| Rumble in the Bronx | |
|---|---|
 Hong Kong theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Stanley Tong |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Barbie Tung |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jingle Ma |
| Edited by | Peter Cheung |
| Music by |
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Production company | Paragon Films Ltd. |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema (United States) Golden Harvest (Hong Kong) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes (United States) 106 minutes (Hong Kong) |
| Countries |
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| Languages |
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| Budget | US$7.5−13 million[3][4] |
| Box office | US$76 million |
| Rumble in the Bronx | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 紅番區 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 红番区 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Red Foreigners District[5] | ||||||||||
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Rumble in the Bronx (Chinese:紅番區) is a 1995 American-Hong Kongaction comedy film directed byStanley Tong, and starringJackie Chan,Anita Mui, andFrançoise Yip. The film is set in theBronx area ofNew York City, but was filmed in and aroundVancouver, Canada.[6]
Aninternational co-production between Hong Kong and the United States, the film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 21 January 1995.Rumble in the Bronx had a successful worldwide theatrical run, and brought Chan into the North American mainstream.
Ma Hon Keung, aHong Kong cop comes to New York to attend the wedding of his Uncle Bill, who introduces him to his African-American bride-to-be Whitney at hissupermarket, which he has sold to Elaine. Uncle Bill's friend Steven Lo loans him a vintage automobile for thewedding. That night, astreet gang starts a motorcycle race near Uncle Bill's apartment. They are about to run over his friend's car until Keung jumps down and stops them. He soon starts a rivalry with the gang after driving them away from Elaine's supermarket, which they tried torob andvandalize. A series of brawls breaks out in which thebikers try to corner Keung and finish him off. After one attack in which the gang members pelt glass bottles at him, Keung returns home badly injured. His neighbor Nancy, alingeriedancer/associate of the bikers and her younger brother Danny, a Chinese-Americanparaplegic who's taken a liking to Keung, take care of him and clean his wounds.
When a gang member named Angelo gets involved in an illegal diamond deal gone bad and steals thediamonds, the small-timegangsters become the victims of a larger and more effectivecrime syndicate led by a man named White Tiger. While running away with the diamonds, Angelo hides them in a cushion which is unknowingly used by Keung for Danny's wheelchair. Keung befriends Nancy and while visiting her at the seedy club she works at, advises her to stay away from crime. When the gangsters see this, they chase Keung and Nancy (after the gangsters made Keung believe that they areFBI agents and they made Keung believe that White Tiger is a victim of a robbery too). After failing to confront Keung, the bikers trash Elaine's supermarket, during which two of Angelo's men are captured by White Tiger's men, who turn up at the supermarket in search of Angelo. Angelo's colleagues are unaware of his diamond heist and one is executed in atree-shredder; his remains given back to the other gangsters as a warning to return the multimillion-dollar goods. Keung and Nancy go to the bikers' headquarters after the latest supermarket attack, and Keung defeats them in another brawl. One of Angelo's men reported his gang for one member are murdering by gangsters for the reason to steals diamonds.
After Angelo identified the gangsters are the falsesFBI agents, Keung agrees to help the biker leader Tony who is Nancy's boyfriend, where he convinces the street gangsters to reform and brings the big-time criminals to justice. The syndicate and Keung discover the diamonds in Danny's wheelchair. The handover is botched after Nancy and Tony are held hostage by the syndicate and the diamonds are lost after they use atow truck to destroy Elaine's supermarket. White Tiger's men hijack ahovercraft and are pursued by Keung and theNew York Police Department in theHudson River. The hovercraft ends up running through the streets, causing muchdamage to property. Keung ends the chase by stealing a six-foot,jagged-sword from amuseum, clamping it onto the window of aLamborghini Countach and driving into thehovercraft, shredding therubber skirt and crashing thevehicle. After shooting one of the syndicate men non-fatally to force them to reveal White Tiger's location, Keung drives the repaired hovercraft to agolf course where White Tiger is playing withsubordinates. Keung runs them over, leaving White Tiger naked on the ground.
In his autobiography,I am Jackie Chan: My life in Action, Jackie Chan talked about the initial difficulty of filming a movie in Vancouver that is set in New York. The production team initially had to put up fake graffiti during the day and take it all down during the evening, while simultaneously making sure that no mountains made it into the background. However, Chan decided that it was best that the production team focus on the action only without worrying too much about scenery. In his review, Roger Ebert notes that there are mountains in the background, which are not present in the NYC landscape.[7] There is also an NYC helicopter which displays a Canadian civil registration (C-GZPM - ABellJetRanger).
The original spoken dialogue consisted of all of the actors speaking their native language most of the time. In the completely undubbed soundtrack, available on the Warner Japanese R2 DVD release, Jackie Chan actually speaks his native Cantonese while Françoise Yip and Morgan Lam (the actors playing Nancy and Danny) speak English. All of the original dialogue was intended to be dubbed over in the international and Hong Kong film markets, and New Line Cinema overdubbed and slightly changed the original English dialogue.
During filming, Chan broke his right ankle while performing a stunt. He spent much of the remaining shooting time with one foot in a cast. When it came to the film's climax, the crew colored a sock to resemble the shoe on his good foot, which Chan wore over his cast. His foot still had not completely healed when he went on to shoot his next film,Thunderbolt (filmed the same year, 1994, but released earlier in the U.S.).[8]
The film had a production budget ofUS$7.5−13 million.[3][4]
The film was the first Chinese film to be simultaneously released in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.[9]
New Line Cinema acquired the film for international distribution and commissioned a new music score and English dub (with participation fromJackie Chan). A scene of Keung's airplane flying intoJohn F. Kennedy International Airport was added to the opening credits. Three scenes were added exclusively for the international version: a shot of the syndicate's car pulling up to the diamond deal, Keung and Nancy escaping from the nightclub after the bikers spot them together, and White Tiger taking a golf shot before a subordinate approaches him with his phone. None of these scenes were in the original Hong Kong release. In comparison to the Hong Kong version, 17 minutes of cuts were made, and the new English dub changed some of the context of the characters' conversations. Keung being a cop and having a girlfriend in Hong Kong is never mentioned. Keung's father being shot by a robber years ago is also not mentioned. In the New Line Cinema edit, Elaine buys the grocery store upon her first meeting with Uncle Bill, but in the Hong Kong version, she decides to buy the market at Bill's wedding.
The new soundtrack replaced Chan's song over theclosing credits with the song "Kung Fu" by the bandAsh, the lyrics of which mention Jackie Chan, as well as other Asian figures and characters ubiquitous in the west.
InHong Kong,Rumble in the Bronx broke the box office record, earningHK$56,911,136, making it thehighest-grossing film in Hong Kong up until then.[10] InChina, within ten days of release, the film grossedCN¥100 million (US$15 million) from10 million tickets sold at CN¥10 each.[11][12] It set a record inGuangzhou, with CN¥3 million grossed in the city.[13] It became thehighest-grossing imported film in China up until then,[14] grossingCN¥110 million (US$16.11 million).[12] It was the year's eighth highest-grossing film inTaiwan, earningNT$53,787,720.[15] In Japan, the film earned¥635 million at the box office.[16] In South Korea, it was the highest-grossing film of the year, selling 941,433 tickets and earningUS$5.08 million.[17]
| Market | Year | Gross revenue (est.) | Ticket sales (est.) | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local currency | US dollars | ||||
| Hong Kong | 1995 | HK$56,911,136 | $7,356,820 | 1,200,000 | [10][18] |
| China | CN¥110 million | $16,110,000 | 11,000,000 | [12][11] | |
| Taiwan | NT$53,787,720 | $2,060,705 | 295,892 | [15][19] | |
| Japan | ¥635,000,000 | $6,751,000 | 510,000 | [16][20] | |
| South Korea | Unknown | $5,080,000 | 941,433 | [17] | |
| North America | 1996 | US$32,392,047 | $32,392,047 | 7,361,000 | [1][21] |
| Germany | €1,816,000 | $2,306,000 | 349,325 | [22][23] | |
| Italy | €270,000 | $343,000 | 58,773 | [5][23] | |
| Switzerland | €173,000 | $220,000 | 20,571 | ||
| Sweden | €132,000 | $168,000 | 18,556 | ||
| Belgium | €69,000 | $88,000 | 13,505 | ||
| Denmark | €19,000 | $24,000 | 3,162 | ||
| Czech Republic | €1,100 | $1,397 | 1,222 | ||
| Spain | €318,000 | $361,000 | 96,309 | ||
| 1997 | €9,330 | $10,580 | 2,744 | ||
| United Kingdom | £801,290 | $1,312,000 | 130,583 | [24][better source needed][5] | |
| Hungary | €76,000 | $86,000 | 54,116 | [5] | |
| Romania | ROL1,184,620,000 | $86,000 | 40,709 | ||
| 1998 | ROL2,132,320,000 | $40,000 | 40,535 | ||
| 1999 | ROL470,000 | $9 | 11 | ||
| France | 1998 | €1,086,000 | $1,232,000 | 204,894 | [25] |
| Total | US$76,028,558 | 22,343,340 | |||
| Inflation adjusted (2021) | US$154,476,114 | [26] | |||
The film was Chan's mainstream breakthrough in North America. When the film made its North American premiere at theSundance Film Festival in January 1996, the film drew overwhelmingly positive reactions from large crowds cheering loudly, comparable to a sold-out concert.[27] It eventually got a wide release in February 1996. Opening on 1,736 North American screens, it was number one at the box office in its opening weekend, grossing US$9,858,380 ($5,678 per screen). It became one of the year's top 20 highest-grossingR-rated films, finishing its North American run with $32,392,047[1] (equivalent to$69 million adjusted for inflation in 2021).[21] In the United Kingdom, the film sold 130,583 tickets[5] and grossed£801,290.[24][better source needed] In France and Germany, the film sold 493,756 tickets.[28] In other European countries, the film sold 460,254 tickets.[5]
It became Chan's biggest ever hit up until then,[29] with a worldwide box office gross ofUS$76 million[30] (equivalent to over$154 million adjusted for inflation in 2021).[26] It was the most profitable film of 1996, with its US box office alone earning over 6 times its$13 million budget.[4]
When released in North America,Rumble in the Bronx received generally positive reviews, with most critics happy that aJackie Chan film was finally getting a wide theatrical release in North America.[31][32][33] OnRotten Tomatoes the film has an 80% approval rating based on reviews from 55 critics, with an average rating of 6.5/10.[34] Most critics praised the action, stunts, and Chan's charm, but found the plot and acting to be lacking.
Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, rating it 3 out of 4 stars.[35] His review for theChicago Sun-Times stated:
Any attempt to defend this movie on rational grounds is futile. Don't tell me about the plot and the dialogue. Don't dwell on the acting. The whole point isJackie Chan – and, likeAstaire and Rogers, he does what he does better than anybody. There is a physical confidence, a grace, an elegance to the way he moves. There is humor to the choreography of the fights (which are never too gruesome). He's having fun. If we allow ourselves to get in the right frame of mind, so are we.[35]
Nate Jones inThe Daily Utah Chronicle rated the film3+1⁄2 stars. He described Chan as "the biggest action hero in the world" like a cross betweenBruce Lee,Bruce Willis,Charlie Chaplin, andHarrison Ford, and said Chan "has brought theKung-Fu action picture" genre "roaring back to life" in American pop culture. He praised the action choreography as "a masterfully seamless wave, proving that acting and fighting can coexist, if they're in the hands of a virtuoso." However, he criticized the English dubbing.[36]
In a 1995 review for theHong Kong Film Critics Society, Stephen Teo panned the film as "at best, an average Jackie Chan picture." He noted that despite the final hovercraft set piece, the action "is offset by the comedy underpinnings of the thin plot."[37] In 1996,Asiaweek placedRumble in the Bronx in its list of best films for that year.[38]
The film was featured in a 2015 video essay by Every Frame A Painting, calling attention to the fact that the movie was shot in Vancouver despite being set in the Bronx, where no mountain ranges are visible.[39]
In the United Kingdom, the film was watched by1.1 million viewers onBBC1 in 2008, making it the year's most-watched foreign-language film onBBC.[40] It was later watched by1.2 million UK viewers on BBC1 in 2009, making it the year's most-watched foreign-language film on UK television.[41] In 2011, it was again the year's most-watched foreign-language film on UK television with 900,000 viewers on BBC1.[42] Combined, the film drew at least3.2 million UK television viewership on BBC1 between 2008 and 2011.
The majority of DVD versions of the film contain the heavily edited USNew Line Cinema cut, with the relevant dubs created for each market. However, other versions exist, which are closer to the original theatrical release.
It appears that a joint-distribution deal was made, with Thakral releasing the film in China, and Chinastar releasing it in Hong Kong. This version contains no credits, not even the film title, but is otherwise the Hong Kong version. There are no English subtitles and the ratio is roughly 2.10:1.
Malaysian distributor Speedy released a VCD. As well as local censorship (for profanity - also featuring a substituted shots of Angelo insulting Keung), it has a slightly different Cantonese/English soundtrack (some characters are dubbed in Cantonese); there are English, Chinese and Malay subtitles languages. It is cropped to approximately 1:85:1 and distorted to 1:56:1.
The film had three separate DVD releases byTaiwanese distributor Funny. Two of these DVDs feature the Taiwanese Mandarin-dubbed version with embedded subtitles. One of these contains a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack only, whilst the other contains both Dolby and DTS soundtracks. The third release is a double-sided disc, featuring the Taiwanese Mandarin dub on one side and the English-dubbed New Line Cinema version on the other. Despite containing a dubbed soundtrack, these DVDs are the only releases to contain English subtitles for a Chinese version. All three are presented in 2.35:1.
Production Budget: $7,500,000
《红番区》10块钱一张票,10天票房超过一亿。["Rumble in the Bronx" cost ¥10 per ticket, and the box office exceeded ¥100 million in 10 days.]
But in 1995, Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan'sRumble in the Bronx lit up movie screens during the Spring Festival, taking in110 million yuan ($16.11 million).
