Rumble in the Bronx
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| Rumble in the Bronx | |
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 Rumble in the Bronx VHS cover |
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| Directed by | Stanley Tong |
| Produced by | Barbie Tung Roberta Chow - Executive -Raymond Chow Leonard Ho |
| Written by | Edward Tang Fibe Ma |
| Starring | Jackie Chan Anita Mui Françoise Yip Marc Akerstream |
| Cinematography | Jingle Ma |
| Editing by | Peter Cheung |
| Distributed by | - USA - New Line Cinema - UK/Australia - Hollywood Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 21, 1995 |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Country | Hong Kong/Canada |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Budget | $7.5M |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Rumble in the Bronx (紅番區; Hong faan kui in Cantonese) is an action-comedy movie starring Jackie Chan and Anita Mui.
Filmed in 1995 and released in 1996, Rumble in the Bronx had a successful theater run, and brought Chan into the American mainstream. Rumble in the Bronx was filmed in and around Vancouver, but was set in the Bronx area of New York City.
The movie is well known for its bad dubbing (despite appearances, it was actually made by a Hong Kong movie company and not Americans) and for many minor easy-to-spot bloopers (e.g., the Game Gear being played with no game). Moreover, anyone familiar with either New York or Vancouver's geography (both topographical and urban) can easily spot giveaways that the film was made nowhere near the Bronx: the Coast Mountains, the Scotiabank Tower, the Sportmart store at Thurlow and Alberni and the old Woodward's building are all visible at various points throughout the movie.
Jackie Chan also pulled off some death-defying stunts in the movie, and spent much of the filming time with one leg in a cast. His foot had not yet healed when it was time to film the movie's climax and so the crew simply colored a sock to wear over his cast resembling the sneaker on his other foot. Also, the lead actress and several stunt doubles broke their ankles during the shooting of a motorcycle stunt.
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[edit] Critical reception
When released in North America, Rumble in the Bronx received generally good reviews, as most critics were happy that a Jackie Chan film was finally getting a wide theatrical release in North America. The film currently has a 78% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and 81% among the 'Cream of the Crop.'[1]. Most critics agreed that the plot and acting were lacking, but the action, stunts, and Chan's charm made up for it.
Roger Ebert's review for the Chicago Sun-Times was typical:
"Any attempt to defend this movie on rational grounds is futile. Don't tell me about the plot and the dialogue. Don't dwell on the acting. The whole point is Jackie Chan - and, like Astaire and Rogers, he does what he does better than anybody. There is a physical confidence, a grace, an elegance to the way he moves. There is humor to the choreography of the fights (which are never too gruesome). He's having fun. If we allow ourselves to get in the right frame of mind, so are we.[2]]
[edit] Box Office
In Hong Kong, Rumble in the Bronx earned a whopping HK $56,911,136, making it the biggest film of the year in Hong Kong and one of Chan's biggest ever.
It was also Chan's North American breakthrough. Opening on 1,736 North American screens, it was number one at the box office in its opening weekend, grossing US $9,858,380 ($5,678 per screen). It finished its North American run with US $32,392,047.
[edit] International version
The international version of Rumble in the Bronx was dubbed to English with participation by Jackie Chan. A scene of Chan on the airplane to New York was added to the opening credits an another scene where Keung and Nancy escape from the nightclub was also added. Neither of these scenes were in the original Hong Kong release.
Seventeen minutes of cuts were made, including:
- The scene in which two gang members extort some money, and then steal some items from beside the cash register.
- Some dialogue between Chan and Anita Mui at Uncle Bill's wedding.
- A lecture by Chan on martial arts.
- A scene where Chan travels to a market and sees the gang members who extorted money from Uncle Bill. Before he has a chance to fight, the entire biker gang shows up, so Chan instead calls the police. (This scene is restored in the US cable version).
- In the Hong Kong version, Chan's speech to the gang about their wasted lives is longer.
- Chan's song during the end credits is replaced by the song Kung Fu by the band Ash, the lyrics of which mention Jackie Chan, as well as other key figures from Hong Kong cinema.
| Last night Jackie Chan came around, I played pool with him and we hung out. |
- The international version was cut still further for the Buena Vista's UK and Australian releases of the film - 42 seconds of a scene where gangsters batted bottles at Chan's character were docked.
