Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (C-Movie) (HK-Movie) (1989)

Chan plays Kuo Cheng-Wah, a kind-hearted country boy who is quickly cheated out of all his money by Tung (Bill Tung) when he arrives in Hong Kong. Depressed and destitute, he encounters Madame Kao (Kuei Ya-lei), a poor woman selling flowers on the street; she urges him to buy a red rose, saying it will bring him luck. He demurs at first, shaking his head sadly, then finally agrees.

His fortunes immediately take a dramatic turn when he stumbles into a gang war, and renders assistance to a dying gang leader. The leader makes Kuo his successor due to a pun, then dies. Kuo, awed, attributes his luck to Madame Kao’s rose, and takes to buying one from her every day thereafter. This does not sit well with the gang, especially Fei (Lo Lieh), who feels that he was next in line to be the boss. Uncle Hoi (Wu Ma), the boss’ right-hand man, helps Kuo adjust to being the boss. In a fight to test his toughness, Kuo wins the gang’s respect, with the exception of Fei.

Kuo cannot accept being a gangster boss and tries to find a different way to legitimately make a living for himself and his gang. When singer Yang Luming (Anita Mui) comes to him with money to pay off a debt the previous boss had loaned to her dad, Uncle Hoi comes up with the idea to open a nightclub. At the opening of the nightclub, rival boss Tiger comes to muscle his way in on half of the shares of the nightclub, but is stopped by the police and Inspector Ho (Richard Ng).