westpac

This movie suffers from the fact that for years Hollywood had no clue as to how to package Jackie Chan for the masses. His low-budget Hong Kong movies were all fast-paced kinetic thrillers that highlight his amazing gymnastic skills and talent for light comedy. His early Hollywood films stuck him in the same movies that were being packaged for Stallone or Chuck Norris. There is nothing about Chan's character in this movie that requires the character to be Asian except for his being the star. In his Hong Kong films Chan is never dull, with the movies being one rapid-fire martial arts sequence after another, but "The Protector" is lifeless throughout. Danny Aiello isn't given much to work with either and the lacking chemistry between the two probably is more a result of the script and direction than how the two actors got on together. Both have been better in worse movies. The best thing about the movie is the Hong Kong settings. The worst part is the appalling way that Jackie Chan comes off so colorless and drab. It wouldn't be until the made-in-Canada "Rumble in the Bronx" that the west would finally figure out how to make a good Jackie Chan movie.

Horribly unfunny sitcom that pretty much ended McLean Stevenson's TV career. An on-their-way-down white family live next door to an up-and-coming Hispanic family. Crude racist humor seems even more crude when coming from the formerly cuddly and inoffensive Mac. As uncomfortable to watch as it was unfunny the show was only memorable for the beautiful Julie Carmen as the Hispanic daughter married to the white bigot's son. This show will probably never be seen again in our lifetime, for good reason.

This movie was way cool when it came out in 1985. It was part of the whole MTV generation thing, where movies had to have soundtracks with two or three killer MTV videos to hit it big. Unfortunately like most of the 80s it hasn't dated terribly well. The "special" effects used to produce the "glow" during the kung-fu scenes is laughably bad now. Still it's undeniably cute and a harmless entertainment. When the 80s becomes retro cool again this will probably be a big hit on DVD.