If you're a fan, buy this! (I Am Jackie Chan - Jackie Chan)

Member Name: paul_dennis

Product:	I Am Jackie Chan - Jackie Chan
Date:	17/11/01 (176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Read the unknown, Good detail, Never put it down

Disadvantages: None

Jackie Chan’s ‘My Life in action’ is a fantastic book describing the changes in his life from being a very humble stuntman to becoming Asia’s best known superstar, and one of the World’s best known stars. He is a Kung fu expert with a lot of experience.

About a third of his book is about his days in the Chinese Academy School in Hong Kong. The conditions were kept very strict from his master and he faced regular beatings from his nemesis, Yuen Lung, later to be called Samo Hung, who soon became one of his greatest friends in his business. Jackie (at the time called Chan Kong Sang, which means born in Hong Kong) grew up in a mansion owned by the French ambassador of Hong Kong, where his hard working father worked as a chef. Conditions there were poor and his parents gave him some strict rules, e.g, taking the short cut home from school would mean he would have to sit in the trash room with hundreds of flies and missed dinner!! It smelled awful!

Jackie has always been known for some terrific and blinding stunts in his films, but has not exactly hit the BIG time as film making goes. Who would you see walking down the street talking to his or her mates about Police Story!! Nobody much, however, he has made the big time with one of his films, Rush Hour, starring himself and Chris Tucker. His films are not very well known international but have made millions in the Hong Kong film market. It didn’t start of too well for him as far as film making goes and he would be the first to put his and up and admit that.

This amazingly brave man is also multi talented in the film market. He has even starred in a film, as well as writing it, directing it, producing it and stunt-coordinating it!! Now that is one hell of a hard job. I take my hat off to the man for his hard work and the torment he has faced during his life. He has worked harder than I could ever imagine. When he was at the academy in Hong Kong, for 10 years h
e had to get up early in the morning, run for about half an hour, and then face a day of intense China opera training, which includes some unbelievable acrobatics. When his ten-year contract run out the opera days were running low and people quickly went off them. Sadly, only around 8 years ago, his master tragically died. During his time at the academy he was asked to become Jackie’s godfather by his parents, causing anger amongst his fellow students! When Jackie left the school, he struggled for work and money and the money he did get he gambled away. He was reliant on Yuen Lung for work, whom he met in a bar one night and they settled their differences which they had at the school together. Jackie could never hit Yuen Lung back because it was strictly forbidden to hit one of your seniors and it could result in death if you did so. Jackie was playing bit parts in films and did the occasional daring stunts, which drew the eye of a few film companies. His later companion, Willie Chan, was to be a key to his life and one of his best friends, who guided him through tough times when He was Hong Kong’s best-known star, after the tragic death of the ultimate Legend of kung fu, Bruce Lee.

This book is a must buy for all Jackie Chan fans, despite being released 3 years ago now, still gives a dramatic view in to his love life and highs and lows as well as a good insight into the early days of his film making. At just £13, go out and get this very interesting book. At the end of his book he describes his best stunts and films and talks about every single film he has made, which he doesn’t talk a LOT about during the story itself. He starts to describe the differences between Hong Kong filming and Hollywood filming towards the end and there are some interesting differences, like insurance and huge cost for example. Jackie’s most expensive film is only $20 million. Very cheap compared to most Hollywood films, like Titanic. Jackie and Jeff Wang
, who translate his amazing tale into English, have written the book.

Please rate honestly and give any suggestions to add to my opinion of this book. Thank you very much for reading.

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