Jackie Chan’s first attempt to make a name for himself in Hollywood was The Big Brawl. The kung fu legend has been a household name for decades, but it took time for him to develop the huge international following that he currently enjoys. Though Chan has been starring in films since the mid-1970s, he didn’t begin making waves in Hollywood until the 1990s.
Several of Chan’s most well-known movies are tied to the time he spent in the United States. In the span of a few years, Chan played the lead role in a number of high-profile American action movies, with 1998’s Rush Hour being one of his biggest box office hits. In addition to continuing his work in the Hong Kong movie industry, Chan followed up Rush Hour with a string of American films, including Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights, two Rush Hour sequels, The Tuxedo, and Around the World in 80 Days. However, it’s important to note that these weren’t the beginning of Chan’s experiences in Hollywood. Chan was trying to become a star in Hollywood as early as the 1980s.
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Jackie Chan’s First Hollywood Movie Was The Big Brawl
Almost 20 years before making Rush Hour, Chan starred in The Big Brawl in 1980. Having already experienced a great deal of success in Hong Kong at this point in his career, Chan was ready to try acting in a Hollywood movie, which is what led to him landing the starring role in an action film helmed by Robert Clouse, the director of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. Boasting a large portion of the crew that helped make Enter the Dragon a massive hit in the United States, The Big Brawl (also known as Battle Creek Brawl) saw Jackie Chan go up against mobsters in 1930s Chicago. In keeping with the style of his Hong Kong movies, The Big Brawl incorporated his trademark humor and approach to martial arts. However, the film still failed to meet the studio’s expectations at the box office.
What Happened After The Big Brawl
Chan didn’t immediately give up on Hollywood when The Big Brawl underperformed. He played a minor role in 1981’s The Cannonball Run, an ensemble film starring Burt Reynolds, but the role wasn’t substantial enough to do his career any favors. Another opportunity to make an impression on Hollywood arrived with The Protector, but it too bombed at the box office. According to Chan’s autobiography, Never Grow Up, this experience was especially dissatisfying because he was contractually forced to make a movie that featured mature content that he typically avoids. As a result, Chan went back to strictly being a Hong Kong star for several more years.
From Chan’s point of view, reception to his work in Hollywood in the 1990s was significantly different in a positive way from what happened with The Big Brawl. Prior to starring in Rush Hour, Chan had already become popular with American audiences through the international releases of several of his Hong Kong movies and the success of Rumble in the Bronx, a Hong Kong production filmed in the United States. So while The Big Brawl was ultimately a disappointment from a financial standpoint, it didn’t stand in the way of Jackie Chan eventually achieving stardom in Hollywood.
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