The Big Brawl

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The Big Brawl a.k.a. Battlecreek Brawl
UK DVD cover
Directed by	Robert Clouse
Produced by	Raymond Chow Fred Weintraub
Written by	Robert Clouse
Starring	Jackie Chan José Ferrer Kristine DeBell Mako Rosalind Chao
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	Robert C. Jessup
Editing by	George Grenville
Release date(s)	10 September 1980
Running time	95 mins
Country	USA
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Big Brawl, also known as Battle Creek Brawl, was a 1980 martial arts film which marked Jackie Chan's first attempt to break into the American movie market. It was directed by Robert Clouse and featured much of the crew from Enter the Dragon.

The film is set primarily in Chicago, Illinois in the 1920s (although it was shot in Texas) and follows Chan's character, a Korean martial artist, as he single handedly takes on the Mafia.

The Big Brawl was a flop and led to Chan being advised to try supporting roles such as the Japanese racing car driver in Cannonball Run. Chan later made another attempt to break into the American market with 1985's The Protector, which suffered the same fate as this film.

The film featured an appearance from Lenny Montana, who had famously played Luca Brasi in The Godfather.

[edit] Box Office

The Big Brawl opened on August 29, 1980 on 231 North American screens. In its opening weekend, it grossed US $1,108,025 ($4,792 per screen), and ended its run with US $8,527,743. Its box office performance was less disastrous than reputed to be, but was a disappointment to distributor Warner Brothers and Jackie Chan, who were expecting an Enter the Dragon-sized hit.