Jackie Chan Movies…

Jackie Chan: His Life, Movies & Rush Hour 4 – A Book Review

His Life In Action – and Comedy

“I prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.” – Jackie Chan

Seems like the whole world loves Jackie Chan. He’s grown from “the Next Bruce Lee” to one of our beloved friends. Our respect for him just grows.

Even though we have the DVD’s, there’s some movies we still fall into when channel surfing. You know what I mean: you’re casually cruising the networks, when suddenly you’re in an old familiar film, usually half way through. A personal fave. For me, it might be Rio Bravo, or the original Planet of the Apes or The Wild North or Grey Owl.

For my wife and me: Mama Mia, Wild Hogs or a Rush Hour.

“Hiyi! Jackie Chan!” says Mary Lee. “We’ve seen it before,” I tease, “we’ve got it up there,” I nod to our piles of DVDs on the dresser. “Well, Brian, you still watch those old John Wayne movies. And those really old Mountie movies on Turner Classic. And Star Trek!”

I secretly turn up the sound and we hear: “Ah! Beach Boys!” — “Oh, hell no! You didn’t just touch my goddamn radio!” — “The Beach Boys are great American music…”

And the guys have us hooked.

I’m a great reader of Memoirs, especially of the creative men and women.

In just the past few months, I’ve read Willie Nelson, Pete Townshend, Keith Richards, Neil Young, Jann Arden…

And I’ve just re-reread I AM JACKIE CHAN: My Life in Action.

And entered young Chan Kong-sang’s life.

I remember a frightened seven-year-old walking into the dark and musty halls of the China Drama Academy, holding his father’s hand. Inside, he sees young boys and girls leaping and tumbling and screaming. Paradise–

“How long do you want to stay here, Jackie?”

“Forever!” answers the boy, his eyes bright and wide. And he lets go of his father to clutch at the hem of his master’s robe…

And that Chinese Opera Master, with “the legal authority to train his students even to death,” a man Jackie came to hate and fear and love, would indeed teach Jackie all the skills of ancient arts.

It’s an unfamiliar world to us Westerners, like something out of Dickens of long ago.

And Jackie’s telling of those years is truly fascinating. Through the chapters, he grows into a young disciplined man of the full range of operatic skills — from kung fu to clownish pratfalls to singing and dancing to character acting. And we meet his fellow students, his “brothers and sisters, big and little, with whom I ate and slept and fought and argued and grew and learned.”

I AM JACKIE CHAN then takes us out into the world of Hong Kong movie-making in the 60’s and 70’s, a career of stumbling and some success and stumbling again. And ends in 1989, just when “I finally got a deal started on a movie that should be out in theaters right now, Rush Hour…”

And that was two decades ago.

In that time, dozens of films, including Shanghai Noon, Around the World in 80 Days (as Passepartout), The Forbidden Kingdom, The Karate Kid have lit our screens. And the voices for others, like Kung Fu Panda. As of this writing, Shanghai Dawn is in production for a 2018 release. And Jackie has said, “Rush Hour 4 is happening!”

Twenty years to catch up on. Time, Jackie, for I AM JACKIE CHAN 2!

I gave I AM JACKIE CHAN: My Life in Action five stars in my Goodreads book review. It’s a wonderful and fascinating life story, honest and revealing. Not like anything I’ve read before. If you’ve never read it, I recommend tracking down a copy, mon ami!

“I’m not young anymore. I’m really, really tired. And the world is too violent right now. It’s a dilemma – I like action but I don’t like violence.”

More Shanghai and Rush Hour…

Since starting as a young actor in Hong Kong in the 1960’s, Jackie Chan movies now total over 200. From earlier pure action films like Rumble in the Bronx and Operation Condor: Armour of the Gods to those great buddy movies Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, Jackie has given us some great stories.

In a recent interview, Owen Wilson, when asked about the new “Shanghai” movie Shanghai Dawn, replied, “Yeah, there is some talk. Uh, I saw Jackie not too long ago and we were talking about it…” Within the industry, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who wrote the screenplays for the first two, are said to have penned the Shanghai Dawn script. It’s on!

“Rush Hour 4 is happening!”

When Jackie said that, we paid attention. Jackie and Chris Tucker are on board. Arthur M Sarkissian is producing, saying in an interview: “I am working on Rush Hour 4 right now with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. I’m trying to do it closer to how I did Rush Hour 1, more down to earth, more gritty, introduce two new characters and make it real the way the first one was.”

In response to Jackie’s pronouncement that his body isn’t up to much more severe punishment (he has quite literally broken about “every bone in my body”), Sarkissian replied, “He’s getting a little older. I think he can fit it. What was great about Rush Hour 1 and 2 mostly was the relationship of these two and it came out of nowhere. It was just very real. We didn’t build it, we didn’t write it. It just happened. I think the action will be there but it has to be molded to fit him today and not forced into stuff that he won’t do.”

And we agree! We love Jackie and Chris because of their relationship. It’s comedy, man, with action and adventure to move the story.

“The world isn’t that big, but it’s not that small either, and connections between two human beings are always a little mystical.” – Jackie Chan

“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe

For more, see The Life & Works of Jackie Chan.

UPDATE June 24, 2022: Jackie Chan: Life, Movies & Rush Hour 4 – Ride On!

RUSH HOUR 4? Speaking on The Cruz Show, Jackie Chan confirmed he had been working on “the fourth chapter of the buddy comedy” — but the project’s fate had depended on Chris Tucker accepting.

AND NOW – RIDE ON!

Now, we’re heartily awaiting Jackie’s new movie RIDE ON, “a martial arts-based comedy about a man and his horse. In RIDE ON Jackie stars as an unwanted stuntman who can barely make ends meet, let alone take care of his beloved stunt horse, Red Hare. Now they want his horse!” Written by Larry Yang. Cannes Market Launch. Christmas release. We need more Animal Stories. And we love horses, love Jackie — bring it on!