The final analysis of Jackie Chan's controversial stunts and injuries in his films, from Igor Shurkhovetsky.
"police history" - one of the most famous and probably the best, in terms of action, film Jackie Chan. The pinnacle of his stunt work. And when “ports” with fans begin on this topic, they mostly use tricks from this film. As in "Project A", Jackie is also a co-director, co-writer and action director. There are more than enough opportunities to satisfy your ambitions.
So. We don’t touch the initial car chase, for obvious reasons, I think, we go straight to the bus. Yes, it’s quite an impressive trick, hanging onto a bus and dragging yourself, first by dragging it, then at the level of the second floor, dodging cars along the way, and it was performed by Jackie himself, which of course pleases (without sarcasm). Although the presence of a safety rope cannot be ruled out, this has little effect on the effectiveness.
...But the subsequent fall from the bus (perhaps the most difficult element of the entire stunt) was not performed by Jackie, but by a stunt double, probably Chris Lee. There was even information that Chris was in a coma for some time after this trick (screenshots 1,2, it’s not very visible, but if you want, you can see everything by the hair and the shape of his face). But not in any doc. Chan's film doesn't say a word about this. But this is not just a “fall”, but a full-fledged trick, quite complex and dangerous, by the way.
Although there are plenty of usual duplicate falls in the film (screenshots 3,4,5,6). And there is no need to repeat for the hundredth time that everyone is duplicated, etc. They duplicate everyone, it’s just that not everyone talks about it, preferring to remain silent. And attributing the merits of stuntmen to oneself clearly does not make a person look good. And whoever says what, but that throughout the film itself, that in the final fight in the department store, the most difficult and traumatic falls are performed by the Stuntmen Association - a fall from a braking bus, falls of different heights throughout the film, falls from the Chanovskys blows, about breaking various kinds of objects, glass, I’m even silent. That's who really gets it and gets it to the fullest. The people who make up most of the stunt action. The scene with the motorcycle is also duplicated (screens 7,8, XNUMX), and judging by the hairstyle, there are two doubles at once. But here, in principle, there are no questions. Jackie almost never performed “auto-moto” himself, and often resorted to the help of professionals, also for auto-stunts, roller skating, skateboarding and other tricks where special skills were required. skills.
And finally the final jump. Here is an example of how Jackie films HIS tricks, without cheating or other tricks. A good angle where you can see both the trick itself and the face of the performer. Everything is clear here. But again, fan nonsense, like "almost died from electricity","all broken"and so on, I don’t believe it. Of course, Golden Harvest decided to destroy their main star by means of “electrical death”... Surely, the voltage in those garlands was reduced, because it is stupid to expose a person to such danger. Most likely there were some kind of belays lying below mats. It’s hard to believe in the presence of a cable, because then it could easily interfere with the garlands, get confused with them, etc. But most importantly, there are no 20 or even 30 meters there, as is indicated in many places . It can be seen that the height from the place of the jump to the floor is no more than 12-13 meters. And what’s most interesting is that after this jump, Jackie behaves quite frisky (even more so in the alternative Japanese titles). Although, even if not take into account those fan nonsense, such as damaged the pelvis, thoracic vertebrae, almost paralyzed, 3rd degree burns, there are also plenty of “official” oddities. Screen 9 - “Damage to the lower spine”, it turns out Jackie damaged the spine (back) for as many as 2 times: after falling on the canopy (after which he immediately got up and RUN), and after the final jump, where he also got up almost immediately (screenshot from “My Life”). It's even better in books. "I'm Jackie Chan":
...tore the skin off my fingers and palms. Blood was running down my face, and there were shards of glass stuck in my legs and body.
Screen 10, moment after the jump - can you see any of the above? In "Jacky Chan Miracles":
I broke my arm and cut my eyes too (I broke my arm and cut my eyes).
He broke the arm he was waving after the jump, and the blood from his eyes was probably clotted from the electricity, which is why it’s not visible on the screenshot, right? And these are far from fan (or hater) theories... And it’s interesting how he managed to recover if the filming of “History” took place only from June to August. Moreover, “Heart of the Dragon” was filmed at the same time. Moreover, in previous films ("My Lucky Stars" and "Patron") there were also a lot of various injuries. Just a mystery...
As for the jump, it’s really good, but often it’s simply attributed to “supernatural the meaning of "incredible coolness and impossibility. For example, in "The Invincible Tiger 2 (Tiger Cage 2)", Conan Lee had a very similar jump. Maybe, of course, the height was somewhat less, but the distance to the pillar was greater, the pillar itself was not as convenient as in " PI", and below there is bare asphalt. No mats or safety cables. True, it all ended sadly, but in the film everything is clearly visible, without any inventions or editing gusto. Everything is as it was. And this is just one example.
All. Final post. Fans rejoice, haters be sad. And everything is as usual, if there is criticism, then it is justified and constructive, with real arguments, without idle talk. Or just pass by, thereby saving both nerves and time, for both parties. Thanks everyone for your attention. To everyone who expressed gratitude, corrected, supplemented, etc. Special thanks to MD Pol (Mikhail Other aka Polygraph Sharikov), whose analyzes were the basis for most of the posts, plus consultation in some aspects. Also to Bulat Stalnov, for providing excerpts from the Japanese book “Jacky Chan Miracles”, they were very useful and not only in this post. Well, to Evgeny Smirnov (Kostroma Stathem), the main admirer of our work, who was the very first to read all the analyzes.
Igor Shurkhovetsky and Mikhail Other
Especially for FFI
Finally, we posted the final post, because this matter dragged on for quite a long time.
In principle, there is nothing special to add (since many “mistakes” of previous posts are taken into account here). If only that in the scene with the motorcycle in the shopping center it was supposedly Blackie Ko and Johnny Cheung.