Little Tiger of Canton aka Cub Tiger From Kwang Tung(1973)

This movie has a history that might be more interesting than anything in the actual film. This is one of those movies that I referenced earlier, that was released well after the filming. Originally filmed in 1971, this is thought to be the first starring role that Jackie ever filmed, but not the first one audiences would see. It saw a brief run in 73, then a poorly edited version was given a major release in 1979 after Jackie had become a major star. This is the version we saw here in the West as “Master with Cracked Fists” or “Snake Fist Fighter”.

For purposes of this review, I will be relying on “Master With Cracked Fists”, since the video quality on my copy of Little Tiger of Canton is absolutely horrid and I can’t make out anything.

I WON’T be using any of the fights with the really sketchy Jackie Chan body double filmed for the re-release. It’s not as dodgy as some of the Bruce Lee exploitation that we’ll see later on, but still pretty dodgy. All that said, this is actually decent enough. The action won’t knock your socks off, but it’s not offensive either.

Fight 1 – Not much personality to this one, just a brief one-on-one fight with Jackie and another lad, while some other guy creepily watches behind a tree. It’s fun seeing a VERY young and athletic Jackie, but it’s just an even fight with no real winner.(Rating 2/10)

Fight 2 – This one is EXTREMELY brief. Jackie saves someone from 4 bullies, and a 4-on-1 fight ensues. This is an early 70’s Hong Kong film, so you know how this goes. Dominant display, but what is interesting here, is that we get a tiny little bit of prop work from Jackie, and he employs his more defensive style a bit here. Lasts maybe 45 seconds. (Rating 2.5/10)

Fight 3 – This starts with Jackie being beaten up by the same 4 thugs from before, until his girlfriend shows up and puts up a good fight against them. She is soon overwhelmed, and one of them threatens to to rape her!!! Of course Jackie is not having this, and regains his composure to help her fight the 4 men. Again becomes a one sided afair, but we see a little bit of cool environmental usage in this. Chan’s athleticism was off the charts when he was a kid, doing cool front flips and stuff. (Rating 3/10)

Fight 4 – Brief sparring session against the girlfriend, after their master rides their case for fighting. He wants them to be tough and understand the consequences of fighting at the same time. Jackie holds back here, as he doesn’t want to beat her up, so we get a more lighthearted affair with him being more defensive, and a few little funny moments. (No rating)

Fight 5 – Rapey guy is out there trying to rape again.

Jackie of course somes to the lady’s rescue, and has a brief tussle with the guy and his buddies. Doesn’t last long, but Jackie does take a bump out of a 10 foot window and gets up like nothing happens.(No rating)

Fight 6 – The thugs bring a much more competent friend with them this time. After Jackie dispatches the 4 gentlemen, their friend steps in, and ties both hands behind his back. Jackie is pretty much dominated in spite of the advantage he has, as his opponent has clever counters for everything he does. It ends when Jackie’s master steps in, and takes a kick to the chest, and convinces him to leave with him. (Rating 3/10)

Fight 7 – Time for the final showdown, as the bad guys have kidnapped one of Jackie’s friends and tied him to the mast of a boat. He easily dispatches everyone on the docks, including Rapey Guy. He goes to pull his friend down, then more thugs show up and we get a neat little fight on the boat. Come decent environmental usage here, made more interesting by the fact that Jackie has to keep hold of the rope that has his friend tied up, for fear of dropping him. Eventually, he unfortunately loses the rope, killing his friend. This leads to another showdown with the opponent from the previous fight.

They have a decently fast paced fight. The villain is obviously the stronger fighter, and dominates, with Jackie finding openings here and there to keep the fight even. Rapey Guy tries to get involved and is easily taken out. They fight and fight and fight for what feels like ages. The fight is good, but nothing about it stands out. Basically, you could have had any hero in there and gotten the same fight. The villain’s comical selling at the end is just superb though. (Rating 4/10)

Final Verdict: One of the best things to ever happen to Hong Kong action films, was when they got away from the dime a dozen action flicks of this time. You’ve probably noticed that none of the fights I’ve reviewed so far have gotten a very good rating, and it’s because they all honestly feel the same. Producers at this time were all making the same movie, and all of them were hoping they would stumble upon the next Bruce Lee. We wouldn’t see much innovation until they got away from that thought process.

I reviewed 7 fights here, and there are 2 more that didn’t include Jackie, and there is nothing to make you remember any of them.

See it, but only because it’s Jackie’s first role as the main star and as the hero. But the poor guy has a few more films like this, and several more where he isn’t even credited, before we really get to see his true genius.

Police Woman aka Rumble in Hong Kong(1973)

Now this is more like it. This marks Jackie Chan’s debut as a proper choreographer, as he directed the action in this movie(and it shows), and gets a proper credit and starring role as the villain. This is one of only two films where Jackie plays the bad guy. It would not be his first starring role, but his first in a film of this nature, as he had only been used as an extra and stuntman prior. The movie was released in the West as “Rumble in Hong Kong” MANY years later.

Jackie only has one fight scene in this film, towards the end, as he was one of the main antagonists. This is a bit jarring to see him in this style, since I’m so used to seeing him style his fights in a self-preservation kind of way. The hallmark of his fight scenes later on, was that he always made you feel like he didn’t want to fight, but here, he’s very aggressive and kind of a jerk about it.

This is a little rough around the edges, but you can see Jackie’s fingerprints all over this. Much more give and take than what you were used to seeing in movies around this time. This had a nice little flow to it, and used the environment pretty well. This is a group fight, until Jackie tries and fails to run over one of the heroes with his car. This evolves into, what I think is Jackie’s first big one-on-one fight scene. It had the nice ballet like quality that you are used to seeing from his films, and showcased each man’s skill well. (Rating 5/10)

Final verdit: It’s not perfect, and under normal circumstances, it would probably be a “skip”. But given that this was Chan’s first chance to choreograph, and also get a major action role, I’d say “see it”. There were no “One person beats up 20 with ease” type fights in this, thankfully, as those were really overdone at the time already. Instead, the fights were choreographed with an understanding that it’s easier to cheer for the hero if you feel like they were in danger.

The Brutal Boxer aka Blood Fingers(1972)

This is a film that I believe was released some years later, after Jackie achieved some degree of fame. There was a box set released that actually lists him as the STAR of this movie(Narrator – “He wasn’t”). As far as Chan’s involvement, this movie mostly follows the formula set by Hapkido, where he is only part of a bunch of group fights. The only problem here, is that this movie doesn’t have anyone nearly as engaging as Mao Ying or Sammo Hung in it. This thing is largely unengaging, but is notable because it’s the first time Jackie gets to show a tiny bit of his comedic timing, and gets a bit more facetime in this one, instead of just being a face in the crowd.

This movie at least veers away from the super common period pieces of the time, and is in a more contemporary setting, but make no mistake, it’s an early 70’s martial arts flick.

Fight 1- Large brawl inside of a restaurant. To be honest, this thing is stilted and boring. Typical “2 guys beat up a dozen” formula, but it’s notable to this project because Jackie gets to actually deliver some offense, WHILE HIS FACE IS SHOWING. It’s almost like they actually wanted you to see him! He gets kicked so hard he slides 8 feet across the floor, and his face hits the wall, and you get to see one of those classic Jackie Chan facials here for maybe the first time. Fight goes on forever. It sucks. (Rating 2/10).

Fight 2 – This one is actually a lot of fun. A bit of a workplace disagreement leads to a 6-on-1 fight, as it usually happens in real life. This felt like a fight that Jackie may have had some hand in choreographing, and if not, one of his “brothers” did. They use the setting around them in clever ways, and it’s fun and engaging. It’s a mostly one sided fight, but actually felt like a bit of a struggle. Jackie again gets face time and a chance to show some of his legendary facial expressions before he gets tossed into a lake. He wears a pretty sick yellow poncho deal too. (Rating 5/10).

Fight 3 – More in line with the first scene in this flick. Uninspired construction site brawl. Jackie is a face in the crowd. The only notable thing here is that the 20 dudes that just got their butts kicked actually manage to kill the guy that beat their ass. (Rating 1.5/10)

Fight 4 – Jackie shows up in a car with a bunch of other guys in an already ongoing fight. Jackie gets to drive and be the first guy to get cold cocked. This fight is so absurd I can’t help but kinda like it. For starters, it’s honestly close to 20 minutes from start to finish. The choreography is actually decent like the second fight in this movie, as it features the same protagonist. It legitimately becomes a 25-on-1 fight at one point, and I just howled with laughter. One of his mates shows up to help even the odds. Jackie changes shirts at one point in this fight so he could play a different guy that gets killed, I guess. The end result is a bit more competitive since the main bad guy gets involved here. (Rating 4.5/10)

Final verdict: While “Hapkido” was more watchable movie, with better stars, this one gets a slightly higher rating of “Watch it if you’re interested”. This movie has Jackie laying the first bricks of what would be his foundation for the rest of his career. His distinct style of “selling” is on display here, as well as his comedic facials. The second and 4th fights are worth watching.

Hapkido(1972)

We are starting with this one, since it is the first movie to have a fight scene that features Jackie for more than a second or two. This film takes place in 1934, and as the title suggests, is meant to showcase the Hapkido fighting style. The star of this is the oft forgotten, but quite amazing Mao Ying, and Sammo Hung.

Jackie plays a young Hapkido student(he has no given name in the film), and only appears briefly.

In his first bit of action, he is quickly dismantled by the Hapkido master in a training session and has no offense(Rating 1/10).

In his second appearance here, he is in a group brawl in a market against Sammo Hung. The students are being jerks. Sammo goes shirtless and proceeds to make all of these students regret ever living. This is actually a pretty decent fight scene, thanks to Hung and his insane ability, in spite of his impressive girth. It’s a one side beatdown, but a fight that fit in with the time period. (Rating 2.5/10).

The third fight scene here follows the pattern of the previous one, with all of the students vs Sammo Hung. It is again very one sided(as fights during this era tended to be), and Jackie being a “blink and you miss him” performer here. Rating on this one is slightly higher, due to a bit more variety. There are a couple of big stunts, Sammo take a few licks and hucks a 50 gallon drum at a guy. Then he finishes it off with a dropkick onto two guys from about a 15 foot ledge. (Rating 3/10)

Jackie’s final appearance here is in an extended Mao Ying showcase. It is your typical “master beats the snot out of a bunch of dudes” late 60’s-early 70’s one sided fight. What sets this one apart is the unbelievable skill of Mao Ying. It’s not hyperbole to call her the female Bruce Lee, she has that level of skill. She dismantles all of the students easily and with no regard for human life.

None of the students have any offense. They all end the day ashamed of themselves, and Mao moves onto better things. (Rating 3/10).

If you are familiar with the 60’s and 70’s Raymond Chow films, you know what to expect here. Compared to the stuff that would be put out about 10 to 15 years later, this seems somewhat tame in comparison, and we’ll see severl more movies like this one going forward. Period pieces like this dominated the landscape at the time, and really created an entire generation of martial arts fans.

Final verdict: Skip it.

Some ground rules

Since this will be a large undertaking, there have to be some rules.

First, I’ll be attempting to do these in order of release date. There are some films that sat “in the can” for years, and were released after Jackie gained a measure of fame. In cases such as these, I’ll make sure to note as much.

Second, some of his early work will be intentionally excluded, due to most of them only amounting to brief cameos(Fist of Fury for exampe), or Jackie only appearing in an uncredited role. This means that “Master With Cracked Fingers” will only get briefly mentioned as it is cobbled together with footage from Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung(aka Little Tiger of Canton).

Lastly, the qualification to be included in this list, is that Jackie has to fight hand to hand against someone, even if only briefly. So if there is a long drawn out action scene, interspersed with fighting, then it is included as one long scene.

This is Project Jackie(Also considered Operation Jackie)

For most of my life, I have had a deep admiration for the work of Jackie Chan. While his stunt work rightfully gets tons of attention, I feel like sometimes the nuances of his fight choreography are forgotten about. That’s what this project is all about. I am going to do a deep dive into EVERY Jackie Chan fight scene ever filmed(at least what is available), and after all is said and done, attempt to do a ranking of some kind. I hope I stay motivated to finish this, and I hope you stay motivated to keep reading.