Ging chat goo si (1985)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Jackie Chan

Writer:

Edward Tang (writer)

Release Date:

11 September 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

You may know the name, but the game has changed.

Plot:

Kevin Chan (aka Jackie) is a Hong-Kong cop, who scores his first big hit by virtually single-handedly capturing and arresting a big drug- lord...

Plot Keywords:

Hong Kong | Drug Lord | Bloopers During Credits | Criminal | Gangster

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Chan Ka Kui
Brigitte Lin	...	Selina Fong (as Brigette Lin)
Maggie Cheung	...	May
Kwok-Hung Lam	...	Supt. Raymond Li
Bill Tung	...	Inspector Bill Wong
Yuen Chor	...	Mr. Chu
Charlie Cho	...	John Ko
Chi-Wing Lau	...	Cheung, the Lawyer
Hark-On Fung	...	Danny Ko
Hing Ying Kam	...	Inspector Man
Mars	...	Kim
Po Tai	...	Lee
Ken Tong	...	Tom (as Kent Tong)
Fat Wan	...	Jacknife
Fung Woo	...	Shau Tau Kok Station Commander

Also Known As:

Jackie Chan's Police Force
Jackie Chan's Police Story
Jing cha gu shi (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Police Force
Police Story (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, brief sexual humor and drug content. (2005 edited version)

Runtime:

101 min | Japan:106 min (extended print) | UK:99 min | USA:90 min | Spain:88 min (edited version)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 (re-rating) (uncut) | Germany:18 (original rating) (cut) | Finland:(Banned) (1987) | Finland:K-18 (1995) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:18 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Way Films Ltd.

Trivia:

Jackie Chan sustained burns on his hands during the pole slide scene in the mall. The Christmas tree lights were plugged into the wall instead of a low-voltage car battery.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kevin/Jackie is climbing onto the bus using the umbrella, as he reaches around the side of the bus we see the handle of the umbrella is clearly bent, but in the next shot, which looks back to him reaching round side of the bus the handle is back to normal.

Quotes:

Kevin Chan Ka Kui: [after being assigned to protect her from Koo's men, Kevin tries to persuade Selina to go home after she's been released from jail] Miss Fong, it's much too dangerous out here. Please go home.
Selina Fong: I'll do what I want.
Kevin Chan Ka Kui: Miss Fong, it's for your own safety.
Selina Fong: [annoyed] Look, I don't need your protection, so get lost! Leave me alone!
Kevin Chan Ka Kui: Are you sure? Do you know what happened to four other witnesses who said that?
Selina Fong: [sarcastically] What? Somebody shot em? Don't try to scare me. So go on... what happened?
Kevin Chan Ka Kui: Uh... nothing happened to them. They're all doing fine. But something could happen.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tango & Cash (1989)

Soundtrack:

Hero Story

Amongst Jackie Chan's best

Probably Jackie Chan's best film in the 1980s, and the one that put him on the map. The scale of this self-directed police drama is evident from the opening and closing scenes, during which a squatters' village and shopping mall are demolished. There are, clearly, differences between the original Chinese and dubbed English versions, with many of the jokes failing to make their way into the latter. The latter is also hampered by stars who sound nothing like their Chinese originals. In fact, the only thing the dubbing has corrected is the court trial—at the time, trials in colonial Hong Kong were conducted in English, while the original has this scene in Cantonese!

Nonetheless, Chan's fighting style and the martial arts choreography inject humour where possible, so non-Cantonese audiences don't miss much. It's not, after all, the dialogue that makes a Chan flick, but the action and the painful out-takes. The story is easy to follow: Chan plays an incorruptible Hong Kong detective pursuing a gangland godfather (Cho Yeun), and assigned to protect a star witness (Brigitte Lin). The action is superb from beginning to end, and there's not much time to breathe in between. It'll never get you thinking, but what an entertaining, and well strung-together, film. Arguably, this is one of the best martial arts films out there.