When Jackie Chan Ruled Sundance
From January 17 through January 21, Neon Splatter is celebrating all things Jackie Chan. His movies, his many other projects, and his impact on film as well as film lovers. This is #JackieChanuary.
One of the great things about living in Utah, besides excellent skiing, is being in close proximity to the Sundance Film Festival. While I haven’t partaken much the last decade, most of my twenties were filled with standing in long lines in the freezing cold to see the best indie cinema had to offer and maybe catch a glimpse of a star. One of my most memorable festivals was 1996. Todd Solondz’s WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE was the big winner, Stanley Tucci and Tony Shaloub made everyone want to eat timballo, and the Wachowskis blew the doors off with BOUND. But for me there was one star, and one movie, that stood above them all. 1996 was the year Jackie Chan conquered Sundance with RUMBLE IN THE BRONX bringing Hong Kong action to America in a way it had never seen.
Jackie (it just feels wrong to call him Chan) had been trying to break into America since the early 80’s, starting the BATTLE CREEK BRAWL (aka THE BIG BRAWL). A middling martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse, who had spent a decade riding on the fact that his name was attached to a Bruce Lee movie (ENTER THE DRAGON). He then appeared in both CANNONBALL RUN movies, playing a Japanese racer which is just…no. Before returning to Hong Kong the martial arts master made a final attempt with 1995’s THE PROTECTOR. Jackie hated director James Glickenhaus’ movie so much that he went back to Hong Kong and made his own version.
These failed breakthroughs have one common theme: none of them feel like Jackie Chan movies. Jackie spent his early career being molded into the next Bruce Lee before he broke away and became a star in his own right and he wasn’t going to do it again just to break in America.
He went back to Hong Kong to begin the greatest run of his career.
But a weird thing happened in America. The grey market (the term for movies that are sold or traded under dubious legality) was well aware of Jackie. His movies began circulating leading people like me across the nation to track them down any way we could. This underground movement came to a head when British host Jonathan Ross’ THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE PICTURE SHOW premiered in the US on PBS. Ross dedicated an entire hour to Jackie, showing clips of his movies, talking about his stunts, and most amazingly talking about his injuries. If you weren’t already hooked on Jackie, you were now.
Here’s where I need to pause to talk about the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City. The Tower is our local indie theater, the place where you see the latest artsy/independent/foreign releases along with rep screenings of classic and cult films. They also had a video store. And one of the most amazing things was, in the ‘90s, they would buy Hong Kong laserdiscs, copy them to VHS and rent out the tapes. Strictly legal? No chance. A godsend for kids in Utah discovering Hong Kong cinema? You better believe it!
This was how I saw things like John Woo’s THE KILLER, Coery Yuen’s SAVIOUR OF THE SOUL and FONG SAI YUK (aka THE LEGEND), and so many more. When they could get prints, the Tower would show HK movies on the big screen. The first time I saw HARD-BOILED, HIGH RISK, and SUPERCOP was on the big screen. The Tower was like the mothership calling me home.
By the time it was announced RUMBLE would be premiering at Sundance the Tower had made me well versed in Jackie’s oeuvre. Through their dubious rental system, I had seen ARMOUR OF GOD, POLICE STORY 1 AND 2, DRUNKEN MASTER 2 (aka THE LEGEND OF THE DRUNKEN MASTER), and their big screen had bathed me in the wondrous light of SUPERCOP, SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW, and DRUNKEN MASTER.
I was hooked on this innovator of action (and cinema itself) so my anticipation for Jackie’s latest was through the roof. If there was one movie I needed to see at Sundance in 1996, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX was it.
But this was different than a basically bootlegged copy, or even a repertory screening of one of his older hits. This was a proper, contemporary Hong Kong movie from Jackie arriving legitimately on our shores and hitting one of the biggest film festivals in the world. True it had been cut and reedited (primarily reducing Anita Mul’s role which is something that should never be done)—but it was still a proper HK movie.
Even more exciting, Jackie Chan himself would be making the journey to Sundance.
The action icon whose films I had been voraciously consuming would be in my humble hometown. Seeing his name appear in local papers was something that I just couldn’t believe.
His presence was so big that even Entertainment Weekly had to acknowledge it, noting about his attendance that “Hong Kong action hero Jackie Chan drew mobs at a midnight screening.”
I wasn’t lucky enough to see the screening that Jackie actually attended with mobs flocking to their idol. Sundance shows films in both Park City and Salt Lake. Being a Salt Lake local, I usually went to the closer venue; true it means fewer celebs, but it’s also much easier to get into. Yet even at my theater there was a buzz that I’ve never felt at any other Sundance event. Probably a quarter of the crowd were like me, familiar with Jackie and excitedly spreading the gospel to the unconverted about the spectacle that was about to wash over them. Some had heard of him and were excited based on what us fans were excitedly chattering about. The last group was the typical Sundance folks who just see anything…and these jaded scenesters had no idea they were about to have their minds blown.
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX is a solid Jackie Chan movie. Directed by Stanley Tong, it features all the action and comedy you could want—but with the exception of one major fight scene it doesn’t really compare to the best of Jackie like DRUNKEN MASTER 2, SUPERCOP, or POLICE STORY. But it was perfect for Sundance in 1996. RUMBLE feels purposefully designed for international distribution, including far more Western actors than Jackie typically worked with (like the gorgeous Francoise Yip). Jackie had to get the Vancouver-based stunt team up to his level, but it’s clear they were more than up to the task.
While the hovercraft climax is impressive, it’s the battle in the warehouse that truly stands out. This might be the platonic ideal of a Jackie Chan fight. Taking 20 days to film, Jackie is completely outnumbered and uses shopping carts, refrigerators, pinball machines, and anything else he can get his hands on to come out on top. If you know someone who’s unfamiliar with Jackie Chan in action, this is at the top of the list of fights to show them.
The crowd was uproarious during the movie, laughing and cheering. Sundance isn’t always known for the most raucous of crowds, so it was clear something different was happening here. When the movie was over, the vibe in the theater was electric. Normally Sundance screenings clear out pretty quick because people want to either get to the next film or head home. But this time the lobby of the Tower remained packed.
You could hear excited utterances of “Did you see that thing with the shopping cart?” or “Did he really break his leg?” throughout, echoing between clusters of enraptured audience members. And through it all, those of us that had been waiting for this moment just shared knowing glances-Jackie’s time in America had come.
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX couldn’t win any awards as it wasn’t in competition at Sundance since it was set to be released by New Line a few weeks later. But when it opened wide on February 23, 1996, in 1736 theaters, it won the box office for the week, taking in almost $10 million.
After so many years of trying, Jackie Chan had finally conquered America. For the next decade he would be a box office powerhouse and become fairly ubiquitous in households across America.
But, before that wave broke, for a few nights in January, I got to see it, and him, first. Not through dubious recordings or scratchy prints of old films, but a new Jackie Chan movie that hadn’t even hit the inner circle of Jackie devotees. That is an experience that I will never forget. On my podcast, Adkins Undisputed, movie icon Scott Adkins and I proclaimed Jackie Chan the greatest action star of all time. That has never felt truer to me than it did at that Sundance. Nobody shined brighter on a freezing Utah night in 1996 than Jackie Chan.
