Golden Way Films

Background
Golden Way Films (formerly Authority Films) was one of Golden Harvest's satellite companies founded by Jackie Chan.

(1980-1985)


Nicknames: "The Fist from Hell", "The Punch of Doom", "Nightmare on Authority Street", "Ho-Wah!"

Logo: On a black background, a rainbow sunburst briefly flashes, and an orange fist appears zooming in with rainbow trails following. It then 'punches' the screen, disappears, and reappears after, tearing through the black screen. Red Chinese characters flash underneath, along with "AUTHORITY FILMS LTD.".

Technique: The fist zooming, punching and text.

Music/Sounds: First, a suspenseful, dramatic fanfare plays, having the volume gradually rise as the fist gets near to the screen. When the fist punches the screen, a loud male yell (Jackie Chan) that sounds like this: "Ho-wah!". Finally, when the fist tears through the black screen, a loud paper ripping sound plays, ending with the loud windy sound.

Availability: TBA

(1985-1995)
Nicknames: "The GW", "The Road to Chan", "The Golden Harvest Star"

Logo: On a black background, the Golden Harvest logo zooms in, encased in a green wire-frame globe with blue continents and lights representing some of the major cities in the world. The globe grows smaller and smaller until the Golden Harvest logo is on the outside. A yellow, glowing, 4-pointed star emerges from the bottom rectangle of the logo and then engulfs the whole screen before zooming out to reveal a black background divided in half with the above half having a bright light and the bottom having a yellow road which moves backward, giving the impression we're going forward. The star stops in the middle of the screen and rotates to the other side, revealing an abstract "G" in the shape of an diamond. The "G" then moves to the right and an yellow triangle slides to the left, forming an abstract, connected "GW", which then flashes, causing the background to become solid black again. "GOLDEN WAY FILMS LTD." in a color close to school bus yellow zooms out and then the name in Chinese characters zoom out below it as well. Both names then flash in a yellow light.

Variant: Sometimes the logo is on the blue/black gradient background depending on film quality.

Technique: The globe and Golden Harvest logo zooming in and out, the star emerging from the Golden Harvest logo, the transition to the road, the star transforming into the logo, and then the names zooming out and flashing.

Music/Sounds: There are 2 variants, one slightly different than the other. The 1st variant features an rising synth at the beginning, followed by a theme based of the film's opening theme, which is pretty bombastic. The later variant has a less bombastic, though not much different synth theme.

Availability: Rare. The first music variant is only seen on Police Story. The later music variant is much more common and is seen on other films of the era.

Legacy: Quite a lot of animation for an 80's logo, and pretty impressive too, but it does have flaws. The wire-frame globe is very cliche, the colors are a bit gaudy against the black background, and the road is very choppy, not to mention appears to be thinner after the flash.