A Jackie Chan Movie Has the Greatest Action Scene of All Time, Tarantino Says
Quentin Tarantino is one of cinema’s most brilliant minds, seemingly knowing everything there is to know about film theory, critique, and (most importantly) history.
He’s dazzled audiences on talk shows with his Good Will Hunting-style recollection of even the most obscure movies, and he’s always willing to reveal his opinions (however unpopular they may be) on the industry.
In 2016, he gave his opinion on the best action scene of all time, and it left many scratching their heads.
It was on a roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter alongside Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle, and several other iconic temporary directors.
The host asked which moment in history the directors would choose to put into a time capsule, making sure it’s not lost to history.
Boyle chose the millennia-spanning time jump in 2001: A Space Odyssey; Tom Hooper chose a moment from Lawrence of Arabia; Scott picked the entire film, Muriel’s Wedding while promoting the idea of the filmmakers “having a vision.”
Tarantino chose an action scene, but he didn’t immediately disclose which one. He knew it was an odd choice. Upon some prompting from his co-guests, he relented.
He said his choice would be the final fight in Police Story 3, a 1992 Jackie Chan film from Hong Kong. The obscure movie was retitled as Supercop for American audiences.
“Aliens would watch and be amazed at what they saw,” Tarantino said.
The fellow filmmakers at the table burst out in laughter, either thinking it was a joke or surprised by the absurd answer. He began passionately explaining his point, and they soon realized he was absolutely serious.
The scene is available as a twelve-minute YouTube clip, and is certainly enjoyable for the genre. But on the surface, it seems like an unusual pick for the “time capsule” experiment in preserving the most important parts of cinema.
He reasons that it “could actually give you an understanding of cinema and all its bells and whistles and the movement.”
Tarantino has shown his reverence for the martial arts genre in the past, as his Kill Bill series was heavily influenced by that era and style of filmmaking.
Police Story 3 was originally released in Hong Kong to modest earnings, then screened in 1993 in a Texas theater. It later received a wide release in the US and beyond, grossing $34 million worldwide. It received stellar reviews, winning Chan several regional awards.
Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to find inspiration from a decades-old film that, for the most part, has been lost in time.