There is no action star quite like Jackie Chan, who made his name in the Hong Kong movie industry starting in the late 1970s and developed his own signature style: combining slapstick physical comedy with acrobatics and martial arts, and designing astonishing stunts—all of which he performed himself along with his own handpicked stunt team. His stunt sequences and fight choreography have influenced everything from The Matrix and Kill Bill to the John Wick franchise and Kung Fu Panda (in which he voiced Master Monkey).
Born on April 7, 1954, Chan studied acrobatics, martial arts, and acting as a child at the Peking Opera School’s China Drama Academy and became one of the Seven Little Fortunes. Those skills served him well in his early days as a Hong Kong stuntman, which eventually landed him a gig as an extra and stunt double on Bruce Lee’s 1972 film, Fist of Fury. He also appeared in a minor role in Lee’s Enter the Dragon (1973).
Initially, Hong Kong producers, impressed by Chan’s skills, wanted to mold him into the next Lee, but that just wasn’t Chan’s style. Chan found his milieu when director Yuen Woo-ping cast him in 1978’s kung fu comedy Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and gave Chan creative freedom over the stunt work. It was Drunken Master, released that same year, that established Chan as a rising talent, and he went on to appear in more than 150 movies, becoming one of Hong Kong’s biggest stars.
Chan struggled initially to break into Hollywood, racking up commercial misses with 1980’s The Big Brawl and 1985’s The Protector. He had a minor role in 1981’s hit comedy, The Cannonball Run, and while it didn’t do much to raise his US profile, he did adopt that film’s clever inclusion of bloopers and outtakes during closing credits. It’s now one of the trademark features of Chan’s films, beloved by fans.
By the mid-1990s, Chan had amassed a substantial cult following in the US, thanks to the growing availability of his earlier films in the home video market, and finally achieved mainstream Hollywood success with Rumble in the Bronx (1995) and Rush Hour (1998). In his later years, Chan moved away from kung fu comedies to more dramatic roles, including the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid.
Look, nobody watches classic Jackie Chan movies for the plot, complex characterizations, or the dubbing (which is often hilariously bad). We’re here to admire the spectacular fight choreography and jaw-dropping stunts, peppered with a generous helping of slapstick humor. His gift for turning ordinary objects into makeshift weapons is part of his unique style, which I like to call Found Object Fu. Who could forget the hilarious chopsticks duel and “emotional kung fu” (e.g., fighting while crying or laughing to unmask an opponent’s weaknesses) in 1979’s The Fearless Hyena? Chan even inspired the entire parkour movement.
Chan has broken multiple fingers, toes, and ribs over the course of his long career, not to mention both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, and ankle. He has a permanent hole in his skull from one near-fatal injury. And he did it all for our entertainment. The least we can do is honor him on his 71st birthday. You’ll find our top 10 Jackie Chan films listed below in chronological order, spanning 30 years.
Drunken Master (1978)
In Drunken Master, Chan portrays a fictional version of legendary Chinese martial artist/folk hero Wong Fei-hung, who undergoes strict, punishing training under the tutelage of another legend, Beggar So (Yuen Liu-Tin), aka the Drunken Master because he practices a martial art called “drunken boxing.” Fei-Hung chafes at the training initially, but after a humiliating defeat in a fight against the villain, Yim Tit-sam (Hwang Jang-lee, a specialist in taekwondo), he devotes himself to learning the martial art.
Naturally we’re going to get a final showdown between Fei-Hung and his nemesis, Tit-Sam, aka “Thunderfoot” or “Thunderleg,” because of his devastating “Devil’s Kick.” Fei-Hung is able to match his rival’s kicks, but falters again when he comes up against Tit-Sam’s infamous “Devil’s Shadowless Hand.” That’s because Fei-Hung refused to learn a crucial element of the Hung Ga fighting system because he thought it was too “girly.” He ends up inventing his unique version of the technique (“Drunken Miss Ho”) to win the day. These are all fictitious moves that are nonetheless enormously fun to watch—even though Chan nearly lost an eye after taking a blow to the brow ridge in one scene.
Project A (1983)
This film marks the official debut of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and co-stars Chan’s longtime martial arts buddies, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, both major stars in their own right. They were known as the “Three Dragons” in the 1980s. Chan plays Sergeant Dragon Ma, a police officer battling both pirates and gangsters in Hong Kong, and corruption within his law enforcement ranks. Hung plays a street informant named Fei (or Fats), who tips off Dragon to an illegal gun deal, while Biao plays an inspector and the nephew of the police captain, Hong Tin-Tsu. The three team up to take down the pirates and gangsters and restore integrity to the force.
There’s a lot of delightful slapstick stunt work in Project A, reminiscent of the work of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but apparently Chan never saw either man’s films before developing his signature style. (In 1987’s Project A Part 2, Chan does pay direct homage to Keaton’s most famous stunt from Steamboat Bill, Jr.) The highlight is Chan hanging off a clock tower (a la Lloyd) 60 feet above the ground and falling backward through a canopy. Ever the perfectionist, Chan insisted on an additional two takes of the dangerous stunt until he was satisfied he’d gotten it exactly right.
Hung and Biao joined Chan again for 1984’s Wheels on Meals, with Chan and Biao playing Chinese cousins running a food truck in Barcelona. They get snared into helping their private investigator friend Moby (Hung) track down kidnappers intent on capturing a young woman named Sylvia (Lola Forner), who turns out to be the illegitimate daughter of a Spanish count.
There’s an exciting raid of the villains’ castle that involves scaling the castle walls, but the undisputed highlight of the film is the showdown between Chan and professional kickboxing champion Benny “the Jet” Urquidez, widely regarded as one of the best martial arts fight sequences on film. Both Chan and Urquidez exchange kicks and blows with dazzling speed. At one point, Urquidez lets loose a kick so fast that the resulting wake blows out a row of candles. (You can see it in the clip above; it’s not a trick.) And throughout, one gets Chan’s trademark physical comedy, even taking a moment to rest on a chair to catch his breath before the next round of blows.
Police Story (1985)
Police Story introduced Chan as Hong Kong Police detective Ka-Kui “Kevin” Chan and launched one of the actor’s most popular trilogies. Kevin joins an undercover mission to arrest a well-known crime lord and through a complicated series of events, ends up being framed for murdering a fellow police officer. Now a fugitive, he must track down and capture the crime lord to clear his name—defeating a horde of evil henchmen and saving his girlfriend, May (Maggie Cheung), in the process.
The film is noteworthy for its many elaborately orchestrated stunt scenes. For instance, during a car chase, Chan finds himself hanging off a double-decker bus with nothing but the hooked end of a metal umbrella. (An earlier wooden umbrella prop kept slipping off the bus.) The climactic battle takes place in a shopping mall, and the stunt team broke so many glass panels that the film was dubbed “Glass Story” by the crew. The finale features Chan sliding down a pole covered in strings of electric lights that exploded as he descended. Chan suffered second-degree burns on his hands as well as a dislocated pelvis and back injury when he landed.
Armour of God (1986)
Police Story 3: Supercop (1992
Drunken Master II (1994)
Rush Hour (1998)
Shanghai Noon (2000)
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
