7. POLICE STORY (1985)
With some of Jackie Chan’s most daring and memorable stunts – from the opening chase through a shanty town, to hanging on to the outside of a bus, to the fight in the shopping mall culminating in Chan’s slide down an 60 foot pole. Undoubtedly the real danger involved captures the audience, holding our breath as we know there are no camera tricks (as shown in Chan’s outtakes over the end credits).
Much copied never bettered, this is the action movie genre at it’s very best. (Compare for instance Chan’s character with that of Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon). Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung, in one of her earliest film roles, also star.
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Project A (1983)
The first film where Chan started to push the boundaries on his stunts, with help from fellow members of the Yuen Chinese Opera school Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.
Heart of Dragon (1985)
Often overlooked (though it contains many fight fans favourite sequences) this has outstanding dramatic performances by Chan with Sammo Hung (who also directed) as the mentally retarded older brother he cares for.
Armour of God (1986)
Famous as the film that almost killed him, Chan is an Indiana Jones style adventurer who used to be in a seventies band (an old video pokes fun at Cantopop co-star Alan Tam’s past).
Police Story 3 (1992)
Dubbed and reedited as Supercop, this was Chan’s first movie to get a theatrical release in the states. It also featured the re-launch of Michelle Yeoh’s career after a short retirement.
