The Protector / Le retour du Chinois (1985) - James Glickenhaus

[bluesoul]

Two New York City cops, Billy Wong and Danny Garoni, head to Hong Kong after the daughter of a rich businessman is kidnapped by the drug lord, Mr. Ko.

Rebond d'un de mes commentaires sur The Cannonball Run (1981) et la participation / "carriere US" de Jackie Chan a l'epoque.

Le film n'est guere aime par Chan, car le real (Glickenhaus) voulait faire un polar brutal comme on en fesait a l'epoque, cloisonnant Chan dans un film, une production et un jeu d'acteur qu'il n'aimait pas.

Au final, le film existe apparemment en 3 versions:
- la version US (telle que realisee / montee par Glickenhaus) et sortie en-dehors de l'Asie (y compris l'Europe)
- une version remontee par Chan himself pour Hong-Kong (exit la nudite et ajout d'une sous-intrigue en bonus)
- une version japonaise qui est essentiellement la version hong-kongeaise de Chan, plus quelques details.

Plus de details sur Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protector_(1985_film)

Spoiler : :

U.S. version

During a bar robbery gone awry, NYPD officer Billy Wong kills the perpetrators but loses his partner Michael, drawing the ire of his superiors. Later, in the middle of a fashion show, masked gangsters storm in and kidnap Laura Shapiro, the daughter of known gangster Martin Shapiro. Crime boss Harold Ko and Martin Shapiro are suspected of smuggling drugs from Hong Kong to New York. A surveillance of Shapiro's bodyguard Benny Garucci indicates that Ko may have taken her to Hong Kong for ransom. Wong and his new partner Danny Garoni travel to the city-state, where they encounter local contacts Stan Jones, Hing Lee, and Hing's daughter Siu Ling.

The officers evade Ko's attempts to have them killed at a massage parlor and again at their hotel, while Royal Hong Kong Police chief superintendent Whitehead is reluctant to provide assistance, insisting that Ko is an upstanding citizen. Garoni and Wong attend a charity function hosted by Ko and confront him publicly. The next day, Wong, Garoni, and Jones discover that Hing Lee has been murdered. Garoni follows Garruci to a shipyard where Ko's drug lab is located and Laura Shapiro is held. In a meeting between Ko and Garucci, it is revealed that Shapiro's daughter was kidnapped because her father did not pay for Ko's last shipment.

Wong, Garoni and Jones raid the drug lab, destroy it and save Laura in the process. Garoni, however, is shot by Garucci and held hostage unless Billy returns Laura to Ko. Wong decides to leave her with Superintendent Whitehead. Wong meets Ko and Garucci at the shipyard, and learns that Superintendent Whitehead—was on Ko's payroll the whole time—has delivered Laura to his boss. Wong fights Garucci and Ko's guards, killing the former. Stan Jones and Siu Ling arrive to help rescue Garoni and Laura. Ko escapes in a helicopter, but Wong commandeers a crane and drops its contents onto his helicopter. With Ko dead and Laura saved, Billy and Danny are given a NYPD Medal of Honor.

Hong Kong version

Jackie Chan's domestic version, while tweaking or removing ancillary content from Glickenhaus' version, adds an entirely new subplot. The first involves a woman named May-Fong Ho, who now works as a dancer under the alias of Sally after Ko had her father, one of his business associates, murdered. She is the one who connects Wong with Hing Lee, her father's old partner. Unbeknownst to Sally and Wong, one of Ko's men overhears the conversation.

Later, Benny Garucci expresses his concern to Ko's bodyguard, Dai-Wai Ho, about Garoni and Wong's investigation. Ho offers to help. That night, Hing Lee meets with an informant named Wing who reveals to him where Laura is being held. They are suddenly attacked by Benny Garucci and several henchmen. Later, Wong and Siu Ling find Lee and Wing's dead bodies. Realizing that Sally may be in danger, Wong pays her a visit and discovers that Sally's substitute maid, who works for Ko, has planted a bomb under her bed. Wong defuses the bomb. The massage parlor manager shows up, and is revealed to be Sally's uncle. Having fallen out of favor with Ko after failing to kill Garoni and Wong, the unclear reveals where Laura is held. Before assaulting Ko's lair, Wong escorts Sally and her uncle to the airport so they can start a new life in the U.S.

Pourquoi j'en parle? 'Ben parce que les japonais se sont fendu d'une edite BR avec la version US et la version japonaise.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%97%E3%8 ... 189&sr=1-1

Un commentaire de l'edition en question confirme que:

I can confirm that this particular Japanese blu-ray has the extended Japanese version of "The Protector", which was once only available on laserdisc!

The Japanese version of "The Protector" is basically an extended version of Jackie Chan's personal edit. If you're a Jackie Chan fan, you probably know the story.

LONG STORY SHORT
1. "The Protector" was Jackie Chan's second American movie, after "Battle Creek Brawl", and it was written and directed by James Glickenhaus.

2. Jackie was already uncomfortable with production form the beginning. He didn't like the nudity, his "Dirty Harry"-like character, and the fact that he didn't have creative control. He also (correctly) felt that the movie was too slow-paced.

3. Golden Harvest allowed him to make another edit of the movie for the Asian market. For this edit, Jackie Chan filmed an entire subplot with extra action sequences, removed the nudity (i.e. replacing the naked female drug workers with scientists wearing lab coats), "trimmed the fat" (cutting out excess footage), used alternative angles/shots, and dubbed the entire movie into Cantonese/Mandarin. Most famously, using re-shoots, he made the final fight between him and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace much more spectacular!

4. What's even more spectacular is that in spite of Jackie Chan's version having an added subplot and more action sequences, he still managed to make HIS edit 5 minutes SHORTER than the Glickenhaus version. Therefore, Jackie Chan's edit was much more faster-paced!

I won't go into much more detail than that. However, this blu-ray has something spectacular: the extended Japanese version remastered into true HD!

So, what are the differences between the Japanese version and the Hong Kong version?

1. For all scenes taking place in the USA, you get the original English dialog! However, it's different than the audio on Glickenhaus' version. The Japanese version's is more "raw", and the dialog definitely louder. It's not very refined. Definitely a mono track, but its mix of the music and sound effects is unique to the Japanese version.
**ALSO
When Jackie Chan asks the pedestrian where the bearded crook went, AND when that cop says "We're with you, Billy", instead of it being in Cantonese, it's actually dubbed into English, WITH Jackie Chan's real voice!

2. All scenes taking place in Hong Kong use the Cantonese dub, and on this blu-ray it's a beautiful remastered 2.0 LPCM track! Original mono!

3. Jackie Chan removed ENTIRE scenes for his edit. The Japanese version actually restores SOME of these scenes. There's even one scene that is unique to the Japanese edit! However, the movie is still nudity-free.

4. Therefore, because these scenes were included, some scenes have a slightly different Cantonese dub to change the context. However, with the exception of these particular scenes, the entirety of the movie follows Jackie Chan's edit. Except for...

5. THE OUTTAKE CREDITS: The Japanese version has the outtake credits that have become a staple of Jackie Chan's films! The end credits are also English-language. It also has the Chip Taylor song "One Up For The Good Guys" playing.

SUBTITLES: There no English subtitles (on this entire blu-ray). However, on the HD Japanese version there are vertical Japanese subtitles that appear on the right side of the screen (and sometimes on the left).

La version japonaise fait 97 minutes et la version US / internationale fait 95 minutes.

Avis aux amateurs.

P.S. En ce qui concerne mon appreciation de la version US / internationale (et considerant que je l'ai vu...il y.a une quarantaine d'annees moyen, pas un Jackie Chan, donc un Glickenhaus et moins marquant que The Exterminator de surcroit. Pas souvenir de l'avoir rippe non plus a l'epoque. Moyennement curieux de le revoir...Vers le bas de ma (tres haute) pile mentale des "a revoir", je dirais.