FILM · 1985 · HONG KONG
Ging chaat goo si
23 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
In an undated interview included in the Criterion release of the film, Jackie Chan estimates that his team had been shooting in the shopping mall for several months. By the time they came to the pole stunt, the Police Story production was under some degree of pressure to finish the mall. When the pole was set up, the sun was beginning to rise. In the morning there would be a lot of broken glass to clean up before the mall opened. Although Chan is famous for taking time to get his acrobatic moves right, in this case there was a real sense of urgency. Chan and his team did not rehearse the stunt. And as if the stakes were not high enough, there were no wires, crash mats or safety nets either. If Chan missed the pole, there would be nothing to catch him or break his fall. The original plan was to power the lights with a low-voltage car battery. But as they discovered that day, a car battery could not power the whole rig. So they plugged the lights into wall sockets. This meant the building's voltage could potentially electrocute Chan. To ease Chan's understandable concern, the technical crew assured him they would cut the power if anything went wrong. Chan was perched on the railing six floors above his final destination: a fan kiosk protected by sugar glass. He told the crew he would give a signal before starting the stunt ("When I nod my head, I go"). By his own admission, Chan was quite scared. A member of the JC Stunt Team secretly slipped a good-luck totem into Chan's pocket during the hug. According to Chan, one of the crew mistook a nervous neck movement for the "go" signal. Someone shouted "Rolling!" And the deadly silent courtyard filled with the motors of twelve high-speed cameras. At the time such camera coverage was extraordinary, especially in terms of Chan's own filmography. But they had only one chance. And they had only 400 feet of film. Knowing this, Chan let out a shout and jumped. By Chan's estimate, the distance from the railing to the pole was about two and a half metres, and he covered it from an unstable crouching position before starting to run. On landing, the string lights did not electrocute Chan. But they had a different, unforeseen effect. Incandescent bulbs are too hot to touch. They can even ignite paper and certain types of fabric on direct contact. The heat, combined with the friction of the landing, caused second-degree burns on Chan's palms. The moment Chan hit the ground he was getting up and starting to fight. This is all the more impressive considering that, in Chan's autobiography, the impact of the fall dislocated his pelvis and caused a back injury that could have been paralyzing. According to Chan, his adrenaline was so high that the stuntman he shouted at had to tell him to stop. They finished the shot and drank a celebratory beer (at six in the morning). Chan then moved on to the set of The Heart of Dragon, where he immediately collapsed.
- #002
The scene in which the villains crash through the bus window and fall to the ground was an accident. They were actually supposed to land on the car, but because of the bus's air brakes it was pumped back and a gap opened up between the bus and the car.
- #003
So much glass was used that the crew began calling the film "Glass Story".
- #004
Jackie Chan was taken to hospital after the stunt in which he somersaulted off a balcony and crashed through glass and a lit display case because he was not breathing.
- #005
Jackie Chan's favourite film is Police Story.
- #006
For greater realism, the producers used "sugar glass" stunt glass twice as thick as ordinary stunt glass. Unfortunately, this also led to a higher rate of injury among the stunt performers.
- #007
The thrilling shopping mall pole slide was filmed in a single continuous take, without any rehearsal or use of wires.
- #008
In 1990, Miramax Films offered Chan the chance to make a new attempt at the American film market, which meant acquiring the rights to this film and Police Story 2 (1988) and combining the two films into one. Jackie turned down the offer because he did not like the idea.
- #009
In the double-decker bus scene, Jackie used a metal umbrella because the wooden one kept slipping as he tried to hold on to the bus.
- #010
It ranked sixtieth on the Hong Kong Film Awards' list of the Best 100 Chinese Films (2005).
- #011
Brigitte Lin performed many of her own stunts.
- #012
This is Jackie Chan's only film to win the Hong Kong Academy Award for Best Picture.
- #013
It was the first film produced by Jackie Chan's production company Golden Way Films.
- #014
Jackie Chan sings the "Hero Story" theme song during the shoot.
- #015
Brigitte Lin was offered a stunt double, but she decided to do her own stunts. However, she was so frightened that she fainted when she performed her first move, which involved rolling over a table. She fell to the ground and injured her hip. When the crew revived her, the director told her she had to do it again.
- #016
The scene in which Jackie fires at a bus and crashes into the brakes was paid homage in Tango & Cash (1989), and the scene in which Jackie uses a clothes rack during a fight and rides a motorcycle through glass display windows with someone in front was paid homage in Rapid Fire (1992). Jackie was also friends with Brandon's father Bruce, and they worked together several times (see Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury). Bad Boys II (2003) also paid homage to the chase scene in the shantytown.
- #017
Between 1994 and 2004, the Hong Kong series Police Report adopted the theme song of this film, sung by Jackie Chan, as its own theme. Since 2009 the same song has again been adopted as the theme song of Police Report, but sung by Hacken Lee. Portions of the song also appeared in television job advertisements for the Hong Kong Police.
- #018
This film is part of spine number 971 of the Criterion Collection.
- #019
This was the second collaboration between Jackie Chan and Brigitte Lin.
- #020
According to the subtitled trailer, the lyrics of the closing song are: "There is no one but my own steel-like self / and complete dedication / I sweat, I bleed / I seek the Great Way. / Living as a bet, one can turn a few epics / Defying troubles, very brave / I walk proudly like a lion. / Forward and walking, the consequences are one's own / Climb and climb, I will place my step on the clouds. / I proudly write the poem of my life / Passion and love, tears and madness - honesty: an end in itself / Life: something to gamble on, when epic stories are retold / Hail to the hero who watches the world like a lion with an iron will / We move forward / The consequences are known to oneself / Double, I must fly above the clouds / I must move forward… Man must rise to the skies."
- #021
This is the only Police Story film whose opening scene features conflicts and armed clashes.
- #022
Although Jackie Chan performs a number of stunts in the film, he is doubled during the fight scenes because he fell directly onto his back multiple times.
- #023
This was the first of many collaborations between Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung, not counting Center Stage (1991) (on which Chan served as executive producer).
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