Die grosse Keilerei (1980)
46KDie grosse Keilerei: Directed by Robert Clouse. With Jackie Chan, José Ferrer, Kristine DeBell, Mako. A young Asian-American martial artist is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fighting competition.
“Jackie plays Jerry Kwan, a Chinese living in 1930s America. His father is forced to pay the Mafia protection, and Jerry wonu0026#39;t stand for it, picking a fight with some Mafia-goons. The Mafia see Jerryu0026#39;s potential as a fighter, and kidnap his brotheru0026#39;s fiancé, forcing Jerry to fight for them in the Battle Creek Brawl: an anything goes, winner-takes-all, fighting competition.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThatu0026#39;s pretty much it plot wise, but in a Jackie Chan movie, the faster we get the plot out of the way, the happier we are (although, another pointed out the depiction of openly racist, 1930s America, I did think that was somewhat interesting). The fights and stunts are decent, but not up to Jackieu0026#39;s usual standards – he was forced to work with pro-wrestlers, etc unworthy to work with the Chan-man, and the stunt-coordinator was only a first time stunt-director, and had only performed stunts in three other movies. The fights during the Battle Creek Brawl really highlight the difference between Jackie and his much-larger, slower opponents – while Jackie impresses us with his speed and skill, the other guys are trying impress with sheer-power, and it doesnu0026#39;t work very well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs his first American movie, its not too bad, and definitely better than his second attempt in America with u0026quot;The Protectoru0026quot;, but I would expect a lot more from Jackie, and the director Robert Clouse (who also directed Enter the Dragon).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e6/10”
