Sunday 29 August 2010

Little Tiger of Canton (1971) [* * *]

This was Jackie's first starring role and you can already see his extreme talent at 17. He plays a waiter who is trained from childhood by a beggar in secret martial arts which he later uses to break up a chinese mafia.

Jackie Chan - the man and his movies

I realise this is very late to become fascinated by the man - when I was 12, my 4 yr old cousins couldn't stop talking about him. I've only now developed the emotional numbness to be able to watch two humans beat each other up for other people's entertainment.:)

The man is extraordinary. He was training from 6 am to midnight (18 hours a day) by the age of 7 (!) and hasn't stopped to take breath since. I have no doubt his Chi is remarkable because he's close to 60 and still does stunts a 16 yr old would be afraid of. His secret marriage and 27 yr old son met with shocked disapproval from fans, since he hardly spends time away from work.

His movies are remarkable for one thing - their poor quality. I'm astonished by how many b-grade movies this superb physical specimen has had to endure! The scripts are poor quality, frequently with a few irrelevant nude scenes (36 Crazy Fists, Little Tiger of Canton, etc], which make them unsuitable for his fan base, the kids, the fight/flight scenes interminable and dialogues interspersed with burlesque sound-effects [City Hunter, Hand of Death].

The humour and action began improving around 1985 [First Strike, Who Am I, Spy Next Door, Police Story, Karate Kid ] and so did his acceptance by a more global, adult audience. I do wish he'd stick to his new resolution of more acting than stunts, for his own good, though the world will never see another human dynamo stuntman like him again.:)

3 comments:

venkhat said...

i like his recent ones, where he is allowed to act his normal self than dumb.(karate kid)

Regarding his nudity,my wife was the only one who used to see jackie movies in my village, as no women go to see them here( english movies are taboo here for women)
it was embarassing.

i personally feel the vernacular movies are more sextillating and vulgar than a kissing scene, of the english movies.

i hope Jackie selects his roles where they dont exploit him

venkhat said...

Yoda,is there anyway to bring on the title of the article in the archives, there has been a request from a reader who wants to share to others.

Local said...

Yes, venkhat, when you write your 'new post' you can label it in the bottom right and set the archives to show that label. Give it a try.

Just mess around with the 'Design' until you achieve the archive result.:)

[If you can't do it on your own, we could arrange to meet on irc and I'll try to walk through the steps with you.]