Project A

: "For Project A the atomic weapons project see Project Alberta"Infobox Film
name = Project A


caption = DVD cover
director = Jackie Chan
producer = Raymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Edward Tang
writer = Jackie Chan
Edward Tang
narrator =
starring = Jackie Chan
Sammo Hung
Yuen Biao
music =
cinematography = Cheung Yiu Tsou
editing = Peter Cheung
distributor =
released = 1983
runtime = 101 min.
country = Hong Kong
language = Cantonese
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Project A Part II"
website =
amg_id = 1:39466
imdb_id = 0085127

"Project A" (aka. "Pirate Patrol", aka. "Jackie Chan's Project A"; Cantonese-tjp|t=A 計劃|j=A Gai3waak6|p=A Jìhuà) is a 1983 Hong Kong film starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.

This film marked Jackie Chan's return to Asian cinema after his first attempt to break into the Hollywood market with a small role in "The Cannonball Run" and a starring role in the unsuccessful "Battle Creek Brawl". In contrast, "Project A" was huge success at the Hong Kong box office, earning $40 million. It was also very well received abroad, and particularly throughout East Asia. Reportedly, in Japan, Emperor Showa's fondness of the movie and eagerness to see a sequel, led Chan to make one, "Project A Part II". ref|1

"Project A" is famous for containing some of Chan's finest comedy moments and most spectacular stunts, including set-pieces reminiscent of the best of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, particularly a stunt where Chan hung and fell from the hand of a clock tower some 60 feet high, tearing through awning canopies before hitting the ground head-first. The stunt was inspired by Lloyd's famous clock-tower stunt from the 1923 film "Safety Last!".

"Project A" was released in a dubbed version by Disney in the USA.

Plot summary

"Project A" is set in the 1900s in old Hong Kong. In it, Jackie Chan plays a Marine Police officer named Dragon Ma Rulong, and is part of the Marine Police's effort to suppress the pirates, who have been raiding ships for months.

Early in the movie, the Police and Marine Police, who have a strong bureaucratic hatred for each other, get into a large fight in a bar. Shortly after this comedic scene, the Captain (as played by Hoi San Lee) releases all of the sailors to their commanding officer, and two of the Marine Police's ships get blown up. In the next scene, a gangster named Chan Ho meets with another gangster (Named Mr. Chow) at the VIP Club, about fleeing to Vietnam, and as soon as Chan Ho leaves, a representative from the pirates meets with the gangster and they laugh about sabotaging the Marine Police's ships. In the course of the conversation, the pirate's representative tells the gangster that Lor Sam Pau (The pirate's leader) wants 100 police rifles.

As a result of not having enough ships, Dragon Ma and co. are forced to become police officers. Dragon and all of his friends have to undergo "hard training" with the police, under Captain Chi (as played by Yuen Biao), who is the other Captain Chi's nephew and who can be seen fighting Dragon in the bar earlier on. After the police find out that Chan Ho is at the VIP Club, and that the guests there are not to be disturbed, Dragon and Chi go there and try to arrest Chan Ho, and a big fight breaks out. After tiring of the blatant corruption in the police force, Dragon drags Chan Ho out and tells Chi to take the credit. That is his last official act as an officer with the Hong Kong police.

In the next scene, Fats (as played by Sammo Hung, and who can be spotted after the discussion of the rifles) finds Dragon in the street. They have a somewhat cryptic conversation, in which Fats reveals that someone from within the police force is selling rifles (which turns out to be a lie). Fats tells Dragon that all he wants are the guns, and Dragon can get the traitor. At night, Dragon and Fats mess up a gun deal between the Army and the Captain. After pushing everyone into the water and making off with the guns, Fats puts the rifles in a log and marks it with a red flag. He tries to sell them to the gangsters and pirates, but Dragon has taken the red flag off of the log and put red flags on every other log.

After the Admiral comes and probably saves Fats from being shot, Dragon and the Admiral's daughter have a conversation, in which it is learned that the Captain wasn't smuggling guns for Lor Sam Pau, and that he was buying the guns from the Army so that his men could use them. Fats overhears this, after losing the gangsters who are trying to kill him in the street, and he and Dragon have a brief shouting match. The gangsters come after Fats, who quickly places the blame of the missing load of guns on Dragon, who is forced to flee with the Admiral's daughter. In the course of fleeing, Dragon counters the Captain twice, and is involved in a humorous scene involving lots of bicycles. After teaming up with Fats, being tortured for information about the guns, and falling from the face of a clock tower, the police track Dragon down for a third time, and help him get away as they arrest the gangsters.

The pirates respond to all of this trouble with the rifles by kidnapping everyone on board a ship, including a Rear Admiral. The Colonel has a conversation with Mr. Chow, which Dragon overhears. Mr. Chow proposes an arms for hostages deal (all of the hostages, including the Rear Admiral, for 100 rifles). He tells the Colonel that this will "greatly expedite matters," and the Colonel consents to it. After Mr. Chow leaves, Dragon confronts the Colonel and while he has a gun shoved in his chest, convinces the Colonel that the mob and the pirates will never fear them if they're corrupt. After it is agreed that Dragon will assume all responsibility for the mission to save the hostages, the Colonel allows the Marine Police to be brought back into full force.

With that in mind, Mr. Chow is essentially kidnapped by the police and beaten until he tells Dragon and Chi how to get to Lor Sam Pau. Dragon, posing as Mr. Chow, gets on board a ship that takes him to Lor Sam Pau's hideout, and they are followed by the rest of the Project A group. In the course of this, Fats somehow sneaks on board and poses as a pirate. After a lot of tricky undercover work, the cavalry arrives, and the final fight breaks out in the middle of the pirate's lair. Dragon, Chi, and Fats engage in a hand-to-hand battle with Lor Sam Pau, eventually killing him with a hand grenade.

US Version

The version distributed on video and DVD by Miramax in North America has a new opening credits sequence, a new score, and dubbed dialogue.

In addition, there are seven minutes of cuts, including:

* Tai Bo and Big Mouth's song mocking the "Green Coats" (policeman).
* A cop throwing spaghetti in Tai Bo's face.
* The mahjong gambling scene.
* The scene in which the Coast Guards learn to shower in ten seconds.

Cast includes

* Jackie Chan as Dragon Ma
* Sammo Hung as Zhuo Yifei
* Yuen Biao as Captain Chi's nephew
* Dick Wei
* Mars as Big Mouth
* Winnie Wong
* Tai Bo as Himself
* Wu Long Cheung
* Hoi San Lee as Captain Chi
* Hoi-Shan Kwan
* Wai Wong
* Fat Wan
* Gillian Chung
* Wing Man Kuen
* Ho Kai Law
* Hak Suen Lau
* Wu Ma
* Chow Yun Kin
* Kwan Wong
* Yim Chan Tang
* Benny Lai

Awards and Nominations

* "1985" Hong Kong Film Awards
** Won: Best Action Choreography
** Nominated: Best Actor (Jackie Chan)

Box Office

This film grossed HKD$19,323,824 in Hong Kong.

Critical Reception

In his annual movie guide, Leonard Maltin gave it 3 out of 4 stars.

ee also

* "Project A-ko"
* Hong Kong Marine Police
* Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound
* Royal Hong Kong Police Force
* Jackie Chan filmography

Notes

Taken from interviews from the "Project A: A Classic Revisited" documentary, on the Hong Kong Legends edition of the Project A DVD.

*In the aftermath of the series a remake was done starring Dicky Cheung and Wong Jing using the movie's setting as a template for a TV series also titled Project A (2007).

*Music video game Pop'n Music 7 features a remixed version of the movie's theme song as one of its new songs.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085127/ IMDB entry]