50 Fun Facts About Rush Hour

What plays over the end credits of Rush Hour, as in many Jackie Chan films?

A blooper reel runs under the credits, as in Chan's earlier films, and it ends with Chan gloating as Chris Tucker fails to get out three words of Chinese.

In Rush Hour, Carter erupts when Lee touches his radio and puts on which band?

The Beach Boys are 'great American music', Lee protests, and Carter warns him never to touch a Black man's radio; in the sequel Lee gets even with 'Don't you ever touch a Chinese man's CD.'

Which Michael Jackson song does Carter sing at a karaoke bar in Rush Hour 2?

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough is Carter's choice in a bar full of Triad gangsters; Chris Tucker was a real-life friend of Jackson's and appeared in his 'You Rock My World' video the same year.

The first Rush Hour opens on the last night of which country's rule over Lee's home city?

Britain handed the city back to China at midnight that night, June 30, 1997; at a farewell banquet, the art treasures recovered in Lee's raid are toasted as a parting gift.

Whose kidnapping sets the plot of the first Rush Hour in motion?

The Chinese consul's daughter, Soo Yung, is snatched on her way to school; her father sends for Lee, and the FBI, wanting no outsider on the case, hands him to the LAPD to be kept busy.

Who is unmasked as Rush Hour's crime lord, Juntao?

Commander Thomas Griffin, Lee's own superior, is Juntao: Carter spots him on a Chinatown surveillance tape, and he demands the ransom as payment for the art treasures Lee seized from him.

In Rush Hour, Carter asks if the kidnappers demanding $50 million think they took whom?

Chelsea Clinton, then the president's daughter, is his benchmark; having answered the call and said he was the FBI, Carter ends up taking down the kidnapper's terms himself.

Where does the climax of the first Rush Hour take place?

The Los Angeles Convention Center is hosting an exhibition of Chinese art where the ransom is to be handed over; the villain falls from the rafters, and Carter catches Lee with a huge flag.

Which real Chinatown restaurant in Rush Hour later put up a sign boasting of it?

Foo Chow is where Carter is told to look for Juntao, and the ransom drop is set for the alley behind it; the restaurant's wall later proclaimed 'Rush Hour was shot here'.

In Rush Hour, Carter tells Lee his policeman father was killed during what?

A traffic stop, in daylight, by 'some punk who didn't want no ticket': his father's partner never got out of the car to back him up, which is why Carter insists on working alone.

Which studio originally bought the Rush Hour script before putting it in turnaround?

Disney's Hollywood Pictures developed it for over a year before studio chief Joe Roth let it go: he doubted the script, its second-time director and Jackie Chan's pull with American audiences.

Which studio ultimately made and released Rush Hour?

New Line Cinema said yes because it had just had a hit with the same director and Chris Tucker, and Rush Hour repaid it with the studio's biggest opening weekend up to then.

Which comedian turned down Rush Hour's Carter role to make Holy Man, and later said he regretted it?

Eddie Murphy chose Holy Man, a box-office bomb, over Rush Hour; in 2025 he named it with Ghostbusters and Who Framed Roger Rabbit as his three 'wish I would have done' movies.

Which comedian says he turned down Jackie Chan's offer to co-star in Rush Hour?

Martin Lawrence told the story on The Tonight Show in 2024: 'Wasn't enough money.' He added that he was happy for Chris Tucker, saying 'that's what it was supposed to be.'

Which Jackie Chan film topped the US box office in 1996, paving his way to Rush Hour?

Rumble in the Bronx was shot in Vancouver, mountains and all, yet it made Chan a draw in America; a young director then pitched him a buddy-cop film as an equal lead, not a sidekick.

Which MTV Movie Award did Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker win for the first Rush Hour?

Best On-Screen Duo was theirs in 1999, but Best Fight got away: their nominated brawl lost to Ben Stiller wrestling a small dog in There's Something About Mary.

Which animated film ended Rush Hour's two weeks at No. 1 in the US in October 1998?

Antz opened on October 2, 1998, ahead of Pixar's rival insect film A Bug's Life, after a public feud between DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg and Pixar's Steve Jobs and John Lasseter.

Which website did a Jackie Chan fan rush to launch for Rush Hour?

Rotten Tomatoes was coded in two weeks by Senh Duong, who wanted it live for the film's planned August 1998 opening; the release then slipped to September, and the site launched without it.

What did Jackie Chan say he disliked about his own performance in the first Rush Hour?

His English: 'I didn't like the movie. I still don't like the movie,' Chan said in 2002, adding that he didn't know what Chris Tucker was saying either.

Which future Entourage star plays the Versace salesman who dresses Carter and Lee in Rush Hour 2?

Jeremy Piven's salesman takes the two cops for a couple, offering to wrap Lee in silk as well because he loves it when couples dress alike; he became Ari Gold three years later.

Where does Rush Hour 2 begin, with Carter on vacation?

Hong Kong was meant to be Carter's holiday, promised at the end of the first film, but a bombing that kills two Americans puts Lee on a case and Carter on the hunt with him.

Who plays the Triad boss Ricky Tan in Rush Hour 2?

John Lone, the emperor of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, plays Ricky Tan, who was the police partner of Lee's father before turning Triad, and who turns out to be his killer.

Which Chinese star plays the assassin Hu Li in Rush Hour 2?

Zhang Ziyi, fresh from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, made her Hollywood debut as Hu Li while speaking only a smattering of English; she gave her press interviews through an interpreter.

What are Ricky Tan and Steven Reign laundering through the Red Dragon casino in Rush Hour 2?

Counterfeit $100 bills, $100 million of them, are being washed through the casino; they are near perfect, and the only way to spot one is to burn it, because the ink burns red, not black.

When extras tried to spend Rush Hour 2's realistic prop money, which agency seized and destroyed it?

The Secret Service, which guards the currency as well as the president, seized the fake cash after extras and passers-by tried to spend it on the Las Vegas Strip, then ordered the prop house to stop printing.

Which Oscar-nominated actor appears uncredited as Kenny, the restaurant owner and informant, in Rush Hour 2?

Don Cheadle went unbilled as Kenny, an ex-con who hides a gambling den behind his Crenshaw restaurant, and it is his tip about a free-spending customer that puts Carter on the villains' trail.

What does Hu Li tape into Lee's mouth at the casino in Rush Hour 2?

A grenade, which she threatens to set off by remote and 'blow your 32 teeth into your brain'; Lee and Carter get it out moments before she presses the detonator.

Where do Lee and Carter head at the very end of Rush Hour 2?

New York City is Lee's wish: asked what he has always wanted, he says to see the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden, and Carter, flush from the casino tables, makes it first class.

At the start of Rush Hour 3, what job has Carter been reduced to?

Directing traffic is the duty he has been busted down to, done to the strains of Prince's 'Do Me, Baby'; he abandons the junction when the police radio reports that the ambassador Lee is guarding has been shot.

Which Las Vegas hotel, closed for good months earlier, was dressed as Rush Hour 2's Red Dragon casino?

The Desert Inn had shut in August 2000, so the crew were free to dress its casino and stage an explosion there; it was the old resort's last job before Steve Wynn pulled it down.

Rush Hour 3's name mix-up routine pairs a kung fu master called Yu with a second man called what?

Mi completes the pun: Carter asks 'Who are you?', the master answers 'Yu', and the row only gets worse when the second man says 'I am Mi' and the master adds 'And I'm Yu.'

In Rush Hour 3, the assassin Kenji turns out to be Lee's what?

Foster brother: Kenji and Lee grew up in the same orphanage, which is why Lee cannot shoot him when he first corners him, and why Kenji later lets himself fall rather than be saved.

In Rush Hour 3, the mysterious Shy Shen turns out to be what?

A list of Triad leaders: the names are tattooed on the back of the head of Geneviève, a French stage performer, who will be beheaded if the gangs catch her.

Which Oscar-winning director plays the French police commissioner who roughs up Lee and Carter in Rush Hour 3?

Roman Polanski went uncredited as Commissaire Revi, who subjects the pair to a painful airport 'inspection' and later tries to claim the credit for their work, only to be floored by both at once.

Which Swedish screen legend plays World Criminal Court chairman Varden Reynard in Rush Hour 3?

Max von Sydow's chairman is flagged by his name: Reynard is the sly fox of medieval fable, and renard is still the French for fox, a hint that the heroes' ally is working with the Triads.

Which song do Lee and Carter dance to at the end of Rush Hour 3?

Edwin Starr's 'War' brings the series full circle: in the first film the two sing it on a stakeout, Carter telling Lee 'You don't know nothing about no war', and it plays as that film ends too.

In Rush Hour 3, why does the Paris taxi driver George at first refuse to take Carter?

He won't drive Americans, 'the most violent people' he knows; yet he ends up rescuing the pair twice, the second time by shooting the villain at the very end.

Rush Hour 3 was the last feature film scored by which veteran composer?

Lalo Schifrin had scored Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, and the director hired him for Rush Hour asking for 'the Enter the Dragon of the 1990s'; he stayed for all three films.

In Rush Hour, why is Carter handed the job of minding Lee for the FBI?

As a punishment: Carter had just wrecked an undercover arms sting, so his captain lets him believe the FBI has finally picked him, when the real job is to keep Lee away from the case.

What became of the Rush Hour television series that CBS launched in 2016?

Axed after one season: with Jon Foo and Justin Hires in the Chan and Tucker roles it never found an audience, so CBS cancelled it within seven weeks and burned off the rest that summer.

Chris Tucker made his name as a frequent performer on which HBO show?

Def Comedy Jam was Russell Simmons's stand-up showcase, and it was Simmons who introduced Tucker to a young music-video director named Brett Ratner at a Los Angeles comedy club.

As Ice Cube tells it, why did Chris Tucker turn down the Friday sequels?

His religious faith: Ice Cube said in 2021 that Tucker no longer wanted to swear or smoke weed on camera, and so turned down the $10-12 million he was offered for Next Friday.

As a boy at the China Drama Academy, Jackie Chan performed in which troupe of star pupils?

The Seven Little Fortunes were the school's best students; Chan spent ten harsh years there, and pupils took their master's name, which is why he performed as Yuen Lo beside Yuen Biao.

What was the Rush Hour director's first feature film, made with Chris Tucker in 1997?

Money Talks lost its original director, and Chris Tucker put forward a music-video maker he had worked with, a 'cool white boy named Brett Ratner'; a year later the two made Rush Hour.

Which actor plays Lee's former police boss in the first Rush Hour?

Tom Wilkinson had been a jobbing actor since the early 1970s until The Full Monty made his name in 1997, and Hollywood called at once: he was cast in Rush Hour that November.

Which Jay-Z single, with Ja Rule and Amil, was the hit from the Rush Hour soundtrack?

Can I Get A... reached No. 19 in the US and made a star of Ja Rule, who raps its third verse; the title trails off because the uncut hook ends in a curse.

Rush Hour held the record for the biggest September opening weekend until which 2002 romantic comedy?

Sweet Home Alabama opened to $35.6 million, edging past the $33 million that had stunned Hollywood in 1998, when no major studio had rushed to make Rush Hour at all.

In which country was Jackie Chan filming when Brett Ratner flew out to pitch him Rush Hour?

South Africa meant a 22-hour flight for one lunch: Ratner recalls Chan plying him with abalone, wine and a cigar, saying neither yes nor no, then signing on a few days later.

Which Frank Lloyd Wright house in Los Angeles, also Deckard's apartment in Blade Runner, appears in Rush Hour?

Ennis House plays the penthouse of Lee's superior in the opening scenes, supposedly half a world from Los Angeles, with another city's skyline faked outside its windows.

Where does Carter take Lee sightseeing in Rush Hour?

Grauman's Chinese Theatre gets Carter's 'Just like home, ain't it?', though he admits he has never been to China; Lee slips away onto a tour bus while Carter is busy questioning an informant.