The Big Brawl 1980

Jackie Chan's first serious effort to cross into American cinema, brought to you by the producers of Enter the Dragon. It's clear that these executives were more interested in finding the next Bruce Lee than the first Jackie Chan, as the film follows the wrong conventions and only occasionally caters to his strengths.

The plot is awfully simple - nice guy with a knack for street fighting is blackmailed by mobsters into participating in a no-holds-barred tournament - but still somehow manages to get things confused and contradict itself. We spend a lot of time defining the local mafioso as a scoundrel, for example, but that's cast aside as a new head honcho is abruptly defined (and defeated) before the climax. The old boss even ducks in for a jubilant all-good cameo after the action is over, joyfully announcing that he'll quit with all the bad stuff now. The acting really stinks and the action scenes are telegraphed and fake. Chalk that last one up to a mostly-Western cast, more comfortable with selling simple fisticuffs than fists of fury, plus the production's reluctance to fine-tune the fights.

And, despite a colorful cast of characters and a bizarre blend of spitballed ideas, it's just not that interesting to watch. After Battle Creek Brawl's underwhelming box office performance, Jackie would need another fifteen years (and several more failed efforts) to finally break through on the US stage.