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Matt Glasby

This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.
In the mid-1980s, Jackie Chan was one of the biggest stars in Asia. But while his films regularly topped the Hong Kong box office, he just could not crack America.
After the disappointments of The Big Brawl (1980) and two Cannonball Run movies, it was time to try again.
The Protector (1985), set in New York and Hong Kong, was a tough-talking buddy cop movie written and directed by American action expert James Glickenhaus and produced by Golden Harvest.


It was an unlikely pairing. Glickenhaus and Chan came from different worlds, had clashing styles and fundamentally disagreed about the type of film they were making.
“A cold-blooded killer type did NOT suit me, nor did I enjoy playing such roles,” wrote Chan in his 2015 autobiography Never Grow Up. “Unfortunately I didn’t have any say in this role or the film. Whether I liked it or not I was going to star in The Protector.” (He was contractually obliged to do so as part of his agreement with Golden Harvest.)
Chan plays Billy Wong, a Hong Kong cop transplanted to the NYPD. After his partner is killed in a robbery – followed by a high-speed boat chase across the Hudson River – Wong is demoted to crowd control.
While he works a fashion show with soon-to-be new partner Danny Garoni (Danny Aiello), a group of masked men kidnap wealthy gangster’s daughter Linda Shapiro (Saun Ellis) in front of them, before taking her to Hong Kong.
Accompanied by Garoni, who “knows Hong Kong from his Vietnam days”, Wong is sent home to save Linda and bring down local crime lord Harold Ko (Roy Chiao Hung).

Although it works through some familiar scenarios – there are, for example, two angry police chiefs – the film is much better than its reputation suggests.
The interplay between the leads is fun (sample dialogue: “I never go anywhere in Southeast Asia without an Uzi”), Mark Irwin’s camerawork is dynamic and the set pieces are suitably spectacular.
As long as you can ignore the usual Hong Kong clichés, such as a regrettable sequence set in a massage parlour, and some iffy secondary performances, it is an entertaining watch.
One memorable sequence sees Wong speeding through Hong Kong’s harbourside shacks on a motorbike before springing from boat to boat by foot, pole and plank.
Another has a villain falling from the top of an apartment block, destroying a neon sign section by section as he cannons towards the ground.
And Glickenhaus throws everything he can at the climax – rocket launchers, cranes, helicopters – to make sure it goes with a bang.

Graduating from exploitation movies such as 1980’s The Exterminator to pumped-up genre flicks like 1991’s McBain, Glickenhaus had a real flair for spectacular, stunt-filled violence, which he peppered with eccentric touches. What he was not interested in was making a typical Jackie Chan movie.
“If I had given Jackie everything he wanted it would have been just another Jackie Chan chopsocky film, which he could have made on his own and for which he didn’t need me,” he told Roel Haanen of The Flashback Files.
Chan, for his part, was equally unimpressed.
“I didn’t condone director James Glickenhaus’s style or methods, and working on this project was a tense, unpleasant experience,” he wrote. It probably did not help that he “damaged [his] hands and finger bones” in the process.

Although we get a few flashes of the familiar Chan magic, such as when he karate chops a Texan’s cowboy hat back into shape, or springs around the room during the fight sequences, he is clearly uncomfortable in the role.
Not only does his dialogue sound stilted, like he learned it phonetically, but the tone of the film goes against his carefully curated family-friendly image.
Indeed, Chan was so unhappy he asked to re-edit it for Asian audiences, bringing the fight sequences closer to his signature style, and cutting out all the American slang, profanity and nudity.
While the Glickenhaus version flopped badly in America, making just under US$1 million, Chan’s version was a moderate success, grossing almost double that in Hong Kong.
For Chan, the lesson was simple – never give up control. When he came back to America for one last try, with 1995’s brilliant Rumble in the Bronx, it would be on his own terms.

As for Glickenhaus, the lesson was even simpler: don’t sweat it.
“I never took any of that stuff seriously or personally,” he told Haanen. “I mean, if you read what Jackie Chan says about other movies he did with American directors, he thinks they’re all c**p!”
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American cinema

Why Jackie Chan hated doing The Protector movie, a 1985 Hong Kong-US co-production

Jackie Chan in a still from The Protector, one of the Hong Kong martial arts actor’s many attempts to crack the US market before finally having success with Rumble in the Bronx (1995).

Danny Aiello (left) and Jackie Chan in a still from The Protector.

Roy Chiao Hung in a still from The Protector.

Jackie Chan in a still from The Protector.

Jackie Chan and Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus in a still from The Protector.

How depiction of Hong Kong expat life in Soldier of Fortune contained some harsh truths

Clark Gable and Susan Hayward in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955). Directed by Edward Dmytryk, the film was mostly set and shot in Hong Kong and painted a somewhat dim picture of expat life in the city.

Michael Rennie and Grace Chang in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955).

Kam Tong in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955).

Clark Gable (left) and Michael Rennie in a still from Soldier of Fortune (1955).

How Chinese-American comedy 21 & Over became 2 movies, and why they’re both problematic

(From left) Miles Teller, Justin Chon and Skylar Astin in a still from 21 & Over (2013). Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Skylar Astin, Justin Chon and Miles Teller in a still from 21 & Over. The original Hollywood version of this frat comedy and the subsequent Chinese cut are both controversial, but for different reasons. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Teller, Chon and Astin in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Astin, Sarah Wright and Teller in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Astin, Chon and Teller in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

Chon in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Teller, Astin and Chon in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

In Ferry to Hong Kong, Casablanca meets The World of Suzie Wong, but cast nearly sinks it

Curt Jürgens (centre) in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959).

Curt Jürgens (centre) in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959). The movie, described by one commentator as part Casablanca, part The World of Suzie Wong, co-starred Orson Welles, who caused many issues for James Bond director Lewis Gilbert.

(From left) Orson Welles, Jeremy Spenser and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Sylvia Syms and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Orson Welles (left) and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

A still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959).

What killed Bruce Lee? 4 leading theories medical and martial arts experts proposed after his shock death 50 years ago in July, 1973

Bruce Lee on the set of “The Big Boss”. Lee died two years after the movie’s 1971 release, and in the years since, competing theories have been posited as to what exactly killed the martial arts star.  Photo: Yau Leung

Bruce Lee in a still from “Fist of Fury” (1972).

Lee with Taiwanese actress Betty Ting Pei. The two spent time together soon before Lee’s death.

Bruce Lee in a still from “Enter the Dragon” (1973). Photo: TNS

 Lee circa 1970. He had “chronic fluid intake” by virtue of his alcohol- and juice-based diet. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Chan was so unhappy with his role as a cold-blooded killer in the James Glickenhaus-directed film he asked for a new version for Hong Kong


Chan was so unhappy with his role as a cold-blooded killer in the James Glickenhaus-directed film he asked for a new version for Hong Kong.
