The Protector (1985 film)

One night, after a patrol in New York City, New York police officers Billy Wong (Jackie Chan) and his partner Michael have a drink at a bar (Patrick James Clarke). Machine-gun wielding crooks come in to rob the bar and its customers. Michael kills one of the crooks but is fatally gunned down. Wong shoots the rest but is forced to chase the last remaining crook into the New York harbor, resulting in a boat chase in which he kills the gangster by causing an explosion. Wong is demoted to crowd control for the ruckus. Later, he goes to a fashion show party undercover, hosted by a Laura Shapiro (Saun Ellis), the daughter of a locally known gangster Martin Shapiro. At the party, he meets his new partner, Danny Garoni (Danny Aiello), who has also been demoted due to claims of police brutality. In the middle of the fashion show, masked gangsters armed with machine guns storm in and kidnap Laura Shapiro, and nobody knows why. They later learn that crime boss Harold Ko (Roy Chiao) and Martin Shapiro are suspected of smuggling drugs from Hong Kong to New York, and that Ko may have kidnapped Laura and taken her to Hong Kong for ransom. The men get a lead – Shapiro's bodyguard Benny Garrucci (Bill "Superfoot" Wallace) recently made several calls to a Hong Kong massage parlor.

Wong and Garoni go to Hong Kong and investigate the massage parlor. While there, they get massages, but Billy notices that the masseuses are trying to kill them. Billy and Garoni fight off the parlor employees before they are cornered and held at gunpoint by the parlor manager (Shum Wai). The manager questions them, revealing that he knows they are cops, and then threatens to kill them. However, Garoni and Wong overpower him and his men, and leave the parlor.

The next day, Wong and Garoni go to see Lee Hing (Peter Yang) on his boat, and show him Tin Ho's coin to gain his trust. However, Hing is reluctant to give any information, noting that he retired and is concerned for his safety. A man named Stan Jones (Kim Bass) gets on the boat, and warns Wong and Garoni they are being followed by the massage parlor manager and his men. Garoni, Jones and Wong easily get rid of the other gangsters, then Wong pursues the parlor manager to get more information, and almost catches him but fails. After witnessing this, Lee Hing agrees to help them, telling the cops to come back the next day after he gets information from various contacts about Ko.

Wong and Garoni head back to their hotel, finding cash in a suitcase on the bed. Ko then calls them, telling them to take the money and leave Hong Kong at once. During the phone call, they are attacked by Ko's men, and the cops manage to kill them, but not before one of the gangsters sets off a grenade in a suicide attempt to kill them. They are taken to the police station in Hong Kong, where they are scolded by the Royal Hong Kong Police chief superintendent Whitehead (Richard Clarke) for the ruckus. Whitehead refuses to believe that Ko was behind the most recent attack, and tells the cops about Ko's charitable reputation in Hong Kong, informing them that at a press conference Ko will announce that all the winnings from a race horse he owns will be donated to charity. The next day, Garoni and Wong arrive at Ko's press conference (where Garucci is also present) and embarrass Ko by publicly showing the crowd his attempted bribe to them.

The next day, Wong, Jones, and Hing's daughter Soo Ling (Moon Lee) visit Lee Hing to see what he found, while Garoni follows Garrucci. But instead, they see that Lee Hing has been killed and his boat burned. At a loss for information, Wong and Moon Lee visit a fortune teller. The fortune teller cryptically informs them that Garruci has come to Hong Kong to make an exchange for Laura Shapiro. But he warns them that if they interfere, there will only be death and betrayal. Meanwhile, Garoni follows Garruci to a shipyard, and deduces that it's Ko's drug lab with Laura Shapiro inside. In a meeting between Ko and Garucci, it is revealed that Ko kidnapped Shapiro's daughter because Shapiro did not pay for Ko's last shipment, which Garucci said was a "simple misunderstanding".

Wong, Garoni and Jones go to the drug lab. They destroy it and save Laura Shapiro in the process. Garoni, however, fails to escape with them after he is shot by Garrucci, and is held hostage unless Billy returns Laura to Ko. Wong decides to leave Laura Shapiro with Superintendent Whitehead.

Wong meets Ko and Garucci at the shipyard. He sees that Garoni is still alive, but then learns that Whitehead was on Ko's payroll the whole time, and is now holding Laura hostage (confirming the "betrayal" that the fortune teller cryptically warned about). Garucci then engages Wong in a one-on-one hand-to-hand fight, which Wong wins despite Ko's attempts to cheat and help Garucci. Then Wong dispatches Ko's guards and is eventually about to kill Ko, but Garrucci comes after Billy with a cut-off saw. In the ensuing fight, Garrucci is electrocuted when the saw hits an electric panel. Jones and Soo Ling arrive to help untie Garoni and rescue Laura. Ko escapes in a helicopter, and Billy follows after him, but a guard blocks his way. Billy and the guard fight on a cargo lifter, where Wong prevails by eventually knocking the guard off to a long fall to his death. Garoni goes outside with the gang and kills a sniper with a 6-shot 20mm cannon. Wong eventually makes inside of a crane, and kills Ko when he drops the contents of the crane onto Ko's helicopter.

With Ko dead and Laura Shapiro saved, Billy and Danny are given a NYPD Medal of Honor.

Although the basic narrative of Jackie Chan's edit is the same as the US version, Chan added a subplot to provide more depth to the movie, which slightly changes how the movie progresses from beginning to end.

This edit begins to deviate from the US version after Garoni and Wong leave the massage parlour. The next day, Wong goes to a theater to look for a woman named May Fong Ho. However, the woman he is looking for (Sally Yeh) goes by the name Sally, and Wong quickly deduces who she is among the dancers she's rehearsing with. Wong disturbs her during a rehearsal by showing her Tin Ho's coin, but she denies having any friends from New York and tries to avoid Wong. Two men competing for Sally's affection try to fight Wong but are easily beaten before Wong pulls out his gun to end the fight. Wong and Sally then go to a restaurant, where she reveals that her father and another man were partners of Ko, until Ko killed her father. She changed her name in order to hide from Ko. She tells him to visit Lee Hing, her father's partner. However, unbeknownst to Sally and Wong, one of Ko's men has overheard the conversation.

After this scene, this edit stays the same as the US version until after Ko's press conference. In the Hong Kong version, after the press conference, Garucci expresses his concern to Ko's bodyguard, David Ho, about Garoni and Wong's knowledge of their drug operation, and that he'd like to do something about it. David tells him that there's a way he can help.

Later that night, Lee Hing meets with his contact Wing (Hoi Sang Lee) at a seafood warehouse to find information about Ko. Wing tells Hing that Laura is being held in shipping containers at the shipyard, and reveals that the shipping containers contain Ko's heroin factory. However, they are suddenly attacked by a group of men with ice picks and Benny Garucci. Wing easily beats up the rest of the men, but is overpowered and killed by Garucci in a fight.

Later, Wong meets with Hing's daughter Soo Ling to meet with Lee Hing and his contact. They arrive at the warehouse, but find both Hing's and Wing's dead bodies. Realizing that Sally may be in danger, Wong visits Sally at her house. He soon deduces that Sally's substitute maid is working for Ko, and has planted a bomb under Sally's bed. Wong diffuses the bomb. Minutes later, the massage parlor manager arrives to warn Sally that Ko is coming after her. Sally reveals that the manager is actually her uncle and an outcast in her family. The manager had been demoted and fallen out of favor with Ko (also shown in an earlier scene) after failing to kill Lee Hing, Garoni, and Wong earlier, and that they are aware of Wong's visit with Sally. After the uncle arrives, more men working for Ko (this time with guns) arrive to kill them, but they fail and retreat. Sally's uncle tells Wong that Laura is being held at a shipyard in a container, and that inside of the containers is Ko's drug factory. Afterwards, Wong instructs Sally and her uncle to find his contact in the United States to build a new life and start over.

After this scene, the plot of this edit is the same as the original US version.

• Punk gang ("the Indians") robbing the truck driver [trimmed for pacing, use of alternative shots]
• Michael & Billy Wong driving from the stripped truck to the bar (heavily trimmed for pacing)
• Bar shootout (use of alternate angles, slightly trimmed)
• Billy Wong asks a civilian where the black bearded crook who shot Michael has gone. (added)
• Wong chasing the black-bearded crook on foot and by boat. (re-edited and trimmed)
• Michael's funeral. (deleted)
• African-American cop tells Wong "Billy, we are with you" (in Cantonese) after Wong is scolded by the captain (added)
• Garoni's racial slur towards Wong ("chink") is dubbed in Cantonese to be "you boy".

• Extra dialogue between Billy, Danny and a Chinese police officer was shortened for the HK version. In the original US edit, the British HK police chief warns them about their actions and to use discretion, and a native HK police officer tells Bill and Danny about the number they traced to a massage parlor. The HK edit dubs the dialog and shortens the scene so that the chief tells them about the massage parlor.
• Billy and Danny receiving a manicure/pedicure at the massage parlour (deleted)
• A few short sequences featuring Billy in action in the massage parlour. (deleted in order to make the scene flow better)
• Billy catches the gun. (slowed down)

• Billy locates Sally Yeh, fights with two guys in a gym and interviews her. (added)
• Stan Jones' reply to Lee Hing's comment "on credit I suppose" on the boat. (deleted)
• Wong chasing the massage parlour manager. (trimmed for pacing and re-scored)
• Lee Hing tells Garoni and Wong that Soo Ling will contact them instead of Stan. (changed through dubbing)
• The discovery of Lee Hing's dead body on his boat. (deleted)

• Mr. Ko's assistant beats the parlour manager and plots to kill Billy and Danny. (added)
• Ko's voice on the phone is replaced by a female voice demanding that he should leave. The original US edit has Billy saying "It's not your money we want, it's your ass." Whereas in the HK edit, he says, "It's not your money we want, it's Laura Shapiro."
• Garruci talks with Ko's henchman. (replacing the scene where Garruci exchanges money with Ko)
• Benny Garrucci beats up Lee Hing and Wing. (added)
• Wong and Soo Ling visit a fortune teller. (deleted)
• Wong discovers a bomb in Sally Yeh's bedroom. Then her uncle comes to warn Billy and Sally. Then Sally and her uncle depart from the airport. (added)

• The fight scene between Billy Wong and Benny Garrucci is re-edited to be more fast-paced.
• Billy trying to block Benny's brass knuckles with a large metal can. (added)
• Billy smashes a pot over Benny's head. (slow-motion and alternative take)
• Billy spins a large gear handle to hit Benny in the face. (deleted)
• The fight between Billy and Mr. Ko's henchmen has more close-ups cut in. (re-edited)
• Benny Garrucci attacks Billy with a concrete saw. (re-edited)

• All cursing has been excised and American slang replaced. The HK edit dubs all of the English dialog without properly translating the cursing, sometimes changing the entire context of lines.
• All nudity with women has been excised, with the drug lab re-shot to show fully dressed lab workers, and the nude masseuse being deleted.
• The score is slightly different in certain scenes, and Chip Taylor's song "One Up For the Good Guys" during the end credits is replaced with a replayed upbeat theme from the movie's score.

Almost all of the Japanese version is edited to match the Hong Kong version, but it contains some scenes that were cut out of the Hong Kong version. Some scenes were given a different Cantonese dub to keep the original context of these scenes intact, as they were in the Glickenhaus version. These scenes are:

• Garoni & Wong's first visit with Superintendent Whitehead & the latter conversation with the inspector. The latter conversation was kept in the Japanese version, requiring a new Cantonese dub.
• Garoni & Wong talking about their plans outside the police station after their second visit with Whitehead (deleted from the Hong Kong version)
• Garucci & David Ho talking in their car after leaving the airport (exclusive to the Japanese version)
• Garucci & David Ho talking after Ko's press conference (slightly different Cantonese dub to change context)
• Garucci exchanging money with Ko at his office (deleted from Hong Kong version)