The_Phantom_Projectionist 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.

leonblackwood 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: $8.5millionI 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

Scott LeBrun This, the initial attempt to introduce martial arts icon Jackie Chan to American audiences, was unfortunately a flop in its time, which is too bad considering that it's actually pretty enjoyable. It's not among his best work (and Chan himself dislikes the movie as he had little to no control), but aficionados of the martial arts genre could easily do worse. The fights are decent and somewhat rousing, and as has always been Chans' style, there's a liberal dose of comedy to the proceedings; the viewer may be laughing as often as they might be cheering. A number of familiar faces add to the fun; some of the people behind the legendary "Enter the Dragon", including director Robert Clouse, were on hand for this one.Jackie plays Jerry Kwan, a young Chinese man living in Chicago who catches the attention of mobster Dominici (Jose Ferrer), whose goons have been hassling Jerry's restaurateur father (Chao Li Chi). Dominici has his men kidnap Mae (lovely Rosalind Chao), fiancée to Jerry's brother, in order to force Jerry to compete in the Battle Creek Brawl, a big stakes fighting competition held in Texas. There Jerry must ultimately take on the reigning champion, Billy Kiss (H.B. Haggerty), so nicknamed because he gives his opponents the "kiss of death" after defeating them.With a bouncy, very amusing score by Lalo Schifrin as accompaniment, "The Big Brawl" creates a reasonable recreation of 1930s Chicago and Texas, and delivers an acceptable amount of humour and action. Jackie is engaging as always, no matter if English clearly wasn't his first language. Ferrer is a hoot, and Kristine DeBell is cute as Jerry's girlfriend Nancy. Mako is wonderful as Jackies' uncle and trainer; their training scenes are some of the brightest in the movie. Look, also, for appearances by Lenny Montana, Sonny Barnes, Earl Maynard, Larry Drake, and Ox Baker.This is an amiable diversion every step of the way, even if it isn't prime Jackie.Seven out of 10.

no-skyline Jackie's first staring role in an American made movie, Robert Clouse (Enter the Dragon) directs but this never really hits the high notes of say Project A or Armour of God. The problem being that Jackie is lumbered with ex-pro wrestlers and the like with which to produce fight choreography and not his own JC stunt team so the timing and trust was just not there to produce truly stunning fights.Only once does Jackie get to work his true magic and this is with two members of his own team in a fight that easily surpasses anything on show in the rest of the movie. If they had let Jackie choreograph the entire movie this would have been a much better film as lets face it the fights are what we here for in a movie like this.Overall it's entertaining in places but for Chan enthusiasts only, if you've never seen a J.C film before your better of starting with Project A, Police Story or for the older more traditional style kung fu flick Drunken Master.Entertaining for Chan fans only - 5/10