OVERLAY REPORT

In the United States, the 1985 film *Police Story* (directed by and starring Jackie Chan) is generally rated **PG-13**. While the film was originally released in Hong Kong (where it received a Category II rating), its various releases in the North American market via distributors like Fortune Star, Shout! Factory, and the Criterion Collection have consistently maintained a PG-13 rating. The following elements contributed to this rating: ### 1. Intense Martial Arts Violence The primary reason for the PG-13 rating is the relentless, high-impact martial arts action. Unlike the more stylized, "dance-like" choreography of earlier kung fu films, *Police Story* popularized "stunt-driven" action. * **The Mall Finale:** The climactic fight in the shopping mall features characters being thrown into glass display cases, kicked through wooden structures, and hit with heavy objects. The sheer volume of "glass breakage" is a hallmark of the film and contributes to a sense of high-impact peril. * **Hand-to-Hand Combat:** The fighting is fast-paced and involves "found object" weaponry (chairs, clothes racks, suitcases), which the MPAA typically views as more "imitable" and thus deserving of a higher rating than fantasy violence. ### 2. Dangerous Stunts and Physical Peril The film is famous for stunts that involve significant risk to the performers, which increases the "intensity" level of the film. * **The Bus Chase:** In the opening sequence, several stuntmen are thrown through the windows of a double-decker bus onto the pavement. The impact is depicted vividly, showing the physical toll on the characters. * **The Pole Slide:** Jackie Chan’s famous slide down a multi-story pole covered in decorative lights involves electrical sparks and a violent crash through a glass canopy at the bottom. The realistic nature of the injuries (shown further in the end-credit outtakes) pushes the film toward the more mature end of the PG-13 spectrum. ### 3. Destruction of Property The film features a massive "shanty town" car chase at the beginning where cars drive directly through buildings, destroying a village. The scale of the destruction and the proximity of vehicles to human actors create a high level of tension. ### 4. Language and Tone While the film is not heavy on profanity (particularly in the subtitled versions), the tone shifts between broad slapstick comedy and a very gritty police procedural. There are moments of genuine menace from the villains—particularly the treatment of the witness, Selina (played by Brigitte Lin)—that elevate the film beyond a standard "G" or "PG" family action movie. ### Why it isn't rated "R" * **Lack of Gore:** While there is some blood (mostly facial cuts and bloody noses resulting from the glass shards), there is no graphic dismemberment, excessive "squib" hits (blood sprays), or lingering shots of gore. * **Minimal Profanity:** The film lacks the "pervasive" use of four-letter words that typically triggers an R rating in the U.S. * **No Sexual Content:** There is almost no sexual content or nudity. There are comedic scenes involving Jackie Chan’s character and the witness in an apartment, but these are played for laughs and are entirely non-explicit. **Summary for the MPAA:** The rating is typically summarized as **"Rated PG-13 for sequences of martial arts violence and some perilous stunts."**