Police Story (1985) Ging chat goo si (original title)

Director:

Jackie Chan

Writer:

Edward Tang

Release Date:

11 September 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

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

Plot:

A virtuous Hong Kong police officer must clear his good name when the drug lords he is after frame him for the murder of a dirty cop.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Drug Lord | Hong Kong | Police | Briefcase Full Of Money

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 Tao
Charlie Cho	...	John Ko
Chi-Wing Lau	...	Cheung, the Lawyer
Hark-On Fung	...	Danny Koo
Hing-Yin Kam	...	Inspector Man
Mars	...	Kim
Po Tai	...	Lee / Snake Eyes
Ken Tong	...	Tom (as Kent Tong)
Fat Wan	...	Jacknife / Mad Wing
Fung Woo	...	Shau Tau Kok Station Commander
Money Lo	...	Television Interviewer
Siu-Tin Lai	...	Man Trying to Park Car
Paul Wong	...	Police Officer 1
Winnie Yu	...	Police Officer 2
Ben Lam	...	Thug
Yun-Kin Chow	...	Koo's man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chi Fai Chan
Ming-Wai Chan
Paul Chang	...	Judge
Chi-Hwa Chen
Chuan Chen
Wah Cheung	...	Koo's man
Liang Chiang
Clarence Ford	...	Photographer
Dani Hu
Keung-Kuen Lai	...	Keung
Rocky Lai	...	Koo's man
Foo-wai Lam
Alice Lau	...	PR Madam
Shung Fung Lau
Tan Lau
Kin-sang Lee	...	Koo's man
King Chu Lee
Tom Lent	...	(voice)
Fa Yuan Li
Ying Hong Luk
Leung Siu
Choh Lam Tsang	...	Junkie
Tin Hung Yee
Leng-kuang Yin

Directed by
Jackie Chan

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Edward Tang

Produced by
Raymond Chow	....	executive producer
Leonard Ho	....	producer

Original Music by
J. Peter Robinson		(US version)

Cinematography by
Yiu-Tsou Cheung

Film Editing by
Peter Cheung

Production Design by
Oliver Wong

Costume Design by
Ginger Fung

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fat Wan	....	second assistant director (as Wan Fat)

Stunts
Jackie Chan	....	stunt coordinator
Wah Cheung	....	stunts
Yun-Kin Chow	....	stunt unit
Yamson Domingo	....	stunt unit
Hark-On Fung	....	stunt unit (as Fung Hark On)
Pang Hiu Sang	....	stunt unit
Dani Hu	....	stunts
Li Kan Sang	....	stunt unit
Keung-Kuen Lai	....	stunt unit
Rocky Lai	....	stunts
Mars	....	stunt unit
Ng Wai Yip	....	stunt unit
Paul Wong	....	stunt unit
Jackie Chan	....	stunt performer (uncredited)
Ben Lam	....	stunts (uncredited)
Kin-sang Lee	....	stunt double: Jackie Chan (uncredited)

Music Department
Terry Delsing	....	music editor

Other crew
Jackie Chan	....	fight choreographer
Willie Chan	....	production coordinator
Edward Tang	....	creative supervisor

Production Companies

• Golden Way Films Ltd.
• Paragon Films Ltd.

Distributors

• Golden Harvest Company (1985) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Cinema Group (1985) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Rainbow Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Manga Films (1997) (Spain) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (1999) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Hong Kong Legends (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Manga Films (2004) (Spain) (DVD)
• Alliance Home Video (Canada) (VHS) (as "Police Story") (dubbed)
• Dragon Dynasty (2007) (USA) (DVD) (special collector's edition)
• Fortune Star Entertainment (2002) (non-USA and Europe) (DVD)
• Media Asia Distribution (1994) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• New Line Cinema (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Norstar Home Video Inc. (Canada) (VHS) (as "Jackie Chan's Police Force") (dubbed)
• Roadshow Home Video (Australia) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Cine Art Laboratory  film processing

Also Known As:

"Ging chat goo si" - Hong Kong (original title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, brief sexual humor and drug content

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:

2.55 : 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 | Portugal:M/12 | 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:

The mall pole slide also nearly paralyzed Jackie Chan after nearly breaking the seventh and eighth vertebrate in his spine. He also dislocated his pelvis doing it (something hadn't previously known was possible).

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 "Special Collector's Edition: Supercop (#2.4)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Hero Story

Great stunts, some laughs and a reasonably good story start a solid series for Chan

Jackie is one of the key police officers in a bust that captures big time criminal Koo. As a `reward' he is told to guard Koo's secretary, who has turned states evidence. However Koo's men try to get to them before the trial - the least of Jackie's problems as his girlfriend May storms out when she sees him with Selina. When Koo is acquitted, he frames Jackie for the murder of a cop, forcing Jackie on the run to clear his name and get Koo.

The first film in the successful Police Story series is a fair example of a Jackie Chan film for those who have never seen one - reasonable plot, great action, average acting (potentially bad dubbing) and the comic scenes. However it is not as good as some of the sequels and, just generally, some of Chan's other films. Police Story opens with a great shoot out that culminates in a car chase through a shanty town and a fantastic series of stunts on a bus. From this point on it then focuses on the plot and quiet a few moments of comedy. This works reasonable well but it feels like the comedy and action have been divided up into separate sections. This takes away from the film a little bit.

The plot is pretty solid for a Jackie Chan film (by recent standards this is a masterpiece of writing!) although some of the dialogue doesn't quite fit. The moment where Jackie is forced on the run by the police is a bit hammy and the `you don't see us as people' rant just doesn't seem like Jackie. Of course part of the problem with this is the dubbing in the version I watched - I just don't understand viewers who would sooner see a really bad dubbing job than watch a subtitled version! The cheesy American voices here do detract from the performances and I found it difficult to judge some of Chan's comedy lines when they were being delivered by another person in a very flat way. However he still has presence and his physical work is great. Special mention to the stunt men here also, there are a lot of great falls (including a dive from a bus top) that must have hurt - I don't care who you are! Tung's Uncle Bill has fewer funny lines than I'm used to but he is still funny. The female cast are pretty wasted with both Lin and Cheung on screaming duty for the majority of the film (and most grating it is too!).

The film ends on a rather strange shot but set up an angry cop that Chan never really convinced me as - a personae that just seemed to be dropped in the later films in the series, but the overall film is still very enjoyable. The plot is good even if the acting isn't and the action involves plenty of amazing routines and stunts - it's just a shame that the action and comedy were very fragmented, it disjointed the film.