Released in 1988, five long years after filming The Sailor of the China Seas is one of Jackie Chan's best films. Absolutely rediscoverable in 4K Ultra HD through Metropolitan Film & Video, which has the good idea of releasing it from the HK Video catalog for release sometime in 2024.
The opportunity to remember when it all began for Chan Kwong-san, born April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong to a cook dad and a housekeeper mom. Seizing the opportunity to work at the Australian Embassy, the couple wanted their son to have a Chinese education and enrolled him in the Peking Opera. Chan was then 7 years old. Ten drastic years begin, during which the child, under the tutelage of a school master, will learn theater, dance and martial arts, the foundations of his future profession, alongside two other future stars of Hong Kong cinema, Samo Hung and Yuen Biao. They underwent the same intensive education there, and the work paid off, Chan took his first steps in front of the camera as a child appearing in numerous films. In 1971, he finally left the Institute and left to join his parents in Australia. But the odd jobs do not satisfy him, he returns to Hong Kong and attends castings with Samo Hung and Yuen Biao.
Hong Kong Star££££
Figuration, stunts, everything is good to be seen. One day, the famous Shaw Brothers studio noticed this teenager's energy and technique and hired him. The irony of fate then led Chan to work as a stuntman on The Fury to Conquer (1971) and Operation Dragon (1973), two legendary films by the star of the moment, Bruce Lee. He even performed a risky stunt (he jumped into a window and broke it) which earned him his first role as an actor in The Young Tiger. Chan's career seems to be launched. He got many small roles until Hand of Death, one of John Woo's first films. The untimely death of Bruce Lee in 1973 ultimately proved to be Chan's good fortune. Contacted by producer Lo Wei, who saw him as a possible successor to Lee, he filmed The New Fury to Conquer. But despite his physical qualities, Chan is not Bruce Lee: he does not have the harshness or the tragic face of his elder.
"I couldn't refer to Alain Delon. He's handsome, not me »££££
Chan is above all a bundle of nerves and his twirling technique suits a light and spectacular universe, that of comedy. The release of The Protector in 1976, a mixture of burlesque and kung-fu, finally opened up the path he needed for Chan, and Lo Wei, aware that Chan (nicknamed "The Little Dragon") was unable to make Bruce forget Lee, renames him: Chan Kwong-san becomes Jackie Chan. “I really liked Bruce Lee,” he said at the time. But I don't want to stay in his shadow all my life. There is only one Bruce Lee, he is the Master. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton inspired me more. And also Jean-Paul Belmondo. Many American actors use stunt doubles, but he doesn't. On the other hand, I could not refer to Alain Delon. He’s handsome, not me.”
The rest is known: 1978 is the year of its consecration. Jackie Chan is filming The Chinese Man is Unleashed under the direction of Yuen Woo-ping, future choreographer of Matrix and Tiger & Dragon. The success was immediate and inaugurated an impressive filmography (four to five films per year, including the Police Story series and Drunken Master!) until his Hollywood exile in 1998. Rush Hour and its sequel installed him, with Jet Li, as one of the few Asian stars at the time likely to interest American audiences.
