The 26th Century

by **Herculean Platypus!** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:52 pm

Back in the 90's I spent a good amount of my time (& money) on Jackie Chan movies. You see, he wasn't a big star in America, so his movies were extremely rare and hard to come by. Even if you found them on tape, they were of poor quality.

Laserdiscs were the logical choice to see them, as usually (but not always) they were letterboxed and of better quality than VHS. Of course, the majority of these discs were NOT in English (no dubbing OR subtitles) so you had to endure watching the movie while missing the subtle nuances of the story and humor.

My own rule is that I NEVER buy a movie unless I've seen it once, so I don't waste money owning a movie I'll never watch again- the exception is Jackie's films, and I've blown up to $170 on a single movie (a 2-disc set of Drunken Master 2) If that sounds excessive, you ain't heard nothin' yet- I've done that several times, buying the latest release without having seen a single frame!

It was great at the time, because you could brag about how you've seen the latest Chan film that probably wouldn't even see an American release in theaters.

Ah, those days are gone now. But I have a few treasured memories of those days...

Hong Kong 1997

Chicago 1998

I'd probably still be a fan if Rush Hour 2 hadn't been such a stinker... ;)

by **ladyfreebird** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:59 pm

I don't know anything about Laserdisks, but I do like and enjoy Jackie Chan movies.

graylady

by **Herculean Platypus!** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:07 am

grayladyfalcon wrote:I don't know anything about Laserdisks,

Bottom line: 2 to 3 times more expensive than DVD, and inferior picture quality- you're not missing a thing! :biggrin:

Any favorite Chan films?

My top five:

- Armor of God 2
- Project A
- Police Story
- Drunken Master 2
- City Hunter

(I could go on all day on this topic...)

by **ladyfreebird** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 7:59 am

I have a few favorites..

- Mr. Nice Guy

- No More Mr. Nice Guy

- First Strike

- Rumble in the Bronx

- Shanghai Noon

- Rush Hour

graylady :articuno:

by **Herculean Platypus!** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:51 pm

grayladyfalcon wrote:I have a few favorites..

- Mr. Nice Guy

- No More Mr. Nice Guy

Beg pardon, but aren't those two the same movie?

(Or is it one of those, "I liked it so much I listed it twice!")

by **ladyfreebird** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:54 pm

Sorry, you're right. I was writing more of my story when I was typing this. I think I doubled it.

graylady

by **Herculean Platypus!** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:37 pm

grayladyfalcon wrote:I was writing more of my story when I was typing this. I think I doubled it.

No problem!

Actually, one thing I've always had to be careful about is the numerous titles that any one Jackie Chan movie can have. Mr. Nice Guy was also known as No More Mr. Nice Guy, but was also known as Super Chef!

Another film on your list (First Strike) was also titled Police Story 4, and at one point even had the title "Piece of Cake" attached to it! My laserdisc's official title is Police Story 4: First Strike.

Even more confusing is when one of his newer films is given the title that was an alternate title for a previous film! In one instance, a film that was officially titled Crime Story (1993) was named New Police Story in Japan- however, Jackie did indeed make a film just recently that is officially titled New Police Story, so this means you have to do a little research to make sure you are not renting/buying the same movie.

(When you are paying over $90 for a laserdisc, you make sure you do your research!) :biggrin:

by **Herculean Platypus!** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:09 am

A few... um, well, can't call them "exploits", so I just call 'em stories...

...I stumbled across a tiny shop selling merchandise from Hong Kong and stopped in to browse- I noticed they had a section devoted to DVDs, and went searching for the original "Armour of God".

As it turns out, they had it- but no English subtitles! As the cost was barely $2 (American) I scooped it up anyway, because as far as I know, the disc has been out of print for some time, and who knows when I'd get the chance to purchase a better copy? I already have a subtitled VHS copy and a dubbed laserdisc, but as this IS 2007 (last time I checked)

it's time to step into the latest century.

On a side not, I also picked up a Jackie Chan DVD titled "Brint Dragon Police", where the synopsis on the back was incomprehensible and the cover art was from his 1998 film "Who Am I?". Turns out this movie was the Hong Kong version of his 1985 film "The Protector" with additional scenes and alternate cuts as opposed to the domestic release.

Even though neither disc was wholly satisafactory, they'll do for now- you can't beat that price, either... [ok]

In other not-so-great news, I found another disc I'd like to get... if I didn't already have it on DVD!

Click Here

It's the Collector's Edition of Police Story. While this has been released in a cut-down poorly dubbed American release, I hunted down the Hong Kong version even though I knew the HK release was not fully adequate. I figured it likely wasn't going to get any better than this, so I bit the bullet and bought the trilogy.

Now the aforementioned disc comes out. (sigh) While I can buy a used copy at a reduced price, it's still another version of the same movie I already own- except with some extra goodies. :roll:

In any case, if anyone else likes Chan, you should definitely check this movie out- it's superior to any of his post-1998 films and the stunts and sheer energy are unequalled! :biggrin:

by **systemcat** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:49 am

Got to love finding cheap old movies :cool:

. Had that happen at StarFest with that LD I got. It was 2 dollars too, one box was filled with 2 dollar ones the other ... MAN if there was a price guide to LDs I think the seller might have been using one, one of the LDs was priced at $35 dollars!

Erin :cat: