost Punting'' (1992)
* ''How To Meet the Lucky Stars'' (1996)

Later entries would focus more on slapstick elements rather than action.

Not to be confused with ''Anime/LuckyStar''.

!!Tropes across the film series:

* CovertPervert: Pipe in all three movies. Especially in the third where he volunteers to get himself beaten up by a female karate instructor so that he can get touched by a woman.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Jackie Chan's character, CID-07/ Muscles only shows up in the first trilogy, and is [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome absent without an explanation]] in the later movies.
* DestinationDefenestration: Happens in all three movies.
** The diner brawl in the first film notably has Muscles sending a guy flying out of a window with a kick.
** The sequels have Muscles and Kidstuff sending opponents through tables, shelves and countertops in this same manner.
* EnsembleCast: The five "stars" are given roughly equal focus and screentime.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The Lucky Stars do have names but they're mostly referred by their nicknames based on their AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance. Curly has curly hair, Teapot is called as such because of his size resembling a teapot (large body, small arms), Pipe is a smoker, Vaseline is a CasanovaWannabe who frequently flirts with girls, and Rookie is the TheBabyOfTheBunch.
* PornStache: One on Pipe which shows up in all three movies. And subsequent spin-offs.


[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ls2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:When [[AdvertisedExtra Jackie Chan's screentime]] is in proportion to Sammo Hung's size on the poster, while [[CoversAlwaysLie Sammo Hung's screentime]] is in proportion to Jackie Chan's size on the poster.]]

The 1985 sequel to ''Film/WinnersAndSinners'' and second film in the ''Film/LuckyStars'' film series. Creator/SammoHung once again writes and directs.

Muscles is assigned to investigate an officer in the force who have defected to the Yakuza. Assisting him is Inspector Barbara Woo (Creator/SibelleHu) and as usual, the Lucky Stars ends up being involved with Muscles' investigations. And somehow the gang all ends up in the Yakuza's underground headquarters. Notable scenes include Creator/MichikoNishiwaki as a musclebound Japanese henchwoman who fights Sibelle Hu, Jackie Chan entering an amusement park's haunted house to find the Yakuza's hideout, and a climax that ups the brutality of the first movie, this time with Jackie, Sammo and Creator/YuenBiao taking on legions of Yakuza mooks.



----

In the sequel, ''My Lucky Stars'' (1985), Muscles is assigned to investigate an officer in the force who have defected to the Yakuza. Assisting him is Inspector Barbara Woo (Creator/SibelleHu) and as usual, the Lucky Stars ends up being involved with Muscles' investigations. And somehow the gang all ends up in the Yakuza's underground headquarters. Notable scenes include Creator/MichikoNishiwaki as a musclebound Japanese henchwoman who fights Sibelle Hu, Jackie Chan entering an amusement park's haunted house to find the Yakuza's hideout, and a climax that ups the brutality of the first movie, this time with Jackie, Sammo and Creator/YuenBiao taking on legions of Yakuza mooks.

The third movie, ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars'' (1985), had the Lucky Stars sharing their apartment with an actress who is witness to an assassination, and being forced to bunk in with them. While the Lucky Stars bumbles around trying to get said actress' attention, Muscles' investigations ends up leading to a trio of elite hitmen (played by Chung Fat, Richard Norton and Yasuaki Kurata) having the Lucky Stars in their sights. Notably, there's a cameo from Creator/AndyLau and Creator/MichelleYeoh in this movie.

Further sequels are made involving this series, with much of the cast reprising their roles.

Later entries such as ''Lucky Stars Go Places'', ''Return of the Lucky Stars'', ''Lucky Stars Ghost Encounter'' and ''How to Meet the Lucky Stars'' would focus more on slapstick elements rather than action. The spin-offs have more or less faded into obscurity due to a lack of Jackie Chan, focus on comedic instead of and action elements and the ''mou lei tao'' humor not really faring well to non-Cantonese speaking audiences and being difficult for a CulturalTranslation, though they still have a small cult following for those growing up in the 80s and 90s.

Andy Lau notably returns in ''Lucky Stars Go Places'', but '''not''' reprising his role from ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars''. Rather, he's one of the many comedic cast and only contributes to the sole action scene of the film, beating up a platoon of commandos in a training exercise.

Not to be confused with ''Anime/LuckyStar''

!!''Winners and Sinners'' contains examples of:


!!''My Lucky Stars'' contains examples of:

* {{Yakuza}}: They are the main baddies of the sequel.


!!''Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars'' contains examples of:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ls3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Yes, the skimpily-dressed girls in the corner DO appear in the movie. [[CoversAlwaysLie No, they don't get to fight]] Jackie Chan or Yuen Biao. No, they don't even share any screentime. [[OverlyLongGag No, they are not even]] [[{{Transvestite}} real girls at all]]!]]

* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The film opens with a black-and-white footage of the war for Falkland Islands, complete with booming patriotic music bracing the audience for an epic war movie... only for the narrator to state: "The war have absolutely ''nothing'' to do with the following movie. " Cue silly "mou lei tao" Hong Kong comedy.
* BeachEpisode: Much of the third movie takes place in Thailand, where the cast (including Cherie, and a few of her lady friends) hangs out at a beach. Plenty of time for them to spend most of the movie ogling at the girls in swimsuits and bikinis.
* TheCameo: Creator/MichelleYeoh as a karate instructor (with BoyishShortHair, this is probably the only time you get to see Yeoh in this kind of getup). This was before she was a big star by the way, she had roughly two minutes of screen time and exits after getting her ass kicked by Sammo Hung.
--> '''Kidstuff''': "Sorry Miss, but like I said I don't like being sat on by women. "
* CombatPragmatist: During the transvestite fight, Inspector Woo gets outnumbered by machete-wielding transvestites. She simply whips out her revolver and kills three, sending the rest packing.
* CounterpartCombatCoordination: The final battle is a 3-on-3 fight between Muscles, Kidstuff and Fung against the three assassins. So Sammo Hung TheBigGuy battles the MightyGlacier assassin played by Richard Norton, JackOfAllStats Jackie Chan fights MultiMeleeMaster Yasuaki Kurata, while FragileSpeedster Yuen Biao takes on LightningBruiser Chung Fat.
** Subverted that Sammo Hung later continues fighting Yasuaki Kurata after defeating Richard Norton though.
* FlareGun: Used in an assassination scene, where the three assassins on motorcycles corners a target's car. One stops the vehicle, another throws a tankard of gasoline through the back windows, and the third fires a flare gun at the gasoline. Cue explosion.
* GroinAttack: During the transvestite fight scene, Kidstuff punches one of them in the crotch.
* ImprovisedWeapon: The Japanese assassin played by Yasuaki Kurata tries intimidating Kidstuff with a pair of sais. Kidstuff responds by whipping two tennis racquets to counter him.
* LeaveNoSurvivors: The trio of assassins, after killing their first target, a wealthy businessman (who's on a paragliding vacation and getting himself [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill pumped full of lead by three machine guns while in mid-air]]), also blows up the businessman's boat where his girlfriend and driver is on using a rocket launcher.
* MegatonPunch: Kidstuff, Muscles and Fung all uses this in their final battle against their respective foes. Complete with their opponents going through a SlowMotionDrop.
* ObfuscatingDisability: One of the assassins tries to assassinate his target from his most convenient vantage point, a women's washroom, when Shirley suddenly enters. Upon seeing the hitman with a gun, she pretends to be blind and fumbles her way into a nearby bathroom stall (without touching the baffled assassin), and even remains completely motionless when said assassin pushes the stall open and while she is doing her business.
* SequelGoesForeign: The third movie takes place largely in Thailand.
* {{Transvestite}}: A group of what appears to be massage girls approaches the Lucky Stars whom are chilling out in their chalet. They assume its either Pipe or Vaseline who called for "room service", but the girls are quickly revealed to be [[MacheteMayhem machete-wielding]] transvestites sent to kill them.
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: The transvestites tries to sneak upon Kidstuff by sweet-talking him, but one of them gets too near. And Kidstuff noticed that ''she'' have an Adam's apple...
* WouldHitAGirl: To be fair, the "girls" are actually transvestites, and are trying to kill our main characters.

The first movie, ''Winners and Sinners'' (1983), revolves around the misadventures of five buddies who meets in prison - Teapot (Sammo Hung), Curly (John Sham), Exhaust Pipe (Richard Ng), Vaseline (Charlie Chin), and Rookie (Stanley Fung), where upon being discharged, forms a friendship and lives in the same apartment, sharing the block with Curly's sister Shirley (Cherie Chung). CID 07/Muscles (Jackie Chan), the gang's common friend and partner, is a top cop in the force and always in action, but somehow his pursues always ends up having the comic relief quintet of the Lucky Stars being dragged into his investigations. One hilarious misadventure after another ensues.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ls1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:In case anyone's wondering, '''yes''', Jackie Chan does [[RampJump jump over a vehicle while on roller skates]], as depicted in this poster.]]

* AccidentalMurder: Played for laughs. Muscles is on the receiving end of a scolding from his police boss, and quickly tries to patch things up by frantically looking for his boss' pet terrapin, which went missing earlier in the morning. Muscles ends up finding it when he [[OhCrap stepped on the terrapin to death]]...
* {{Acrofatic}}: Sammo Hung's character, Kidstuff. Obviously...
* BoozeFlamethrower: Played for laughs, when Vaseline did a SpitTake in front of a lit lighter Pipe is holding.
* DinerBrawl: CID-07 and Kidstuff confronting a suspect in a diner result in a full-blown ChaseFight.
* EnsembleCast
* InvisibleStreaker: Spoofed, when Pipe read about a "magic" charm on a magazine and thought he can make himself invisible. The other Lucky Stars humours him by pretending not being able to see him, overlapping with NakedPeopleAreFunny with a rather long scene ([[OverlyLOngGag like, ten minutes too long]]) of Pipe simply walking all over the place while naked (SceneryCensor happens a lot) until they blew his cover after Pipe uses his [[InvisibleJerkass allegedly invisible powers to peep on Cherie while taking a bath]].
* RollerbladeGood: Jackie Chan's CID-07 does some pretty impressive stunts with a pair of rollerskates, including engaging in a high-speed car chase. Including performing a RampJump over a parked vehicle that gets in his way.
* MySisterIsOffLimits: The Lucky Stars inevitably end up sharing the same apartment block with Curly's sister Shirley. Naturally he gets pissed if (when) either of the other four tries making a move on his sister.
* NoNameGiven: Jackie Chan's character is simply called CID 07 / Cop #7086. The sequels however refer to him with his [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nickname]], "Muscles".
* SeriousBusiness: For the Lucky Stars? ''Getting hooked up with girls ''.
* YouAllMeetInACell: The comedic quintet collectively known as "Lucky Stars" (Teapot played by Sammo Hung, Curly played by John Sham, Exhaust Pipe played by Richard Ng, Vaseline played by Charlie Chin, and Rookie played by Stanley Fung) all meets as prisoners in a cell before they are discharged together. They subsequently become a RagtagBunchOfMisfits living together in the same apartment.

Further sequels are made involving this series, with much of the cast reprising their roles. However, Jackie Chan's character, CID-07/ Muscles only shows up in the trilogy, and is [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome absent without an explanation]] in the later movies. [[note]]Jackie Chan at that time would prefer to follow on a more action-orientated career, unlike Sammo.[[/note]]

!!''Winners and Sinners'' contains examples of:

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ls1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:In case anyone's wondering, '''yes''', Jackie Chan does [[RampJump jump over a vehicle while on roller skates]], as depicted in this poster.]]

* AccidentalMurder: Played for laughs. Muscles is on the receiving end of a scolding from his police boss, and quickly tries to patch things up by frantically looking for his boss' pet terrapin, which went missing earlier in the morning. Muscles ends up finding it when he [[OhCrap stepped on the terrapin to death]]...
* {{Acrofatic}}: Sammo Hung's character, Kidstuff. Obviously...
* BoozeFlamethrower: Played for laughs, when Vaseline did a SpitTake in front of a lit lighter Pipe is holding.

* DinerBrawl: CID-07 and Kidstuff confronting a suspect in a diner result in a full-blown ChaseFight.
* DestinationDefenestration: Happens in all three movies. The above-mentioned diner brawl notably has Muscles sending a guy flying out of a window with a kick.

* EnsembleCast
* InvisibleStreaker: Spoofed, when Pipe read about a "magic" charm on a magazine and thought he can make himself invisible. The other Lucky Stars humours him by pretending not being able to see him, overlapping with NakedPeopleAreFunny with a rather long scene ([[OverlyLOngGag like, ten minutes too long]]) of Pipe simply walking all over the place while naked (SceneryCensor happens a lot) until they blew his cover after Pipe uses his [[InvisibleJerkass allegedly invisible powers to peep on Cherie while taking a bath]].

** Subverted with the Lucky Stars, they do have names but they're mostly referred by their nicknames based on their AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance. Curly has curly hair, Teapot is called as such because of his size resembling a teapot (large body, small arms), Pipe is a smoker, Vaseline is a CasanovaWannabe who frequently flirts with girls, and Rookie is the TheBabyOfTheBunch.