# Carry On Pickpocket (提防小手)
**Carry On Pickpocket** (提防小手) is a 1982 Hong Kong action comedy directed by and starring [Sammo Hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/sammo-hung) (洪金寶), about a family of professional pickpockets who are drawn into a diamond-theft case involving an undercover policewoman. It was produced by Always Good Film Co., Ltd. (永佳影業有限公司), written by Wong Pin-yiu (黃炳耀), and released in Hong Kong on 31 March 1982.[1](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf) • [2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 31 March 1982, Hong Kong; Cantonese language[1](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf) |
| Director / writer | Sammo Hung (洪金寶); screenplay Wong Pin-yiu (黃炳耀)[1](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf) |
| Production | Always Good Film Co., Ltd. (永佳影業), on the Golden Princess (金公主) circuit[1](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf) • [3](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_c.pdf) |
| Principal cast | Sammo Hung, Frankie Chan (陳勳奇), Deanie Yip (葉德嫻), Richard Ng (吳耀漢), Lau Hak-suen (劉克宣), Pang Sau-ha (彭秀霞)[2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) • [4](https://m.1905.com/m/film/starlist/2147230.shtml) |
| Box office | HK$11,809,432, seventh among 1982 Hong Kong films, in a 21-day run from 31 March to 20 April 1982[5](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C/24119109) |
| Award | Best Actor, 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards (1983), for Sammo Hung[2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) |
| Runtime | 100 minutes per Douban and Apple TV listings; Fortune Star lists 102 minutes[6](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1298310/) • [7](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%8F%90%E9%98%B2%E5%B0%8F%E6%89%8B/umc.cmc.7fgrfbmn9mwlpu2mlvtekr522) • [2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film follows a four-person pickpocket team. Rice Pot (飯桶, played by Sammo Hung) and Chimney (煙囪, Frankie Chan) have worked since childhood under the master thief Kam (阿金, Lau Hak-suen) together with Kam's daughter Anne (Pang Sau-ha). Although the trade brings in good money, Kam keeps the profits for himself, leaving the younger thieves with nothing.[7](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%8F%90%E9%98%B2%E5%B0%8F%E6%89%8B/umc.cmc.7fgrfbmn9mwlpu2mlvtekr522)
At a discotheque the team meets Ling (亞玲, Deanie Yip), and Rice Pot falls for her, taking her for a female police inspector. Sergeant Wu of the CID (吳向勤, Richard Ng), honest but inept, is humiliated in a raid by Rice Pot's crew and vows to catch them.[7](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%8F%90%E9%98%B2%E5%B0%8F%E6%89%8B/umc.cmc.7fgrfbmn9mwlpu2mlvtekr522) Ling reveals herself as an undercover policewoman and recruits the gang to steal a pouch of diamonds from a gangster's courier during a trade-off.[2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) When Rice Pot discovers what Ling is really doing, he finds himself hunted by the mobsters who lost the diamonds, and the story ends with a violent climax, including a fight aboard a ship.[2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) • [8](https://asianactioncinema.co.uk/mini-reviews-joy-sales-dvds)
## Production
Sammo Hung directed the film and played the lead, and he also served as one of its action directors alongside [Yuen Biao](https://www.edgepedia.org/yuen-biao) (元彪), Lam Ching-ying (林正英), and Billy Chan (陳會毅); the credits also name the Sammo Hung Stunt Team (洪家班).[1](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf) • [9](https://fareastfilms.com/review/carry-on-pickpocket/) Frankie Chan composed the music, Ricky Lau (劉觀偉) was the cinematographer, and Wellson Chin (錢升瑋) served as assistant director.[4](https://m.1905.com/m/film/starlist/2147230.shtml)
A Douban retrospective essay places the shoot at the end of 1981, after Hung's cameo in the early [Cinema City](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinema-city) film *Chasing Girls* (追女仔), and describes Hung's decision to move away from late-Qing period kung fu pictures toward a contemporary comedy-action film, with shooting begun before a finished script.[6](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1298310/) The Hong Kong Film Archive's filmography lists the film's action choreography as the work of Hung and his Hung family stunt team.[1](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf)
## Release and box office
The film premiered on 31 March 1982 and ran for 21 days through 20 April, earning HK$11,809,432 and ranking seventh among Hong Kong films released that year.[5](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C/24119109) The Film Archive's history of the period notes that Always Good Film released *Carry On Pickpocket* and *佳人有約* in 1982 with box offices of HK$11.81 million and HK$8.83 million, placing seventh and twelfth among that year's Hong Kong films.[3](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_c.pdf) The film was released in Japan in January 1983.[10](https://kungfutube.info/5624)
## Reception and awards
At the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards, held in 1983, Sammo Hung won Best Actor for his performance as Rice Pot.[2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) • [11](https://www.pctprintanddesign.com/uploads/5/0/4/6/50460347/109051-c.pdf) The same ceremony saw him win Best Action Choreography for *The Prodigal Son* (敗家仔), which he directed and starred in.[11](https://www.pctprintanddesign.com/uploads/5/0/4/6/50460347/109051-c.pdf) A *Ta Kung Pao* retrospective observes that across the awards' history, Hung's Best Actor wins for *Carry On Pickpocket* and *Painted Skin*... rather, for *Seven Little Fortunes* (七小福, 1988), stand out because leading-actor honors rarely went to performers from kung fu or action cinema.[12](https://dw-media.tkww.hk/epaper/tkp/20090221/A18_Screen.pdf)
On Douban the film holds a 7.1 rating from 3,404 users.[6](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1298310/) Reviewers have described it as lighter than Hung's best-known work: Far East Films called it a happy-go-lucky comedy that builds to a finale surprisingly violent for its genre,[9](https://fareastfilms.com/review/carry-on-pickpocket/) and The Asian Cinema Critic judged it a fine but forgettable action comedy with decent moments.[13](https://theasiancinemacritic.com/2018/01/24/carry-on-pickpocket/)
## Place in Sammo Hung's career and Hong Kong action cinema
The film marks a transition in Hung's output and in Hong Kong cinema generally, from traditional kung fu period pictures to modern-day action films.[8](https://asianactioncinema.co.uk/mini-reviews-joy-sales-dvds) The Hong Kong Film Archive's biographical sketch of Hung (born 1952 in Hong Kong) records that he had already directed period kung fu comedies such as *Enter the Fat Dragon*-era work and the pioneering spook kung fu comedy *鬼打鬼* (1980), and that in 1982 he won his first Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor for *Carry On Pickpocket*, adding a second for *Seven Little Fortunes* in 1988.[14](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/Sammo-Hung_c2.pdf) The following year he made the contemporary action hit *奇謀妙計五福星* (1983) for Golden Harvest, launching the Lucky Stars series.[14](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/Sammo-Hung_c2.pdf)
The film also belongs to a strand of late-1970s and early-1980s Hong Kong comedies built around a theme song; the Film Archive's study of 1980s film music lists it alongside *發錢寒* (1977), *面懵心精* (1977), and *最佳拍檔* as examples of the type.[15](https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/documents/18995340/19057015/ebook_chi_03.pdf) Its opening sequence, in which the four thieves work a street in coordinated long takes set to a jaunty [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) song, is frequently cited by viewers as a signature set piece.[6](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1298310/)
The film remains in circulation: Fortune Star licenses it internationally,[2](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html) and it streams on platforms including Apple TV and iQIYI with Cantonese and Mandarin audio.[7](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%8F%90%E9%98%B2%E5%B0%8F%E6%89%8B/umc.cmc.7fgrfbmn9mwlpu2mlvtekr522) • [16](https://www.iq.com/album/carry-on-pickpocket-1982-19rwh42mhg?lang=en_us)
## References
1. [港產電影一覽 (1913-2003), Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf)
2. [Carry on Pickpocket, Fortune Star Media catalogue](https://www.fortunestarentertainment.com/carryonpickpocket.html)
3. [《香港影片大全》第九卷序言, 蒲鋒, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_c.pdf)
4. [提防小手 演职员表, 1905电影网](https://m.1905.com/m/film/starlist/2147230.shtml)
5. [香港票房排行榜, 中文百科全書](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C/24119109)
6. [提防小手 (1982), 豆瓣](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1298310/)
7. [提防小手, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%8F%90%E9%98%B2%E5%B0%8F%E6%89%8B/umc.cmc.7fgrfbmn9mwlpu2mlvtekr522)
8. [Mini Reviews, Joy Sales DVDs, Asian Action Cinema](https://asianactioncinema.co.uk/mini-reviews-joy-sales-dvds)
9. [Carry On Pickpocket (1982) Review, Far East Films](https://fareastfilms.com/review/carry-on-pickpocket/)
10. [燃えよデブゴン４ ピックポケット！／提防小手（1982）, KUNGFU TUBE](https://kungfutube.info/5624)
11. [香港電影金像獎相關報導 (C section)](https://www.pctprintanddesign.com/uploads/5/0/4/6/50460347/109051-c.pdf)
12. [大公報 Screen 版 (2009-02-21)](https://dw-media.tkww.hk/epaper/tkp/20090221/A18_Screen.pdf)
13. [Carry on Pickpocket, The Asian Cinema Critic](https://theasiancinemacritic.com/2018/01/24/carry-on-pickpocket/)
14. [香港影人小傳檢索：洪金寶, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/Sammo-Hung_c2.pdf)
15. [香港八十年代電影音樂, Hong Kong Film Archive e-book](https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/documents/18995340/19057015/ebook_chi_03.pdf)
16. [Carry On Pickpocket, iQIYI](https://www.iq.com/album/carry-on-pickpocket-1982-19rwh42mhg?lang=en_us)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1943 to 1985*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license