In 1979, Jackie Chan joined Jiahe. The following year, Jackie Chan directed and starred in "Master and Disciple Out of the Horse", the action comedy style was established, and Jackie Chan became a Hong Kong action movie superstar.
At this time, Jiahe began to brew to push Jackie Chan to Hollywood, with the intention of creating him as an international superstar and driving Jiahe movies to go further. Therefore, Jiahe integrated the foreign director team in 1980 to customize "Killer Trench" for Jackie Chan.
However, foreigners who do not understand kung fu have made "Killer Trench" an ordinary martial arts film with little kung fu and a cheesy plot. "Killer Trench" did not stir up a little splash in European and American theaters, and Jiahe and Jackie Chan had to suspend the strategic deployment of internationalization. At this time, there are still 15 years before "Red Fan District" successfully broke into western theaters. No way, you have to continue to toss in the Hong Kong market.
"Killer Trench" is a film that is lackluster except for the atmosphere creation, does not play out Jackie Chan's own comedic characteristics, the action design is not even as good as an ordinary martial arts film, and the character image is also a bit imitating Bruce Lee. You know, kung fu movies were elevated from Bruce Lee to an insurmountable realm as early as 1973. Simply by relying on kung fu to surpass Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan from peking opera school is obviously powerless, and it is difficult for any director or actor in the world to reach. Therefore, in order to succeed in Europe and the United States, Jackie Chan still needs to wait, and the top priority is to prove himself in the Hong Kong market now.
Therefore, Jackie Chan urgently needs to put a big move.
Hence the 1983 Plan A.
In 1983, the Hong Kong film industry belonged to Hong Jinbao and the Seven Monsters of New Art City, whose "Lucky Star" and "Partner" disputes determined the box office champions and runners-up in those years. Therefore, the success or failure of "Plan A" largely determines Jackie Chan's status in the Hong Kong film industry, and this move cannot be lost.
In order to ensure the power of this move, the same disciple brothers Hong Jinbao and Yuan Biao joined in, coupled with the mature "family class", the team of "Plan A" has become the top configuration of the Hong Kong film industry.
In the end, "Plan A" became a milestone work in Jackie Chan's career, completely subverting the production standards of traditional action films, deeply changing the production mode of movies, and making action genre films more of an "adventure" prefix. Since then, Jackie Chan's works have rarely been lost, and finally returned to Hollywood in 1995 to become an international superstar.
So, where is Plan A?
1. Jackie Chan's control: Since 1978's "Laughing Fist Strange Moves", Jackie Chan has been in full control of his own works as a director, only "Killer Trench" is subject to foreign directors, which also leads to the film not reflecting any Jackie Chan characteristics. "Plan A" continues the practice of director Jackie Chan, from the action presentation to the picture performance are under their control, so that the production standards of this film are far above the average level at that time, from costumes, props, art... And so on, all levels are very rigorous, compared with the shoddy works of the Shaw Studios of the same period.
2. Appropriate theme: The theme of "Plan A" gets rid of the simple and antiquated love-hate love and hatred of traditional action movies, and also avoids the national complex that is easy to be empty, but chooses to safeguard the vital interests of Hong Kong citizens. The protagonist's mission is to fight against criminal syndicates and evil forces, maintain social order, and protect the lives of citizens, which makes it easier for the characters to have emotional resonance with the audience and easy to compare their actual lives in special social and historical stages. Jackie Chan's police image in "Plan A" directly inspired the popular "Police Story" a few years later, and his image of sacrificing his life for righteousness also successfully borrowed from Bruce Lee.
3. Director's talent: "Plan A" has a smooth story and a compact plot, and almost every scene has highlights, such as military training, tea houses, bathhouses, street battles, bell towers, thieves' dens, etc., each scene impresses the audience. The space of the film has completely abandoned the "studio mode" of the old action film, and uses the natural landscape as much as possible, and achieves the difference between indoor, outdoor, land and sea, so that the texture of the film is real and simple, with a good sense of dramatic substitution. The comedic elements of the film need not to be said, from the beginning of "Snake-shaped Executioner" and "Drunken Fist" have long been the characteristics of Jackie Chan, and "Plan A" cannot be lost. As for the tribute to "Lin Hai Snow Field", it reflects the wisdom of the director. The film's image style is simple and thick, and the artistic content of film art is extremely high, reflecting the director's nostalgia for the old films of the 70s, and at the same time, there is also a reluctance to bid farewell to the old era, making the film have an indescribable sense of classicism. At the same time, this sense of classicism is inadvertently distinguished from the series such as "Fuxing" and "Partner" that deliberately pursue modernity.
4. Desperate action: Starting from "Plan A", Jackie Chan began to add an adventure action as a selling point in each movie, and the tradition of "playing with life" also made "Chengjia Class" become the leader of all action design teams in Hong Kong and the symbol of Jackie Chan movies. The scene of "The Bell Tower Falling" in "Plan A" has become a classic passage in world cinema. According to an interview with Hong Jinbao, Jackie Chan was worried about an accident before filming that scene, and dragged on for seven days. The member of the Chengjia class, Mars, revealed in the program that the first fall was a member of the "kamikaze stun team", and the result was immediately admitted to the hospital, the second time was Mars, and the result was fainted after letting go, and the third time was completed by Jackie Chan himself, after being scolded by Hong Jinbao.
5. Irony of current politics: Under the theme of sadness and compassion, the film shows human concern very well, at the same time, the film also euphemistically satirizes social current politics through plot design, showing the people's dissatisfaction with the corruption of the police. Rarely have films of all genres had such a scope and intensity, such as the Comedy of Xu Guanwen in the 70s, which also ridiculed the social atmosphere and human feelings, and did not involve any sensitive topics or government departments. The theme pattern of "Plan A" was unique at the time, and it was seven or eight years before the popularity of "Lame Hao" and "Half a Billion Inspector Renault" and other dark-themed gangster films in the police world.
In addition to the above, Jackie Chan in "Plan A" also has a plump and three-dimensional character image, has a rich layered performance space, and has a complex and changeable inner drama, which is rare in the popular farce and comedy at that time. In addition to being hilarious and thrilling, the film has more of an infectious character power. This is due, in addition to the screenwriter, but also to the director's understanding of the film itself. After all, thrills are cold, and the integrity of the work is the ultimate measure of success or failure.
"Plan A" is the ultimate embodiment of Jackie Chan's ability to direct, and it also opens his life-saving journey of screen adventure, which is an upgrade of the film production level and the audience's viewing experience, and is an eternal classic.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > box office and even inspired Japanese anime</h1>
In 1983, "Plan A" won 19.32 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong, ranking third in the annual box office list, after "Best Partner 2" and "The Magic Trick Five Lucky Stars", and also won NT$24.17 million in Taiwan Province, ranking first. From 1980 to 1999, there were 20 annual Chinese box office champions in Taiwan Province, and Jackie Chan alone occupied 17, a record that no one has been able to break so far.
"Plan A" was also very popular in Japan, winning 2.95 billion yen, becoming the sixth most popular box office in Japan (foreign language films + local films). In fact, since 1979, Jackie Chan's films such as "Drunken Fist", "Killer Trench", "Master and Disciple Out of the Horse", "Young Master Dragon", "Plan A", "Fast Food Truck", "Police Story", "Plan A Sequel" and other films have all entered the top ten at the box office of Japan's annual foreign language films.
There are many classic anime that have references and tributes to "Plan A":
For example, in an episode of Gintama that is a spoof of "Plan A", Jackie Chan is chaotic into the Yizhishi exam.
In the crayon novel, there has been a plot of Jackie Chan's movie "Plan A" jumping the bell tower.
In one episode, Xiao Xin's family met Jackie Chan to shoot "Plan A", and Yuan Biao and Hong Jinbao also appeared on camera.
As a 1983 film, "Project A" was one of the few Hong Kong films that successfully exported culture at that time. In Jackie Chan's film career, he is a key film that inherits the past and the future, and can also be regarded as the prelude to the "police story". Jackie Chan opened his personal hard bridge hard horse action movie style, and completely began to emerge in the Chinese language and even the world film industry.