Battle Creek Brawl

The Big Brawl does so many things right that it is a let down to watch some of Jackie Chan's later movies after seeing this one because so much has been lifted or borrowed from this film. There are some amazing fight sequences are all firmly supported by a hilarious story that never lags. (unlike like Mr. Nice Guy, or Rumble in the Bronx)

Well, I finally got to see it...mmmm I thought, not too bad..seeing as he didnt know much english at the time, and was well restricted by the American Film industry machine!. His Fight scenes were watered down and slow by all normal 'Jackie' standards but that apart,there are some great comic moments and Jackie wins through. He Radiates innocent charm and even manages to Rollerscate with gusto, although Im not too sure about the historical acuracy of some of the costumes..this was supposed to have been 1930s USA and Im sure spandex wasnt invented then!One interresting note for real 'died in the wool' Jackie fans , is the continued theme of the Lazy but tallented boy being trained in wierd and some would say inhumane ways by a 'sifu','master','uncle!'...amazing how this sort of idea managed to cross the pacific with him!.All in all a pleasent movie, although I can understand why Jackie was both Disappointed and Angry at the outcome at least it spurred him on to make greater and greater movies in HK.

I just re-watched this movie after seeing it for the first time about 8 years ago, and right thereafter watched Jackie's masterpiece Police Story 2, and my god was the difference painful to bear! The story (although secondary to the action naturally) doesn't really add much to the viewing experience. It doesn't seem to fit well with the tone of the rest of the movie, and the lack of excitement, interesting characters, or pretty much anything that makes many Jackie Chan movies the joy they are, gives the movie a bland and dull impression. In a way, it resembles a boring version of Enter the Dragon, which is probably the movie Clouse was trying to revisit for a possible success in the US. It's almost painful to watch most of the action scenes, when you think about the movies Jackie had starred in just a few years earlier, like "Snake in the Eagles Shadow", "Drunken Master" or even "Fearless Hyena" or "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin". Jackie steals the show completely and the only thing I can imagine Jackie thinking while shooting the majority of the action is: "Really, this is what I have to work with.. let's just get it over with and fly back to Hong Kong tomorrow.." The entire tournament, which is supposed to be the highlight of the movie, is actually the part with the worst fights in any Jackie Chan movie. They basically consist of wrestlers twice the size of Jackie punching with the speed of a snail and trying to hug opponents to death, while Jackie performs some fast, acrobatic moves to finish them off. Some of the moves from Jackie are really impressive though and this is probably Jackie at the hight of his physical capacity, too bad it's squandered the way it is here. Most of the time, Jackie's character is probably intended to resemble a Bruce Lee-like figure with powerful, execution-style moves (complete with the EXACT punching sound effects from Enter the Dragon) and it doesn't really fit him well. The movie actually seems hand-made for coming Belgian Ballet-super star Jean-Claude Van Damme, and I can't believe I'm about to write this, but he probably would have made the movie the cheese-fest it should have been and not the sleeping-pill that it is now.

even though it's his first American movie, it delivers everything you expect from a jackie chan movie, including stunts, great fight scenes and comedy. its a great watch and jackie chan is a joy to watch in his many fight scenes with big wrestlers, and the comedy while some of it dated, for the most part it remains very funny and is entertaining. now some fans don't like this movie, and i cant understand why, it delivers everything you expect from a jackie can movie, sure maybe it is a little cheesy and times, and the acting not the best you've ever seen, but arnt most of jackie chans movies. never the less the big brawl is a great jackie chan flick, and i recommend to fans if his, and action fans in general.

It's weird to think that there once was a time when the whole world didn't know about Jackie Chan. It's even weirder to realize that at one time, he was introduced to us but we didn't think to remember him. BATTLE CREEK BRAWL is odd for being a Hong Kong-inspired movie before Hollywood knew the value of the HK influence. But while director Robert Clouse may have been unable to capitalize on Jackie Chan like he did Bruce Lee, this is still an exciting adventure and an interesting study of one of the earlier chapters of one of the genre's top stars. The story: A martial arts-practicing adventurer (Chan) runs afoul of a Chicago crime syndicate and is strong-armed into competing in an all-important toughman contest. While there are plenty of criticisms to be leveled at this film, I don't accept its departure from the style of other JC movies as one of them. Director Clouse isn't Stanley Tong, and he doesn't need to be: his utilization of Jackie isn't the ideal standard, but someone as talented as Chan benefits from showing poise in alternative circumstances. Admittedly, one casualty of Clouse's style is Chan's comedy, which comes across as clumsy and childish, but his action scenes remain pretty swell. Almost none of his on screen opponents approach Chan's level of agility and they clearly aren't comfortable with the hero's rhythmic style, but Jackie's athletic abandon is matched by satisfying, stunt-heavy choreography. The filmmakers keep the camera pulled back, diminishing our boy's facial expressions but showing off the authenticity of his abilities. Given that this was the first time Chan was being captured as a lead outside of Hong Kong, I'm impressed with the results. The production is on the modest side of respectable. Clouse works well in small, homey locations and pulls off the 1930s setting pretty smoothly. Disappointingly, the story and characters within the setting are not intriguing. The screenplay offers exactly one character and relationship that I found intriguing: dear old Mako in his surprisingly stern role as Jackie's mentor. Everyone else, from Chan's on screen girlfriend (Kristine DeBell) to the evil champion (H.B. Haggerty), are simply varying shades of boring. Even Oscar-winner Jose Ferrer is incredibly vanilla as the lead villain and doesn't enliven a story that's almost solely kept afloat by its lead star's infectious talent. Chan himself isn't at his best either, though this is mainly due to his discomfort with English at this point, and his physical expressiveness conveys a lot of what his dialogue doesn't. BATTLE CREEK BRAWL teeters on a less enthusiastic rating, but eventually wins me over through its strengths. It's not surprising that this film didn't make Jackie Chan a household name, but it's good enough to qualify as a collector's item for the right viewer. The one thing all viewers needs to do when watching is not expect RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, and if you manage that, you'll probably have a good time.

Any movie with Jackie Chan is bound to be one of my favourites. I just love the guy, he's my favourite actor. I've seen A LOT of Jackie Chan movies and I must say that this one is one of my favourites. The comedy is top notch, like you would expect from Jackie. And of course the fight scenes are excellent. A great rental choice if you are looking to become wise in the ways of Jackie.

Heard that before. This is a great movie if you're into B movies and into Jackie Chan. Great combo. It's one of my favorites Jackie Chan movies. The soundtrack rocks. Not for everyone. Silly from top to bottom but I loved it. If it were available I'd add it to my collection.

Review: This movie was a big deal when it was released during the 80's, because it was one of the first Western movies starring Jackie Chan, which were fully English. The main problem that I found with the film is that the action scenes are pretty poor, which is surprising for a Chan movie, and the storyline wasn't that great. Jackie Chan plays Jerry Kwan whose father is being bullied by the local gangsters because he won't pay them protection money for his restaurant. When Jerry bumps into the gangsters while they are leaving his father's place, he uses his Kung Fu skills to fight them off and he warns them not to come back again. The mobsters then tell the head boss, Dominici (Jose Ferrer), about his Kung Fu skills and he decides to use him for the Battle Creek Brawl competition, we're various fighters come together to battle for a cash price. As Jerry is reluctant to fight in the competition, Dominici kidnaps his brothers fiancé, who has just arrived from Hong Kong. After some training with his uncle Herbert (Mako), he enters the competition to fight for her release. There are some other elements to the storyline but I don't want to spoil it for those people who haven't watched it before. Like many Chan movies, there is a lot of weak comedy throughout the movie, especially during the fighting scenes, so I was quite put off from the beginning. I also was expecting a big showdown at the end but it turned out to be a bunch of heavyweight men, wrestling with each other. Chan looked tiny compared to his opponents and the silly Kung Fu moves that he used against them, was pretty poor. The acting wasn't bad and I liked the chemistry between Chan and Mako but the film looked extremely dated and the comedy was just not that funny. Average! Round-Up: This movie was written and directed by Robert Clouse, who brought you Enter The Dragon, Black Belt Jones, Game Of Death, China O'Brien I & II and Ironheart. He sadly died of kidney failure in 1997, at the age of 68 but he firmly put his stamp in cinema with the movies that he made with Bruce Lee. I don't think that this movie was in the same ball park as Enter The Dragon or Game Of Death but he can honestly say that he had a hand in bringing Chan to a Western market before he died. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $8.5million I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/martial arts/crime/comedies starring Jackie Chan, Jose Ferrer, Kristine DeBell, David Sheiner, Mako and Larry Drake. 3/10

The Big Brawl and The Protector are two of my favorite Jackie Chan films. They are both fun to watch, although in the Big Brawl Jackie gets to show his comedic side which adds quite a bit to the enjoyment factor. I have low quality VHS copies of both of these films and I am currently searching for new first generation copies in English. I would advise anyone to give these films a look. Of course I like any film with Jackie Chan, and I hope he will continue to team up with American filmmakers, as in Rushour, to give us more laughs and wild action.

I'm a big, big fan of Jackie Chan and like most people, I don't watch them to get any intellectual challenge whatsoever. And normally I don't pay attention to the plot, either, since usually there isn't any. However, this movie was extremely interesting to watch from a Caucasian American point of view because of its depiction of white America. I remember that this movie looked like somebody watched a couple of 30's gangster movies, several westerns and "The Godfather" three or four times and decided that's what the US was like. It was very interesting -- and very eye opening -- to see how Caucasians and Americans were stereotyped! *All* of the white characters (that I remember) were extremely racist, going out of their way to torment Jackie and his grandfather, who were just trying to eke out a living in a harsh environment. Usually we're used to seeing the "no speaka engleesh" Asian characters who are usually convenience store clerks or yakuza or math geniuses. It was very scary to see Americans shown only as rednecks or gangsters! Although unfortunately I think the racism is less of a stereotype and more of the truth. Anyways, this is something to keep in mind while you're watching Jackie beat the crap out of his opponents!