Often referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, the 1980’s provided some of the greatest fight scenes ever put to film and definitely were the highlights of Jackie Chan’s storied career.

Always wanting to capture realism in his fight sequences, Jackie would frequently recruit the talents of well-known martial art competitors at the time ranging from Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace to Richard Norton and of course Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez.

In an interview for Hong Kong Legends, ‘The Jet’ spoke about his experience working with Jackie Chan and how much contact he wanted in filming.

I asked Jackie because we’re gonna be hitting the ground, how hard do you want to go? And he says ‘We go hard’ and I say ok, and I said to the face and he said ‘no –the body we go hard’.

And this resulted in by far one of the most perfectly choreographed and excited duels in action cinema history.

If you pay close attention at 1:03 of the clip you can see Benny throw a wheel kick so fast that it actually put out the candle lights without the aid of editing or vfx.

Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, film director, producer, stuntman, and singer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. He has starred in films such as Drunken Master, Project A, Police Story and Rush Hour.

Benny Urquidez is a Spanish-Mexican American kickboxer, martial arts choreographer and actor. Nicknamed The Jet, Urquidez was a non-contact karate competitor who later pioneered full-contact fighting in the U.S. Between 1974 and 1993, he amassed a documented professional record of 49–1–1 (win-loss-draw) with 35 knockouts and two controversial no-contests.