Jackie Chan on Blu-ray (Worldwide)

[navydavey]

Well you've convinced me to buy the Warner DVD of Pedicab Driver now, I'm sick and tired of waiting any longer to see it.

I think you should keep going with the Chan titles, the quality definitely drops in the 90's but there's still some decent enough movies here and there. I'd like to see your opinions if you get up to date.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by navydavey

Well you've convinced me to buy the Warner DVD of Pedicab Driver now, I'm sick and tired of waiting any longer to see it.

I think you should keep going with the Chan titles, the quality definitely drops in the 90's but there's still some decent enough movies here and there. I'd like to see your opinions if you get up to date.

Thanks—I appreciate it, but I think I'm pretty much done now. It was a lot of movies in a row haha. I did try to keep going, though. I watched Rumble in the Bronx with my kids and we had a good time. It's not a great movie (a big step down from Jackie Chan’s previous masterpiece, Drunken Master II), but I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I used to watch that one with my grandma all the time, so there’s a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in it.

My main issue with Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy, and Who Am I is how few Asian actors appear in them—and how many mediocre English-speaking ones do. I get that Jackie was going international around 1997, and maybe that shift made sense at the time, but the acting in these films is just bad across the board. I tried rewatching First Strike and Mr. Nice Guy this week but ended up turning both off after about 20 minutes. The bad guys were straight out of kids movies (think The 3 ninja), it takes me entirely out of the movie everytime.

People love to knock Rush Hour—mainly because Jackie’s fight scenes are toned down—but it’s the first of his international films to feature professional English-speaking actors. Obviously, the difference is that it was a Hollywood production rather than a Golden Harvest one, and honestly, that made all the difference. I’d take the first two Rush Hour films over anything he did with Golden Harvest post-Drunken Master II. It’s just too bad that, aside from Rush Hour, Jackie’s Hollywood career never really took off the way it should have.

I also checked out the first episode of Martial Law with Sammo Hung. I’d seen the crossover with Walker, Texas Ranger a few years ago (which was glorious), but I’d never watched a full episode of Martial Law before. I enjoyed it, but Sammo’s two partners are so bad that I’m not sure how much more I can sit through. Still, it made me happy to see Sammo get some recognition in the U.S. After how rough the '90s were for him, it’s good to know he found some success.

I’ve also seen Sammo in SPL—basically the best on-screen version of The Kingpin ever—and I remember really loving that one. I might revisit it. I also have Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (from last year) on order at my local library. Even if Sammo is clearly out of shape these days, I’m excited to see him in action again.

Finally, here’s a list of all the movies I watched during my marathon, in chronological order with ratings at the end of each. If there’s no rating, it’s because I couldn’t finish it—haha.

-New fist of fury (1976): 4/10
-Hand of death (1976): 6/10
-The killer meteors (1976): 4/10
-Shaolin Wooden men (1976): 6/10
-To Kill with intrigue (1977): 4/10
-The Iron-fisted monk (25/08/77): 8/10
-Snake & Crane Arts of shaolin (08/03/1978): 5/10
-Snake in the Eagle's shadow (01/03/1978): 6/10
-Drunken master (05/10/1978): 7/10
-Warriors two (28/12/1978): 7/10
-The fearless hyena (17/02/1979): 6/10
-Dragon fist (21/04/1979): 6/10
-Knockabout (12/04/1979): 7/10
-Odd couple (09/08/1979): 6/10
-Magnificent butcher (19/12/1979): 8/10
-The young master (09/02/1980): 8/10
-The Victim (28/02/1980): 6/10
-Battle creek brawl (10/09/1980): 3/10
-Encounter of the spooky kind (24/12/1980): 9/10
-Dreadnaught (05/03/1981): 7/10
-The prodigal son (22/12/1981): 9/10
-Dragon lord (21/01/1982): 5/10
-Winners and sinners (07/07/1983): 8/10
-Project A (22/12/1983): 9/10
-Wheels on meals (17/08/1984): 10/10
-My lucky stars (10/02/1985): 6/10
-The protector (11/07/1985): 4/10
-Twinkle, twinkle, lucky stars (15/08/1985): 6/10
-Heart of dragon (16/10/1985): 7/10
-Police story (14/12/1985): 9/10
-Millionaires express (30/01/1986): 7/10
-Amour of god (16/08/1986): 6/10
-Righting wrongs (27/11/1986): 7/10
-Eastern condors (09/07/1987): 8/10
-Project A 2 (19/08/1987): 8/10
-Dragons forever (11/02/1988): 9/10
-Police story 2 (21/08/1988): 8/10
-On the run (15/09/1988): 7/10
-Pedicab driver (24/02/1989): 10/10
-Miracles (15/06/1989): 7/10
-The Iceman cometh (18/08/1989): 7/10
-Encounters of the spooky kind 2 (09/02/1990): 6/10
-Island of fire (28/03/1990):
-Skinny tiger, fatty dragon (28/06/1990): 5/10
-Armour of god 2 (07/02/1991): 6/10
-Twins dragon (15/01/1992): 6/10
-Police story 3 (04/07/1992): 8/10
-City hunter (14/01/1993):
-Crime story (24/06/1993): 6/10
-Drunken master 2 (03/02/1994): 9/10
-Rumble in the Bronx (1995): 6/10

[cooey]

Originally Posted by navydavey

Well you've convinced me to buy the Warner DVD of Pedicab Driver now, I'm sick and tired of waiting any longer to see it..

I keep going to grab that DVD but I'm still holding out hope that someone will release it at some point

[navydavey]

I think it's quite embarrassing that Warner doesn't do anything with their HK hostages.

By all accounts the boutiques have been riding the wave of martial arts sales for half a decade or more at this point.

All the while Warner does nothing with the few they have, it's like they've forgotten they have more than Enter The Dragon in their vaults..

I'll buy Pedicab Driver on blu if they ever do get around to it, I think Plaion have the best chance of releasing it, though I keep hoping Arrow might have wrangled some HK films from Warner's iron grip.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by navydavey

I think it's quite embarrassing that Warner doesn't do anything with their HK hostages.

By all accounts the boutiques have been riding the wave of martial arts sales for half a decade or more at this point.

All the while Warner does nothing with the few they have, it's like they've forgotten they have more than Enter The Dragon in their vaults..

I'll buy Pedicab Driver on blu if they ever do get around to it, I think Plaion have the best chance of releasing it, though I keep hoping Arrow might have wrangled some HK films from Warner's iron grip.

Imagine a company like 88 films getting a hold of movies like Drunken master 2 and Pedicab driver. These are two of the greatest martial movies of all time, period. They deserve the best, not just a cheap blu ray from Warner (although i'd take that at this point for Pedicab).

Speaking of Arrow, I wonder why they didn't release The magnificent butcher and Dreadnaught in their first wave of Golden harvest movies a few years ago? Those were big ones and instead they finished with Shaolin Plot (certainly a smaller movie than either of those). Arrow have pretty much stopped since then, which is a real shame. I wonder if anyone even have the rights for either in North America? I know that Mr. Vampire and Encounter of the spooky kind are stuck with Criterion but I haven't heard anything about Butcher and Dreadnaught.

[reason108]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Thanks—I appreciate it, but I think I'm pretty much done now. It was a lot of movies in a row haha. I did try to keep going, though. I watched Rumble in the Bronx with my kids and we had a good time. It's not a great movie (a big step down from Jackie Chan’s previous masterpiece, Drunken Master II), but I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I used to watch that one with my grandma all the time, so there’s a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in it.

My main issue with Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy, and Who Am I is how few Asian actors appear in them—and how many mediocre English-speaking ones do. I get that Jackie was going international around 1997, and maybe that shift made sense at the time, but the acting in these films is just bad across the board. I tried rewatching First Strike and Mr. Nice Guy this week but ended up turning both off after about 20 minutes. The bad guys were straight out of kids movies (think The 3 ninja), it takes me entirely out of the movie everytime.

People love to knock Rush Hour—mainly because Jackie’s fight scenes are toned down—but it’s the first of his international films to feature professional English-speaking actors. Obviously, the difference is that it was a Hollywood production rather than a Golden Harvest one, and honestly, that made all the difference. I’d take the first two Rush Hour films over anything he did with Golden Harvest post-Drunken Master II. It’s just too bad that, aside from Rush Hour, Jackie’s Hollywood career never really took off the way it should have.

I also checked out the first episode of Martial Law with Sammo Hung. I’d seen the crossover with Walker, Texas Ranger a few years ago (which was glorious), but I’d never watched a full episode of Martial Law before. I enjoyed it, but Sammo’s two partners are so bad that I’m not sure how much more I can sit through. Still, it made me happy to see Sammo get some recognition in the U.S. After how rough the '90s were for him, it’s good to know he found some success.

I’ve also seen Sammo in SPL—basically the best on-screen version of The Kingpin ever—and I remember really loving that one. I might revisit it. I also have Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (from last year) on order at my local library. Even if Sammo is clearly out of shape these days, I’m excited to see him in action again.

Finally, here’s a list of all the movies I watched during my marathon, in chronological order with ratings at the end of each. If there’s no rating, it’s because I couldn’t finish it—haha.

-New fist of fury (1976): 4/10
-Hand of death (1976): 6/10
-The killer meteors (1976): 4/10
-Shaolin Wooden men (1976): 6/10
-To Kill with intrigue (1977): 4/10
-The Iron-fisted monk (25/08/77): 8/10
-Snake & Crane Arts of shaolin (08/03/1978): 5/10
-Snake in the Eagle's shadow (01/03/1978): 6/10
-Drunken master (05/10/1978): 7/10
-Warriors two (28/12/1978): 7/10
-The fearless hyena (17/02/1979): 6/10
-Dragon fist (21/04/1979): 6/10
-Knockabout (12/04/1979): 7/10
-Odd couple (09/08/1979): 6/10
-Magnificent butcher (19/12/1979): 8/10
-The young master (09/02/1980): 8/10
-The Victim (28/02/1980): 6/10
-Battle creek brawl (10/09/1980): 3/10
-Encounter of the spooky kind (24/12/1980): 9/10
-Dreadnaught (05/03/1981): 7/10
-The prodigal son (22/12/1981): 9/10
-Dragon lord (21/01/1982): 5/10
-Winners and sinners (07/07/1983): 8/10
-Project A (22/12/1983): 9/10
-Wheels on meals (17/08/1984): 10/10
-My lucky stars (10/02/1985): 6/10
-The protector (11/07/1985): 4/10
-Twinkle, twinkle, lucky stars (15/08/1985): 6/10
-Heart of dragon (16/10/1985): 7/10
-Police story (14/12/1985): 9/10
-Millionaires express (30/01/1986): 7/10
-Amour of god (16/08/1986): 6/10
-Righting wrongs (27/11/1986): 7/10
-Eastern condors (09/07/1987): 8/10
-Project A 2 (19/08/1987): 8/10
-Dragons forever (11/02/1988): 9/10
-Police story 2 (21/08/1988): 8/10
-On the run (15/09/1988): 7/10
-Pedicab driver (24/02/1989): 10/10
-Miracles (15/06/1989): 7/10
-The Iceman cometh (18/08/1989): 7/10
-Encounters of the spooky kind 2 (09/02/1990): 6/10
-Island of fire (28/03/1990):
-Skinny tiger, fatty dragon (28/06/1990): 5/10
-Armour of god 2 (07/02/1991): 6/10
-Twins dragon (15/01/1992): 6/10
-Police story 3 (04/07/1992): 8/10
-City hunter (14/01/1993):
-Crime story (24/06/1993): 6/10
-Drunken master 2 (03/02/1994): 9/10
-Rumble in the Bronx (1995): 6/10

You should try Martial Law season 2 if you can get through season 1. Though season 2 is almost like a new show. They introduced Arsenio Hall as Sammo`s sidekick. The one thing that helped me to get through it were the fight scenes, of course, and Kelly Hu.

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Imagine a company like 88 films getting a hold of movies like Drunken master 2 and Pedicab driver. These are two of the greatest martial movies of all time, period. They deserve the best, not just a cheap blu ray from Warner (although i'd take that at this point for Pedicab).

Speaking of Arrow, I wonder why they didn't release The magnificent butcher and Dreadnaught in their first wave of Golden harvest movies a few years ago? Those were big ones and instead they finished with Shaolin Plot (certainly a smaller movie than either of those). Arrow have pretty much stopped since then, which is a real shame. I wonder if anyone even have the rights for either in North America? I know that Mr. Vampire and Encounter of the spooky kind are stuck with Criterion but I haven't heard anything about Butcher and Dreadnaught.

Is it possible that Eureka! had some kind of UK exclusive rights?

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Well, I wrapped up my 45-movie marathon with Drunken Master II—things definitely take a sharp downturn after that, in my opinion. What a ride it’s been! I feel like Sammo Hung peaked with Pedicab Driver, and Jackie Chan hit his high point with Drunken Master II. Funny enough, both of them go head-to-head with Lau Kar-leung in those films—gotta love that coincidence.

I did check out two more Sammo films after Pedicab Driver—Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon and Encounters of the Spooky Kind II—but the drop in quality was so jarring that I had to call it quits after those.

Anyway, here’s my top 15 from the bunch. Out of the 45 films, I thoroughly enjoyed around 35. The ’80s were truly a golden era for the Three Dragons.

15- Eastern condors (09/07/1987): 8/10
14- The young master (09/02/1980): 8/10
13- The Iron-fisted monk (25/08/77): 8/10
12- Winners and sinners (07/07/1983): 8/10
11- The Magnificent butcher (19/12/1979): 8/10
10- Police story 3 (04/07/1992): 8/10
09- Police story 2 (21/08/1988): 8/10
08- The prodigal son (22/12/1981): 9/10
07- Dragons forever: 9/10
06- Encounter of the spooky kind (24/12/1980): 9/10
05- Drunken master 2 (03/02/1994): 9/10
04- Police story (14/12/1985): 9/10
03- Project A (22/12/1983): 9/10
02- Wheels on meals (17/08/1984): 10/10
01- Pedicab driver (24/02/1989): 10/10

Thank you for this list! I am not crazy into Hong Kong films but I love Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Kung Fu Hustle, Master of the Flying Guillotine and The Mighty Peking Man (I may be forgetting some). I own 5 on your list but I have a hard time finding good ones because there is so much crap out there. I am going to check these out starting with Pedicab Driver. I have a feeling I will like all of these since, as we have discussed before, our movie tastes are almost identical. Thanks again!

Edit: My sons, grandsons and I LOVE Rumble in the Bronx. Operation Condor (Armor of God 2) is our favorite Jackie Chan film though.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

Thank you for this list! I am not crazy into Hong Kong films but I love Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Kung Fu Hustle, Master of the Flying Guillotine and The Mighty Peking Man (I may be forgetting some). I own 5 on your list but I have a hard time finding good ones because there is so much crap out there. I am going to check these out starting with Pedicab Driver. I have a feeling I will like all of these since, as we have discussed before, our movie tastes are almost identical. Thanks again!

Edit: My sons, grandsons and I LOVE Rumble in the Bronx. Operation Condor (Armor of God 2) is our favorite Jackie Chan film though.

Haha, we really do! Every time one of us posts, we end up agreeing. I’m sure you’ll love most of these! Pedicab Driver is unfortunately only available on DVD, but it still looks surprisingly great.

Personally, I’d recommend starting with the Police Story trilogy and the three main movies the "Three Dragons" did together: Project A, Wheels on Meals, and Dragons Forever. I’d save Eastern Condors and Pedicab Driver for after those six—so you can fully appreciate them.

If you get Shout Factory’s second Jackie Chan box set, you’ll not only get both Armor of God movies, but also Wheels on Meals and Winners and Sinners—a great way to start! Then, if you can, grab the Police Story trilogy from Eureka.

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Haha, we really do! Every time one of us posts, we end up agreeing. I’m sure you’ll love most of these! Pedicab Driver is unfortunately only available on DVD, but it still looks surprisingly great.

Personally, I’d recommend starting with the Police Story trilogy and the three main movies the "Three Dragons" did together: Project A, Wheels on Meals, and Dragons Forever. I’d save Eastern Condors and Pedicab Driver for after those six—so you can fully appreciate them.

If you get Shout Factory’s second Jackie Chan box set, you’ll not only get both Armor of God movies, but also Wheels on Meals and Winners and Sinners—a great way to start! Then, if you can, grab the Police Story trilogy from Eureka.

These are the Jackie Chan releases I own...



Not counting Cannonball Run and Enter the Dragon. I love the Police story films. I have watched pretty much everything I own and love it except I still need to make my way through the Shout sets. These films are great for me to watch with the grandkids, I just make them cover theirs eyes during the "bad parts" and tell them they are not allowed to repeat the "bad words", haha. I thought The Killer Meteors was dung. I need to watch Meals on Wheels and Winners and Sinners from the second set. Somehow I ended up with 3 copies of Operation Condor .

[Dragon78]

Is there some kind of legal reason that they refuse to release "Who Am I?" on US blu ray?

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

These are the Jackie Chan releases I own...

Not counting Cannonball Run and Enter the Dragon. I love the Police story films. I have watched pretty much everything I own and love it except I still need to make my way through the Shout sets. These films are great for me to watch with the grandkids, I just make them cover theirs eyes during the "bad parts" and tell them they are not allowed to repeat the "bad words", haha. I thought The Killer Meteors was dung. I need to watch Meals on Wheels and Winners and Sinners from the second set. Somehow I ended up with 3 copies of Operation Condor .

That's an impressive collection of movies! For Jackie Chan (excluding the Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao films), you'll still need the Criterion set for The Young Master (Jackie's first masterpiece, in my opinion), as well as 88 Films' Project A set (the English dubs are atrocious) and their Dragons Forever release. With these additions, your collection will be nearly complete.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

Is there some kind of legal reason that they refuse to release "Who Am I?" on US blu ray?

Probably laziness/lack of interest. Though there's oddly enough no real International Blu-Ray releases as well.

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

Is there some kind of legal reason that they refuse to release "Who Am I?" on US blu ray?

Everytime a label asks for it, the rights holders get confuse and reply "I don't know who you are."

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

That's an impressive collection of movies! For Jackie Chan (excluding the Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao films), you'll still need the Criterion set for The Young Master (Jackie's first masterpiece, in my opinion), as well as 88 Films' Project A set (the English dubs are atrocious) and their Dragons Forever release. With these additions, your collection will be nearly complete.

You know, I wasn't all that impressed with Project A. I thought it was ok. I didn't really care for the periodic setting and I thought it looked really cheap and believe me, I have plenty of low budget films in my collection, so that usually isn't an issue. What I was impressed with was the stunts in that film. That stunt where Jackie falls from the upper roof (or was it a window?) was insane and I had to rewind it multiple times.
So I am good with the blu I have for Project A and the sequel.

I still need to see Dragons Forever.

I was going to ask you about that Criterion set. 90's Jackie is my favorite by far so I wasn't sure if I should pick it up. But now, based solely on your recommendation , I will get it in July at Barnes & Nobel when I pick up Winchester '73 and The Three/Four Musketeers blu's.

Thanks again for helping me fine tune my Jackie collection!

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

Is there some kind of legal reason that they refuse to release "Who Am I?" on US blu ray?

Yeah, it's weird. I actually like the film and I am glad I bought it. Word of warning however, the blu looks like a decent quality Dvd, which I didn't own, so I was ok with it (I bought it cheap before it went OOP). If it ever gets a proper remaster, I will buy it again.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

You know, I wasn't all that impressed with Project A. I thought it was ok. I didn't really care for the periodic setting and I thought it looked really cheap and believe me, I have plenty of low budget films in my collection, so that usually isn't an issue. What I was impressed with was the stunts in that film. That stunt where Jackie falls from the upper roof (or was it a window?) was insane and I had to rewind it multiple times.
So I am good with the blu I have for Project A and the sequel.

I still need to see Dragons Forever.

I was going to ask you about that Criterion set. 90's Jackie is my favorite by far so I wasn't sure if I should pick it up. But now, based solely on your recommendation , I will get it in July at Barnes & Nobel when I pick up Winchester '73 and The Three/Four Musketeers blu's.

Thanks again for helping me fine tune my Jackie collection!

To be honest, that collection has quite a few subpar movies. Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Spiritual Kung Fu, and Fearless Hyena 2 are all really bad—I couldn't even finish them. The first Fearless Hyena is interesting because it's the first movie Jackie Chan directed. It's about the same quality as his two Seasonal films directed by Yuen Woo-ping (Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master), but I wouldn't rate it higher than 6 out of 10.

My Lucky Stars is the second entry in the Lucky Stars trilogy (Winners and Sinners being the first and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars being the third, both included in the second Shout set). In my opinion, it's a step down from Winners and Sinners. The characters are much more obnoxious, and the humor is just plain bad. The action is on par, but I wouldn't recommend getting the set for that one either.

Really, the only reason to get that set is The Young Master, Jackie's second movie as a director and his first masterpiece. It's a great movie all around and should have been released on its own (I'm hoping 88 films will release it on 4k in the UK). If you have a Region B player, just get the 88 films release and you'll save yourself a lot of money. :P

As for Project A, the first one was a HUGE movie with one of Golden Harvest's biggest budgets up to that point, and it shows on screen. It's also the first official team-up between the "Three Dragons" (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao). I suspect the English version might be cut, but I could be wrong. This movie also established the "Jackie Chan style," with all the stunts he became known for afterward.

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Really, the only reason to get that set is The Young Master, Jackie's second movie as a director and his first masterpiece. It's a great movie all around and should have been released on its own (I'm hoping 88 films will release it on 4k in the UK). If you have a Region B player, just get the 88 films release and you'll save yourself a lot of money. :P

Thank you for the heads up! I will do that, since I am region free.