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“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. |
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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.
The final fight of this movie is also one of the best-shot
action sequences that Samo Hung has ever directed. The
pacing of this second battle with
Benny "The Jet"
Urquidez is wonderful, too, beginning slow with each of
the fighters sizing up the other while they take off their
shirts and circle warily, and then building tremendous
momentum into a whirlwind of kicks and punches. Truly a
classic mixed martial arts moment that has everything. No
American made movie has ever managed to capture fight
sequences half as good as these two. |
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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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One of
the black amazons. |
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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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Dik Wei |
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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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Jackie
and Gary Daniels. |
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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
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| 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. |
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