Hidden Martial Arts Movie Details Almost No One Notices

Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao are collectively known as the Three Brothers or the Three Dragons. This trio made numerous all-time great kung fu movies together and also led independent solo careers. Biao had plenty of great starring roles, but Chan and Hung were the bigger stars and found themselves competing for the position of the Hong Kong film industry’s top martial arts movie star.

At 71 years old, Hung is two years older than Chan and was the first of the Three Brothers to find a solid foothold in the film industry. He helped the other two along since they all trained and grew up together within the China Drama Academy. When Chan began to grow more popular than Hung, a sense of competition was born. For a long time, the competitiveness between Chan and Hung was to the audience’s benefit, as it drove them each to make better movies with faster fights, harder hits, and bigger stunts.

Eventually, their rivalry stopped being so friendly. The production of 1988’s “Dragon’s Forever,” which starred all Three Dragons, marked the most contentious period between Chan and Hung. By the end of the decade, they largely went their separate ways, though they eventually reconnected when Hung directed Chan in “Mr. Nice Guy” and “The Medallion,” and the two acted together in “Around the World in 80 Days.”