Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book (18 page)

The stunt was relatively easy: jump from a thirty-foot-high wall to a branch, hold on to the tall, thin tree as it bent over from his weight, and drop safely behind a second wall. The scene went well the first time they filmed it — and was, in fact, the version that is seen in the actual movie — but Jackie thought he could do better. The second time the branch broke.

“If the cameraman had tried to cushion my fall, or even just pushed me a little, I would have been okay,” Jackie explained on the UK-TV series
Son of the Incredibly Strange Film Show
. “But he grabbed the camera and ran away!” Jackie landed heavily, hitting his head on a rock. “At the time I didn’t think it was that bad. But when I looked up I saw my stunt guys and my father crying. Later, when I looked at the film, I saw the blood coming from my ear.”

In Hong Kong film, it was customary that when someone gets hurt, even breaks a limb, they just go get it set, administer some Chinese herbs, and return to the set (as Liu Chia-liang
did after breaking his leg directing
Cat vs. Rat
). But this wound put Jackie in the hospital for weeks. After hours of operating to remove skull fragments from his brain, the doctors were amazed how quickly Jackie recovered. Chan was left with a coin-sized hole in his skull, covered in plastic, which vibrates when he hums. He was also left with a firm conviction that
Armour of God
must be finished.

Many film industry leeches and weasels were waiting for him to fail, but he would not give them the satisfaction. Besides, Golden Harvest
had a lot of money invested in the production, and Chan’s work ethic would not let them down. After recollecting the cast (Alan Tam
, Rosamund Kwan
) many months later (resulting in an obvious on-screen change of hairstyle [some thought Jackie’s original “unlucky” hairdo was the supernatural cause of his accident]), Chan restarted the production with himself at the helm and a lot to prove — namely that he still “had it.”

He did, but, understandably,
Armour of God
is one of his most makeshift efforts. The plot hinged on the prophecy that if the title weapons — five pieces of medieval armament — fall into evil hands or are destroyed, the world would be plunged into ruin. Well, the armor does get stolen by a money and sex-loving cult, and are destroyed in the finale, but no ruin is forthcoming. Like a good magician, Jackie distracted the audience from that slip with extremely impressive stunts and action set pieces.

While recuperating, Chan had plenty of time to consider the state of kung fu film choreography — especially that traditional Bruce bug-a-boo that saw him being attacked by a circling mob … one at a time. So Jackie designed, developed, and put into action a circular form of kung fu defense that allowed him to take on multiple attackers at the same time by constantly turning, even spinning. He had already played with the multiple attacker situation in
Project A
and
Police Story
, but usually by being more beat up and/or moving faster. In
Armour of God
, he got the better of his assailants by always knowing where they were, and putting his attack in effect even while whirling.

Originally Cynthia Rothrock
was supposed to be the
Armour
’s ultimate fighting guard, but after Jackie’s injury, scheduling conflicts precluded her participation. She was replaced by four African actresses in black leather and painful high heels. They were doubled by mortifyingly-disguised Jackie stunt team members, but this final fight, before the literally explosive finale, was still exceedingly entertaining. Ironically, because the audience wondered how Jackie would bounce back from such an injury,
Armour of God
became his most financially successful movie ever.

Still, it is safe, and sad, to say that Jackie was never the same. Although he had suffered many a broken bone even before
Armour
, this closer brush with mortality made him twice shy. Much as the direction of the James Bond
series veered into farce as a result of Sean Connery
’s retirement, and George Lazenby
’s foolish resignation, Chan’s injury caused him to reexamine his future — to the detriment of his films. Rather than continue to break new ground, Chan embarked on a series of sequels and “culmination” productions. It seemed as if the kung fu film clown prince wanted to get in as much sure-fire action as he still could.

Project A
II
(1987), the follow-up to
Pirate Patrol,
didn’t lack ambition. It was Jackie’s most obvious homage to Buster Keaton
, and his last great attempt at a sophisticated story. Playing the same intrepid Coast Guard/police officer as he had in the original, Jackie is seconded to a corrupt police troop in a small city, where he must fight his own bribe-taking comrades as well as crime bosses, revolutionaries, sadistic mainland Chinese agents, and even the ax-wielding remnants of the pirates he defeated in the prequel.

Jackie took the opportunity to streamline and perfect the French-farce touches he had attempted in previous films, as well as mount a series of comic confrontations that take place in an exotic nightclub, a soy-milk factory, a fish hatchery, a chicken-plucking establishment, and, finally, throughout an entire town he had specially built on the back lot of the Shaw Brothers
Studio. His accident also seemed to effect his approach to the fight scenes. When, before, he would clearly defeat his adversary, in
Project A
II
, he went to obvious lengths to just dump them, or have them chased, off screen. It was as if, having experienced the pain of nearly dying, he couldn’t bear to do it to his beloved creations.

He didn’t seem to mind still doing it to himself, however. One of the climax’s most memorable moments is when he stuffs his mouth full of hot peppers so he could spit the chewed mulch on his hands to blind his opponents with it. “They were real,” Jackie told me. “I, for one, will never forget that scene, that’s for sure.” Nor will his fans, many of whom declare
Project A
II
Jackie’s finest directorial effort.

Next came
Police Story
2
(1988), which continued the traditions of villain-dumping established on the prior production, while adding a new wrinkle. This sequel was really two one-hour films: the first being a continuation of the original (where a dying Chu Yuan
attempts to make the hero’s life miserable), and the second seeing Jackie take on a team of, literally and figuratively, explosive extortionists. Although not as cohesive as his previous films, the stunt team was at the height of its powers, mounting one amazing fight scene after another — fight scenes of such complexity and speed that they needed to be reviewed repeatedly to capture all the nuances.

The now de rigueur end credit outtakes give witness to the price: both Jackie and co-star Maggie Cheung
received head wounds during the production (thankfully neither as dire as
Armour of God
’s accident). Chan’s old friend Sammo Hung
’s professional situation was far more dire. At the same time Jackie was flying high, Hung’s filmography had hit a rough patch. In addition to decreasing box office returns for his work, Sammo had gone public with his contention that his films wouldn’t have failed if Jackie had agreed to appear in them. While that may have been true, as far as it goes, it didn’t exactly endear him to his Peking Opera
School junior.

Even so, Jackie was now in his mid-thirties, and his internal alarm clock was ticking louder every day. The idea of a final “Three Brothers” film — one that would immortalize their kung fu skills at their optimum, was not anathema to him. So deciding, they shot the works with
Dragons Forever
(1988), a literally fight-filled extravaganza featuring almost every kung fu supporting player they could cram in (including Dick Tei Wei
, Philip Kao Fei
, Billy Chow
, Yuen Wah
, Chin Kar-lok
, Fung Hak-on
, Liu Chia-yung
, and much of both Jackie’s and Sammo’s stunt teams).

Curiously, each of the stars played anti-heroes (Jackie an amoral lawyer, Sammo a gun runner, and Yuen Baio
a benignly demented burglar) — two of whom are redeemed by true love with sisters who are being persecuted by an eccentric, sadistic drug lord. As the three struggle through the plot, the fights are fast, ample, and amazing. The trio fight each other and literally dozens of thugs in restaurants, nightclubs, parking lots, pleasure boats, and, finally, in a drug factory where each does some of his most impressive work.

There Sammo stages a rematch between Jackie and Benny “the Jet” Urquidez
, the villain’s main cocaine taster. “This one took a little longer,” Urquidez explained to me. “We worked for weeks on this fight, and, yes, they [i.e. the action director, choreographer, and stuntmen] do pretty much make it up as they go along.” The humor in this fight is more facile than in
Wheels
on
Meals
,
and the brutality lessened, but they still get their kicks in, although, for the first time ever, Jackie is clearly doubled by a stuntman (most likely Chin Kar-lok
) for the fight’s penultimate kick.

“Jackie was on another set,” an insider who did not wish to be identified maintained. “Sammo works so fast that Jackie didn’t have time to be both places at once ... and we needed that shot.” It would not be the last time Sammo used stand-ins for Jackie in the midst of his frenetic fight sequences. But, despite an interesting story and many terrific fight scenes, it appeared as if the audience had not forgiven Sammo, or perhaps was a bit jaded by the trio.

For whatever reason,
Dragons Forever
had a surprisingly soft box-office take — even in Japan
, which had traditionally been a Chan stronghold.

That, among other things, convinced Jackie to go his own way. “I’ve done everything three times,” he told me. So he decided to stop trying to honor Buster Keaton
, Bruce Lee
and Gene Kelly
, and start trying to honor his latest screen idol: Steven Spielberg
. So, for the next year, Chan slaved on what was originally titled
Miracle,
but eventually became
Mr. Canton and Lady Rose
(1989). It was his combination of
Project A
,
Francis Ford Coppola
’s
The Godfather
(1972), and, most especially,
Pocketful of Miracles
(1961).

It was also Jackie’s favorite directing job, featuring his most complex camera work, elaborate musical montages, and highlighted by a sweeping crane shot that took seventeen hours to set up (and had to be done twice). Even so, this particular amalgam of a thirties’ gangster movie, a romantic musical comedy, and a kung fu flick leaps from genre to genre over its two-hour running time — and not always elegantly. Wedged between more French-farce sequences and classic Cantonese comedy scenes were four brilliantly conceived fights, climaxed by one of Chan’s finest.

Having completed the rest of the filming, Chan and his stuntmen, now numbering seventeen, started to plan the finale. They set the crew to work building the interior of a rope factory from the ground up, and designed an intricate series of amusing and amazing battles amongst the many floor levels, stairs, elevators, and gigantic spools of hemp. The resulting choreography of flying bodies, wrapping cord, and rolling barrels is awesome. Some say, however, that it was too much, too late. The fights were only punctuation for long patches of somewhat desperate comedy. Although more impressive each time it is watched,
Miracle
was not enough of a miracle, so all involved looked across the globe to the single biggest box office in the world.

“No American movie theater will play a movie with an all-Chinese cast,” Golden Harvest producer David Chan
was told. “But what about Bruce Lee
?” was his inevitable reply. “Oh,” came the equally inevitable answer. “He was the
exception
.” So the seemingly unexceptional Jackie Chan
, at least in American eyes, set about to create his most spectacular film: a world-hopping challenge to his skills as a director, producer, and star, featuring only two Asian actors in a large cast of Caucasians. This was
Armour of God
II: Operation Condor
(1991). Taking an idea from famed Italian actor Aldo Sambrell
(seen in every Clint Eastwood
“Man With No Name” spaghetti Western) about Nazi gold buried beneath the Sahara, they developed an exciting script to be filmed on location.