Jackie Chan came to America in the 80s and made The Big Brawl, Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II and The Protector, none of which made him a star here and all of which disappointed him, particularly the last film. Police Squad is the movie that he wanted to make, a film based around stunts that Chan and his stunt team dreamed of doing and a story that united these moments together.

Jackie is Sergeant “Kevin” Chan Ka-Kui, who arrested a drug lord before getting charged with murder. The effort it takes to clear his name is the united story for all of the mayhem, as well as Ka-Kui protecting the drug dealer’s secretary Salina Fong (Brigitte Lin) before she testifies against him, all while his girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) deals with her jealousy before helping him solve the case.

The end of the movie, which takes place in a glass-filled shopping mall, is filled with some of the most ill-advised stunts of Chan and his team’s careers. At one point, Chan slides down a pole from several stories up. One of Chan’s stuntmen gave him a hug and a Buddhist prayer paper, which he put in his trousers, and then he slid down that light-covered pole and recieved second-degree burns on his hands, a back injury and a dislocated pelvis. There are no wires, there was no practice take, just Chan giving his all to entertain audiences.

In 1990, Miramax wanted to give Jackie another chance in America and wanted to combine this movie and its sequel, the somehow even wilder Police Story 2, as one movie. Chan rejected them.

Five years later, he would finally become a star here with Rumble In the Bronx.