I am Jackie Chan; my life in action

[PangQuan]

I recently just finished reading this. I have always had a large amount of nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for Jackie Chan. But now that I have read this autobiography. That has been multiplied by about one trillion. Jackie is the man. There will NEVER be another stuntman with his courage, skill, and outlook on life. He may not be the best fighter around, he may not be the best actor around, but Jackie Chan is the best around at what he does. Just curious what impact this book has had on fans of the man after they read it. Your new outlook on him compaired to your old one. Before you knew about his training and childhood.

[CaptinPickAxe]

Great book...I read it a few years back. I especially enjoyed the chapters where he was in the Peking opera school and breaking into the stunt scene.

[PangQuan]

Fully, I dont think anyone can truly appreciate or understand Jakie Chan until they read this book.

[Li Kao]

I remember getting this book in hardcover when it came out. At that time, I was heavy into collecting kung fu movies (this was before they were readily available in U.S. stores -- most of them I had to order from friends in HK) and so I had snapped up any movie with Jacky, Sammo Hung, or Yuen Biao. And from reading a glut of magazine and Internet articles, I was pretty familiar with at least the story of his childhood and the rigors of his opera school days. But it was still fascinating to hear Jacky discuss in detail the training regimen and how it shaped his future career. I remember laughing at how Sammo was pretty much the bully of the class and some of his antics. I still think Jacky's best movies were the ones made with Sammo and Yuen (Project A, Wheels on Meals, Dragons Forever).

Sammo made a movie in 1998 called Painted Faces which basically dramatizes the opera school days of those 3, although the focus of the movie is on the teacher and not the pupils. Sammo actually plays his old teacher, so it's rather bizzare to see the real Sammo in his teacher's role, barking orders to a kid who is playing the young Sammo, if that makes any sense. There is a neat analogy made in the movie between the teacher's pet turtle and the young pupils, but I don't want to spoil it for you -- check it out!

[GeneChing]

That book captured Jackie at 45. If you liked it, you should catch up to the Chan man and see him now at 50 (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd10083.html).