CineTV Contest #76 - Favorite Pirate Movie : Project A.

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There are pirates all over the world, and in this case I will refer to a film set at the beginning of the 19th century in Hong Kong. There were Coast Guardsmen who protected the seas of southern China, within the framework of martial arts.


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The Pirates of the China Sea was the name of the film in Latin America, in the United States it is known as Project A, and in China as A' Gai Waak.

This movie offers a fun story, plus it is full of action packed characters that are endearing and impressive special effects.


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We are shown a city plagued by corruption, where the coast guard is at war with the police and every wall has ears.


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Visually, real-life historical locations such as the original Hong Kong police station are combined with elaborate studio-built sets and a real pirate ship.

Dragon Ma, a Coast Guard cadet turned cop finds a corrupt police department working in common with pirates. This is not going to last, and our hero decides to take down the bad guys using all sorts of gadgets and props to brilliantly integrate them into the fight choreography.


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Dragon Ma is joined by tough police inspector Tzu and rogue thief Fei, together they take on a group of murderous pirates, led by the evil San-Po.



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Friends, this is a 1983 film directed by Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, starring Jackie Chan (Dragon Ma), Yuen Biao (Tzu), and Sammo Hung (Fei). This unique team was known at the time as The 3 Dragons, given the prowess of each of them in the Martial Arts.


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Hung and Biao integrate with ease and practicality to Chan, the former showing speed and forcefulness, and the latter flexibility.

There are several fights in the film, but the highlight is a Harold Lloyd-style sequence where Dragon Ma climbs up a flagpole to the clock tower in handcuffs, fights at the top, escapes through the window and dangles from the clock face before falling three stories to the ground and landing on his head. In real life Jackie Chan broke his neck at the end of that clock fall. Chan's idea was to pay homage to Harold Lloyd's mythical scene in Safety Last . After several days without daring to shoot the 25-meter fall, he jumped into the void being held back by two awnings that did not prevent some cervical damage.


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This film is an example of the charm and magic of Hong Kong action films of the 80s.

The main characters use acrobatic and very physical humor. This film has such brilliant confrontations as the final fight against the great villain San-Po (Dick Wei).


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This time the pirates are the villains of the show, and the movie caught my attention for its mix of martial arts, and its exotic touch since I was not used to see pirates in China. To be honest I would not like to be in the skin of these pirates if I am chased by these 3 dragons, I am not very prone to physical abuse.

Watching the movie, is guaranteed fun in the style of Jackie Chan who was consolidating at that time as a director and one of the most important heroes of action movies, (in those years he was already a recognized hero of martial arts films).

A big greeting to everyone in the CineTv community, and especially to @thunderjack for suggesting for the CineTV Contest #76 Link Here the present topic. Good luck to all participants.

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Oh wow, I also didn't know Jackie Chan has a pirate themed movie! Looks fun to watch! Although as usual it is sad to learn how filming it caused bodily harm to him. So glad he is still alive to this day.

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