- Directed by Stanley Tong
- Written by Edward Tang and Fibe Ma
- Starring
- Jackie Chan
- Anita Mui
- Francoise Yip
- Mark Akerstream
- Garvin Cross
It’s hard to believe it’s only been seven years since New Line redubbed and repackaged Jackie Chan’s movie of the previous year and released it with much fanfare to U.S. theaters, finally breaking the barrier to American audiences that had dogged Chan for so long. Now he’s a household name, and it’s hard to imagine that not so long ago most people here on this continent had never heard of him.
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“The hatrack started it!” |
Rumble in the Bronx is by no means a great movie, but it was perfect as an icebreaker, as it brought Jackie into a domestic setting, or at least some reasonable facsimile thereof. (Yeah, a lot of people chuckle that the part of “the Bronx” was played by Vancouver. Leaving aside the fact that a lot of “American” movies are also shot in Canada, remember that this was originally made for Hong Kong audiences, who wouldn’t really see the differences that we all love to hoot at. Just think how Joe Q. American would do trying to distinguish Japanese and Chinese locales, and quit yer yammering.)
Jackie here is Kyeung, come to America for his Uncle Bill’s (Bill Tung) wedding. Bill’s a grocer in a tough part of town who’s also prepping to sell his store to eager young buyer Elane (Anita Mui). Being a helpful young sprout (one of Jackie Chan’s great talents is his ability to project youth, despite being forty-one at the time), Kyeung volunteers to help out for the week while Uncle Bill’s off on his honeymoon, preparatory to the official handing-over of the keys. (I have to admit, a lot of the humor in the first twenty minutes seems overly cheesy. Kyeung’s new aunt turns out to be a large, loud black woman. Comedy! Kyeung gets caught posing and squeezing a zit in the store’s one-way mirror. Comedy!)
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Why are you even looking down at the caption? |
But since this is Big Bad America, Kyeung soon runs afoul of unsavory elements. Two competing street gangs decide to have a race across the tops of the parked cars under Kyeung’s window at night, one of which being the Rolls Royce that Uncle Bill has borrowed for the wedding. Kyeung jumps down to protect the car, and manages to lose the race for Chinese Bad Girl Nancy (Francoise Yip), earning him the ire of the gang’s leader Tony (Mark Akerstream), who looks more like a wanna-be-bad stockbroker than a dangerous New York gangleader. On the other hand, I’ve never been to New York either, so maybe I’m out of touch.
Further ire is raised the next day when Kyeung calls one of Tony’s goons on shoplifting, the ever-so-annoying (every gang’s got one!) Angelo (Garvin Cross). And this is when the audience starts getting their money’s worth, because Kyeung ends up mopping the aisles with half of the gang’s roll call, armed with nothing but his jacket and his pure heart. As usual, it’s not the mayhem and destruction of a Jackie Chan fight that makes them so fascinating (though there’s no skimping), it’s the pure energy of the man as he leaps and twists and jabs and blocks with broad but controlled staccato moviements.
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“I’m so mad I could just — just — YAARGH!” |
Then comes the part that one doesn’t usually get in an American action flick: Kyeung, having handed out some ass, gets his ass handed back to him. Lured into an alley by a pretended rape (actually Nancy), he then becomes the target of a game of liquor-bottle baseball and ends up a bruised and bloodied mess in a backalley.
Now, I’m not going to tell you the entire movie. For one thing, you’ve probably already seen it. For another, the plot barely holds together while the viewer’s attention is distracted by flashing fists and lunatic stunts; reflection after the fact is like shooting single-ply tissue with a fireman’s hose. There’s the redemption of the bad girl, as Nancy discovers that Kyeung is actually the guy who’s being so nice to her paraplegic brother Danny (Morgan Lam), who, like every crippled kid, is a purehearted loving angel. In fact, her turning to good and right extends to the rest of Tony’s gang; after the assorted goons trash the store in retaliation for his flirting with Nancy, Kyeung heads to their hangout and royally demolishes them. Then, once they’re good and softened, he gives them a good ol’-fashioned talking-to, using such persuasive arguments as “You are all garbage!” and “Don’t you know you’re the scum of the earth?” Way to set’em straight, Kyeung. And it works, too — they all immediately promise to eat all their vegetables and help little old ladies across the street.
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“Price check on Aisle Four…” |
And to top it off, there’s a whole ‘nother plot introduced well into the running time — there’s been a big diamond heist, and the thieves’ connection, the notorious White Tiger (Kris Lord), tries to double-cross them; the upshot of the whole deal is that Angelo gets his hands on the diamonds and goes on the run, while the crime lord’s business-suited goons try to beat his whereabouts out of the gang. Good thing that Kyeung’s in their corner by this time.
Yeah, all that’s silly, and dumb silly to boot. It’s a good thing that, once the first twenty minutes are past, the action sequences make the plotline fade into the background. True to form, Jackie Chan spends his time being chased, swung at, run down, etc., giving him ample opportunity to defend himself with whatever implement lies at hand (fire escape ladder, light fixture, ski, etc.) and go for famous stunts like jumping from a parking garage to a fire escape on the other side of a wide alley. There ain’t no second take on stuff like that, you know. And few people can physically demonstrate their complete confidence in their bodies that Chan does.
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Jackie Chan introduces toilet humor to the West. |
It’s a shame that the first big American-released Jackie Chan movie wasn’t better as a movie. But in one sense, it served its purpose not so much as a piece of cinema, but as a calling card for Jackie Chan, kicking open the door for the importation of his entire body of work. I don’t know that any of his other movies to that point could have done as well, and in the end, we’re all richer for it anyway.
Some Notable Totables:
- body count: 11
- breasts: 1
- pasty male butts: 2
- explosions: 1
- ominous thunderstorms: 0
- actors who’ve appeared on Star Trek: 1
- Lauro Chartrand (one of the gang members) did stunts in Insurrection
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