The Big Brawl
(1980)
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Debbie's Review:
This was part of Jackie’s attempt in the early 80’s to break
into the American market. The plot is silly and cheesy, but, hey,
we’re used to that! (And
why does his brother speak flawless English without a trace of a Chinese
accent, while he is barely intelligible?) While the action is stilted
and slow looking, this film really does let Jackie’s natural
personality shine through, and it never loses an opportunity to show off
his muscles (I for one really appreciate that quality in a Jackie film).
For instance when he and Uncle break into the Gangster’s mansion, the
guards have apparently been instructed, ”Don’t hurt him, just tear
his sleeves off. That’ll teach him a lesson!” The film now seems
pretty dated by its 80’s style, particularly the roller skating
contest. In spite of these failings, though, I really like this movie.
As a vehicle for Jackie’s action it’s not very good, but as a
vehicle for his charm and charisma, And the "Big Brawl" itself in Texas is fairly entertaining, too. Even though all his opponents seem lumberingly slow, Jackie's own agility and clever comic timing are still great fun to watch. This movie is also a refreshing chance to hear Jackie’s real, undubbed speaking voice, which is something you can’t get from his early Hong Kong movies (until Supercop in 1992, they were all filmed without sound, and the voices added later by professional dubbers rather than the original actors). It’s also interesting to hear his early attempts at speaking English. He had only spent a few weeks learning the language at that point, and he sounds at times like he’s pronouncing syllables that don’t mean anything to him; so while his pronunciation is pretty good, his voice sounds curiously flat. This may have been another reason why his American career went nowhere with this movie. Be that as it may, I really enjoy this movie, and it's one I find myself returning to again and again. Score: 6/10
Aikidonut's Review I haven't seen this in years, but I remember the classic silent movie bits from Chaplin and Keaton that Jackie incorporated into his stunts. Jackie had more control than you might imagine. Even though this suffers from a kludgy round eye script by someone who really didn't understand what Jackie was capable of, it rode well with my daughter and I, who had seen most of his work up until 2000, including "Half a loaf of Kung Fu". As an early American effort, it works much better than some of the Norris' and Van Damme's first films. Score: 8/10
Drunken
Review Master's Review: Although Jackie's first shot at Hollywood
superstardom didn't work out for him my idea of it is it wasn't his
fault, martial arts films in America at that time just wasn't as
advanced as the films were in Hong Kong, the use of undercranking (for
those of you who know what that is)wasn't used in the film so the action
didn't have that fast touch, but one thing is for sure Jackie Chan's
marvelous abilities were able to shine through quite a few times to turn
the slow,boring action into a marvelous spectacle. Like for instance
when he showed his breath taking acrobatics in the training session
where his uncle (played by legendary chinese character actor Mako)
[Debbie's note: Mako is Japanese/American] throws tennis balls at Jackie
only to have JC dodge every last one of them by doing
somersaults,kip-ups,cartwheels & everthing else you can think of,and
especially the final match in the championship tournament when Jackie
faces the current champ Billy Kiss, Jc pulls out all the stops against
this monster and finally defeating! Score: 7.5/10
Geordie's
Review: My first ever JC movie at the tender age of 14 ! It could
be nostalgia but this JC movie remains my absolute favourite JC vehicle.
The "fresh" mix of excellent humour, fight scenes and not too
bad a plot made this a cut above other martial arts kick ass films of
the seventies. The catchy whistling soundtrack is excellent too ! Geordie Score: 8/10
The Game's Review: Well, almost everyone hated this movie, with the exception of Debbie. I, on the other hand, liked this movie quite a bit. The story was better then I expected. I went into the film thinking that Jackie would be unstoppable in the tournament. Until the real story comes out, I thought that the movie was bad. I'm glad that the plot was somewhat complex, and it actually saved the movie. The fights were great, and less on the stunts, more comedy. I think the less stunts is what made people not like this movie. No one can deny that this film isn't an above average attempt to break into hollywood. I'll take this film over any Stallone film anyday. Score: 8/10
ojje,s review this moviesucks the fights you see alout but the plot and just the is a crack up this movie is onethe worst jc films i have seen i did not know that jackie would make that load of crap Score: 1/10
alwaysjackiefan's
Review: Oke, Jackie's first American try...being directed by a guy being
not too (or into) Jackie's abilities).. well who could blame him...they
problably told him that the would be directed "just another
wannabee from Hong Kong) Score: 7/10
Cristopher's Review: I didn't like this for one reason. It not the JC type of Movie. You can really see that JC didn't have any freedom to make a good movie. They just told him what to do. Score: 4/10
Joe's Review: Nothing special first Jackie movie. It wasn't that bad, it wasn't that good. Interesting to look at, but don't bother otherwise. Score: 5/10
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Synopsis:
you couldn’t ask for more. In the
opening sequence, for example, he engages in a comic “fight” with
his father’s extortionists, while his father looks on shouting
“Jerry, don’t fight!” so all his movements are planned
“accidents” that leave his much larger opponents limping away in
fury. It’s not an exciting fight, but it’s quite charming.
