I remember watching Jackie Chan’s Police Story 2 on VHS during my Summer holidays and it blew my mind...did he just jump off a moving bus through a plate glass window, did he just get blasted by firecrackers, are you seriously saying that the man jumped onto the hood of an oncoming car? All these questions and more were answered in the iconic, gob smacking end credits / outtakes, a staple in all Jackie Chan movies.
Needless to say, I went to the video store the next day and got through most of the Chan shelf.
In the Heart Of Dragon outtakes above, you'll see a stunt that, by Jackie's standards, is relatively straight forward: All he has to do is jump out of a window onto a large canvas marquee and onto an approaching car. The stunt goes wrong in every way imaginable: Jackie misses the marquee (WTF?) breaks both legs then gets hit IN THE HEAD by the oncoming car. Lunacy. After a spot of emergency medical treatment, Jackie did it again and it worked out well. It's a miracle no one was ever killed or maimed on these movies!
The films themselves were sterling, Chan's output in the 80s was prolific and pulse pounding; the best of his career IMO. Western audiences who only know Jackie’s work through Cannonball Run, The Big Brawl (good movie) The Rush Hour films and below par Hollywood comedies should check out his Chinese movies. Police Story 2 and 3 are awesome films and probably my favoutire Chan films of all time. Project A, Dragons Forever, Wheels On Meals, Heart of Dragon, Dragons Forever and Young Master are also good.
[ 27. July 2010, 18:19: Message edited by: Kash ]
Posted by Secret Admirer (Member # 3574) on :
I agree 100%, Jackie's 80s films are his best, and they're excellent. Wheels On Meals stood out for me and was always my favorite. The outtakes at the end of the movies always made me cheer and cringe at the same time.
Posted by J2ME (Member # 5728) on :
"Project A" will always be my favourite JC movie. His collaborations with Yuen Biao & Sammo Hung are a large part of what made his movie's so great.
He was a bona fide action superstar long before rubbish like "Rumble in The Bronx" or "Rush Hour" existed.
"Dragons Forever" & "Wheels on Meals" make up the rest of my top 3.
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
'Drunken Master' and 'Snake in the Eagles Shadow' will always be movies I think of when I see Jackie Chan's name. And 'Cannonball Run'!
Posted by oneyedwilly (Member # 8730) on :
started watching jackie chan in 1986 and was hooked for about 10 yrs. Ive got to say dragons forever stands out as my favourite. The dialogue is hilarious and the fight scene on the boat was great. The Black Dragon had some of the funniest and best on ground theatrics i think i have seen in any of his movies. Twin dragons saw him running over the top of an on coming car on a wire and was very clever. Meals on Wheels AKA Million dollar heiress was just comical all the way through. I remember going to see rumble in the bronx and most people in the movies had not even seen jackie before this including the couple of people who went with me...jaw dropping stuff for them. Project A and the police stories are hardcore stuff and he just got better and better all the time. I did a compilation of his stuff combined with van damme stuff to the song its like that by rundmc. It was all done on vhs when i was working in a video store. Wish i still had it. Oh well. Hes just a true star who deserves more acolades than he has recieved. simply awsome!
Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
Secret Admirer, Wheels On Meals was a great movie: that damn bike! marquees were always awkward for Jackie...
J2ME, totally agree with you about the ensemble cast, Yuen Biao is one of the most underrated action stars of all time IMO, remember his white suit cameo in A Man Called Hero? Best part of the whole movie.
logan5, going for the old school Chan-Woo-ping Yuen era I see. Aficionados choice.
quote:I did a compilation of his stuff combined with van damme stuff to the song its like that by rundmc. It was all done on vhs when i was working in a video store. Wish i still had it.
oneyedwilly, you should cut another montage: I'm sure it'd be easier to splice all the footage now than it must've been back in the day.
I loved Twin Dragons when I was younger but when I saw it again recently, it wasn't as good as I thought. Dragons Forever is an '80s masterpiece.
