There are several other sub-plots as well, such as one with Richard Ng trying to get away from his wife so he can carry on his affair, Kwan Tak Hing reprising his long-running role as Wong Fei-Hung battling one of his rivals on the train, Yukari Oshima and several other Japanese attempting to steal secret documents out of China and a group of bandits (including Richard Norton and Cynthia Rothrock) who want to rob the train. And that's this movie's main problem -- with so many characters and plots in the mix, almost none of them get resolved in any way, much less successfully. Still, the movie runs at a fast enough pace and throws so much at you in the way of comedy and action that you'll won't really notice the script's weaknesses too much.

With so many stars struggling for screen time there is little chance for much plot or character development but there is just enough to drive the film along until it reaches its superb explosive climax. Sammo plays Chin Fong-tin, a low life crook who tries to make amends to his poor home town. His plan is to stop the Shanghai Express, famous for the amount of rich people it normally carries, outside his town by blowing up the tracks. With nowhere else to stay the rich folk will then be forced to spend their cash in the town. Unfortunately Chin is not the only one with designs on the train as there is a small army of bandits planning a robbery who overrun the town. It then falls to Chin Fong-tin to save the day.

Very much influenced by American western movies, the film is set in a small dusty town in the middle of nowhere. It's basically one short comedy sketch after another (with one fight scene in the first hour between Sammo and Yuen Biao) until the last twenty minutes when the town explodes into a mass fight. Notable appearances come from Lam Ching Ying, Bolo Yeung, Rosamund Kwan, Yuen Wah, Eric Tsang, Cynthia Rothrock in her first Hong Kong film, Yukari Oshima also in her first Hong Kong film, Dick Wei, Richard Norton, Jimmy Wang Yu and more than I can remember.

The film features some superb fight sequences which again show Sammo's skill at choreography and camera work. High points include Yuen Biao and Dick Wei battling it out in a scene which makes much use of Yuen Biao's acrobatic ability. The speed and rythmn of these two men is incredible. Sammo gets to fight Cynthia Rothrock and there are also classic moments from Hwang Jang Lee and Yukari Oshima.

As a piece of light entertainment you can't do much better than 'Millionaires Express' and the intensity of the last twenty minutes should keep any fight fan happy.

And there is a lot of that. The film begins with a very peculiar prologue which I assume Sammo did only because he wanted the chance to dress up in drag! Otherwise, the scene with the Russian soldiers in Siberia makes little sense to the rest of the story.

But dissolve to the small town of Hanshui in the middle of nowhere. The security forces run by Eric Tsang (also includes Yuen Wah & Wa Mu) are planning a bank robbery and plan to set a fire to distract everyone. The fire brigade is run by Yuen Biao and in one of my favorite stunts ever he casually flips off a 3 story burning building landing on his feet and walks away as if to say "no big deal - do it all the time". The shot is done from a distance and with no cuts - it is quite incredible. After the security forces escape with the town's money, Yuen is put in charge of the police and soon Sammo rolls into town with his entourage of 5 working women (Rosamund Kwan & Emily Chu - 2 of them) to set up a brothel.

While this is all going on in town, the Shanghai Express train is headed their way with passengers. Among them 3 Japanese (Yukari Oshima is one) carrying a Chinese state secret, some train robbers and just ordinary passengers (Richard Ng as one who does the most amazing jaunt on top of a moving train between his wife & his mistress). Waiting near town are more bandits who are teamed up with the ones on the train. Here we have Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton & Dick Wei. As you might expect all of these gravitational forces come together in mayhem & fun. Some highlights were the one on ones between Sammo & Yuen Biao, Yuen B. & Dick Wei, Sammo & Cynthia, & Yukari taking on a bunch with a sword. A fun film filled with many terrific pieces that you can watch numerous times and find something different to enjoy each time.