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.
