James Glickenhaus directs Jackie Chan, Danny Aiello and Roy Chiao in this buddy cop thriller where two New York cops travel to Hong Kong to bust some kidnappers.

It is much documented that Jackie’s second attempt to break the US market was a dud. He and the ultra violent / ultra sleazy James Glickenhaus didn’t see eye to eye. So much so that Jackie made Police Story straight afterwards almost spitefully to prove that he understood his own appeal better than any hard edged, Big Apple exploitation maven. He even re-shot and re-edited this movie for the Asian markets cutting out the boobies and swearing while adding in a middle sequence that gifts a taste of the homemade farce and slapstick physicality we are used to from a Jackie Chan rental. Jackie’s cut is the version I watched and his additions are the highlights. Having said that… there is perverse value in watching the megastar out of his comfort zone. Playing it straight, serious and grizzled. A shock of gore goes a long way. It is a curiously uneven flick. The opening heist feels more like an Italian Mad Max rip off with punk little people hijacking a truck in a dystopian Brooklyn. Jackie gets involved with massacres in bars, saunas and the ubiquitous cement factory. He speedboats past the World Trade Centre, performing stunts that belong in much, much higher budgeted productions. I hope Glickenhaus had permits. Danny Aiello looks bemused throughout but the dub could never smother his charm. I’m not going to lie, I really dug the alternative universe strangeness of this. Imagine if it hit big?

7

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I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin