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The twin movies contained here - 'Battle Creek Brawl' and 'City Hunter' - are well matched, even if they are over a decade apart. Both are broad comedies, possibly the two broadest comedies in Jackie's career (which is saying something). Both were also made outside of Jackie's usual Hong Kong crew, and both display different aspects of his talents not shown in the movies he directed himself. But otherwise these are two very different pictures.
"Battle Creek Brawl' was Jackie's first attempt at an American crossover, hot on the heels of the cameos in the 'Cannonball Run' movies. The same producer and director who worked with Bruce Lee made this, and expectations were high. But the people behind the camera understood Jackie's talents and charm better than the general public of the time, it seems, and focused on comedy action instead of an intense martial arts. Think of "Every Which Way But Loose' style comedy, but with some Jackie Chan style mayhem sprinkled in. Personally, I love the movie, which is painted in very broad strokes. It is great to see Jackie challenged by gigantic men who look straight out of 1960's professional wrestling, complete with the tights and walrus mustaches. Not to mention the roller derby!
Broad stroked is also a way to describe 'City Hunter', a production where Jackie stepped in at the last minute as the lead. It is based on a Japanese manga, and the mood of the movie is one long cartoon. Every action is exaggerated, and in a way Jackie is perfect for the part, although I am personally glad he only went this far once in his career. Still, it is great to see him over-the-top in his reaction shots. And the fight at the end where fighters turn into video game characters is very very funny.Read more ›
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The pictures were good. As with Jackie Chan the martial Arts is always creative and show the true elements of Kung Fu; Confucious. My children especially liked City Hunter so much they asked to watch it again within 24 hours of seeing it for the first time.
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I saw this w/"enter the dragon" in the theater yrs ago and "Brawl" was just as good, today I'd say it is better because of its originality. In 1930's Chicago, gangsters force a Chinese restaurant owner's son Jerry Kwan (Chan) to compete in the "battle creek brawl", a no rules, battle royal, street fight competition! Relying on Kwan's kung fu skills, The gangsters hope to make big bucks, only problem is Jerry must survive against huge opponents. This is the film that tried to introduce Jackie Chan to American audiences in 1980 as the new Bruce Lee. The Big Brawl rises above most other martial arts films, entertaining on many levels using comedy, stunts, acrobatics, convincing acting skills, and of course kung fu. During a roller skating competition for a cash prize (the most brutal one you'll ever see), Chan's group competes against two other groups and faces a gauntlet of fire hoses, audience interference, and high jumps all while beating the piss out of each other! No speeding up the film for the fights here (unlike Jackie's HK films), still Chan is very fast and outmaneuvering everyone including some monster sized wrestlers. Mako as the uncle/kung fu instructor, matches Chan's intensity and turns in a brilliant performance. The exciting training scenes are inventive and funny. Rival gangsters betting against Kwan, kidnap his uncle and want him to take a "dive" resulting in a suspense filled showdown with mafia thugs in a movie theater. Lalo Schifrin's music delivers great support to all the action, creating serious tension. 16x9 dvd picture and audio is not as good as it should be coming from fox. Director Robert Clouse skillfully orchestrates this under-rated cult classic. UPDATE- Forget about City Hunter, just file it under WTF?Read more ›
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Battle Creek Brawl was one of my Kid Time Favorites growing up. One of the first time seeing Jackie Chan and like everyone else jumped started my Martial Arts Training. Good story, Great Action for Old school style and Jackie is always funny. City Hunter is fairly Kooky and story is just goofy. Some good martial arts action and some good stunts but overall I would say only rate about a 5 out of 10. Not one of Jackies better flicks.
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Battle Creek Brawl... isn't a very good movie, not to me anyways, and not by Jackie Chan standards. Which is strange, because it has a lot of the telltale signs of the sort of Jackie Chan movie I'd enjoy --- lots of action sequences, humor, etc. But I think what hurts it is the humor is sometimes a little too silly in an unfunny way, and the action sequences aren't terribly clever or well choreographed (from the director's commentary it seems the American production team had a completely different approach to the action scenes --- in Hong Kong they might spend days or weeks to get one fight scene to look right, but in America they did a couple of takes and that was it). The story was kind of ho-hum, and felt like it dragged out in parts. It's not a forgettable film, but it wasn't very enjoyable either.
City Hunter on the other hand! It has the Street Fighter parody scene, where Jackie cosplays as various Street Fighters, and even a drag version of Chun Li! That alone brings the strength of the package up by a whole lot. As for the movie itself well, it's very silly, bordering on cartoonish at times, but in a way that's actually charming and fun to watch. That might be a turn off for some people, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a very campy movie, originally based on a Japanese manga, and I thought it was pretty good, not one of Jackie's best films, but not one of his worst either.
Overall it's good DVD to have I think if just for City Hunter, and Battle Creek Brawl is at least interesting to see one of Jackie's early American works.
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This item: Jackie Chan: Battle Creek Brawl / City Hunter [Blu-ray]