Monday, May 19, 2008
| “Wheels on Meals” - 1984 | ||||
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| This was his first face-off with American champion kickboxer Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. This is one of the best fights ever filmed. Benny is a great fighter and a legend --good enough that he tested Jackie’s skills to the limit. In fact, throughout the filming of this scene, Jackie teased him that they should fight a real match, not just a movie brawl. "Come on, Benny, let's do it," he'd say. And Benny would say, "Any time, Jackie, any time." Well, the time was always "sometime soon," and by the time the film was finished, he finally caught on that Jackie was just joking. “To be honest, I don't know who would have won if we did fight. He's that good”, Jackie says. OK, Jackie, you are good but he is the real thing. Don’t even think about trying to get in the ring with this guy. | ||||
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| “Dragons Forever” - 1987 | ||||
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| Jackie Chan, Samo Hung and Yuen Biao. | ||||
| This is the third and last movie that Jackie and his opera brothers, Samo and Yuen Biao, co-starred in. It is also the only film where the three brothers fight against one another. | ||||
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| “Drunken Master” - 1978 | ||||
| This film portrayed a traditional theme about a well-known Kung Fu Master, Wong Fei-Hung, in a very creative way. Jackie acts the part of the young Wong who was very rebellious and finally learnt the art of "drunk boxing". The film retained the successful elements of “Snake in the Eagle's Shadow” and introduced humour at the same time. The outcome was phenomenal, and since then Jackie has become a superstar. Jackie faces off in the finale of his first big box-office smash against Hwang Jang Lee, a Korean martial artist who is one of the greatest kickers in the history of kung fu cinema. It's an intense and unusual fight, featuring his comical "Eight Drunken Fairies" drunken-style fighting against Hwang's tae kwon do: fast, funny, and furious. On “Drunken Master,” his brow ridge was injured, and he nearly lost an eye. | ||||
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| “Police Story” -1985 | ||||
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| “Police Story” was Jackie's favourite action movie and several sequels were afterwards made. The many amazing stunts included a hillside car chase and sliding down a 70-foot pole wrapped in Christmas lights in a shopping centre. Success didn't come without suffering; both of Jackie's hands were seriously burnt. Jackie is fast and furious in this film and plays an unstoppable police officer. In the final fight he uses his “anything goes” style against a lot of thugs. No Hollywood movie - no matter the budget - has ever captured this kind of action on film. | ||||
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| “Police Story II” -1988 | ||||
| An example of intricate prop fighting, in which he uses playground equipment to take out a gang of thugs. Think of a complicated dance with a whole bunch of partners, over, under, through, and around swing sets, jungle gyms, and seesaws, and you'll get a small piece of the picture here. | ||||
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| “Armour of God” -1986 | ||||
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| A bizarre battle between Jackie and a mob of angry monks, with a few warrior women thrown in for good measure. Jackie perfected his "one-man-against-the-world" fighting style in this crazy fight, battling outward in a spiral while using circular kicks to keep the cassock-wearing combatants at a distance. His fight against the black amazons is very spectacular and original. | ||||
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| “The Young Master” –1980 | ||||
| In this epic, extended battle, Jackie fights hapkido expert Whang Inn Sik. He was very impressed with his martial arts, and was determined to show the audience the power and beauty of this Korean fighting style. As a result, Jackie shot the entire scene at a wide angle with relatively few cuts. To finally defeat the master, Jackie throws out all of his traditional techniques, and just goes at him like a lunatic, flailing his arms and smashing into him with his head, his fists, and every other part of his body. He does win in the end, but at a price: the last scene of the movie shows him in a complete body cast, waving goodbye with his fingers! During “The Young Master,” he was almost suffocated when he injured his throat. Also you might think that ‘Someone Up There’ had it in for Jackie and his nose! It's bad enough that it's so big to begin with, but he has actually broken it at least three times--one of them was the “Young Master” (the others were “Project A,” and, most recently, “Mr. Nice Guy”). | ||||
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| “Dragon Lord” -1982 | ||||
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| “ Dragon Lord,” nominated the Best Action Design, Hong Kong Film Awards, 1982, was originally intended as the sequel to “Young Master” but was soon considered a story in its own right. The movie didn't sell well in Hong Kong but was widely accepted and very popular in Japan. Jackie fights Wang Inn-Sik, the Hapkido master for the second time. Jackie injured his chin on “Dragon Lord.” It was painful even talking for a while which made it hard to direct, not to mention act. Wang Inn-Sik is Bruce Lee’s Japanese opponent in “Way of the Dragon” Director: Jackie Chan. | ||||
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| “Project A” - 1984 | ||||
| This movie was the first time the three "brothers", Jackie, Samo and Yuen Biao, co-starred in a movie together. Jackie was the director and they had plenty of dangerous stunts such as the famous jump from the clock tower. The three were a winning combination; the movie made HK$14 million in its first week at the box office. The movies they worked on together always enjoyed great success. Jackie, Yuen Biao and Samo Hung fight together in an epic battle against a fearsome pirate played by Dik Wei (one of my favorite Hong Kong actors that usually plays the villain). | ||||
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| “Heart of Dragon” - 1985 | ||||
| Very different from the traditional Jackie movies, this film focused on the relationship of the brotherhood rather than on Kung Fu fighting. Westerners saw it as the action version of “Rain Man”. This is a boring movie but the final fight scene against Dik Wei is awesome. | ||||
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| “City Hunter” - 1993 | ||||
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| In this movie, produced primarily for the Japanese market, Jackie acts as the funny, joke-cracking cartoon character, Meng Po. Jackie fights against Richard Norton and Gary Daniels. The movie has very good fights but it has a very crazy script | ||||
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| “Gorgeous” - 1999 | ||||
| Unlike his usual brand of movies, this passionate movie marks an attempt by Jackie to try something different from stunts and action. The film is full of small delights and the action scenes are cleverly inserted. It also has the right kind of martial artist spirit, getting into fights without being vicious. Jackie fights against Bradley James Allan . Brad is an Australian fight choreographer and stuntman and is the first ever foreigner to become a member of the Sing Ga Ban. He has trained under Master Liang Chang Xing, who was, along with Jet Li, a former member of the Beijing Wushu team. I first noticed Brad Allan in “Gorgeous,” and I was hooked. From the first moves he made, I saw that this guy truly was a great martial artist. Incidentally, Brad was the bodyguard for Jackie while he was promoting "Who am I?" in Japan. |
