Random Insane Movie Scenes That Nearly Killed Jackie Chan (9 items)

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  (#4) Chan Crawled Over a Bunch of Burning Goals Like a Maniac in The Legend Of The Drunken Master

  The Legend of Drunken Master is a hilarious action comedy film in which Jackie Chan's character Wong Fei-hung is a master of martial arts only when heavily intoxicated. There's a scene in which Jackie Chan gets kicked backwards onto a bed of coals that he then must wiggle across. The stunt legend was adamant about doing this scene right (actually entering the coals instead of using wires to pull him across), but the director didn't think it was a good idea (smart!) so they left the project. The director thought that they couldn't in good conscious put their star through such an ordeal. And who COULD, in good conscious, ask an actor to do something so obviously dangerous?

  There is one man: Jackie Chan. When the director walked off the movie, Chan took over the director's chair and shot the dangerous stunt twice.
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  (#9) Chan's Legs Were Crushed During Crime Story But He Recovered Quickly

  Inspector Eddie Chan must rescue a kidnaped businessman in the 1993 Crime Story, but it's actor Jackie Chan who almost needed rescuing during the filming. In the opening scene, Chan's character chases some mobsters on foot while they shoot at him and attempt to run him over. At one point, the mobsters slam into the back of a van, crushing the inspector in the process.

  Jackie Chan was supposed to jump so as not to be smashed, but he didn't quite make it on the first take. His legs were caught but, somehow, the actor walked away with just severe bruising.

  At this point, we're ready to just start a new religion focused entirely on doing whatever Jackie Chan tells us to do. It's obvious that he's either a god or being watched over and protected by a god who is saving him for something special. Let's all just form a line and start the official Church of Chan and try to stay safe in the terrifyingly dangerous world of our new glorious leader.
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  (#5) Chan Slid Down A 21-Floor Glass Building For The Who Am I

  Though suffering from amnesia, Jackie Chan's character globe trots with an undercover CIA agent, protecting her from hit men while trying to rediscover his own identity in the movie  Who Am I. The characters end up in Rotterdam, atop a glass building with a very pronounced angle. Jackie's character needs to quickly escape (Honestly? the "why" isn't very important here) and doesn't have a lot of options. To you (and us), the building just looks like a big, scary, tall building that's just a bit slanted, but to Jackie it looks like a giant slide, so of course Chan slid down the thing. 

  Watch that video. Does this even count as a stunt? It looks less like a master safely avoiding danger and more like the world's luckiest and silliest fall. Though, since it's Jackie Chan we're talking about here, it's not really "luck" as much as it is "yet another case where some cosmic being far greater than us is saving and protecting Jackie Chan for some glorious purpose we couldn't possibly comprehend."
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  (#6) Chan Fractured His Skull While Filming The First Armour Of God

  There's a stunt in the first Armour of God installment that is much safer than most of Jackie Chan's usuals but it still almost killed him. In the scene, he has to jump onto a tree and grab a branch but he loses his grip and goes tumbling down. Fortunately, there were rocks beneath the tree to cushion his fall but he landed on them head first. It was later realized that Chan fractured his skull and caused internal bleeding. He needed surgery to recover and there's still a metal plate in his head from the accident.

  We work at Ranker. If one day one of our coworkers came in and said "Yesterday sure was rough, I came into the office to do my job and then my skull got fractured in a surprising but not completely unexpected work-related injury. Mondays, am I right?" we would promptly quit and probably move far away. This is one of the chief ways in which we internet writers are different from Jackie Chan.
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  (#7) Jackie Chan Almost Lost An Eye In Snake In The Eagle's Shadow

  Hwang Jang-Lee is a legitimate martial arts master and he's specifically known for his powerful kicks. He actually earned the nickname "Thunderleg" in 1978 while filming the movie Drunken Master because of them. That same year, he and Jackie Chan shot Snake in the Eagle's Shadow together. Chan played Chien Fu, an orphan raised by martial artists, and experienced firsthand the damage that Jang-Lee's feet could do.

  Not only did Thunderleg kick out one of Chan's teeth, he also broke Chan's eyebrow bone. Had Chan been struck only millimeters lower, his eye would've been irreparably damaged and his brain would've been damaged. It's kind of a bummer to learn the answer to the question "How do you make martial arts stunts look so real" is actually "Oh, we just do them for real and literally kick Jackie Chan in the face with our thunderlegs," but it made for good cinema and Chan (as always) survived, so we're not really sure how to feel about this.
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  (#8) Chan Dislocated His Breastbone During Operation Condor

  In Armour of God II: Operation Condor, Jackie Chan basically portrayed a Chinese Indiana Jones and there's a relatively innocuous stunt (by the actor's standards) that resulted in Chan's dislocated sternum. In the outtakes (around the 48 second mark), as he slides down a steep rocky surface on a chain, the actor flips off at the end and lands awkwardly. Somehow, he dislocated his breastbone, a typically impossible feat.

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