Jackie Chan's Favorite Fights

Jackie's Top Ten Fights

"Jet Fighter, Part One," Wheels on Meals

This was my first face-off with American champion kickboxer Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. He's a great fighter--good enough that he tested my skills to the limit. In fact, throughout the filming of this scene, I teased him that we should fight a real match, not just a movie brawl. "Come on, Benny, let's do it," I'd say. And he'd 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 I was just joking. To be honest, I don't know who would have won if we did fight. He's that good.

"Mall Brawl," Police Story

Well, I said that Police Story was my favorite movie for action, didn't I? Leading up to the Great Glass Slide was a fight that just didn't let up, with shattering shop windows and display cases everywhere, and nearly everyone getting cut or bruised as the glass flew. Even Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia--poor Brigitte!--got into the action, with her body being thrown through a glass table. I have to say, she really took the punishment like a trouper.

"Factory Fight," Drunken Master II

A lot of my fans feel this is the best film I've made in the past five years--and it really was a big hit--but I'm still a little disappointed with the way Drunken Master II turned out. It was a sequel to my first real blockbuster, of course, so maybe I'm just holding it to a higher standard. Anyway, the film began with veteran Shaw Brothers director Lau Kar-leung at the helm, but he and I had different ideas about action. It's pretty obvious how our philosophies contrast if you look at the fights at the beginning of the film and the one that ends it, which I choreographed and directed by myself. His ideas are very traditional, almost like classical music; mine are more like jazz. My main opponent in this fight is Kenneth Lo, who's my friend and bodyguard in real life. He was a champion kickboxer before going into the movies, and you can tell from the lightning speed of his leg work. To face Kenneth's Thai boxing, I use Choy Li Fut, a hybrid kung fu style that blends Northern and Southern techniques--as well as some of the "Drunken kung fu" that everyone expects to see in a movie called Drunken Master II! In fact, at the very end of the scene, I actually drink industrial-strength alcohol, which gives me the strength (and tolerance for pain) to finally win the fight.

"Come Drink with Me," Drunken Master

I face off in the finale of my 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 my comical "Eight Drunken Fairies" drunken-style fighting against Hwang's tae kwon do: fast, funny, and furious.

"Jet Fighter, Part Two," Dragons Forever

In my opinion, the final fight of this movie is one of the best-shot action sequences that Samo has ever directed. The pacing of my second battle with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez is wonderful, too, beginning slow with each of us sizing up the other while we take off our shirts and circle warily, and then building tremendous momentum into a whirlwind of kicks and punches. Truly a classic kung-fu moment. If I say so myself.

"Child's Play," Police Story II

An example of intricate prop fighting, in which I use 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 swingsets, jungle gyms, and seesaws, and you'll get a small piece of the picture here.

"Monks and Amazons," Armour of God

A bizarre battle between me and a mob of angry monks, with a few warrior women thrown in for good measure. I developed my "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.

"Bar Bash," Project A

It's us Coast Guard sailors against our hated rivals, the police squad, in a sensational bar-room brawl. The action is so fast, and there are so many combatants, that it's a little hard to follow everything that's going on. But this is as close as it gets to filming a real bar fight (even though we weren't actually out to kill each other); me and my stuntmen really were bouncing off the walls and furniture in this scene!

"No Pain, No Gain," The Young Master

In this epic, extended battle, I fight hapkido expert Whang Inn Sik. I 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, I shot the entire scene at a wide angle with relatively few cuts. To finally defeat the master, I throw out all of my traditional techniques, and just go at him like a lunatic, flailing my arms and smashing into him with my head, my fists, and every other part of my body. I do win in the end, but at a price: the last scene of the movie shows me in a complete body cast, waving goodbye with my fingers!

"Turbo Charged," Armour of God II: Operation Condor

I feel like I've got to include this fight just because it was so much trouble to stage, and because the idea behind it was so bizarre. Me and Vincent Lyn, an American martial artist (he's half-Chinese), battle in a giant wind tunnel-flying through the air, smashing against the back wall of the tunnel, and tumbling to the ground when the turbine is turned off. We did the whole thing wearing wires and harnesses, which were a pain to deal with (but how else were we going to pretend to be flying?). It's a campy scene, but it's a lot of fun. Especially when I fly at Vincent with my fist outstretched, shouting "Superman!" and use the thrust of the wind to punch him out

KIDS CORNER FRONT PAGE / LATEST JACKIE NEWS

OFFICIAL SITE HOME PAGE

The Jackie Chan Kids Corner is part of The Official Jackie Chan Website run by the JC Group in Hong Kong.