Battle Creek Brawl (aka The Big Brawl) (1980)

[thehangman]

I was looking on IMDB and saw this

95 min| 105 min (Extended Version)

Does anyone know about the extended version? Never heard of it before,whats extra?

Have seen chinese dubbed version and synch soundtrack 1 but both the same.

So id like to know if anyone has seen it?

[DragonClaws]

On 20/03/2017 at 0:10 PM, thehangman said:

So id like to know if anyone has seen it?

First I ever heard/read about this extended version, not everything is reliable on IMDB when it comes to some titles. That's not to say there isn't an extended version of The Big Brawl.

[thehangman]

7 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

First I ever heard/read about this extended version, not everything is reliable on IMDB when it comes to some titles. That's not to say there isn't an extended version of The Big Brawl.

Yeah as i said i've never heard of it before

[chazgower01]

Battle Creek Brawl aka The Big Brawl (1980, USA) Amazon Prime 2/5 
Trying to escape the triads and the hold of Lo Wei, Golden Harvest brokered a deal for Jackie to make an American movie with Warner Brothers in the U.S. (while Jimmy Wang Yu mediated on Jackie's behalf back home!)
It's strange... this IS a Jackie Chan movie, he's featured prominently - the second scene shows off his death-defying stunt skills, the third scene his unique movie fighting style and the fourth his physical training skills. But all of them lack the pizzaz of his own Hong Kong production, and it just sort of plods along in an uninspired way.
He's not sparring with Chinese stuntmen here, but rather American actors and big brawling wrestler types - it slows down the action, and slows down Jackie. Who could've really filmed Jackie in 1980 and gotten the most out of his style? I'm not sure what Jackie's talking about when he says he was allowed no input on the fight scenes - these are clearly his moves and fight choreography - he just wasn't allowed to block and actually FILM the scenes. As such, they are a bit bland comparatively. 
Jackie learned to roller skate AND speak English for this role, and even though his skill on wheels is immediately evident (which he'd later use on Winners and Sinners), his English here isn't as bad as I'd read about - especially considering he knew nothing less than a month before filming. (Jackie used phonetic cue cards for most of it).
He has an interesting start to a love scene with his co-star Kristine DeBelle (Meatballs, Bloodbrothers), considering Jackie's aversion to them, that's interrupted by his Uncle, and it's kind of cool how the relationship is never played as interracial or different, just accepted as is. 
There's a lot here that's well-meaning toward Jackie - this was a film that really was made to feature him and all that he does well - it even has some of his comedy (the training leading up to the brawl) - it just doesn't have the kinetic energy of a Hong Kong production. Jackie's ego would never let him see it that way - his clash with director Richard Clouse (of Enter the Dragon fame) is well documented - but the studio really WAS trying to make an American Jackie Chan movie. 
BUT, they still didn't understand Jackie - watch the scene where Mako and Jackie go to break into the bad guys mansion at night - if you ever truly want to see Jackie Chan imitate Bruce Lee, this is it. And you know he wasn't hip to that.
And for as flat as it was, it still did HK $5 Million at the box office (which is a hit) but only $8 Million at the U.S. box office, which is NOT! It ranked #68 out of all U.S. film releases in 1980, but that was still better than Jodie Foster's 'Foxes' ($7.4 Million), but not as good as Farrah Fawcett's Saturn 3 (at $9 Million)!
NOTE: Set in the 1930's, Jackie would 9 years later do his own take on gangsters in the 30's - CHINESE gangsters - in Miracles (aka Mr. Canton and Lady Rose).

 

[Josh Baker]

I quite like it, even though the action is a bit weak in places. Love the Lalo Schifrin soundtrack as well

[Yihetuan]

I enjoyed the relationship between Jackie and Kristine DeBell. It was portrayed as a normal bf/gf without all the heavy moralizing about it being an interracial relationship in the 1930s.

[SMK]

42 minutes ago, Josh Baker said:

Lalo Schifrin soundtrack

I have never seen the movie, but I'd watch it just for the soundtrack! 

[sym8]

Watched it recently again and still love it,it’s not the choreography we became accustomed to with Chan but for me it still a blast.Would have been interesting to see what we would have got if Chan had more input in the choreography,or maybe reshot some scenes for the Far East market like he did with The Protector.

[Josh Baker]

51 minutes ago, sym8 said:

Watched it recently again and still love it,it’s not the choreography we became accustomed to with Chan but for me it still a blast.Would have been interesting to see what we would have got if Chan had more input in the choreography,or maybe reshot some scenes for the Far East market like he did with The Protector.

According to Jackie Chan: My Stunts, apparently he choreographed the Outdoor Theatre fight with the chair and staff and swords, flying in two of his own stuntmen, and it wouldn't suprise me if he choreographed the sequence where he does the flips evading the balls thrown by Mako. Most of the rest of the fights were choreographed by Pat Johnson, the referee from the Karate Kid, who seemed to choreograph Chan as a slightly more acrobatic Bruce Lee.

You have to remember Chan had only done period Kung Fu films up till that point, so even Chan hadn't worked out how to choreograph himself in a modern context, and wouldn't do so until Project A in 1983. 

 

[Killer Meteor]

On 6/10/2020 at 3:14 AM, Yihetuan said:

I enjoyed the relationship between Jackie and Kristine DeBell. It was portrayed as a normal bf/gf without all the heavy moralizing about it being an interracial relationship in the 1930s.

Given how celibate Chinese kung fu heroes normally were/are in Western cross-overs (see Bruce in Enter the Dragon and Jet Li in Romeo Must Die), I'd say it's remarkable to see a healthy interracial relationship at all!

[Killer Meteor]

Now I think about it, Chinese kung fu heroes are practically celibate anyway. The graveyard snog between Bruce and Nora in Fist of Fury (and Bruce's brothel antics in Big Boss) are quite the oddity.

[Yihetuan]

18 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

Given how celibate Chinese kung fu heroes normally were/are in Western cross-overs (see Bruce in Enter the Dragon and Jet Li in Romeo Must Die), I'd say it's remarkable to see a healthy interracial relationship at all!

Absolute right. Romeo Must Die did originally feature a kiss between Jet Li and Aliyah but it was nixed by the studio after it received a negative reception from the "urban" audience at a test screening and changed to a hug. Not only kung fu heroes but Chow Yun Fat doesn't even get to receive that much from Mira Sorvino in Replacement Killers -- weird how Hollywood was more progressive in 1980 than even today!

[Markgway]

On 6/10/2020 at 3:14 AM, Yihetuan said:

I enjoyed the relationship between Jackie and Kristine DeBell. It was portrayed as a normal bf/gf without all the heavy moralizing about it being an interracial relationship in the 1930s.

That was ahead of its time, really.

It helped bust the martial movie myth that Chinese heroes had no interest in sex (...at least with women). 

[Markgway]

On 6/10/2020 at 12:32 PM, Josh Baker said:

According to Jackie Chan: My Stunts, apparently he choreographed the Outdoor Theatre fight with the chair and staff and swords, flying in two of his own stuntmen, and it wouldn't suprise me if he choreographed the sequence where he does the flips evading the balls thrown by Mako. Most of the rest of the fights were choreographed by Pat Johnson, the referee from the Karate Kid, who seemed to choreograph Chan as a slightly more acrobatic Bruce Lee.

You have to remember Chan had only done period Kung Fu films up till that point, so even Chan hadn't worked out how to choreograph himself in a modern context, and wouldn't do so until Project A in 1983. 

 

There are two major differences between Jackie's Hong Kong fights and what we get in The Big Brawl. 

A. No under-cranking (so even the Wu Brothers fight looks slower than usual). 

B. Jackie was working with bulky wrestlers built for power not speed. Jackie's style didn't mesh, because he's running around like a blue-arsed fly, and the wrestlers can't land a punch. It would've taken a better choreographer than Pat Johnson to cover up the obvious car crash here. 

That said, the film still has its charms. 

It's a shame the Blu image is so poor. 

[sifu iron perm]

sorry to say but i disliked it when i first got to watch it. This was due to being spoiled already with the JC films i already had watched prior to creek brawl; drunken master, snake in the eagle shadow, dragon lord, young master and i think winners & sinners. 

 

[Josh Baker]

1 hour ago, sifu iron perm said:

sorry to say but i disliked it when i first got to watch it. This was due to being spoiled already with the JC films i already had watched prior to creek brawl; drunken master, snake in the eagle shadow, dragon lord, young master and i think winners & sinners. 

 

yeah that's really starting off with a high bar lol- took me a while to realise how many legends there were in Young Master- Yuen Biao, Shih Kien, Lily Li, Hwang in Shik, and then he fought with Hwang Jang Lee in Drunken Master- Jackie was really spoiled in his early years!

[Josh Baker]

My first ever video essay and its on Jackie Chan's first American English Language film, Battle Creek Brawl! Rather than an overview of the entire film, this video essay focuses on the execution of the action and how it failed to translate Chan's abilities to a contemporary setting, thereby causing an otherwise fun well made film to fall short of greatness.

Thank you everyone, and I would be very grateful if you left a comment saying if you liked the video and want ti see more like it, leave a like and SUBSCRIBE for more high quality content! Thank you! 

[JackieRome]

6 minutes ago, Josh Baker said:

My first ever video essay and its on Jackie Chan's first American English Language film, Battle Creek Brawl! Rather than an overview of the entire film, this video essay focuses on the execution of the action and how it failed to translate Chan's abilities to a contemporary setting, thereby causing an otherwise fun well made film to fall short of greatness.

Thank you everyone, and I would be very grateful if you left a comment saying if you liked the video and want ti see more like it, leave a like and SUBSCRIBE for more high quality content! Thank you! 

Hello. I was analyzing your videos and I noticed that you have 1000 subscribers, and I did not understand how it was possible if you were making videos with Jackie or similar. Then, seeing the numbers that made your videos on Gordon Rasmey I understood. Unfortunately, if you want the numbers you have to make videos on bullshit (sorry if I say so). This Jackie video you made isn't bad. I also have a channel open for a few months, and speaking only of pure Asian cinema (even commercial titles, otherwise if I talked about films for a few people it would be the end) I have just over 50 subscribers. I bet that if I recovered with my pants down on the street make more views of the videos I make, engaging myself in filming and editing. however, I don't care and I will continue to do them just for passion and talking only about what interests me. best wishes.

[Josh Baker]

 

[SpartainX]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts about The Protector.

[Josh Baker]

1 hour ago, SpartainX said:

Can't wait to hear your thoughts about The Protector.

Cheers! It's going to be the closest thing on my channel to a rant...

[SpartainX]

1 hour ago, Josh Baker said:

Cheers! It's going to be the closest thing on my channel to a rant...

Glickenhaus is done for.

[sifu iron perm]

bought the vhs in 1988 and wanted to love it but couldn't!!

 

the soundtrack was wicked!

 

 

[Josh Baker]

14 minutes ago, SpartainX said:

Glickenhaus is done for.

postively...postively...

[SpartainX]

1 hour ago, Josh Baker said:

postively...postively...

I read his awful book on his life and his dissing on Jackie Chan. Saying he can't sing, he's not a real Martial Artist and he went on about him having a bodyguard on set with him.