User reviews

Jackie plays Jerry Kwan, a Chinese living in 1930s America. His father is forced to pay the Mafia protection, and Jerry won't stand for it, picking a fight with some Mafia-goons. The Mafia see Jerry's potential as a fighter, and kidnap his brother's fiancé, forcing Jerry to fight for them in the Battle Creek Brawl: an anything goes, winner-takes-all, fighting competition.

That's pretty much it plot wise, but in a Jackie Chan movie, the faster we get the plot out of the way, the happier we are (although, another pointed out the depiction of openly racist, 1930s America, I did think that was somewhat interesting). The fights and stunts are decent, but not up to Jackie's usual standards - he was forced to work with pro-wrestlers, etc unworthy to work with the Chan-man, and the stunt-coordinator was only a first time stunt-director, and had only performed stunts in three other movies. The fights during the Battle Creek Brawl really highlight the difference between Jackie and his much-larger, slower opponents - while Jackie impresses us with his speed and skill, the other guys are trying impress with sheer-power, and it doesn't work very well.

As his first American movie, its not too bad, and definitely better than his second attempt in America with "The Protector", but I would expect a lot more from Jackie, and the director Robert Clouse (who also directed Enter the Dragon).

6/10

This exciting movie is crammed of action-packed, spectacular fights, comedy ,and breathtaking stunt-work . Jackie Chan as young Asian American martial artist expert is top notch , he is one army man fighting a group of heinous criminals and as always he makes his own stunts . As he is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fight competition .Chan along with his girlfriend (Kristine DeBell) seek fame and fortune in 1930s America when he enters an all-comers martial arts competition , the ¨Champion fight , Battle Creek , the Brawl of this Century¨, forced by Mob that has kidnapped the brother's fiancée (Rosalind Chao) , despite the opposition of his father and several imposing opponents. This time Chan join forces with his uncle , a martial arts master (Mako) , both of whom are taken to Texas to participate in a free-for-all match .

This Chop-Socky displays action-packed, thrills,fast-paced and wild fighting images. Incredible stunts and brief comic touches, as usual , the picture is regularly constructed and contains some flaws and gaps . This is a passable action movie distinguished by ferocious sequences , and packs silly sense of humor as well as subsequent Jackie's entries; however being hampered by mediocre cinematography which is necessary a good remastering . In this outing Jackie teamed up to prestigious secondary named Mako and some veteran star as Jose Ferrer . Jackie Chan's failed at Box-office in this USA debut , however , being quite amusing and better than its reputation . Chan is a hard-working actor and director throughout his long and varied career .He went on playing ¨Cannoball¨ , ¨The protector¨ and "Rumble in the Bronx", until getting all American success with ¨Shangai Kid¨ . Of course , his big hits were ¨The Police story¨ series that won the Golden Horse Award, a Chinese version of the Oscar , the first was titled ¨Police story(1985)¨ directed by the same Chan , it was a perfect action film for enthusiastic of the genre ; the following was ¨Police story 2(1988)¨also pretty violent and with abundant humor touches. It's followed by this ¨Supercop¨ or ¨Police story 3¨ and finally, ¨Police story IV : Crime story.

This medium-budgeted and ordinary Kung-Fu actioner is middling realized by Robert Clouse , an expert on Chop-Socky movies and he directed Bruce Lee's last film , Game of Death (1978) . Robert Clouse is known best for his most successful film : Enter the Dragón (1973) and Clouse was a director who worked mainly in the visuals of cinema, owing to the fact that he was completely deaf, he employed assistant directors who could verify that actors had delivered their lines correctly. After being contracted by Warner Bros. and Golden Harvest to direct Enter the Dragón (1973), Clouse was escalated into the realm of profitable filmmakers . But, unlike others in this category, doors in Hollywood were not entirely open to him and the failed with ¨The big brawl¨. Clouse was hired by Warner Brothers Pictures to direct Black Belt (1974) . The film proved to be a moderate success, but was seen more as a vehicle for Enter the Dragón (1973) protégé 'Jim Kelly'. After that , he directed vehicles for Samo Hung , Jim Kelly , Richard Norton as ¨Gynkata ¨ , Yul Brynner in ¨The last warrior¨ one of the best films of his long career , Cynthia Rothrock as ¨China O'Brian I and II ¨ and other B films .

This Jackie Chan vehicle,his first attempt to break into the American market,generally has a bad reputation. Jackie himself hated myself the film,one of the reasons being that he had little to no control over the action. It was also a box office flop,despite it regrouping some of the team that made Enter The Dragon.

However,The Big Brawl is not all that bad. Indeed at first it seems that it does not at all deserve it's critics. Lalo Schifrin's main theme is exceptionally groovy,the 1030s Chicage setting is reasonably well evoked and there is one early fight scene,in which Jackie defeats three baddies seemingly by accident,that,although a little slow,does come across as being classic Jackie,combining fighting and slapstick typically well. As the film goes on it loses interest somewhat,especially as the final third is just Jackie fighting a bunch of wrestler types in the Big Brawl of the title. Nonetheless, if you don't expect much and/or have not seen many other of Chan's movie fights,they are fairly entertaining,as he defeats his opponents with his skill and agility, and despite the slow choreography,he does perform a few great moves and dangerous moments.

Elsewhere Mako is great fun as Jackie's uncle/teacher and his training scenes with Jackie are fun. It's also interesting to see Jackie in a supposedly sexual relationship with his girlfriend {something he normally shied away from}and here are also a few good laughs involving some inept gangsters. The Big Brawl is seriously flawed,but it really isn't bad. It's certainly better than The Protector!

Jackie Chan's first American venture was the result of Golden Harvest keeping Jackie out of harm's way and to try to push Jackie internationally. When Chan broke contract with Lo Wei for Golden Harvest and five million HK dollars, Lo wanted to do everything he could to get Jackie back (or punish him) even deal with the Triad group Sun Yi On to do this. Jimmy Wang Yu, whom Jackie worked with in The Killer Meteors and had Triad influence, offered to broker a deal between the three parties. He would later require a few favors such as Jackie to appear in Island of Fire and Fantasy Mission Force. Jimmy was quite successful in his talks with the three parties early in Jackie's foreign journey, but Jackie would have to appear in two American films: star in The Big Brawl and have a small part in the horrific Cannonball Run while running the emotional gamut known as the American Press.

Battle Creek Brawl aka The Big Brawl is a mediocre attempt at trying to showcase Jackie's skills. While it is not as bad as the American version of his second attempt – The Protector – it was still only an OK film. It was directed by Robert Clouse (Enter the Dragon and the craptacular Game of Death) but he was relegated to B-movie fare at this point in his career though he would later direct Gymkata. Clouse's static style conflicted with the dynamic nature of Jackie. Though there were several other areas of annoyance for Chan including his working with a language that he did not understand at the time and a stunt coordinator who did not understand his style.

Jackie stars as Jerry Kwan, a prodigal martial art student studying under his uncle Herbert Kwan (played by the prolific Japanese actor Mako) in the late 20's or early 30's Chicago. Herbert is a chiropractor when he is not torturing Jackie or going after large women. He is a disappointment to his father, even when he breaks up extortionists of his father's restaurant, who wants him to be more like his brother Robert, the Doctor. Jerry's fighting ability gets the attention of Dominichi (Jose Ferrer) a local gangster and obtains the ire of his nephew David Leggetti. Dominichi needs a fighter to be able to beat his nemesis, Mr. Morgan, who has control of a beast of a man Billy Kiss who kisses his opponents, sometimes a bit long, after he wins (played by H.B. Haggerty who looks like a 19th century circus strong man.)

For Dominichi to control Jerry he kidnaps his brother's soon-to-be fiancé from China named Mae (Rosalind Chao who is forever known by Trekkers as Keiko O'Brien.) He then enters Jerry in a fighting contest called the Battle Creek Brawl which takes place in Texas. The purse is 15,000 dollars (which seems ridiculously low now.) The biggest problem with this contest is that all the fighters resemble professional wrestlers (yes the great Gene Le Bell is amongst them) and not fighters. This is especially evident in the beginning brawl-for-all where there is a camel clutch, body slams and plenty of large men in tights. The fighters are incredibly slow compared to Jackie, but they do add certain campyness to the film (or do the capes and tights make this point already evident.)

One of the more interesting scenes took place earlier in the film when Jackie is part of a relay roller derby contest. He would also use this new found skill of roller skating in an awesome stunt sequence in Winners and Sinners. But the rest of the film never quite captures my interest the way that scene does. The romance between Jerry and Nancy was handled in an interesting nonchalant manner though. I also did like some of the fight scenes, but not as much as most of Jackie's Hong Kong fight scenes. I am glad that he was able to add humor to several parts of the film. I would not recommend this film to most people, because there are so many better "Jackie" films to watch. I did find this a nice diversion and not as bad as many of the American fight films of that era. NOTES: stunt coordinator Pat E. Johnson has his name on the fighter's tournament chalk board. Some versions (especially early Hong Kong prints) of this film take out the relationship scenes between Nancy and Jerry.

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.

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

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.

I tried to watch it but between the bad sound, the silly plot, and the anachronisms I quit. Even while bored out of my skull checking e-mails this movie couldn't hold my attention.

I didn't quite understand this movie. The vehicles and clothing were something from the 20's to as late as the 40's yet they were roller skating in a roller derby in 70's track suits.

When I watch Jackie Chan I like to see terrifically choreographed kung fu. This was just a gimmick.

It's the 1930s (or possibly the '50s, going by the typography on a banner in the film's roller skating scene, or maybe even the '70s judging from the garish skating outfits, the afros on display, and Lalo Schifrin's cool and funky score): a group of gangsters want martial arts expert Jerry (Jackie Chan) to compete in the Texas Battle Creek Brawl and will resort to any underhanded means in order to get him to co-operate…

Robert Clouse might not be the greatest action director in the business, but he has made two of my favourite cult movies ever: Bruce Lee's martial arts classic Enter The Dragon, and post-apocalyptic flick The Ultimate Warrior, starring Yul Brynner. With Jackie Chan as his star, he had the potential to deliver yet another classic for fans to treasure; unfortunately, Battle Creek Brawl, the director's 1980 attempt at emulating his success with Enter The Dragon, isn't as much fun as one might imagine, failing to capitalise on its star's amazing martial arts skills.

With a series of unsuitable opponents (mostly American wrestlers and muscle-men), Chan is unable to make the most of his incredible speed and timing, his fights looking rather slow and laboured in comparison to the action in his Hong Kong films, where he is pitted against other martial artists; poor choreography and sloppy editing also serve to weaken any impact the action scenes might have had, something that is particularly noticeable during the film's major non-martial arts sequence, the roller skating race that is about as adrenaline pumping as a knitting competition (knit one, pearl one Jackie—what a rush!).

The non-fighting members of the supporting cast do what they can to help, with José Ferrer lending proceedings an air of class as ruthless gangster Dominici, ex-adult movie star Kristine DeBell putting in a winning turn as Jerry's girlfriend Nancy, and an enthusiastic early performance from Larry 'Dr.Giggles' Drake, but it's the action that fans have come to see and in that department Battle Creek Brawl simply doesn't deliver the goods.

This entertaining flop of a movie was Jackie Chan's big-screen debut in the US – but unfortunately the film failed to find an audience, and Jackie had to wait another eighteen years before RUSH HOUR provided him with the mainstream appeal he had been previously looking for. BATTLE CREEK BRAWL is far from a great film, but it remains entertaining, thanks to Jackie's antics in the leading role and the wealth of comedy and bizarre antics making the screen time fly by. This is a very strange film with a number of diverse elements – gangsters, girlfriends, prostitutes posing as lovers, a fight contest and a roller-staking competition – that merge into a fun, if insubstantial, whole.

There's plenty of action which makes the whole thing entertaining, with Jackie (as to be expected) at the peak of his powers. It's just a shame his English is pretty hard to understand at this point. He's ably supported by the rest of the cast, including Mako in his clichéd role of, well, Mako, the wise sidekick and mentor; Jose Ferrer also hangs around, hamming things up at every opportunity. The actual brawl of the title doesn't take place until the last twenty minutes, but it's worth waiting for, providing an unusual spectacle: huge, American wrestling-style fighters versus the small, nimble Chan. Until then a wealth of stunts, showing off, and battles with gangsters keep things moving nicely along. Watch out for the unconventional roller-skating tournament as well, which comes out of nowhere and provides a nice distraction from the otherwise routineness of the plot.

Jackie Chan's first serious effort to cross into American cinema, brought to you by the producers of Enter the Dragon. It's clear that these executives were more interested in finding the next Bruce Lee than the first Jackie Chan, as the film follows the wrong conventions and only occasionally caters to his strengths. The plot is awfully simple - nice guy with a knack for street fighting is blackmailed by mobsters into participating in a no-holds-barred tournament - but still somehow manages to get things confused and contradict itself. We spend a lot of time defining the local mafioso as a scoundrel, for example, but that's cast aside as a new head honcho is abruptly defined (and defeated) before the climax. The old boss even ducks in for a jubilant all-good cameo after the action is over, joyfully announcing that he'll quit with all the bad stuff now. The acting really stinks and the action scenes are telegraphed and fake. Chalk that last one up to a mostly-Western cast, more comfortable with selling simple fisticuffs than fists of fury, plus the production's reluctance to fine-tune the fights. And, despite a colorful cast of characters and a bizarre blend of spitballed ideas, it's just not that interesting to watch. After Battle Creek Brawl's underwhelming box office performance, Jackie would need another fifteen years (and several more failed efforts) to finally break through on the US stage.

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.

Having bought previous restored kung fu classics on the 88 Films label, including Jackie's very own underrated Dragon Fist and To Kill With Intrigue (which were both stunning), I had been waiting with baited breath for their next release - which just happened to be this... Battle Creek Brawl.

I used to really enjoy The Big Brawl (as it was more commonly know in the UK). I remember finding it in a video store in Belfast City and not being allowed to buy it as I was 14 and it was rated 15. I rushed home on the bus and begged for my nan to come into town with me the next day to buy it for me. I was just kicking off my insane obsession for collecting kung fu movies and more so, any and all Jackie Chan movies!

A lot of years later, I purchased the great Hong Kong Legends DVD release of the same movie, but this is the best so far...

The 2K restored print of Battle Creek Brawl from 88 Films is indeed lovely, but unfortunately the film itself looks pretty dated which doesn't really help. A lot of the scenes are very brown, dusty and void of colour (not the prints fault - I mean the production) and along with some very poor sound production, helps make for a lot of boring scenes on screen. My kids love Jackie as I do, but this was losing them fast - as it was me.

Having now gained a lot of input from hearing Jackie talk of his time on the production, reading his books and such, you can see how much he wanted to break out in true Jackie Chan style - almost bored from frustration on the restrictions of his physicality. The fights, although passable with a couple of standout moments, are slow, overly staged and reminiscent of early 70's kung fu cinema. And this is down to a few different factors - the first, director Clouse isn't a great director at all and wanted another Bruce Lee on screen. Then there was the statement that American audiences wouldn't like Jackies fast style of fighting and action. And to top that off, he hardly had one proper opponent to go up against during the whole movie!

From daft monologuing mafia types to overly fat wrestlers in ridiculous outfits, Jackie really only gets to come close to some Hong Kong inspired fighting when he takes on the brothers using a bench and some fun choreography. Its almost a crime that he didn't get to do more given that he had just came from the epic Young Master with great success.

So what are the positives I hear you say? Well, Jackie Chan of course! Looking handsome and seemingly enjoying his scenes with Kristine DeBell, its great to see him as the romantic lead for a change - and not only that, but in a mixed race relationship that doesn't raise any issues. Something I would imagine the US in the 30's wouldn't be overly keen to see in real-life. Jackie keeps things professional with the little he had to work with putting on a show whenever he can, showing some great gymnastics, flexibility, stunt work (albeit minor in comparison to other works) and comedic moments. To be honest, aside from the aforementioned fight with the 2 brothers, his other standout moments include his training scenes with Mako and closing fight in the theatre.

With a memorable score by Lalo Schifrin (Enter the Dragon) who would go on to score Jackie's third and most successful break into Hollywood with Rush Hour, this 'classic' Chan vehicle is far from perfect, but I guess an important chapter in his career. The film provides just enough entertainment but it'll be a while before I put it in my player again...

Overall: Terribly dated, Battle Creek Brawl shows how boring American action cinema was at a time when Hong Kong was wowing the world. At this stage of the game, for Chan completists only...

Jackie Chan's first attempt to break through into the American market and a famous flop in any meaning of the word. I can definitely see why. And it's not Chan that's at fault here, except perhaps in that he should have picked a better movie to star in. Because, quite honestly, aside from his enjoyable presence, the rest of the film is very amateurish.

The story is barely there, first and foremost of all. A Chinese (Chan) man living in Chicago gets threatened by the mob and is forced to join a fighting tournament after the boss sees his martial arts skills. A training montage, some fights, et cetera. You know exactly how it goes. Exactly. The movie is short as it is and it insist on dragging us through every tired cliché there is. If you've seen any martial arts film or even any gangster film, you've seen this film as well. It's uninspired in the worst possible way.

And sure, Jackie Chan is a great martial artist and even an engaging actor, if given even halfway decent material to work with. But he cannot work miracles and that's what would have been required here.

Sure, see the film if you want to say you've seen all of Chan's films. And it's not like it's offensively bad. Just boring. Just very, very, very boring. Which is sometimes an even greater crime.

... not just time wise (this plays in the 30s America), but also when it comes to his abilities. This was meant to introduce him to a world wide audience. And it does have a few things that look good. Of course those who already knew him, probably were quite disappointed. You do not get a 100% of Jackie, especially when it comes to the fighting - a big part to say the least of it all.

Still the way he is introduced ... hanging in the air, doing gymnastics ... I am certain those who never saw him, were quite smitten. But the movie is all over the place, like Jackies character himself. Or some random people who are thrown in there to heighten the stakes or something.

Stunts are overall at least decent, when Jackie is being left loose they are even great. But this seems to be go more of a Rocky and Wrestling route ... which does not serve Jackie or the movie too well. Not a bad movie and in the age without Internet (can you imagine) ... I reckon a decent effort ... makes Rush Hour look like a masterpiece of sorts ... although I didn't feel that way when I first watched it.

Of everything you read about this movie it is somewhat better than you think, but it isn't much and definitely isn't what you expect from Jackie Chan in a leading role. The majority of the film is tolerable. I mean the story and acting could've been better but if that was the entirety of the movie it would be a "meh". I'm not blaming Jackie for acting because I know this was his first English movie, but the others weren't so good. But the action scenes is where the movie lacks the most. Jackie himself even said the reason he believed the film failed is because he wasn't allowed to direct the fight scenes himself. To me, the action scenes get to the point of cringe worthy. If Jackie had made them the way he originally wanted, it would've redeemed the film a bit. It wouldn't have been much but would've made it stand out and kinda worth it going through all the slow pacing. The film does have some comedic moments but not many and they're very spread apart from each other. But when they're trying to be funny and it fails, it looks awkward especially if it's Jackie who's doing humor. If you're a really big Jackie Chan fan, I say it's worth a watch for curiosity sake.

Jackie Chan's first serious effort to cross into American cinema, brought to you by the producers of Enter the Dragon. It's clear that these executives were more interested in finding the next Bruce Lee than the first Jackie Chan, as the film follows the wrong conventions and only occasionally caters to his strengths.

The plot is awfully simple - nice guy with a knack for street fighting is blackmailed by mobsters into participating in a no-holds-barred tournament - but still somehow manages to get things confused and contradict itself. We spend a lot of time defining the local mafioso as a scoundrel, for example, but that's cast aside as a new head honcho is abruptly defined (and defeated) before the climax. The old boss even ducks in for a jubilant all-good cameo after the action is over, joyfully announcing that he'll quit with all the bad stuff now. The acting really stinks and the action scenes are telegraphed and fake. Chalk that last one up to a mostly-Western cast, more comfortable with selling simple fisticuffs than fists of fury, plus the production's reluctance to fine-tune the fights.

And, despite a colorful cast of characters and a bizarre blend of spitballed ideas, it's just not that interesting to watch. After Battle Creek Brawl's underwhelming box office performance, Jackie would need another fifteen years (and several more failed efforts) to finally break through on the US stage.

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)

In Battle Creek Brawl a tournament martial arts movie starring Jackie Chan we get the usual good guy Jackie Chan battle a bunch of overweight and don't know how to fight properly fighter in order to save his brother's fiancée from Italian mafia.It not a successful move to bring Jackie to a wider audience based on the Imdb score but if you want to know how Jackie first America movie go Battle Creek Brawl is still enjoyable in some degree

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