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Written by: Noah Sanders 

1.  Legend of the Drunken Master (Chia-Liang Liu, 1994)

In terms of Jackie Chan, Legend of the Drunken Master (or Drunken Master II for the happily informed) is his The Godfather Part I.   This the film that each and every person who has even the smallest inkling of desire to figure out what Jackie Chan is all about needs, needs to watch.  Portraying Chinese legend Wong Fei Hung, Chan uses the hilariously deadly Zui Quan (drunken boxing) to impart ass kicking after ass kicking.   Be it the pole-scene in the hilltop bar (Chan literally fights one hundred men armed with bamboo poles) or the ten minute fight scene with former Chan-bodyguard Ken Lo that ends the film, this is the Jackie Chan movie for the uninitiated. 

 Scene to Watch For:

The ten minute fight scene at the end of the film is considered to be one of the great martial arts moments of all time.  Watch it once and you'll know why.

2.  Police Story 1 (Jackie Chan, 1985)

Chan is always best when he's behind the camera, and Police Story is the best example of his many talents.  Chan plays, ahem, Inspector Chan (for the first of four films) a top notch detective with an unintentionally destructive bent hot on the trail of a notorious criminal.  Within the first half hour Chan's driven a Chinese junker literally through a shantytown (a scene Michael Bay ripped off for the ending of Bad Boys II), fought a gaggle of baddies on a moving double-decker bus, and brought the speeding bus to a crashing stop with just a six-shot service revolver - and it only gets better from there.

Scene to Watch For:

Chan's plummet down the string of lights, through the roof of an elevator, in shopping mall finale.  Stick around for the credits to see just how painful this little stunt was.

3.  Who Am I?  (Jackie Chan, 1998)

In my humble opinion, Who Am I? is the last great Jackie Chan movie.  Though silly in plot (Chan plays a police officer who loses his memory on the, ahem, African veldt) the film bears all of the standards of a golden-era Chan film.  A hilarious moment where Chan tries to explain himself through a mouth full of numbing root, a rooftop battle that spins and cavorts across industrial pipes, and jaw-dropping plunge down the glass-front of a building.  Watch it with a hankie, 'cause after this, it's all Rush Hour and The Tuxedo ... sigh.

Scene to Watch For:

Either the battle between goons armed with guns and Chan armed with, er, clogs, or the again, jaw-dropping run down the building front.

4.  Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung, 1984)

Terrible name aside, Wheels on Meals is one of the great films of Chan's filmography.  One of the many movies made with equally talented martial artists Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao (two of Chan's fellow students at the famed Peking Opera), Wheels on Meals pops with extraordinary ass-beating action.  Corny at times (in the best possible) way, the three masters bumble through a loosely connected plot involving a pickpocket, a secret weapon of destruction, and kick-boxer Benny Urqidez.  None of this matters though, 'cause when these three are on screen together, feet flying, everything else just falls to the wayside.

Scene to Watch For:

The final five minute fight scene between Chan and Urqidez is widely renowned as one of the greats.  After watching it on Youtube, three times, it's a deserved recognition, a bloody, drag-out, knockdown brawl, nearly faster than the human eye.

5.  Dragons Forever (Sammo Hung, Corey Yuen, 1988)

Wheels on Meals is a good film starring Chan, Hung, and Biao, but Dragons Forever is one of the great martial arts films of all time, truly indicative of the golden era of Chinese martial arts these three men were such a huge part of.  Again, a barely there plot exists only to frame a series of some of the best fist fights ever put to film.  Including a balls-to-the-wall, knuckle-busting last half an hour that will leave you smiling, panting, and absolutely breathless.  If Yuen Biao's eloquent dance along, and through, the metal fence doesn't get your heart pounding, you should check to make sure you're still breathing. 

Scene to Watch For:

Again, Chan and Benny Urqidez's final fight scene is absolutely brilliant.  Sure, Urqidez looks a bit like a transvestite, but when he lays a flat-footed smack down (in slooooo-moooo) on the chest of Jackie Chan, you know it's going to get rough, and quick.