Battle Creek Brawl: Deluxe Collector's Edition – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong/USA, 1980
Director: Robert Clouse
Writers: Robert Clouse, Fred Weintraub
Cast: Jackie Chan, José Ferrer, Kristine DeBell, Mako, Ron Max, David Sheiner, Rosalind Chao, Lenny Montana, Pat E. Johnson, Mary Ellen O'Neill, H.B. Haggerty

Release Date: October 23rd, 2023
Approximate running time: 95 Minutes 49 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK)

"It's 1930s Chicago, and a young Chinese American martial arts expert Jerry Kwan (Jackie Chan) finds himself forced to compete in a no-holds-barred toughest man tournament. Only his cantankerous uncle (Mako, ‘Conan the Destroyer’) can prepare Jerry to fight and win against the mountainous Billy Kiss (H.B. Heggarty, ‘Paint Your Wagon’)." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information given about the transfer, "Brand new 2K Remaster from the Original Negatives."

Battle Creek Brawl comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.7 GB

Feature: 31 GB

Battle Creek Brawl's previous home video releases have all been lackluster and left plenty of room for improvement. Previous home video releases came from a dated-looking source, which also suffered from digital noise reduction. Fortunately, with this release, 88 Films has given Battle Creek Brawl a brand new 2K remaster that is superior in every way to the source used for their previous Blu-ray release and Shout Factory’s Blu-ray release. That said, the source is in excellent shape. Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and this transfer is free of any digital noise reduction.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio is in excellent shape, the dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, this track does a great job with ambient sounds, and the fight sequences sound robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a stills gallery (press book/stills), USA The Big Brawl theatrical trailer (2 minutes 33 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 36 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an interview with film critic/author David West titled Battle Hardened (14 minutes 15 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Hong Kong Cinema Expert Rick Baker titled Rick Baker titled Rumble in the USA, Jackie Chan Takes on America (18 minutes 48 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with producer Raymond Chow (21 minutes 47 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Jackie Chan (3 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw, an audio commentary with Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto, reversible cover art, six double-sided collector’s lobby card reproductions, fold-out double-sided poster featuring ‘The Big Brawl’ art, and an 80-page perfect bound book cast & crew information, an essay titled Searching for a Big Break in The Big Brawl - A Closer Look at Jackie Chan’s First Foray into Hollywood written by Paul Bramhall, an essay titled Coming to America, round one by Andrew Heskins, an essay titled Battle Creek Brawlers by Brian Burkart, posters, and promo stills.

Summary:

Directed by Robert Clouse, who is most known for directing Enter the Dragon. Other notable films he directed include Darker Than Amber, Black Belt Jones, and China O’Brien.

The narrative revolves around an Asian American who is blackmailed into fighting in a no-holds-barred toughest man tournament.

There was a large void left after the death of Bruce Lee, and though there were a few martial arts actors who did well in Hong Kong and Asian markets, no actor had been able to make it big in American cinema. By the early 1980s, Jackie Chan had established himself as the biggest name in martial arts cinema, and it was only a matter of time before he would be offered to make a film in America. This brings us to Battle Creek Brawl, Jackie Chan’s first American film and the first time he spoke on screen in English.

Teaming up Jackie Chan with Robert Clouse is most likely due to the latter's connection to Bruce Lee. And though Jackie Chan is given a sizable amount of resources to work with, the result is a film that lacks the feel that his Hong Kong-made films from this era had in spades. It is notable how Battle Creek Brawl does not play to Jackie Chan’s strengths in fight sequences where Jackie Chan outclasses all of his opponents.

From a performance standpoint, Battle Creek Brawl surrounds Jackie Chan with a strong supporting cast, which includes José Ferrer (Dune, 1984) in the role of Dominici, the man who blackmails Jackie Chan’s character Jerry Kwan; Mako (The Sand Pebbles) in the role of Jerry’s uncle and mentor; and Kristine DeBell (Meatballs) in the role of Jerry’s girlfriend. The most surprising performance is by Jackie Chan, whose character gives him an opportunity to go outside of his comfort zone, and he delivers a solid performance.

From a production standpoint, Battle Creek Brawl is a film that does a great job maximizing its resources. It is a period-set film, and the production and costume design are solid. The narrative does a good job balancing exposition and action sequences. Other strengths are a fantastic score from Lalo Schifrin (Dirty Harry) and Jackie Chan’s stunt work. Ultimately, despite not being one of Jackie Chan’s better films, Battle Creek Brawl is still a solid action film that fans of his are sure to enjoy.

Battle Creek Brawl gets an exceptional release from 88 Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer