The 32 greatest Jackie Chan movies

My Lucky Stars
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If there's one master of cinema who can make you laugh and cheer at the same time, it's Jackie Chan. With a lꦍong career of incredible movies under his belt, surely there must be some stone-cold classics to his name. As it turns out, there's plenty.

Since starti🌺ng his career in the 1960s and rising as a superstar in the late 1970s, Jackie Chan has been renowned for his combined athleticism and comedic sensibilities; he's like Buster Keaton with ab muscles, basically. Trained at the China Drama Academy in Kowloon (along with other industry legends Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, and filmmaker Yuen🐼 Woo-ping), Jackie Chan has broken barriers to become one of the most prolific Chinese movie stars all around the world. 

After emerging as a star in Hong Kong through movies like Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master, Chan accrued enough clout to lead his own stunt team - the famed Jackie Chan Stunt Team - who worked with Chan crafting their own approach to action choreography. Many of Chan'🔯s movies from Hong Kong feature death-defying stunts and slapstick humor, sometimes all at once, based on the fact that Chan has the sway to dedicate entire days to getting certain gags just right. Also: While Chan is known primarily for his comic roles as likable underdog heroes, he can also play against type, appearing in sometimes deadly serious roles. (And, at least once, he's been a bad guy.) 

With Chan's career still going �🀅�strong after all these years, it's high time to look back at the 32 greatest movies Jackie Chan has ever made.

32. Enter the Dragon (1973)

Jackie Chan in Enter the Dragon

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

He's easy to miss, but nothing can take away from the fact that Jackie Chan has crossed fists with Bruce Lee. Before he was a martial arts icon in his own right, Chan was just a working stuntman and one of many faceless bad guys in Lee's lone Hollywood film Enter the Dragon, released in 1973. Chan appears onscreen for a full two seconds, being the poor dude whose hair is pulled by Lee in the movie's iconic underground brawl. In various retrospective interviews, Chan hilariously confesses to relishing the atteඣntion of a genuinely apologetic Lee after suffering an accidental injury. 

31. Gorgeous (1999)

Gorgeous

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In this corny but cozy romantic comedy, model and actress Shu Qi plays a beautiful girl from a small fishing village in Taiwan who falls in love with a Hong Kong playboy millionaire (Jackie Chan, of course), though their budding romance is tested by a business rival (Emil Chau). Though Gorgeous, from director Vincent Kꦡok, is a tad tonally uneven and suffers from an overwritten plot, it's got Chan in one of his rare romantic leading male roles, and he plays the part exceptionally well too. Hardcore Chan fans also revere his fight scenes with the late, great Brad Alan, who guest stars as a foreign boxing champ hired to fight Chan.

30. The Karate Kid (2010)

The Karate Kid

(Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)

Putting aside the fact that Jackie Chan actually instructs Jaden Smith in Chinese kung fu and not Japanese karate, the lively 2010 legacy sequel/remake The Karate Kid reimagines the '80s classic for a new generation. Smith plays an adolescent from Detroit whose famil🐟y moves to Beijing. While adjusting to his new surroundings, including evading rough bullies, he is taken under the wing of an aged maintenance man (Chan) who instructs him in kung fu. While it doesn't leg sweep the original, The Karate Kid '10 maintains its own fandom who see Chan's Mr. Han as wise and capable as Mr. Miyagi.

29. The Accidental Spy (2001)

The Accidental Spy

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Directed by Teddy Chan, The Accidental Spy is a globe-trotting adventure thriller that still makes time to let Jackie Chan be his hilarious self. Jackie Chan stars as a mediocre exercise equipment salesman who dreams of an exciting life. His wish is granted when he's inadvertently swept up in a plot of international intrigue to stop underworld crime lords. The Accidental Spy is a breezy fun movie, though try seeking out the original cut if you can. The international version, handled by Disney-owned Dimension Films, heavily altered the movie 🍸(including dubbing over♏ dialogue that was already filmed in English) to the point it's downright incomprehensible. 

10. Police Story 2 (1988) 

Police Story 2

(Image credit: Golden Harvest)

It꧅ may not reach the same exhilarating heights as its immediate predecessor, but that doesn't stop Police Story 2 from being exceptional. Following the events of Police Story, Jackie Chan's Inspector Chan Ka-Kui (or Kevin Chan in English versions) is now languishing as a traffic cop as punishment for his costly actions arresting crime lord Chu (Chor Yuen). Not only is Chu walking free and making his life hell, but Chan must now track down the ones responsible behind a wave of bomb scares. Police Story 2 is simply more of Chan being at his best, including standout acti🌱on set pieces inside a restaurant and a playground.

9. Mr. Nice Guy (1997)

Mr. Nice Guy

(Image credit: New Line Cinema)

In Jackie Chan's first English-language movie, the action superstar appears as a famous TV chef (also named Jackie) who is pursued by ruthless crime lords who think he has an incriminating VHS tape of a drug deal gone wrong. (Hey, remember VHS tapes?). Mixed up in the ꦇmayhem is a pretty television news journalist (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and Jackie's girlfriend Miki (Miki Lee). Mr. Nice Guy is easily one of Chan's most impressive movies, with vacuum-tight choreography and oversized explosions that would make Michael Bay drool. Bon appetit!

8. Crime Story (1993)

Crime Story

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It's one of Jackie Chan's grittiest and most serious movies, but it has no shortage of edge-of-your-seat thrills either. Chan plays a guilไt-ridden police detective (of course) who races to save an affluent businessman after he's kidnapped under his watch. He is paired up with a veteran detective (Kent Cheng) who happens to have his 🍬own angle on the situation. Notable for releasing during Chan's prime years and still going against his usual brand of comedy, Crime Story is a hard-hitting reminder that even nice guys don't have to play nice too.

7. Miracles (1989)

Miracles

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

Jackie Chan affectionately pays tribute to classic Hollywood with this high-kicking homage to Frank Capra and his 1933 film Lady for a Day and his own 1961 remake Pocketful of Miracles. ♏Set in fashionable 1930s Hong Kong - no, seriously, the fits are out of control here - Jackie Chan plays a kind-hearted country boy who is suddenly thrust into the role of triad leader. Things actually turn out well (thanks to some lucky roses) until rival gangs come for him and his people. However, no one is prepared for this country bumpkin to sta🎉rt throwing hands. Miracles lives up to its name, being nothing short of miraculous.

6. Drunken Master (1978)

Drunken Master

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

An exemplar in the kung fu film genre, Jackie Chan's star-making turn in Drunken Master is one for the ages. Chan stars in this fictionalized account of real-life martial artist Wong Fei-hung, as he studies the irreverent style of drunken boxing under the tutelage of Qing dynasty folk hero Beggar So. (In real life the two men lived centuries apart, but that doesn't stop filmmakers from imagining "What if…?") A milestone for kung fu pop culture that has influenced generations of storytellers and artists, not to mention popularizing Drunken Fist martial arts, Drunken Master is a must-see even if you don't know kung fu from Kung P🐬ao. It's arguably only topped by its own sequel in 1994, Legend of the Drunken Master.

5. Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

Supercop

(Image credit: Miramax)

While it is indeed the third movie in the Police Story series, Police Story 3: Supercop (from director Stanley Tong) was released on its own in the U.S. under the simple title "Supercop," no doubt capitalizing on Chan's sudden popularity post-Rumble in the Bronx. Jackie Chan returns to his Police Story series role as Hong Kong "super cop" Ka-Kui, who is dispatched to Guangzhou and teams up ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwith Chinese Interpol agent Jessica (Michelle Yeoh) to take down a powerful drug lord. You simply can't get any bigger or better than Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh working together, and Supercop delivers on every expectation.

4. Legend of the Drunken Master (1994)

Legend of the Drunken Master

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

After over a decade of playing action hero cops, Jackie Chan returned to classic wuxia filmmaking, reprising his role of Wong Fei-hung for Legend of the Drunken Master. (He also directs.) In this 1994 sequel to 1978's Drunken M🍬aster, Hong (Chan) joins his father on a trip to China where he winds up in possession of priceless artifacts that criminals intend to sell to England. Boasting some of the most elaborate and physically taxing choreography in Chan's body of work - and still plenty more of his comedic chops - Legend of the Drunken Master cranked the dial up on Chan's image, transforming a star into a bonafide legend. In 2005, Time Magazine rec🅘ognized Legend of the Drunken Master as one of the 100 greatest films of all time.

3. Armor of God II: Operation Condor (1991)

Armor of God II: Operation Condor

(Image credit: Dimension Films)

Still living up to its Indiana Jones influence, Jackie Chan hunts for Nazওi gold in Armor of God II: Operation Condor (released simply as Operation Condor in U.S. markets). Chan returns as the daredevil treasure hunter Asian Hawk, who is hired by a Turkish duke to find stolen Nazi relics buried in the෴ Sahara Desert. Along for the ride are three beautiful women (played by Do Do Cheng, Eva Cobo de Garcia, and Masako Ikeda) who tend to get in the way, which results in hilarious mishaps. Operation Condor may not be as explosive as Supercop or influential as Drunken Master, but it's indisputably, pound for pound, one of Jackie Chan's finest hours.

2. Wheels on Meals (1984)

Wheels on Meals

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From writer/director Sammo Hung comes one of Jackie Chan's all-time greatest movies, bar none. Set in Barcelona, Spain, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao play Chinese cousins Thomas and David respectively who run a popular fast food van in touristy Barcelona. The cousins are recruited by a private investigator (Sammo Hung) to help protect a beautiful pickpocket named Sylvia (Lola Forner), who happens to be the daughter of David's father's new girlfriend. Hilarious and high-octane, Wheel♏s on Meals has one of Jackie Chan's most iconic fight scenes ever: a one-on-one showdown with legit kickboxing champ Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. 

1. Police Story (1985)

Police Story

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Bruce Willis has Die Hard. Arnold Schwarzenegger has The Terminator. Tom Cruise has Top Gun… and Jackie Chan has Police Story. If there's just one movie all audiences must seek out to understand the powerful aura of Jackie Chan, it's his celebrated 1985 action blockbuster Police Story. In Chan's first turn as Inspector Ka-Kui, the action hero must arrest a drug lord while racing to clear his own name after he's accused of murder. Created by Chan following his frustrations on the movie The Protector, Police Story was designed from the ground-up to make Chan a true star around the world. It didn't happen right away, but eventually, the world caught on to wha꧒t Jackie Chan envisioned. Today it's regarded as one of the all-time greatest action movies of all time, polled as such by outlets like Time Out in 2016. 

Eric Francisco is a freelance entertainment journalist and graduate of Rutgers University. If a movie or TV show has superheroes, spaceships, kung fu, or John Cena, he's your guy to make sense of it. A former senior writer at Inverse, his byline has also 💃appeared at V👍ulture, The Daily Beast, Observer, and The Mary Sue. You can find him screaming at Devils hockey games or dodging enemy fire in Call of Duty: Warzone.