La furia de Chicago

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!

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.

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

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

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.