Final fight the protector 1985

[WangYu]

Jackie Chan vs Bill Wallace. I just watched this fight scene and I think it is very exciting.

I always hear bad things about Jackie Chan’s American movies but this was really good, very fast, hard hits, not too different from Hong Kong fight scenes of its time minus the comedy.

Is the movie itself any good? I watched it a long time ago but I am forgetful 

 

[Cognoscente]

I miss the chainsaw bit.

[J.J. Hayden]

If you're going by the clip you've posted, you're actually watching the Hong Kong re-shoots. From what I remember (it's been a while) is that Jackie was very disappointed with the fight scenes due to interference from the US producers etc. , so he returned to Hong Kong filmed action that was more his style.

Here's the original fight for you to judge yourself. As for the film overall, it didn't leave much of an impression on me, so much so I can't remember any details, I'll have to watch it again sometime.

 

[WangYu]

Alright. I love the re shoot sound effects

They definitely cut some amazing moves out the American version, I like how in the re shoots the fight is still tough for Jackie but not as one sided, he does some good hits as well. 
In the original Jackie is just being dominated which is typical for American movies, it happens in all Van Damme films before he magically recovers from the beatings.

Fave moment is when Jackie gets thrown into the fence and rebounds with a super punch on Bill’s head.

The only American movies where both fighters go toe to toe exchanging hits the entire fight are lone wolf mcquade and roadhouse. Though Lone Wolf McQuade still has that typical moment where Norris gains superpowers.

Anyway love those fight scenes!

Edited October 27, 2022 by WangYu

[J.J. Hayden]

47 minutes ago, WangYu said:

Alright. I love the re shoot sound effects

Yes the sounds effects, the POW powder and fake legs etc. , and most of all the pacing are improved with the re-shoots. These are an excellent example of the US vs HK style of creating fights scenes.

 

54 minutes ago, WangYu said:

Fave moment is when Jackie gets thrown into the fence and rebounds with a super punch on Bill’s head.

Yeah, it's too JC for the US in those days, but I'm surprised they had the flying headbutt in the original though.

 

1 hour ago, WangYu said:

The only American movies where both fighters go toe to toe exchanging hits the entire fight are lone wolf mcquade and roadhouse.

Yeah, I remember Lone Wolf, where he fights Carradine, that pretty good for a US action film. But Road House certainly suffers from a US standard of having the cam too close, we can't see the kicks, and often the punches suffer as well from not being entirely in frame. But another film that I consider has some of the best US style MA action is Best Of The Best, especially the final fight between IRL bros Phillip & Simon Rhee. There are a few others but not that many, and even the best US has to offer is at the level of a so-so HK film.

1 hour ago, WangYu said:

In the original Jackie is just being dominated which is typical for American movies, it happens in all Van Damme films before he magically recovers from the beatings.

It's pretty much every action film, LOL. My fav is probably in Commando where fat Freddie Mercury somehow gets superpowers from being electrocuted, but then after Arnold has been beaten by him as a result, Arnold says "BULLSHIT!" and lays about 20 punches on him. Damn that film is fun.

[WangYu]

That Bullshit Arnold line followed by a dozen punches is one of the most glorious scenes in an action film ever.

BTW the commando end fight is really well done and intense. There are overal lots of man to man fights in the film and they’re all pretty cool. Who did the choreos for that film?

[Cognoscente]

Bennie E. Dobbins, who worked on Streets of Fire.

[J.J. Hayden]

18 minutes ago, WangYu said:

That Bullshit Arnold line followed by a dozen punches is one of the most glorious scenes in an action film ever.

Especially the ending with the pipe, one of my all time favs in the one liner dept. LOL

[Cognoscente]

It's interesting how many one-liners they had to choose from for that bit.

Back to Jackie, it's amazing that the finale of Police Story is similar to the mall scene in Commando. They both have mall cops armed with batons, and they even share a similar climax where the hero does a big leap to catch someone who is beneath their floor.

Commando was filmed from April to July 1985. As for Police Story, there are HK magazines published in March which show that Jackie had filmed a bunch of scenes already...except the mall scene. There was already an American awareness of Jackie's movie...
 

Back to The Protector, imagine if Brian Trenchard-Smith had directed it.

[J.J. Hayden]

It's so weird hearing that accent come out of Maggie Cheung Man-yuk's mouth.

[Cognoscente]

I had a similar reaction when watching the below video of Ann Bridgewater. It would have been nice if these two ladies and Michelle Yeoh were in an English language version of The Heroic Trio.

 

[J.J. Hayden]

Cool vid, with some prophetic words from Raymond Chow Man-wai too.

[Cognoscente]

[Red Lion]

I just watched the protector for the first time after avoiding it for so long due to the bad reputation it has. I know everyone takes a swipe at the didector james glickenhaus but i liked the exterminator that he directed. I found this to be a very good American action movie with an asian flavour as Glickenhaus knew what worked from a western standpoint. I know we all think it weak compared to hk jackie classics but remember it was a very different audience back then. It may be weak to us seasoned pros of these movies but the average american movie goer wasnt accustomed to that style of film making yet. Overall i really enjoyed it for what it was.