Photo : Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
Synopsis
Keung, a Hong Kong cop, flies to New York for his Uncle Bill's wedding; Bill is selling his Bronx grocery store to Elaine. Keung stands up for the shop against a biker gang that terrorises the neighbourhood. Then a bag of stolen diamonds lands in the gang's hands, and a far more dangerous crime syndicate comes looking for it.
Why watch it
The film that broke Jackie Chan in America
Released in Hong Kong on 21 January 1995, Stanley Tong's film set a local box office record with 56.9 million Hong Kong dollars. New Line Cinema bought it, cut around 17 minutes and commissioned a new score and an English dub with Chan's involvement. That version opened in the US on 23 February 1996 on 1,736 screens and was number one in its first weekend with 9.86 million dollars. It ended on 32.4 million in North America and over 76 million worldwide, on a budget estimated between 7.5 and 13 million. After several attempts in the 1980s, it was Chan's first real US hit.
A Bronx shot in Vancouver
The story is set in New York but was shot entirely in Vancouver, Canada. On 6 October 1994 Chan injured his right ankle jumping onto a hovercraft; the shot stayed in the film. He shot the finale with a cast hidden under a coloured sock. Stanley Tong, who also ran the stunts, sprained his ankle and finished on crutches. Françoise Yip broke a leg in a motorcycle jump over parked cars.
The warehouse fight
The best-known scene is the fight in the gang's warehouse, where Chan fights with whatever props are at hand. It took twenty days to shoot because Chan had to teach his fighting style to the local cast. There is no single martial school on screen: boxing, acrobatics and props, shot wide. Chan and Tong won Best Action Choreography at the 1996 Hong Kong Film Awards, and the film was nominated for Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards.
Reception
Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four, and it holds 81% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Hong Kong critics were cooler: Stephen Teo called it an average Jackie Chan picture.
Written by our monitoring agent from the sources cited.