Unlike Bruce Lee, who was famous for his martial arts prowess, Chan became known for his ludicrously dangerous stunts – one which cracked his skull – and he has created some of the best action movies ever
After Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan became Hong Kong's most famous film star and martial artist. Although Chan's popularity in his hometown has dimmed somewhat in recent years (mainly because of his political views) there was a time during the 80s and early 90s when he dominated both the Hong Kong and East Asian box office.
Unlike Lee, who rose to fame off of his martial arts prowess, Chan became famous primarily for his ludicrously dangerous stunts. The outtakes at the end of many old Jackie Chan movies, where viewers get to see stunts gone wrong, are sometimes even more jaw-dropping than the successful takes.
Whatever his political views, Chan can be credited with creating some of the best action movies ever. In celebration of his birthday, here are five of his most dangerous stunts.
Armor of God " tree stunt
Let's start with the one that almost killed him. A relatively innocuous stunt on paper, at least compared to some of the ones later in this list, this required Chan to leap off the wall of a castle and onto a tree, then swing down through the branches.
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Although the first take went well, Chan did not think he was fast enough. On the second attempt, disaster struck when the tree branch Chan had launched himself onto broke. As he hit the ground, his head smacked a rock, fracturing his skull.
Police Story " shopping centre stunt
Chan suffered a wealth of injuries shooting this, one of his most popular and most dangerous films. His injury list includes a fractured finger, burns to his hands, a deep cut on his forearm, electric shock, injury to his pelvic bone and broken vertebrae. More than one of these resulted from the climactic stunt of Police Story, which required Chan to throw himself off a balcony in a shopping centre, grab a pole covered in light bulbs, slide down it and then drop off of it through a glass roof and onto a small decoration house. Unsurprisingly, the cost of insuring Chan's movies increased massively after this one.
Project A " clock tower stunt
An admirer of the Hollywood silent era and actors such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, in Project A Chan paid homage to his idols. Here, Chan took inspiration from the most famous stunt from Safety Last, a 1923 Hollywood movie featuring Harold Lloyd climbing a skyscraper to evade the police and eventually dangling from a clock face high above the city.
Some 25 meters above ground, Chan let go of the clock with only two awnings below to break his fall. Although worried about the danger of the stunt " and he landed on his head more than once when filming it " Chan performed it three times.
Who Am I? " skyscraper slide stunt
If dropping off a fairly high clock tower wasn't enough, 15 years later Chan would do something even riskier. For Who Am I? he decided to slide down the exterior of the 25-storey Willemswerf building in Rotterdam.
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Although no major injuries were sustained in this one " likely because any might be fatal " Chan nonetheless did the stunt all by himself. No wonder it reportedly took him two weeks to work up the nerve to shoot it.
Police Story 3: Supercop " helicopter flight stunt
We go ever higher. For Police Story 3 Jackie Chan decided he would literally take to the skies. This time out he leaps from a building and grabs a rope ladder that is suspended from a helicopter. Chan then had to hold on for dear life as the chopper flew through the city, narrowly missing all sorts of buildings.
Despite the danger involved, this wasn't the stunt that actually injured Chan during filming of Police Story 3. In another scene, a dangling Chan was supposed to dodge an incoming helicopter, but he failed to get out of the way, ripping his shoulder muscle thanks to the impact.
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