I first got interested in kung fu movies one weekend, back when I was 14, (mid-'80s
for me) and I decided to rent Return of the Dragon at Blockbusters.
When I first saw Bruce Lee, I was totally amazed and started watching all the kung
fu movies that I could find. That led me to USA Network's Blackbelt Theatre that
showed old kung fu movies from the '70s and early '80s. Ironically, the first Jackie
Chan movie that I watched called The Protector was such a let-down that I almost
gave up on Chan. I was at a Blockbusters with my dad and there was this huge
cardboard display of Jackie Chan for The Protector. At that time my dad would
always rent action/war movies and I would always rent horror movies. So we watched
The Protector together and didn't think much of it. My dad vowed never to rent
another Chan movie again. A couple of years later, a Korean friend of the family
gave me a martial arts movie magazine that had an article on Jackie Chan to promote
The Big Brawl. That movie wasn't that great either and I have since realized that
every time Hollywood tried to work with Chan in the '80s the results were bad. In
The Protector, Chan was told to act like Clint Eastwood which Jackie isn't anything
like. The Big Brawl was just a hyped-up Hollywood production that didn't really show
off what Jackie Chan could do. I read the rest of the article and it mentioned that
Chan was outselling Bruce Lee in Hong Kong and I remember thinking how could this
be? After watching two movies that were really bad, where were his good movies? The
problem was, I was watching the Hollywood films and not the Hong Kong films. When I
made the switch, that's when I saw some really great moments in action cinema.
Jackie Chan was abandoned by his parents and sold to the Peking Opera School at a
young age. He learned kung fu, gymnastics, and how to perform. His was part of a
group of children that would perform together as the Seven Little Fortunes. It was
at the Peking Opera School that he was severely bullied by an older student named
Sammo Hung, the two who go on to make great movies in the future.
After the school, when Jackie Chan was about 17, he started working as a stuntman
and living frugally in a cheap apartment. It was during this time that he got a job
working as a stuntman for Bruce Lee's Fists of Fury released in the US as The
Chinese Connection. Chan doubled for the Japanese villian, Mr. Suzuki. As Bruce Lee
flies through the air to kick Mr. Suzuki, Chan steps in and a wire is tied around
him. Several stuntmen pull him and send Chan flying backwards 18 feet and landing
hard on his back. He hit the ground so hard that Bruce Lee ran over to see if he was
OK. Lee took good care of his stuntmen on all his films.
The other stunt work that he did with Bruce Lee can be seen in the Opium den fight
scene from Enter the Dragon where Bruce Lee snaps Jackie Chan's neck. Chan got hurt
again but earned Lee's respect by not allowing the pain to bother him.
After Bruce Lee died, all over Hong Kong, directors were trying to make Chinese
stars look like Bruce Lee.
This led to Jackie Chan's role in New Fists of Fury that was a bad movie by a young
Chan.
In fact, the early Chan movies didn't do that well at all, until he was allowed to
perform kung fu comedy and step out of the role of trying to be the new Bruce Lee.
This film was Snake in the Eagle's Shadow that prepared the way for the bigger hits
to follow.
When Jackie Chan did his Animal House version of the popular character Wong Fei Hung
in Drunken Master, he was on his way to being the star he would become. Drunken
Master took a popular character that the Chinese looked at with reverence and Chan
transformed that character into a frat-boy with fart jokes and really amazing
action scenes.
That film along with Young Master convinced me that Jackie Chan was worth a second
look. Both those films represent the classic period films of Chan.
It wasn't until Police Story that he brought his kung fu comedy into the modern age
and the film that saw Chan performing jawbreaking stunts.
Since I started collecting Jackie Chan movies on VHS and now DVD, here are a few
that I really enjoy and that I think show how good he really is.
- Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, a great film that first showcased kung fu comedy.
- Drunken Master, great use of the fighting styles of the 8 Drunken Gods.
- Young Master, interesting movie with beautifully filmed gymnastics combined with
kung fu scenes and the best lion dance ever filmed for the opening.
- Project A. Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung fighting pirates and trying to save the
world. Great stunt work involving a clock.
- Project A II, more fun from Chan and Hung
- Police Story, a very funny action-packed movie that has to go down as one of the
most fun films to watch of all time.
- Police Story II. The fight sequence in the kid's playground is breathtaking.
- The Armour of God, Jackie's take on Indiana Jones.
- Operation Condor: Armour of God II, released in the US as Operation Condor. The
US DVD is OK but missing 15 minutes of comedy from the HK DVD.
- City Hunter, based on a popular Japanese manga, and here filmed with great
slapstick and colors.
- Drunken Master II, released in the US as The Legend of Drunken Master. Another
fun movie to watch and just as good as the first one.
- Dragon's Forever, a great twist on Chan's usual character. Here he plays a
womanizing lawyer who would fit right in at the Playboy mansion. Awesome fight with
Benny the Jet at the end. One of the best fights from any Jackie Chan movie is this
fight between him and Benny the Jet.
"The Asian Aperture" is ©2009 by Jason Fetters. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2009 by Nolan B. Canova.
