1197 Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar

[Orlac]

Lo Wei gets a bad rep based on his drop in quality following Fist of Fury, and his highly publicised fall-outs with Bruce Lee and Jackie...but his Shaw wu xia films are very accomplished and are well worth seeking out.

It's also not made clear in Chan's "autobiography" (which was ghost written by Jeff Yang) but Lo Wei recieved a co-producer credit on Chan/Golden Harvest's Dragon Lord, part of his settlement after Jackie bailed on the Fearless Hyena sequel.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

A story I've read is that the Wang Yu-brokered settlement reached when Chan bolted to Golden Harvest required Chan to make seven more films with Lo Wei. Golden Harvest bought out the first three films on the contract (which became The Young Master, The Big Brawl, and The Cannonball Run), but then went ahead and unilaterally produced Dragon Lord. So Lo Wei went after Chan again and Wang Yu brokered another agreement that gave Lo half the copyright to Dragon Lord and a producer credit, while also releasing Chan from the remaining films on his contract. No idea how accurate that is, but there are two different posters out there for Dragon Lord—one crediting Golden Harvest with no mention of Lo, and the other crediting Lo Wei's studio with no mention of Golden Harvest—so perhaps the first version was printed before the deal and the second version after.

[Orlac]

A story I've read is that the Wang Yu-brokered settlement reached when Chan bolted to Golden Harvest required Chan to make seven more films with Lo Wei. Golden Harvest bought out the first three films on the contract (which became The Young Master, The Big Brawl, and The Cannonball Run), but then went ahead and unilaterally produced Dragon Lord. So Lo Wei went after Chan again and Wang Yu brokered another agreement that gave Lo half the copyright to Dragon Lord and a producer credit, while also releasing Chan from the remaining films on his contract. No idea how accurate that is, but there are two different posters out there for Dragon Lord—one crediting Golden Harvest with no mention of Lo, and the other crediting Lo Wei's studio with no mention of Golden Harvest—so perhaps the first version was printed before the deal and the second version after.

That's very interesting!

Considering their early films did poorly, kudos to Lo Wei for sticking with Jackie until the Seasonal offer.

[FrauBlucher]

DVDbeaver

[Orlac]

Criterion...PLEASE fix the missing night filters for SPIRITUAL KUNG FU!!!

Hopefully they have, can anyone confirm this once they have the set? It's the shot at 5:09 on this old VHS upload - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2_JXbWxC7Y

[cdnchris]

Please tell me these get better because Half of a Loaf of Kung Fu was absolute torture.

(Both commentaries on Arrow's New Fist of Fury also didn't offer much hope for Fearless Hyena II)

[yoloswegmaster]

I would say that it does get better, besides Fearless Hyena II of course. I would save the best for last, which in this case would be The Young Master.

[knives]

It definitely gets better even if the first two are rough.

[Orlac]

Half a Loaf is very undisciplined. Aside from the great title sequences, it's a lot of running around with silly Three Stooges humour.

Paradoxically, I really like Spiritual Kung Fu. It's slow to start, and the scenes with the ghosts are odd to say the least...but Jackie's' fight scenes in the second half are terrific.

[zedz]

I would say that it does get better, besides Fearless Hyena II of course. I would save the best for last, which in this case would be The Young Master.

I haven't been watching these in order, but if The Young Master is the best of the bunch I might have to give up on this set. Are there any early Chan movies that aren't incredibly lame and unfunny?

At least the ones I saw in this collection didn't opt for the 'hilarious' retard humour of Heart of Dragon. Ugh.

[knives]

Fearless Hyena I feel is pretty great.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Would the Drunken Master films count as early Jackie Chan films because those are pretty good.

[cdnchris]

I liked Fearless Hyena and didn't hate My Lucky Stars... so there's that. Nothing was as awful as Half Loaf.

[knives]

Would the Drunken Master films count as early Jackie Chan films because those are pretty good.

For sure. I figure early Chan is anything between New Fist of Fury and The Big Brawl at least.

[Orlac]

Would the Drunken Master films count as early Jackie Chan films because those are pretty good.

For sure. I figure early Chan is anything between New Fist of Fury and The Big Brawl at least.

For me, I'd say up to Dragon Lord. It's with 1983's Winners and Sinners and Project A that Jackie's "modern" era begins.

Which makes the same year's Fearless Hyena II look even more out of touch, it's practically prehistoric by comparison.

[knives]

Chan getting kicked at the end of The Young Master is one of the funniest moments I’ve seen recently. Fearless Hyena is probably the better overall film, but this is definitely the funniest film in the set. Honestly it’s one of the funniest films I’ve seen from Chan period. There’s so many great moments that just show such a perfect sense of how to stage humour.

[knives]

My Lucky Stars really shouldn’t be in this set as Chan is hardly more than a cameo, yet even that is clearly the best part of the movie. It feels like a joke in itself by Hung, who criterion just wants to release the worst films of, that the Chan scenes are so different from the rest of the movie. That opening chase could have easily come from Police Story whereas most of the film is just this jokey hangout flick which reminded me of Abbott and Costello. Some of the gags are really hilarious especially from Stanley Fung Shui-fan, but it’s all brought down by the introduction of the film’s only notable female character who seems to exist for two gags. The later one where she is fighting is conceptually funny, but the rape gag is overextended, unfunny, and just doesn’t make any sense. This is definitely the weakest Hung film I’ve seen even if it has some good things to it.

[Orlac]

It's weird that they got My Lucky Stars, but not Winners and Sinners, which is sort of its predecssor (the actors play similar but different roles) or Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, which is the direct sequel.

Hong Kong Legends also release My Lucky Stars before Winners and Sinners - their DVD was censored by the BBFC to remove Sammo doing a bit of car-jacking!

[Mr Sausage]

My Lucky Stars really shouldn’t be in this set as Chan is hardly more than a cameo, yet even that is clearly the best part of the movie. It feels like a joke in itself by Hung, who criterion just wants to release the worst films of, that the Chan scenes are so different from the rest of the movie. That opening chase could have easily come from Police Story whereas most of the film is just this jokey hangout flick which reminded me of Abbott and Costello. Some of the gags are really hilarious especially from Stanley Fung Shui-fan, but it’s all brought down by the introduction of the film’s only notable female character who seems to exist for two gags. The later one where she is fighting is conceptually funny, but the rape gag is overextended, unfunny, and just doesn’t make any sense. This is definitely the weakest Hung film I’ve seen even if it has some good things to it.

And, sure, this is being a pedant about semantics, but it makes no sense including it in a box titled the “emergence” of a superstar when it was released a few years into Chan’s golden era. It was released the same year as Police Story. It’s clear Criterion had it, and this was the easiest way to release it.

[knives]

Totally agree, as I mentioned on the previous page, though that applies to about half the set.

[Mr Sausage]

Totally agree, as I mentioned on the previous page, though that applies to about half the set.

I’m in the midst of watching the first Shout vol. of Jackie films, mostly Lo Wei productions, and it fits the title a lot more (tho’ I haven’t seen the films in this set). One thing I’ve decided from the Lo Wei films is that, based on them alone, you’d never predict Jackie’s superstardom. They don’t make use of his comedic skills (and he is way too stiff and inexperienced for drama), and his charisma comes from his everyman persona, so he isn’t charismatic as your typical wuxia hero. Plus the fight choreography is slow and stiff, so Jackie merely comes off better than the other actors. This would improve as Jackie became fight coordinator on his films, but even so, there were many athletically gifted actors at the time. Hsiao Ho was doing way more impressive stunts for Lau Kar-Leung over at Shaw Bros. at the exact same time.

I’m guessing this set has more of the films where he gets creative control and starts to craft his trademark style?

[knives]

That’s true. The first two are a part of that with Wei Lo trying to figure out Chan the comedian, then the two directorial efforts are kind of him getting into his groove, with the last two being a bit odd men out though you could say it’s others utilizing Chan the star. I think a better name for the set would be evolution of a star (through b-sides).

I’ve been trying to make this the year of Chan, so far 15 new films, and I found a lot to be interested in the Wei Lo films even if they are not good. In particular I feel like he has no ability to direct action which is bad for an action director. Chain’s role as a villain in that Meteor movie is a lot of fun though.

[Mr Sausage]

In particular I feel like he has no ability to direct action which is bad for an action director.

I noticed the same thing right off the bat. I can only assume the excellence of the fight scenes in his two Bruce Lees was down to Lee himself. Lo Wei does better at light drama, but even there his direction can be stiff and inelegant. He was a minor talent in an era of giants who got lucky working with two huge superstars at the beginning of their careers.

For me one of the big interests of those early Chans is how it clarifies his talents by misusing him. Chan just does not work in wuxia pian; he doesn't embody stoicism or that particular condescension Hong Kong movies always outfitted their heroes with. It's so strange to see Chan act haughty. One of the more successful Lo Weis, Shaolin Wooden Men, is successful because Chan starts low and has to work his way up to godlike status, so the movie inadvertently takes advantage of his capacity to project suffering and determination. But then it also makes the ludicrous decision to keep Chan a gesticulating mute the whole movie, so, eh. It's been a long time since I saw Drunken Master, but I remember Yuen Woo-Ping having a better eye for Chan's skills and how to use them. Interesting that they never worked together again after that two-fer in '78.

[knives]

Agreed on all accounts. It’s actually funny with the Lee films Lee directed his own action scenes, but others were done with Wei Lo’s team and you can really tell.

I think too late Wei Lo figured out exactly what you say about Chan’s qualities as the last few films do lean on those qualities.

[Mr Sausage]

So what are your favourite Chan's?