Police Story 2 (Jackie Chan, 1988)

Jackie Chan and Keung-Kuen Lai in Police Story 2

Cast: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill Tung, Keung-Kuen Lai, John Cheung, Charlie Cho, Yuen Chor, Ben Lam, Chi Fai Chan, Shan Kwan, Isabella Wong, Ann Mui. Screenplay: Jackie Chan, Paul B. Clay, Edward Tang. Cinematography: Yiu-Tsou Cheung, Yu-Tang Li. Production design: Oliver Wong. Film editing: Peter Cheung. Music: Yao-Tsu Chang, J. Peter Robinson, Siu-Lam Tang.

Jackie Chan's hyperactive policeman Cha Ka-Kui has been demoted to traffic as a result of the mayhem in the first Police Story film, but he bounds back under threat from his old enemies. There's a lot more pyrotechnics in this installment, thanks to the explosives wizardry of the film's chief villain, a deaf mute played by Keung-Kuen Lai.

Police Story (Jackie Chan, Chi-Hwa Chen, 1985)

Jackie Chan and Ken Tong in Police Story

Cast: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill Tung, Yuen Chor, Charlie Cho, Chi-Wing Lau, Hark-On Fung, Hing-Yin Kam, Mars, Tai-Bo, Ken Tong. Screenplay: Jackie Chan, Edward Tang. Cinematography: Yiu-Tsou Cheung. Production design: Oliver Wong. Film editing: Peter Cheung. Music: Kevin Bassinson.

Jackie Chan's debt to Buster Keaton has never been more fully displayed, or indeed more fully repaid, than in Police Story, which has a Keatonian moment when he latches onto a passing bus with the crook of an umbrella. Chan plays a cop who goes from hero to goat and back again in this story of an almost one-man crusade against a drug lord. The climax involves the near-total destruction of a shopping mall, with one spectacular set-up after another.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (John Woo, 1979)

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (John Woo, 1979)

Cast: Pai Wei, Damian Lau, Kong Lau, Chiu-Hua Wei, Hark-On Fung, Hoi Sang Lee. Screenplay: John Woo. Cinematography: Yiu-Tsou Cheung, Tsin Yu. Film editing: Peter Cheung. Music: Frankie Chan.

The Legend of Drunken Master (Chia-Liang Liu, 1994)

Jackie Chan in The Legend of Drunken Master

Wong Fei-hung: Jackie Chan
Wong Kei-ying: Lung Ti
Ling: Anita Mui
Tsang: Felix Wong
Master Fu Wen-Chi: Chia-Liang Liu
John: Ken Lo
Fo Sang: Kar Lok Chin
Henry: Ho-Sung Pak
Tso: Chi-Kwong Chung
Uncle Hing: Yi-Sheng Han
Counterintelligence Officer: Andy Lau

Director: Chia-Liang Liu
Screenplay: Edward Tang, Man-Ming Tong, Kai-Chi Yuen
Cinematography: Tony Cheung, Yiu-Tsou Cheung, Wen Yung Huang, Jingle Ma
Production design: Chong-Sing Ho, Eddie Ma
Film editing: Peter Cheung
Music: Michael Wandmacher, Wei Lap Wu

Jackie Chan is his usual charming whirligig self in Chia-Liang Liu's The Legend of Drunken Master, a movie that kung fu film aficionados take a good deal more seriously than I'm able to do. In 2010 Time critic Richard Corliss placed it on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest movies made since 1923. There are certainly some breathtaking moments of action in it, along with a hilarious performance by Anita Mui as Chan's stepmother -- she was actually almost a decade younger. And I go along with Roger Ebert's comparison of Chan to Buster Keaton, though where Keaton was mostly stillness punctuated by moments of action, Chan is hyperactivity distilled to its essence. Unfortunately, the version of the film shown on Starz is dubbed into English and shorn to fit a different aspect ratio than the original. It also lacks a concluding scene in which Chan's character, Wong Fei-hung, exhibits the effects of drinking methanol, which he does in the climactic fight scene. Apparently it was played for comedy, which the American distributors (perhaps rightly) thought distasteful. If a version of the film closer to the original ever comes around, I'd be happy to give Drunken Master II, which is what its hardcore fans call it, another look.