Police Story (1985 film)

The Royal Hong Kong Police Force is planning a major undercover sting to arrest crime lord Chu Tao. Sergeant Chan Ka-Kui (or Kevin Chan in some versions) is part of the operation, along with undercover officers stationed in a shantytown. However, the criminals spot the officers and the shootout ensues between the two groups in which civilians either flee the town or caught in the crossfire as a result of the gunfight. Chu Tao and his men successfully flee in their car by driving through the town but crash it immediately after going downhill and escape on foot. Ka-Kui persists in his chase on foot as Chu Tao and his men attempt to escape in a double-decker bus. Ka-Kui manages to get in front of the bus and bring it to a halt by threatening to shoot the driver with his service revolver.

Later, Ka-Kui is reprimanded by Chief Inspector Li for letting the operation get out of hand but subsequently presented to the media as a model police officer. His next assignment is to protect Chu Tao's secretary, Salina Fong, who is pressured to testify in court about Chu Tao's illegal activities. At first, Salina insists that she does not require protection, but Ka-Kui has a fellow policeman break into her apartment and pose as a knife-wielding assassin. Ka-Kui and Salina fight him off and she agrees to be more cooperative. The two drive away in her car, but are ambushed by Chu Tao's actual hitmen, who are scared away when Salina threatens them with Ka-Kui's revolver.

When Ka-Kui arrives at his apartment with Salina, he is surprised to find his girlfriend, May, and her friends throwing a birthday party for him, but May becomes angry with Ka-Kui after seeing Salina only wearing lingerie and Ka-Kui's jacket. Ka-Kui eventually explains to May that Salina is a witness, but only after much bumbling and embarrassment. While he tries to apologize to May, Salina discovers that the attack at her apartment was a sham, and decides to record over her taped confession about working for Chu Tao that took place in the car ride there. She sneaks away while Ka-Kui is sleeping and is not present at the trial the next day, which ends with failure for the prosecution because of Salina's absence and tampering with the recording.

Though Chu Tao is released on bail, he wants revenge against Ka-Kui. He captures Salina and threatens to kill her to ensure her silence. Ka-Kui finds and frees her, but is attacked by several of Chu Tao's men. When fellow Police Inspector Man arrives (Kam Hing Ying), he reveals that he had been working with Chu Tao and thus Salina's capture was merely a ruse to trap Ka-Kui. To Man's grim surprise, the plan is also to include Tao's men killing him with Kui's gun to frame him for murder. Now a fugitive cop killer, Ka-Kui must try to catch Chu Tao and clear his name, taking his Chief Inspector as a hostage in order to escape custody, though he soon lets his co-operative superior go free.

Salina goes to Chu Tao's office at a shopping mall to download incriminating data from Chu Tao's computer system. Chu Tao notices this and he and his men rush to the shopping mall to intervene. Ka-Kui and May, who are monitoring Chu Tao's activities, follow. In the ensuing carnage, Ka-Kui defeats all of Chu Tao's henchmen (and destroys a good portion of the mall). The briefcase containing the computer data falls to the bottom floor of the mall, but Chu Tao retrieves it after attacking May. Ka-Kui, at the top floor, slides down a pole wrapped in light bulbs to the bottom floor and catches Chu, but the rest of the police force quickly arrives and prevent him from further taking matters into his own hands. Salina attests to them that Danny Chu killed Sergeant Man and evidence of his crimes is in the briefcase. Chu's defense attorney shows up and accuses the police of misconduct, prompting a beating from an at-wit's-end Ka-Kui, who goes on to extend the beating to Chu Tao before being stopped by his friends.

• Jackie Chan as Sergeant "Kevin" Chan Ka-Kui ("Jackie" in second, third, and fourth English dubs)
• Brigitte Lin as Salina Fong, Chu Tao's secretary aka Selina Fong (all English dubs) (as Brigette Lin)
• Maggie Cheung as May, Ka-Kui's Girlfriend
• Chor Yuen as Chu Tao, Crime Lord aka Tom Koo (first and second English dubs) / Joe Chu (third and fourth English dubs)
• Charlie Cho as John Ko, gangster aka John Chow (second English dub)
• Fung Hark-On as Danny Chu Ko / Danny Koo (first and second English dubs)
• Lam Kwok-Hung as Chief Inspector Raymond Li
• Bill Tung as Inspector "Uncle" Bill Chou / Inspector Wong (first and second English dubs) / Inspector George (third and fourth English dubs)
• Kam Hing Yin as Inspector Man / Sergeant Mao (first and second English dubs) / Sergeant Ming (third and fourth English dubs)
• Mars as Kim
• Lau Chi-wing as Lawyer Cheung
• Tai Po as Lee / Snake Eyes (first and second English dubs) / Sharkey (third and fourth English dubs)
• Kent Tong as Tak / Tom / Francis Tong (Japanese release version)
• Wan Fat as Mad Wing / Jacknife (1st and 2nd English dubs) / Crazy Wing (third English dub) / Psycho Wing (fourth English dub)
• Bowie Wu as Sha Tau Kok police officer
• Clarence Fok as Photographer
• Money Lo as TV reporter

The film contained many large-scale action scenes, including an opening sequence featuring a car chase through a shanty town, Chan dangling from a speeding double-decker bus before stopping it with his service revolver, and a climactic fight scene in a shopping mall. This final scene earned the film the nickname "Glass Story" by the crew, due to the huge number of panes of sugar glass that were broken. During a stunt in this last scene, in which Chan slides down a pole from several stories up, the lights covering the pole had heated it considerably, resulting in Chan suffering second-degree burns, particularly to his hands, as well as a back injury and dislocation of his pelvis upon landing.[9]

Edward Tang, the screenwriter for this film and many others, said that he did not write this film the way normal Hollywood screenwriters work. Chan instructed Tang to structure the film around a list of props and locations, e.g. a shopping mall, a village, a bus, etc. In contrast to this production, most Hollywood films rely on the creativity of the screenwriters to create the plot elements of a film, which are then forwarded to the director for actual filming.

In an interview with Chan, he discusses the stunt of sliding down the pole covered with lights. As with the clock tower stunt from Project A (1983), Chan described his fear at the thought of performing the stunt. During the filming of Police Story, there was the added pressure of strict time constraints, as the shopping mall had to be cleaned up and ready for business the following morning. One of Chan's stuntmen gave him a hug and a Buddhist prayer paper, which he put in his trousers before finally performing the stunt.[10]

Stuntman Blackie Ko doubled for Chan during a motorcycle stunt in which his character drives through glass towards a hitman. In the double decker bus scene, Jackie used a metal umbrella because a wooden one kept slipping when he tried to hang onto the bus.

The film grossed HK$26,626,760 at the Hong Kong box office,[11] becoming the third highest-grossing film of the year.[12] In Taiwan, it grossed NT$20,549,670 between 1985 and 1986,[13][14] becoming one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1986.[14] In Japan, it was the eighth highest-grossing foreign film of 1986,[15] grossing ¥1.9 billion at the Japanese box office.[16] In South Korea, it was the third highest-grossing film of 1988,[17] with 192,327 ticket sales in Seoul City.[18]

In Europe, the film sold 245,452 tickets in France (released 1987),[19] 846,700 tickets in Hungary (released 1988) and 65,700 tickets in Romania.[20] In the United States, the film was screened in 1993 at the Hogg Memorial Auditorium in Austin, Texas, along with Police Story 3: Supercop, with both films well-received among Austin audiences at the time.[21] The film later had a limited US release in 2019, grossing US$113,164.[22]

Upon release, the film received critical acclaim in Hong Kong. At the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1986, it won Best Picture and Best Action Choreography, out of six nominations.[32]

Overseas, the film initially received a mixed reaction in contemporary English-language reviews. Kim Newman wrote, in the Monthly Film Bulletin, that Police Story starts well with its car chase described as an "astonishing set-piece", but that "once the mix of realistic settings and fantasy action seems to have been established, the film falls back on Chan's clowning and turns into a slapstick comedy heavily dependent on cake-in-the-face jokes". The review concluded that the film "still lacks much of the aesthetic appeal and occasional comic grace of the more traditional period kung fu films such as Project A, Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Dragon Lord".[33] Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times that at a screening of the film at the New York Film Festival Chan was promoted as a hybrid of Buster Keaton and Clint Eastwood, with Canby noting that Chan was "more like a scaled-down, oriental Sylvester Stallone, with energy and a willingness to smile fondly at himself". Canby also noted the excessive pie-in-the-face gags, and that Chan "participates in several elaborately staged gun fights and car chases" which were "mildly amusing" but not as amusing as the dubbed dialogue. Canby concluded that the film "is of principal interest as a souvenir of another culture".[34]

The film went on to receive wide acclaim in later reviews.[35] Michael Zey reviewed the film in The Daily Texan and rated it three-and-a-half stars in 1993, calling it a "great action thriller" that leaves "most American action films in the dust." He praised the "absolutely stunning" action scenes, saying the "film must have set a new record for the number of people thrown through windows in a single action film" as Chan eventually "perfects another action scene" with his final stunt. He also praised Chan's unique humor with the "long complicated scenes of physical comedy" rather than the usual "awful one-liner your average hero spouts after wasting a bad guy." He called it "great action entertainment" but noted "many people" would "snub it because they'll have to read subtitles." He concluded that "Jackie Chan is the true last action hero."[21]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 7.57/10; among top critics, it holds a 100% approval rating based on 6 reviews, with an 8.3/10 rating. The site's consensus reads: "Blending brilliant physical comedy with thrillingly choreographed set pieces, Police Story makes a persuasive case for Jackie Chan as one of the all-time genre greats."[35]

A review from the Time Out Film Guide stated: "In Jackie Chan-land vehicles are for trashing small buildings, while big buildings are for falling off or sliding down... The likeable and graceful Chan directs, sings and performs jaw-dropping stunts".[36] In advance of the film's 4K restoration release in 2018, Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, saying that Police Story "is one of the great 1980s action films. It is also one of the most 1980s action films", commenting its "cop-on-the-edge clichés" and synthesizer music. Seitz further wrote that "The entire film has the mentality of a master showman who wants to dazzle in every moment, big or small.... A stunt near the end gets repeated at full length three times, from three different angles; this would seem like a display of narcissism if it weren’t one of the greatest stunts in the history of movies, right up there with the collapsing house in Steamboat Bill, Jr. and the final fall in Sharky’s Machine".[7]

In 2016, when Time Out polled 50 film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films of all time, Police Story was voted the fourth best action film of all time. Film critic Trevor Johnston wrote that "you have to go back to the silent-comedy era of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton to find the equivalent of Jackie Chan in his Hong Kong prime—a star who’d put life and limb at risk to get the shot he wanted"—and that "Chan’s ’80s peak delivers a whole other level of insanity." He praised "the exuberant blend of comic knockabout thrills and heart-stopping spills from this landmark cop flick," especially his "batshit crazy" final stunt which "has since become celluloid legend."[6]

• 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards[32]
  • Won: Best Picture
  • Won: Best Action Choreography (Jackie Chan Stunt Team)
  • Nominated: Best Director (Jackie Chan)
  • Nominated: Best Actor (Jackie Chan)
  • Nominated: Best Actress (Brigitte Lin)
  • Nominated: Best Cinematography (Cheung Yiu Cho)
  • Nominated: Best Film Editing (Peter Cheung)

• The shanty town chase inspired a similar sequence in Bad Boys II.[43] A similar scene also appeared in the 2004 Thai film Born to Fight.[44]
• Jackie Chan fan Brandon Lee paid homage in his film Rapid Fire by filming a similar sequence from the mall fight scene, in which Jackie's character rams a villain with a motorcycle, through multiple layers of glass.[45]
• The scene where Chan stops a bus in Police Story inspired a similar scene in the Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell film Tango & Cash.[43]
• Between 1994 and 2004, the Hong Kong TV series Police Report adopted the Police Story theme song sung by Jackie Chan, as its own theme. Since 2009, the same song is re-adopted as the theme song of Police Report, but sung by Hacken Lee. Televised job advertisements for the Hong Kong Police also adopted segments of the song.[46]
• According to film critic Danny Leigh of Financial Times, the film Uncharted (2022) has action scenes inspired by Police Story.[47] The film's lead actor Tom Holland confirmed that Jackie Chan was an inspiration for several action scenes.[48][49]

• List of Hong Kong films
• Hong Kong action cinema
• Jackie Chan filmography

• Police Story at IMDb
• Police Story at AllMovie
• Police Story at Rotten Tomatoes
• Police Story and Police Story 2: Law and Disorder an essay by Nick Pinkerton at the Criterion Collection
• Comparison of the theatrical cut and the shortened export version