Long xiong hu di (1987)

Director:

Jackie Chan

Writers:

Jackie Chan (writer)
John Sheppard (writer)

Release Date:

21 January 1987 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Jackie Chan in his greatest adventure ever!

Plot:

Jackie Chan and his bumbling sidekick are sent on a quest through Europe to find a mysterious treasure held by a shadowy organization of monks.

Plot Keywords:

Treasure | Europe | Cult | Fight | Martial Arts

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Jackie
Alan Tam	...	Alan
Rosamund Kwan	...	Lorelei
Lola Forner	...	May (as Maria Dolores Forner)
Bozidar Smiljanic	...	Bannon
Ken Boyle	...	Grand Wizard
John Ladalski	...	Chief Lama
Robert O'Brien	...	Witch Doctor
Boris Gregoric	...	Man at Auction
Alicia Shonte	...	Fighter
Vivian Wycliffe	...	Fighter
Stephanie Evans	...	Fighter
Linda Denley	...	Fighter
Marcia Chisholm	...	Fighter
William Williams	...	Fighter

Also Known As:

Armour of God (Hong Kong: English title)
Lung fong foo dai (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

88 min | Germany:87 min | Spain:94 min (25 fps) (DVD edition) | UK:94 min (25 fps) (restored version) | USA:86 min | Hong Kong:97 min

Country:

Yugoslavia | Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (re-rating) (uncut) | Germany:16 (original rating) (cut) | Australia:M | France:U | South Korea:15 | Canada:14A | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Ireland:15 | Norway:15 | Spain:T | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

This is the only Jackie Chan-directed movie to be shot in 1.85 wide-screen. Known for normally filming in 2.35, the reason for the ratio change was due to the early sequences being shot in 1.85 by first director Eric Tsang. Rather than re-shooting the 1.85 scenes, or "super matting" them to 2.35, Chan decided to film the rest in 1.85.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the beginning when Jackie slides down from one rock to another, he has gloves on which disappear and reappear in subsequent shots.

Quotes:

[upon hearing the siren from a police car approach]
Alan: What's that sound?
Asian Hawk: It's not an ice cream-truck...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Angry Video Game Nerd: Chronologically Confused About Sequel Titles (#1.15)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Friends

great start, slow middle, awesome ending

This movie was actually made before "Operation: Condor." For some reason, they titled this movie as if it were a sequel. When Jackie decided to make this movie, he was being greatly influenced by the smash hit "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and wanted to make a movie in that adventure style. This movie could have been really, really great if it had been made entirely the way Jackie had it envisioned at the start of production.

The movie has a great beginning, and then it is destroyed by an agonizing slow middle, and then it picks up again with an action packed ending. The reason the movie has that horrible middle is because of the stunt that went wrong at the beginning of the film. As all Jackie fans know, this is the film that almost killed Chan. In the beginning action sequence, he does this awesome chase scene where he is bounding across the walls of a castle. In the first take, Jackie actually made it across. But being a perfectionist, he tried for a second take. The first take partially broke the branch of the tree he jumps on, and on the second take, the branch broke completely, sending Jackie crashing to the ground and busting his head on a rock.

I am mentioning all this because this is the reason the middle of the movie is so slow. Production could only be halted for a short time. They could not wait until Jackie had fully recovered. So, as soon as he was able to get out of bed, they re-wrote the middle part of the movie to exclude all the eye-popping stunts that Jackie had originally planned. They continued filming this lame, muddled attempt at a romance plot until Jackie was more healed.

Once Jackie was back to 100 percent, they started filming the movie the way they had originally intended: with amazing stunts and incredible action choreography. The end of the movie picks up with Jackie, his side kick, and the love interest, infiltrating a castle run by monks, and they try to steal a treasure guarded by fiesty amazon women who wear lots of '80s style makeup. As ridiculous as that all sounds, the fight scenes at the end are among the best that Jackie has ever done. Its really amazing and a lot of fun to watch just for the choreography aspect. Check out one of the hardest hits I have ever seen, when one of the amazons comes flying at Jackie from about 8 feet in the air, he kicks her in mid flight, and she spins completely around and slams HEAD FIRST in to the dirt! I don't care if there was a stunt pad there, it is a HARD LANDING! OUCH! There is no way the stunt person walked away from that unharmed.

The second movie "OPERATION CONDOR" was a lot better as a whole. That is one of my all time favorite Jackie Chan films, and I still watch it over and over again. But PART 2 (the first of the films) is definitely a must-see (despite the confusing title).

My recommendation is this: Get the movie, watch the first part until he escapes from the natives, then FAST FORWARD through the entire

middle, DO NOT BOTHER to watch it, it is totally irrelevant, and start watching again as they infiltrate the castle. You wont be sorry. Don't believe all the other bad reviews about this film.