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Rush Hour is a 1998 action comedy film and the first installment in the Rush Hour film series. Directed by Brett Ratner and starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, Rush Hour was a major success and became the 7th top grossing film of 1998, with a gross of over $140 million dollars at the U.S. box office.

Plot

On the last day of British rule in Hong Kong, Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) of the Hong Kong police leads a raid at a shipping bar wharf, hoping to arrest the mysterious crime lord Juntao. He finds only Sang (Ken Leung), Juntao's right hand man, who manages to escape. However, Lee successfully recovers numerous Chinese cultural treasures stolen by Juntao, which he presents as a farewell victory to his departing superiors: Chinese Consul Solon Han (Tzi Ma) and British Commander Thomas Griffin (Tom Wilkinson).

Shortly after Han arrives in the United States to take up his new diplomatic post in Los Angeles, his daughter, Soo Yung, is kidnapped on her way to her first day of school. The leader of the kidnappers is none other than Sang. Shortly after this incident, the FBI inform Consul Han, who calls in Lee to assist in the case.

Meanwhile in America, Detective James Carter of the LAPD is doing undercover work at a doughnut shop to meet a man named Clive who is trying to sell Carter some C4 explosive out of his trunk. Two cops then pull into the doughnut shop and see the two suspicious men looking in Clive's truck. They then proceed to pull out their guns and tell them to freeze not realizing Carter is undercover. Clive ends up shooting the cops and driving away and while doin so Carter is firing at Clive's car. Clive jumps out of the moving car just before it explodes. Carter then runs up to Clive and arrests him.

The FBI, afraid that the injury or death of Lee would result in negative attention, pawn him off on the LAPD Captain Diel, who gives the assignment to Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker). The captain picked Carter after being upset about him destroying have a city block and loosing evidence while in pursuit of Clive, as well as just being annoying and arrogant. However, the Captain acts as though he picked Carter especially for the case and tricks Carter into thinking the FBI truly wants him. Carter is ecstatic for he has had aspirations of joining the FBI.Carter, after discovering the real assignment, calls the Captain saying he wants off the case. Captain Diel then gives him a choice: keep Lee away from the investigation or face two months suspension without pay. Carter reluctantly agrees, secretly intending to solve the case himself.

Carter meets Lee at the Los Angeles International Airport and then proceeds to take him on a sightseeing tour of Los Angeles, simultaneously keeping Lee away from the embassy and contacting several of his underworld informants about the kidnapping. Lee finally escapes Carter and makes his way to the Chinese Consulate, where an anxious Han and a group of FBI agents are awaiting news about his daughter. While being reprimanded by Agent-in-charge Warren Russ (Mark Rolston), Carter manages to accidentally involve himself in a phone conversation with the kidnappers, where he poorly arranges a ransom drop.

After their arrival at the agreed drop point, Lee tries to warn the FBI that something is amiss, but is ignored until a bomb inside the building is detonated, killing several agents. Spotting Sang nearby, Lee and Carter give chase, but Sang escapes, dropping a strange detonator in the process. After showing it to Carter's colleague, LAPD bomb expert Tania Johnson (Elizabeth Peña), they learn that the detonator could blow up C4 which takes us back to Clive. Carter and Lee go to take a visit to the county jail where Clive is hoping to gain some information. Clive refuses to tell the cocky Carter anything and believes Carter wants to frame him. Lee then intervenes stating all he cares about is the little girl, that she is only eleven years old, and is in grave danger. Clive tells the duo about Juntao and that they can find him at a restaurant in Chinatown. At the restaurant, Carter is captured after going in alone, though he sees a surveillance video of Juntao carrying Soo-Yung into a van. Lee arrives and rescues Carter, and they are met outside by the FBI, led by Russ, who blames them for ruining the ransom exchange. Sang phones the consul, angrily telling him that the ransom has been increased from $50 million to $70 million, and threatens to kill Soo-Yung if anything else goes wrong. Disgraced and guilt-ridden, Lee and Carter are ordered off the investigation, and Lee is informed that he will be sent back to Hong Kong. Carter refuses to drop the case and confronts Lee on his plane to enlist his help, and the two men decide to save Soo-Yung together.

The final confrontation comes at the opening of a Chinese art exhibition at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which Han and Griffin are overseeing, while the ransom is being delivered. Carter, Lee, and Johnson enter disguised as guests. After Carter recognizes Griffin from Chinatown, he creates a scene by alerting the spectators about a bomb threat in the building and tells them to evacuate. In the confusion, Lee sees Sang handing Griffin a detonator identical to the one he and Carter had previously recovered, deducing that Griffin is Juntao. Griffin/Juntao then threatens to detonate a bomb vest attached to Soo Yung if the delivery is interrupted. During the stand-off, however, Carter manages to sneak out and locate Soo Yung. Carter proceeds to take the vest off her but Soo Yung tells him that she heard them say that the vest will go off if anyone tries to take it off incorrectly. Carter then drives the van into the building and brings the bomb vest within range to kill everyone inside the exhibition. After a gunfight breaks out, Lee and Johnson climb into the back of the van and Johnson manages to get the vest off Soo Yung but tells Lee that it still can be set off with the remote. Lee then takes the vest and persues Griffin. Meanwhile Griffin goes up to the upstairs control room and shoots the agents up there, including Russ. A few moments later Sang also goes into the control room and starts putting money into another briefcase. Then Russ, who was not killed by Griffin, groans, and Sang turns his gun on him. Just as he is about to shoot Russ, he is interrupted by Carter, who tells him that he is alone. Sang then challenges Carter to 'fight like a man'. Carter agrees, but as both men put their guns down, both bring out their alternative guns, and Carter shoots Sang in the process. Meanwhile, Griffin attempts to escape with the ransom money, and Lee pursues him up several sets of maintenance ladders. During the pursuit, both men fall over the rail with Lee holding onto a rafter and Griffin holding onto the bomb vest, which Lee is now wearing. The money falls out of the case that Griffin was holding. The bomb vest then rips apart semding Griffin falling to his death into a fountain below, Lee then looses his grip and falls from the rafters, but Carter is able to reascue Lee placing a large flag under him to catch him.

Han and Soo Yung are reunited, and Han sends Carter and Lee on vacation together to Hong Kong. Before Carter leaves, Agents Russ and Whitney offer him a position in the FBI, which he refuses. The film ends with Lee and Carter enjoying their flight to Hong Kong.

Cast

• Jackie Chan as Detective Inspector Lee (who gets promoted to Chief Inspector at some point between this film and Rush Hour 2)
• Chris Tucker as Detective James Carter
• Tom Wilkinson as Thomas Griffin/Juntao
• Tzi Ma as Consul Solon Han
• Ken Leung as Sang
• Elizabeth Peña as Detective Tania Johnson
• Mark Rolston as Special FBI Agent In Charge Warren Russ
• Rex Linn as FBI Agent Dan Whitney
• Chris Penn as Clive Cod
• Philip Baker Hall as Captain William Diel
• Julia Hsu as Soo Yung Han

Juntao's Men

• Chan Man-ching (as Man Ching Chan)
• Andy Cheng (as Andy Kai Chung Cheng)
• Stuart W. Yee (as Stuart Yee)
• Nicky Li (as Nicky Chung Chi Li)
• Ken Lo (as Kenneth Houi Kang Low)
• Mars (uncredited)
• William Tuan (uncredited)
• David Leung (uncredited)
• Johnny Cheung (uncredited)

Trivia

This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (April 2009)

• Chan and Tucker were considered for the role of Wa Sing Ku and Detective Lee Butters, respectively, for the 1998 film Lethal Weapon 4
• The movie is set in 1997. Britain handed over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997.
• Martin Lawrence was the original choice for Carter.
• Dave Chappelle was also considered for Carter. He referenced this and his reaction to not getting the part in the Chappelle's Show skit 'The Three Daves'.
• Carter's Corvette license plate has the same three-letter combination as the license plate of the van that the consul's daughter is held in.
• At Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Carter shows Inspector Lee the foot prints of John Wayne. In Shanghai Noon (2000) Jackie Chan plays a character called Chon Wang - which is a play on John Wayne.
• According to director Brett Ratner, during the scene at Grauman's where Detective Carter bribes Stucky for information, there was so much improvisation between Chris Tucker and John Hawkes that they almost did not think they could edit it together as a coherent conversation. There are still continuity errors in the dialogue for this reason.
• Chris Tucker improvised much of his dialogue as he commonly does in his films.
• The afro and mustache in the photo on Detective Carter's badge were added as an afterthought in post-production.
• Brett Ratner was a big fan of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies. He felt that American audiences would not be familiar with the jokes in Jackie's other movies, and deliberately re-used some of his gags. For example, the scene where Inspector Lee accidentally grabs Johnson's breasts is a reference to Jackie Chan's film Mr. Nice Guy (1997).
• Carter telling Detective Johnson that the LAPD are the most hated police in the world may be a reference to the beating of Rodney King.
• Elizabeth Peña played a prank on Director Brett Ratner in which she appeared on the set wearing nothing but her character's bomb squad vest. According to Peña, she thought Ratner would laugh and howl; instead he was extremely nervous and embarrassed.
• According to director Brett Ratner, this film is the first one released in the U.S. featuring Jackie Chan in an English-speaking role without any kind of dubbing. According to Ratner, before this film Chan always had his voice dubbed over in his English-speaking roles because of his uncertainty in speaking the language. For this film, however, Ratner convinced him to forgo the dubbing as it would lend to the authenticity of his character.
• Eddie Murphy was offered the role of Carter, but turned it down to make Holy Man (1998) instead.

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Tag-Lines

• Two cops. One is all talk. The other is all action
• The Fastest Hands In The East Meet The Biggest Mouth In The West.
• Pals Forever. If they can get past today.
• They come from different cultures. But on a case this big, they speak the same language.

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Memorable Quotes

• Carter: Fifty million dollars? Man, who do you think you kidnapped? Chelsea Clinton?
• Carter: I've been lookin' for your sweet and sour chicken a$%.
• Carter: This is the LAPD. We're the most hated cops in all the free world. My own mama's ashamed of me. She tells everybody I'm a drug dealer.
• Carter: It is not my job to be jumping on and off of buses, I don't do that, I am not Carl Lewis!
• Carter: I cannot believe this S%#@! First I get a bulls%#@ assignment, now Mr. Rice-a-Roni don't even speak American. C'mon, man, my ride over here. Put your bag in the back.
• Sang: Now wipe yourself off. You're bleeding.
• Soo Yung's Driver: Is there a problem officer? Sang: No problem. Just rush hour.
• Lee: That's bad for you!

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Goofs

• Crew or equipment visible: Camera reflected in the window of one of the van's rear doors as Carter opens them up to get Soo-Yung out of it.
• Continuity: As Lee and Carter are sliding down the steps of the Foo Chow Chinese Restaurant, after fighting in the upper room, you see a bullet hole in the wall, which is clearly not on the wall in the next shot.
• Continuity: When Juntao walks out of the control room, he grabs two cases of money, when he reaches the top of the ladder in the Expo Center, he only has one.
• Continuity: During the fight in the Chinese Restaurant, Carter is restrained by Juntao's thugs. When Lee enters and successfully fights the guards, both Carter's captors go to help. One punches Carter, and proceeds to pick up a safe/box on the wooden/glass table. However, when Carter reacts by kicking the table and tripping the running captor, the man falls, and the box has disappeared from his hands. No signs of him dropping the box or it being thrown are seen.
• Continuity: When James Carter takes the joint away from the man at the pool hall, the joint changes size.
• Continuity: On his approach to Chief Inspector Lee's, Detective James Carter's Corvette has chrome wheels, and in the following shot of Lee opening his front door to Carter, the Corvette has black wheels.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Tania Johnson answers her AT&T cordless phone, it makes the error noise that indicates the base is disconnected or out of range, yet she uses it as if having a normal conversation.

• Factual errors: $50M in the demanded a combination of $10, $20, and $50 bills would be over 2 million bills and weigh several tons. It would clearly not fit into a couple of suitcases.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Tania Johnson hangs up on Carter we hear a dial tone. It's a useful cinematic device to accentuate the hanging-up moment, but you don't hear a dial tone on a cell phone.

• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Cliff has plastic explosives, commonly known as "C4". C4 is an extremely stable substance (hence its popularity) and cannot be detonated by bullets, fire, etc.
• Errors in geography: There is a Vietnamese flag inside the home of Consul Han who represents China.
• Continuity: In the Billiard Hall at the beginning of the fight, Lee goes to grab a barstool with his feet and it has a bright red seat cover and round metal legs. Right before he hits the bartender, it changes to a dull red seat cover and black painted two by fours for the legs.
• Continuity: When Carter arrives at the Consul's mansion and we see Carter's Stingray in the background as we walks over the door threshold, the wheels are different than the wheels before-when he threw the keys to the agent and told him to 'take care of it'.
• Continuity: The United Airlines Boeing 747 is a newer model 747 (the 747-400). Yet the stairs shown in the aircraft belongs to the earlier model 747 (the 747-100 and 747-200).
• Errors in geography: Toward the end of the movie we see a news van with "channel 8" and call letters on them that start with "W." Television stations in Los Angeles and any city west of the Mississippi River have call letters that start with "K" and not "W."
• Revealing mistakes: During Lee's fight in the pool hall, he slides under one of the tables, turns around, and smashes a table lamp/light into a headless dummy.
• Continuity: When Carter is posing for the tourists' photos on the bus, the badge he shows them is pretty small in size. Later, when Carter and Lee put their hands up to the cab driver pointing a gun at them, Carter shows the driver his badge, which is significantly larger than the badge he was wearing on the bus.
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Carter first meets with the F.B.I., he introduces himself as "James Carter, F.B.I." He should have said, "James Carter, L.A.P.D."
• Continuity: When Lee breaks into the consul, during the fight with Whitney, the door is open at the start of the fight, yet it is closed (seconds later) when Consul Han opens the door to tell Russ that it is Lee.
• Crew or equipment visible: SPOILER: Near the end of the movie, when Lee is falling from the roof of the Expo, a whole camera crew is visible in the background
• Revealing mistakes: SPOILER: In the final battle at the Chinese Art Exhibition, Lee uses his foot to get hold of a metal pole (one of the kind that a velvet rope is hooked to) and then uses it to smack a henchman in the face. As the villain is hit, the metal pole has lost all of its luster and bends slightly as it flies through the air, showing that it is made out of rubber.
• Continuity: SPOILER: Just before Juntao falls to his death in the exhibition building, Carter is shown stuffing a handful of cash into his shirt. A moment later, after Juntao has fallen and Carter rushes to catch Lee with the banner, all of the money has disappeared from his shirt.
• Continuity: SPOILER: During the final shootout scene at the LA Convention Center, Juntao calls for a position report of the helicopter inbound to pick him up. When the camera cuts to the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS-355 "Twinstar" is shown. Later when Juntao makes a second radio call to the helicopter to instruct the pilot to pick him up on the roof, the camera cuts to a shot of a helicopter hovering above the convention center. The helicopter shown is an Augusta Westland A-109 Power or a variant of that type.
• Factual errors: SPOILER: The exploding vest on the girl is disabled by cutting one of three wires going into a BNC type connector. The BNC connector has only one center pin and a ground so it would never have three wires going into it, other than as a convenient way to make a spice. if it was a splice of two wires, cutting one would have no effect.
• Continuity: SPOILER: During the final battle, Lee's tuxedo suspenders change from x-back to y-back to x-back again.

Reception

Rush Hour opened at #1 at the North American box-office with a weekend gross of $33 million in September 1998. Rush Hour grossed over $244 million worldwide.

The film gained relatively positive reviews from critics. Many critics praised Chris Tucker for his comical acts in the film and how he and Chan formed an effective comic duo. The film currently holds a 61% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, just enough to be certified "Fresh". The film was viewed on a total of 2,638 screens. It made $54, 123,698 in movie rentals (USA). .

Sequels

A sequel Rush Hour 2, was made in 2001, which was primarily set in Hong Kong. A third movie, Rush Hour 3, was released on August 10, 2007, which was primarily set in Paris, France. Tucker earned $25 million for his role in the third film and Chan received the distribution rights to the movie in Asia.

A fourth film in the series is in negotiations, and reportedly may be set in Moscow.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features the hit single "Can I Get A..." by Jay-Z, Ja Rule and Amil, as well as tracks by Edwin Starr, Flesh-n-Bone, Wu-Tang Clan, Dru Hill, Charli Baltimore and Montell Jordan.

Awards and nominations

• 1999 ALMA Awards
  • Winner: Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film (Elizabeth Peña)

• 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards
  • Winner: BMI Film Music Award (Lalo Schifrin)

• 1999 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
  • Winner: Favorite Duo- Action/Adventure (Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker)
  • Nomination: Favorite Supporting Actress- Action/Adventure (Elizabeth Peña)

• 1999 Bogey Awards (Germany)
  • Winner: Bogey Awards in Silver

• 1999 Golden Screen (Germany)
  • Winner: Golden Screen

• 1999 Grammy Awards
  • Nomination: Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television (Lalo Schifrin)

• 1999 Image Awards
  • Nomination: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture (Chris Tucker)

• 1999 Kids' Choice Awards (USA)
  • Nomination: Favorite Movie Actor (Blimp Award) (Chris Tucker)

• 1999 MTV Movie Awards
  • Winner: Best On-Screen Duo (Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker)
  • Nomination: Best Comedic Performance (Chris Tucker)
  • Nomination: Best Fight (Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker) (For the fight against the Chinese gang)
  • Nomination: Best Movie Song (Jay-Z) (For Can I Get A...)

See also

• Buddy cop film
• List of movies set in Hong Kong
• List of movies set in Los Angeles
• Rush Hour 2
• Rush Hour 3
• Jackie Chan filmography

References

4. "Rush Hour". boxofficemojo.com. September 18, 1998. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
5. "FILM REVIEW; Kicks, Swivels and Wisecracks on Hollywood Boulevard". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
6. Ebert, Roger (September 18, 1998). "Rush Hour". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
7. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120812/business. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. "Chan Says Tucker Holding Up Rush Hour 3". The Associated Press. July 10, 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
9. Jackie Chan Admits He Is Not a Fan of 'Rush Hour' Films
10. 'Rush Hour 4' is Set in Faubourg Marigny

External links

• Rush Hour at IMDb
• Rush Hour at Box Office Mojo
• Template:Amg movie
• Rush Hour at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rush Hour at Metacritic
• Jackie Chan Fansite

• Articles with trivia sections from April 2009
• 1998 films
• American films
• 1990s action films
• Action comedy films
• Martial arts films
• Buddy films
• Police detective films
• Films directed by Brett Ratner
• American action comedy films
• New Line Cinema films
• Films shot anamorphically
• Films set in Los Angeles, California
• Films set in Hong Kong
• Films set in 1997