Jackie Chan broke new ground in the mid-1980s and really started to pick up steam as a worldwide action star. Police Story was one of the first of Chan's films to go over the top in terms of spectacle, not to mention danger. Every new stunt seemed to bring with it the possibility of utter catastrophe and possible death.
Yet, Jackie soldiered on and made a classic piece of action cinema. Police Story features some of the most reckless and death-defying stunts of any martial arts action film, and after watching it, it's hard to imagine how Jackie Chan has managed to survive all these years, given his penchant for accumulating disastrous on-set injuries.
10 The Shanty Town Car Chase
The opening act of Police Story makes it quite clear that Jackie Chan and the team were going for gold when it came to stunt work. The scene takes place in a dilapidated shantytown, where police set up a sting operation designed to catch a major crime lord named Chu Tao. The operation soon erupts into a massive gunfire battle between police and the criminals, while Chu makes a run for it.
What follows is nothing short of four cars careening down the side of a hill and taking out almost the entire shantytown in the process. Civilians flee for their lives as the cars careen through makeshift buildings, causing massive explosions in the process. There's so much going on in the scene that it's a wonder nobody got hurt or killed.
9 The Double Decker Bus Stop
One of the most infamous stunts in Police Story, or any other Jackie Chan film for that matter, is the bone-crushing double-decker bus stop scene. After pursuing Chu Tao and his men when they commandeer a large green bus, Chan stands in the middle of the road and aims his revolver at the oncoming vehicle with intent to shoot.
The crooks panic and hit the brakes, stopping about two feet shy of running Chan over. At the same time, two stuntmen are thrown out of the upper window of the bus and land directly on their heads. No matter how much preparation is involved, some stunts are almost not worth the pain involved.
8 The Car Hood Flip
In this day and age, cars running down stunt people is nothing new, but Jackie Chan manages to do it more seamlessly than other action stars. When Chan is set upon by a group of Chu Tao's henchmen intent on kidnapping her, they end up working fast in an effort to get rid of him.
First, they distract him by making him think he's struck a baby carriage with his car. He takes the bait and is attacked by a goon immediately, while another car rolls in and attempts to run him over. Chan executes a perfect flip onto the hood of the car, before rolling off of it to avoid being struck by a baseball bat.
7 The Flying Car Drop Kick
Chan goes up against Chu Tao's goons, who attempt to abduct Selina Fong, a turncoat who used to work for him. It's the first real sequenced martial arts battle of the film, and quite amazing for a movie made all the way back in 1985. Chan displays amazing speed and skill as he uses two cars in a variety of ways to keep from being hit.
When one of Chu Tao's thugs attempts to grab Selina by reaching from the front seat into the back of the car, Chan notices what's going on and does a leaping dropkick off the roof of the other car, landing right on target. It's definitely one of the coolest moves in the film, and this kind of choreography has helped influence many of the fight sequences in today's films.
6 The Perfect Park
Chan ends up being late for a court case where Selina was supposed to be testifying, and with little time to spare, he decides to take a risk. It all starts when a local resident measures the distance between two parked vehicles to see if he can fit his own car. Before he has a chance to make his move, Chan zeroes the spot.
He revs up his car and floors it down the street before turning the wheel hard and sliding perfectly between the two vehicles. It's a funny stunt, primarily because Chan just stole a parking space from the angry man, who is nonetheless really impressed with his driving skills.
5 The Telephone Booth Near Miss
Chan doesn't seem to be able to afford to fix his car, as evidenced by the fact that the parking brake doesn't seem to work. He ends up coming to see May, who wants him to come to dinner, but Chan has other things on his mind, particularly the whereabouts of Chu Tao's men, who are holding Selina hostage.
He asks May to keep the car from rolling down the hill while he makes a call from a local telephone booth. He ends up getting too distracted by the call to notice May run up to him. It's May who spots the car rolling towards them, and Chan manages to sweep her out of the way just in time for the car to smash through the telephone booth.
4 Bad Guy Out The Window
Chan manages to track down Selina, who is being kept hostage in a large house. It isn't deserted, however. He takes out one guard and begins freeing her, only to be attacked by several more thugs who start a fight with him in the small room. Chan barely manages to fend them off after being caught completely off guard.
He ends up kicking one straight in the chest, which knocks him out a window in a slow-motion shot. He careens directly over the edge in a backflip before landing on the green grass below. No matter how many times it's practiced, that stunt must leave a few bruises.
3 The Trellis Fall
The final scene of Police Story is loaded with insane stunts, many of which seriously injured Jackie Chan in the process of filming. The first occurs when Chan is helping Selina escape through a shopping mall with a briefcase that could spell disaster for Chu Tao if it falls into police hands.
He attempts to keep them off of Selina and protect the briefcase, but two of them manage to grab him and throw him off a railing. Chan lands straight through the roof of a trellis and onto the hard floor. According to Jackie Chan, there were no mats present when he hit the ground, but he got up and completed the scene despite the pain. It remains one of the best fight scenes of Jackie Chan's film career.
2 The Motorcycle Run-Through
Chu Tao's henchmen prove to be more than a match for Jackie, with a few of them boasting some serious kung fu martial arts skills. He has a tough time taking on the last two, who are trying to escape with the briefcase with Selina in tow. After managing to subdue one, the other hops on a motorcycle and attempts to run him down.
Chan knocks him off the bike and gets on board, flooring it and ramming into his enemy, then driving him through a gigantic window display, and straight into a wall. No matter how much safety glass was used, that stunt still looks quite dangerous, not to mention painful.
1 The Pole Slide
Many A-list actors who do their own stunts would never dream of tackling this one. Chu Tao pursues a briefcase thrown from a higher level, which lands at the bottom of the mall. Realizing that he can't get to them in time to stop the briefcase from being taken, Chan decides to take a shortcut by leaping into the air and grabbing a pole.
He slides down the pole at high speed, taking out a bunch of string lights in the process, which cause all manner of electrical shorts and broken bulbs. It's painful the watch the descent, especially knowing that Jackie Chan suffered lacerations, electrical burns and other injuries in the process. It remains one of his most notoriously dangerous stunts and meant that Chan was able to run in the same league as Bruce Lee in terms of martial arts movie prowess.
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