Mr. Nice Guy (1997 film)

Mr. Nice Guy
Film poster
Directed by	Sammo Hung
Written by	Edward Tang Ma Fibe
Produced by	Leonard Ho Chua Lam
Starring	Jackie Chan Richard Norton Gabrielle Fitzpatrick Miki Lee
Cinematography	Raymond Lam
Edited by	Peter Cheung
Music by	Clarence Hui Peter Kam J. Peter Robinson
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date	31 January 1997 (1997-01-31)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Languages	English Cantonese Mandarin
Box office	Hong Kong: HK$45,420,457 United States US$12,716,953

Mr. Nice Guy (一個好人, LSHK Jat1 go3 hou2 jan4) is a 1997 Hong Kong action film directed by Sammo Hung, who makes a cameo as an unfortunate cyclist. The film stars Jackie Chan and Richard Norton. The film was released in the Hong Kong on January 31, 1997.

Mr. Nice Guy features a collaboration between Jackie Chan and Richard Norton, reuniting them for the first time since 1993's City Hunter and also Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung had worked in the 1985's Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars. Mr. Nice Guy was filmed in Melbourne, Australia.

Plot

Television journalist Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) records footage of a cocaine deal gone wrong between the Italian mob and a street gang called "The Demons" with mob boss Giancarlo (Richard Norton) killing the Demons' leader. Diana's partner Richard is captured and she bumps into TV chef Jackie (Jackie Chan), who helps her escape from the mob. During the chase, she accidentally switches the videotape of the drug trade with one of Jackie's cooking videos from a box of tapes, who he later gives to his friend Romeo, an officer for the city's police department.

Romeo's children watch the video behind the adults' back, unaware of what it is about and that their father is investigating the mob. The mob, knowing the tape is still out there, tracks Diana down to her home to force her to give it to them, but after realizing she has the wrong tape, she flees. The mob believes Jackie has the tape and follows him around, attacking him at an eating benefit event he is hosting at a mall.

Jackie learns why the mob is after him after Diana goes to his home searching for the tape and is attacked by Jackie's friend Lakeisha. However, the Demons, having witnessed Jackie's fight at the mall and also wanting the tape, follow him and his girlfriend Miki (Miki Lee) and blow up his home, killing Giancarlo's henchmen who had also followed Jackie to his home. Jackie and the women escape in the nick of time.

Everyone decides to stay at Lakeisha's home for their safety, but the Demons again track them down, kidnap Miki, and force Jackie to participate in a training event around the city. The police trace each call, but realize the Demons are aware of their presence and follow Jackie instead. One gang member, Sandy, sees this and informs the Demon leader Grank, who runs off with Miki. Jackie, angry at the cops' mishandling, runs off, but the Demons kidnap him too and take him into their van. Using a fake tape as a distraction, Jackie fights off the gang and crashes their van. The police arrest all members inside and Grank says Miki is at a construction site.

Lakeisha, Diana, and Jackie go to the site, only to realize Giancarlo has captured Miki and murdered the other Demon members except Sandy, who manages to escape. Lakeisha and Jackie are also taken by Giancarlo while Diana is left injured. Romeo discovers his son watching the tape, the proof he needs to arrest the mob, and visits the hospital where Diana and Sandy are being treated. The women inform him about what happened to Jackie and the others.

At Giancarlo's home, Jackie is forced into an unfair fight where his arms and legs are restrained with ropes held by the henchmen. After taking a serious beating, Giancarlo orders his men to kill Jackie and the women at a construction site outside his home, but they escape and destroy Giancarlo's home by driving through it in a 120-ton mining vehicle from the site. The authorities arrive, including Romeo, but decide to state that they did not witness anything and that it was all just a gang battle, so Jackie goes free while the mobsters are arrested for possession of cocaine.

Cast

• Jackie Chan - Jackie
• Richard Norton - Giancarlo
• Miki Lee - Miki
• Karen McLymont - Lakeisha
• Gabrielle Fitzpatrick - Diana
• Vince Poletto - Romeo
• Barry Otto - Baggio
• Sammo Hung - Cyclist
• Emil Chau - Ice Cream Vendor
• Joyce Godenzi - Cook Show Audience (as Mina Godenzi)
• Peter Houghton - Richard
• Peter Lindsay - Grank, "Demon" gang Leader
• David No - Victor
• Rachel Blakely - Sandy, "Demon" gang member
• Aaron Notarfrancesco - Sanny
• Jake Notarfrancesco - Nancy
• Greg Jamieson - Priest
• Matthew Dyktynski - Cooking show Floor Manager
• Salik Silverstein - Cooking show director
• Lynne Murphy - babysitter
• Carla Bonner - cameo
• Karl Ajami - Giancarlo's Man
• Brad Allan - Giancarlo's Man (as Bradley Allan)
• Paul Andreovski - Giancarlo's Man
• Habby Heske - Giancarlo's Man
• Cameron Douglas - Giancarlo's Man
• Grant Page - Giancarlo's Man
• Paul Douglas - Giancarlo's Man
• David Baldwin - Giancarlo's Man
• Brent Houghton - Giancarlo's Man
• Ian Mall - Giancarlo's Man
• Dennis Christensen - Giancarlo's Man
• Michael John Noonan - Giancarlo's Man
• Darko Tuskan - Giancarlo's Man
• John Raaen - Giancarlo's Man
• Gary Shambrooke - Giancarlo's Man
• Andy Cheng - Giancarlo's Man at Construction Site (extra) (uncredited)
• Mars (extra) (uncredited)
• Frederick Miragliotta - Captain Morrison
• Nai Su Rak - Female in Chinatown (extra) (uncredited)

Jackie Chan Stunt Team

• Brad Allan
• Chan Man-ching
• Andy Cheng
• Johnny Cheung
• Rocky Lai
• Nicky Li
• Mars

According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Chan hurt his neck when he messed up on a flip during a fight scene. He also broke his nose during filming.

Box office

Mr. Nice Guy opened on Chinese New Year, 1997, up against director Hung's own Once Upon a Time in China and America. Both were box office successes, but Mr. Nice Guy was the bigger of the two, making HK $45,420,457 in its Hong Kong run.

Box office for Mr. Nice Guy was less impressive in North America, where it opened on 1,463 theatres on 20 March 1998. In its opening weekend, it grossed US $5,250,704 ($3,588 per screen) on its way to a total of US $12,716,953.

Awards and nominations

• 1997 Golden Horse Film Festival
  • Winner: Best Action Direction (Wing Cho)

• 1998 Hong Kong Film Awards
  • Nomination: Best Action Choreography (Wing Cho)

New Line Cinema edit and DVD releases

New Line Cinema obtained international distribution rights to the film and made the following cuts and edits

• The score was re-done and the Golden Harvest logo was cut. New Line Cinema also over-dubbed some of the original English dialog and actors' voices, making them sound more American.
• The film's two opening scenes were switched around. The original Hong-Kong version of the film opens with the scene where Giancarlo discovers that his lover, Tina, is a Demon spy. Then Giancarlo and his men throw her into the "guesthouse," an empty, sandy area where they bury victims alive. Then the scene switches to Jackie Chan's TV chef program. New Line Cinema, however, opened with Jackie Chan's TV chef show, and then to the scene with Giancarlo. New Line Cinema's edit gives the film a more comical tone in the beginning, whereas the original Golden Harvest edit gives the film a more serious tone in the beginning.
• New Line Cinema shortened a dinner scene with Jackie, Lakeisha, Baggio, Richard, and Jackie's niece and nephew.
• A short scene was cut with Jackie's nephew pushing his sister (Jackie's niece) when she tries to take the incriminating tape of Giancarlo out of the VCR.
• The conversation between Lakeisha and Jackie Chan about Jackie's girlfriend is cut short.
• Cuts were made to the fight scenes on the horse carriage and the van, as well as bits and pieces of violence throughout the film.
• A brief scene of Miki talking to herself in the bathroom was cut.
• During the botched operation to rescue Miki from the Demons, a brief scene was cut with Richard going against the police chief's orders and telling all units to converge on Jackie, followed by Richard and the chief briefly arguing before the chief agrees with Richard.
• New Line Cinema switches back and forth to the construction site fight scene and the interrogation scene of Demon gang members by Giancarlo and his men. The HK version shows both of these scenes one after another seamlessly. New Line also cuts footage of Giancarlo shooting the Demon members during interrogation.
• A brief scene with Richard talking to Diana at a hospital ward was cut.

Various DVD version of this film have been made. The Warner Brothers Japanese R2 version is the only version available with the original English dialog and the fully uncut film. However, the picture is non-anamorphic and has no English subtitles. The Taiwan Funny version has both versions, but the uncut version is dubbed in Mandarin. The HK version is uncut but is dubbed in Cantonese. Both the Tawainese and HK versions refer to the Demons as the "Wolves," although in the end credits the actors are credited as "Demons."

External links

• Mr. Nice Guy at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• Mr. Nice Guy at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• Mr. Nice Guy at Rotten Tomatoes