The Protector was Jackie Chan's second attempt at breaking into the American (global) market. His first attempt came approx. 4 years earlier with the film "Battle Creek Brawl". Unfortunately, Battle Creek Brawl flopped at the box-office and it wouldn't be until 1985 that Jackie Chan would take a second attempt at the American (global) market.
Jackie Chan was the biggest star in the Asian market, surpassing even that of the legendary Bruce Lee. He had starred in approx. 40 films in his native land, so it was a logical step in his career to take a stab at Hollywood. The only real drawback was that Jackie didn't have a strong grasp of the English language but because his movies focused on dynamic action sequences, a basic understanding of the english language would be sufficient.
For his second attempt on America, Jackie would star alongside actor Danny Aiello in a James Glickenhaus film entitled "The Protector". This was Glickenhaus's fourth time in the directing chair. Glickenhaus, James had previously directed Z-Grade action star Robert Ginty in a film entitled "The Exterminator", which was also Glickenhaus's only real profitable film. "The Exterminator" is an violent, gritty, and crude vigilante action film, which was also a rip-off of Charles Bronson's "Death Wish".
It is no secret that Jackie Chan and James Glickenhaus didn't get along. Glickenhaus wanted Jackie Chan's character in "The Protector", which was policeman named Billy Wong to be a Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry", speaking softly, carrying a big gun and swearing a lot. There was also gratuitous nudity in the film, specifically a scene in which Chan's character walks into a drug lab run by nude women. To make matters worse, Chan was shocked at how bad Glickenhaus's directing was, espcially since the purpose was to make a martial arts film, but was becoming another "Dirty Harry" movie. Chan had gained much experience directing in his Asian films and was disgusted with the way Glickenhaus would move onto the next scene even though the scene he just shot desperately needed to be shot again. In his autobiography "Jackie Chan: My Life in Action", he comments on saying that he calls up his manager saying, "He keeps going after four takes of each scene. FOUR Takes! I've never done a scene that took less than 20 takes!"
Jackie knew that his Asian audience would be offended by the frequent foul language, the exploitive nudity and Glickenhaus's poor direction. Jackie asked Glickenhaus to let him direct the fight scenes but Glickenhaus wouldn't let him. As far as Glickenhaus was concerned Jackie was the actor and he was the director and there should be absolutely no confiding between the two of them. In a heated argument between Glickenhaus and Jackie half way through the shoot, Jackie said he "quit" and walked off the set. Back at his hotel room Jackie phoned his manager in Hong Kong and told him what he had done. "Glickenhaus is destroying my career", Jackie told his agent but his agent told Jackie he had to return to the set and finish the film because Glickenhaus had an iron clad contract.
When the film was finally completed and Glickenhaus left Hong Kong, Chan decided not to release it in Asia, but changed his mind by reshooting some scenes including doing away with the nudity, vulgar language, and re-coordinating the final fight between his character and the villian played by Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace. The American version was stiff and editing was sloppy, whereas The Hong Kong version was more elaborate, dynamic and faster. The American version then flopped at the Box Office while the Hong Kong version received moderate success in Asia.
