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Police Story

Original title: Ging chaat goo si
  • 1985
  • PG-13
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
46K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,529
2,263
Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung in Police Story (1985)
Hong Kong Version Trailer
Play trailer2:37
1 Video
99+ Photos
Dark ComedyMartial ArtsSlapstickActionComedyCrimeThriller

A virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.A virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.A virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.

  • Director
    • Jackie Chan
  • Writers
    • Jackie Chan
    • Edward Tang
  • Stars
    • Jackie Chan
    • Maggie Cheung
    • Brigitte Lin
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    46K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    4,529
    2,263
    • Director
      • Jackie Chan
    • Writers
      • Jackie Chan
      • Edward Tang
    • Stars
      • Jackie Chan
      • Maggie Cheung
      • Brigitte Lin
    • 151User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
    • 78Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 5 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Police Story
    Trailer 2:37
    The Police Story

    Photos167

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    Top cast66

    Edit
    Jackie Chan
    Jackie Chan
    • Chan Ka Kui
    Maggie Cheung
    Maggie Cheung
    • May
    Brigitte Lin
    Brigitte Lin
    • Selina Fong
    • (as Brigette Lin)
    Yuen Chor
    Yuen Chor
    • Mr. Chu Tao
    Bill Tung
    Bill Tung
    • Inspector Bill Wong
    Kent Tong
    Kent Tong
    • Tom
    • (as Chun-Yip Tong)
    Kwok-Hung Lam
    • Supt. Raymond Li
    Chi-Wing Lau
    Chi-Wing Lau
    • Cheung, the Lawyer
    Charlie Cho
    Charlie Cho
    • John Ko
    Hing-Yin Kam
    Hing-Yin Kam
    • Inspector Man
    Mars
    Mars
    • Kim
    • (as For Sing)
    Fung Hak-On
    Fung Hak-On
    • Danny Koo
    • (as Hark-On Fung)
    Yun-Kin Chow
    Yun-Kin Chow
    • Koo's Man
    Paul Wong
    • Police Officer 1
    Fat Wan
    • Jacknife…
    Tai-Bo
    Tai-Bo
    • Lee…
    Leung Siu
    • Prosecutor
    Fung Woo
    Fung Woo
    • Shau Tau Kok Station Commander
    • Director
      • Jackie Chan
    • Writers
      • Jackie Chan
      • Edward Tang
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews151

    7.545.7K
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    Featured reviews

    bob the moo

    Great stunts, some laughs and a reasonably good story start a solid series for Chan

    Jackie is one of the key police officers in a bust that captures big time criminal Koo. As a `reward' he is told to guard Koo's secretary, who has turned states evidence. However Koo's men try to get to them before the trial - the least of Jackie's problems as his girlfriend May storms out when she sees him with Selina. When Koo is acquitted, he frames Jackie for the murder of a cop, forcing Jackie on the run to clear his name and get Koo.

    The first film in the successful Police Story series is a fair example of a Jackie Chan film for those who have never seen one - reasonable plot, great action, average acting (potentially bad dubbing) and the comic scenes. However it is not as good as some of the sequels and, just generally, some of Chan's other films. Police Story opens with a great shoot out that culminates in a car chase through a shanty town and a fantastic series of stunts on a bus. From this point on it then focuses on the plot and quiet a few moments of comedy. This works reasonable well but it feels like the comedy and action have been divided up into separate sections. This takes away from the film a little bit.

    The plot is pretty solid for a Jackie Chan film (by recent standards this is a masterpiece of writing!) although some of the dialogue doesn't quite fit. The moment where Jackie is forced on the run by the police is a bit hammy and the `you don't see us as people' rant just doesn't seem like Jackie. Of course part of the problem with this is the dubbing in the version I watched - I just don't understand viewers who would sooner see a really bad dubbing job than watch a subtitled version! The cheesy American voices here do detract from the performances and I found it difficult to judge some of Chan's comedy lines when they were being delivered by another person in a very flat way. However he still has presence and his physical work is great. Special mention to the stunt men here also, there are a lot of great falls (including a dive from a bus top) that must have hurt - I don't care who you are! Tung's Uncle Bill has fewer funny lines than I'm used to but he is still funny. The female cast are pretty wasted with both Lin and Cheung on screaming duty for the majority of the film (and most grating it is too!).

    The film ends on a rather strange shot but set up an angry cop that Chan never really convinced me as - a personae that just seemed to be dropped in the later films in the series, but the overall film is still very enjoyable. The plot is good even if the acting isn't and the action involves plenty of amazing routines and stunts - it's just a shame that the action and comedy were very fragmented, it disjointed the film.
    9OllieSuave-007

    Awesome Jackie Chan cop flick!

    This is a high-energy and awesome cop flick starring Jackie Chan, who plays Hong Kong Detective Kevin Chan. He is framed for murdering a fellow cop by a drug lord and, while having to clear his name, Kevin goes on a mission to capture the druggie while, at the same time, keeping his girlfriend.

    Chan displays some of his best martial arts action in this film, with incredible stunt work, daredevil jumps and butt-kicking action. It's good old-fashion fighting skills with no wires and CGI.

    The plot is pretty simple, nothing too suspenseful, but it's fast-paced with a mixture of humor and drama. And, the acting is pretty good - fun stuff and dialog coming from Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin. Cheung displays the tenderness in her character while Lin displays more of a feisty personality. And, Bill Tung as the Chief is a lovable and hilarious character.

    Highly recommended action film!

    Grade A
    8Jack_Yan

    Amongst Jackie Chan's best

    Probably Jackie Chan's best film in the 1980s, and the one that put him on the map. The scale of this self-directed police drama is evident from the opening and closing scenes, during which a squatters' village and shopping mall are demolished. There are, clearly, differences between the original Chinese and dubbed English versions, with many of the jokes failing to make their way into the latter. The latter is also hampered by stars who sound nothing like their Chinese originals. In fact, the only thing the dubbing has corrected is the court trial—at the time, trials in colonial Hong Kong were conducted in English, while the original has this scene in Cantonese!

    Nonetheless, Chan's fighting style and the martial arts choreography inject humour where possible, so non-Cantonese audiences don't miss much. It's not, after all, the dialogue that makes a Chan flick, but the action and the painful out-takes. The story is easy to follow: Chan plays an incorruptible Hong Kong detective pursuing a gangland godfather (Cho Yeun), and assigned to protect a star witness (Brigitte Lin). The action is superb from beginning to end, and there's not much time to breathe in between. It'll never get you thinking, but what an entertaining, and well strung-together, film. Arguably, this is one of the best martial arts films out there.
    6ma-cortes

    First entry in Police Story saga with Jackie Chan as brave and likable cop

    POLICE STORY packs a violent confrontation between Jackie and nasty villain and his hoodlums . This stirring and exciting story about the cop named Chan Ka Kui of the Hong Kong precinct is well played by Jackie Chan . Ka Kui (Jackie Chan) is a Hong-Kong cop who pursues and arrests a drug-lord but he accuses Chan with the killing of another police . Chan as one army man fighting a group of heinous criminals has to clear his name, whilst keeping himself from getting murdered or detained , and keeping his sweetheart (Maggie Chung , famous star of Asian cinema )from leaving him . Chan attempts to protect a witness , the mobster's secretary (Brigitte Lin) who helps him to track down the gang of drug lord. Then Chan looks for vengeance against the ominous villains at a cat and mouse game.

    This thrilling movie is crammed of brawls with punch , bounds and leaps , action-packed, breathtaking stunt-work and lots of humor with tongue in cheek. Jackie Chan is top notch as intrepid cop who scores his first big hit by virtually single-handedly capturing and imprisoning a big drug-lord and as always he makes his own stunts like is showed on the final fake-shots. Awesome,incredible stunts and brief comic touches, as usual ; the picture is better constructed than the followings . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times but frenetic action sequences make up for it. Spotlights movie include Jackie jumping over a bus , furthermore moving fights and brawls at a mall , among others. This is a phenomenal action movie distinguished by nicely cinematography of the spectacular sequences , furthermore contains sense of humor such as subsequent entries. Lousy musical score mostly composed by synthesizer and in the American score is created by J. Peter Robinson . Lavishly produced by Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest Production and professionally directed by Chan. In the various ¨Police story¨adaptations Jackie teamed up to prestigious actresses and parternaires and fine action stars in their own right ,like Maggie Cheung and Michelle Khan . This first version titled ¨Police story¨ directed by the same Jackie Chan is a perfect action film for enthusiastic of the genre; the following was ¨Police story 2 (1988)¨ also pretty violent and with abundant humor touches ; it's followed by ¨Supercop¨ directed by Stanley Tong ; after that it went on ¨Police story IV : Crime story and finally ¨New Police story¨. Rating : Good, the picture has its sensational moments , mostly provided by its agile star, the great Jackie Chan.
    8AlsExGal

    stunt-filled Hong Kong action-comedy

    Jackie Chan directs this film in which he plays a policeman who, at the film's start, is part of a massive raid that captures a major crime lord. The crime lord's secretary (Brigitte Lin) will be forced to testify against her boss, so the police have Jackie keep watch over her until the trial. That doesn't sit well with Jackie's girlfriend (Maggie Cheung).

    What seems like a cute romantic comedy gets a bit darker as the crime lord's henchmen set out to kill both Brigitte and Jackie. There are so many amazing action set-pieces that it's hard to pick which is the best, from cars driving full-throttle downhill through the middle of a shanty town, to Jackie using an umbrella to hang on to the outside of a double-decker bus driving at full speed, to bone-crunching jumps and falls, and a huge action sequence inside a shopping mall.

    If the overall story had been a bit more engaging, this might have gone down as one of my all-time action faves. As it is, it's highly recommended for action fans or those who want to know why Jackie Chan spent two decades as one of the world's biggest superstars. This was a huge commercial hit all over Asia, and won multiple awards, making it one of the premiere films in Jackie Chan's career. It has spawned multiple sequels.

    Best Emmys Moments

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    Related interests

    Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sian Clifford in Fleabag (2016)
    Dark Comedy
    Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon (1973)
    Martial Arts
    Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
    Slapstick
    Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
    Action
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      So much glass was used that the crew began calling the movie "Glass Story".
    • Goofs
      (In the climax shopping mall set) After Chan is thrown against the metal shelf rack and he falls on the floor for it to fall on top of him; later continuation fight scenes show it back up against the wall.
    • Quotes

      Supt. Raymond Li: Don't be a cop if you want to live to 100

      Inspector Bill Wong: You want this line on the recruitment poster?

    • Alternate versions
      In the American dubbed version released by New Line, Jackie Chan's real name is used for his character instead of Kevin.
    • Connections
      Edited into Traces of a Dragon (2003)
    • Soundtracks
      Hero Story
      Music by Siu-Tin Lai (as Michael Lai)

      Lyrics by James Wong

      Performed by Jackie Chan

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    FAQ20

    • How long is Police Story?Powered by Alexa
    • What are the differences between the Hong Kong Theatrical Cut and the special Japanese Laserdisc Version?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 14, 1985 (Hong Kong)
    • Country of origin
      • Hong Kong
    • Language
      • Cantonese
    • Also known as
      • La historia policiaca de Jackie Chan
    • Filming locations
      • Hong Kong, China
    • Production companies
      • Golden Harvest Company
      • Golden Way Films Ltd.
      • Paragon Films Ltd.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $113,164
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $25,591
      • Feb 3, 2019
    • Gross worldwide
      • $113,164
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 40m(100 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono(original release)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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