Jackie Chan film fest ...

Jackie Chan film fest ...

I am a big fan of Jackie Chan films. I think he is a great performer and a very funny guy. Bruce Lee was right about him. However, much as other stars have risen from humble beginnings, Jackie paid his dues in making many low budget movies over a period of time before moving to bigger and better productions.

The following 8 (English overdubbed) videos are from the late 70s and early 80s and were loaned to me on VHS:

"New Fist of Fury"
"Shaolin Wooden Man"
"Dragon Fist"
"Spiritual Kung Fu"
"Snake Fist Fighter"
"To Kill With Intrigue"
"Half a Loaf of Kung Fu"
"Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin"

It took a period of time but I managed to get through all 8 of them, finishing the last one just the other night.

Good Lord.

Bear in mind that I enjoy these sorts of movies.

The voices chosen for the characters rarely match up and often are clearly the same guy trying to sound different from character to character.

The fight scenes are often less realistic than bad pro wrestling and have terribly loud sound effects that are supposed to make for drama but only are distracting and accidentally funny.

In a few of the credits Jackie is referred to as Jacky.

At times the make up and wigs make it very clear that the older characters are really only 20 something actors in make up and wigs. Swords look like wood painted silver. All sorts of other examples could be made here about the production qualities.

I am not entirely certain that all of the English translations followed the script as sometimes the stories seemed really random. For instance, in one film Jackie is tricked into drinking a cup of a woman's blood, only to be told that by doing so will give him her abilities. I actually stared at the screen and said, "What!?" at that point.

Still, the value of these films is in their purity. They are honest and sincere and unapologetic and more fun to watch than a lot of big budget productions today.