''Rumble in the Bronx'' (Chinese title: 紅番區, ''Hong Faan Kui'' (transl. ''Red Turn District'') is a 1995 American-Hong Kong

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

film starring

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

Anita Mui Anita Mui Yim-fong (; 10 October 1963 – 30 December 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actress who made major contributions to the Cantopop music scene and received numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout her career, and i ...

and

Françoise Yip Françoise Fong-Wa Yip (葉芳華; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian actress. She first became known for her performances in Hong Kong films, before later also starring in North American films and television shows. She is best known to inter ...

. It was directed by

Stanley Tong Stanley Tong () is a Hong Kong film director, producer, stunt choreographer, screenwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Early life Stanley Tong was born on April 7, 1960 in Hong Kong, and he completed his education in Hong Kong and Canada. Fi ...

, with action choreographed by Chan and Tong. Released in Hong Kong in 1995, ''Rumble in the Bronx'' had a successful worldwide theatrical run, and brought Chan into the North American mainstream. The film is set in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

area of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but was filmed in and around

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, Canada. The film grossed worldwide against a budget, making it the most profitable film of 1996.

Plot

Ma Hon Keung (馬漢強, Mǎ Hànqiáng), a Hong Kong cop, comes to New York to attend the wedding of his Uncle Bill, who introduces him to his American wife Whitney at his supermarket, which he has sold to Elaine. Uncle Bill's friend, Steven Lo, loans him a vintage automobile for the wedding. That night, a street 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 to rob and vandalize. A series of brawls breaks out in which the bikers try to corner Keung and finish him off. When a member named Angelo gets involved in an illegal diamond deal gone bad and steals the diamonds, the small-time gangsters become the victims of a larger and more effective criminal syndicate led by White Tiger. While running away with the diamonds, Angelo leaves them in a cushion, which is unknowingly used by Keung for the wheelchair of a disabled Chinese American boy named Danny. Danny's elder sister Nancy, a lingerie model/dancer, works in a seedy bar and is an associate/girlfriend of the bikers. Keung befriends Nancy and advises her to stay away from crime. When the gangsters see this, they chase Keung and Nancy. 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 a tree-shredder; his remains given back to the other gangsters as a warning to return the multimillion-dollar goods. In the meantime, Keung and Nancy go to the bikers' headquarters after the latest supermarket attack, and Keung defeats them in another brawl. Keung agrees to help the biker leader Tony, 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 a tow truck to destroy Elaine's supermarket. White Tiger's men hijack a hovercraft and are pursued by Keung and the

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. The hovercraft ends up running through the streets, causing much damage to property. Keung ends the chase by stealing a large sword from a museum, clamping it onto a sports car window and driving into the

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, ...

, shredding the rubber skirt and crashing the vehicle. After shooting one of the syndicate men non-fatally to force them to reveal White Tiger's location, Keung drives the repaired hovercraft to a golf course where White Tiger is playing with subordinates. He runs them over, leaving White Tiger naked on the ground.

Cast

as Ma Hon Keung (T: 馬漢強, S: 马汉强, P: ''Mǎ Hànqiáng'') *

as Elaine *

as Nancy *

Bill Tung Bill Tung Biu () (March 30, 1933 in Hong Kong — February 22, 2006) was a Hong Kong actor and horse racing commentator. Tung started off as a jockey with his family racing horse stable. He was then recruited to become a horse racing commentator. ...

as Uncle Bill Ma (T: 馬驃, S: 马骠, J: maa5 piu3, P: ''Mǎ Piào'') *

Marc Akerstream Marc Akerstream (May 24, 1954August 15, 1998) was a Canadian actor best known as Tony in the 1995 martial arts film ''Rumble in the Bronx'', starring Jackie Chan. He was also a stuntman. He died of head injuries while on the set of the Canadian t ...

as Tony, leader of the gang * Garvin Cross as Angelo * Morgan Lam as Danny * Kris Lord as White Tiger, the syndicate boss * Carrie Cain Sparks as Whitney Ma *

Elliot Ngok Yueh Hua (; 14 July 1942 – 20 October 2018) was a Shanghai-born Hong Kong actor, later based in Canada, with Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB. Yueh is one of the most versatile and prolific leading actors of Shaw Brothers. Yueh starred in five ...

(Yueh Hua) as Walter Wah, the Realtor (T: 華, S: 华) (''credited as Elly Leung'') * Eddy Ko as Prospective market buyer * Emil Chau as Ice cream salesman * Alex To as Ice cream customer * Jordan Lennox as Jordan, a syndicate member with glasses * John Sampson as a syndicate member * Richard Faraci as a syndicate member with a ponytail who Keung subdues in Danny's apartment * Gabriel Ostevic as Gabriel, a syndicate member with a mustache who Keung knocks in the water in the boathouse * Terry Howsen as a syndicate member in a black suit * Mark Fielding as a syndicate member run over by the hovercraft at the golf course * Owen Walstrom as a syndicate member flying into a tree at the golf course * Allen Sit as one of Tony's gang members with a mustache and ponytail, who speaks Cantonese in the supermarket and is the first one who Keung physically confronts *

Alf Humphreys Alfred E. Humphreys (August 9, 1953 – January 31, 2018) was a Canadian actor. Early life Humphreys was born in Haileybury, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Leslie and Gabrielle Humphreys. Career Humphreys was a dramatic actor who first acte ...

as a Police Officer

Production

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. There is also an NYC helicopter which displays a Canadian civil registration (C-GZPM - A

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

JetRanger). 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 A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...

'' (filmed the same year, 1994, but released earlier in the U.S.). The lead actress and several stunt doubles were also injured during the shooting of a motorcycle stunt, with several people suffering broken limbs and ankles. The film had a production budget of .

Release

New Line Cinema acquired the film for international distribution and commissioned a new music score and English dub (with participation from

). A scene of Keung's airplane flying into

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

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 the

closing credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...

with the song "

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

" by the band

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

, the lyrics of which mention Jackie Chan, as well as other Asian figures and characters ubiquitous in the west.

Reception

Box office

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, ''Rumble in the Bronx'' broke the box office record, earning , making it the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong up until then. In

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, within ten days of release, the film grossed () from tickets sold at each. It set a record in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

, with grossed in the city. It became the highest-grossing imported film in China up until then, grossing (). It was the year's eighth highest-grossing film in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

, earning . In Japan, the film earned at the box office. In South Korea, it was the highest-grossing film of the year, selling 941,433 tickets and earning . The film was Chan's mainstream breakthrough in North America. When the film made its North American premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

in January 1996, the film drew overwhelmingly positive reactions from large crowds cheering loudly, comparable to a sold-out concert. 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-grossing R-rated films, finishing its North American run with $32,392,047 (equivalent to adjusted for inflation in 2021). In the United Kingdom, the film sold 130,583 tickets and grossed . In France and Germany, the film sold 493,756 tickets. In other European countries, the film sold 460,254 tickets. It became Chan's biggest ever hit up until then, with a worldwide box office gross of (equivalent to over adjusted for inflation in 2021). It was the most profitable film of 1996, with its US box office alone earning over 6 times its budget.

Critical response

When released in North America, ''Rumble in the Bronx'' received generally positive reviews, with most critics happy that a

film was finally getting a wide theatrical release in North America. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of . Most critics praised the action, stunts, and Chan's charm, but found the plot and acting to be lacking.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film a positive review, rating it 3 out of 4 stars. His review for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' 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 is
Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
– and, like Astaire 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.

Nate Jones in ''

The Daily Utah Chronicle The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of ...

'' rated the film 3-and-a-half stars. He described Chan as "the biggest action hero in the world" like a cross between

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines th ...

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

, and

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

, and said Chan "has brought the Kung-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. In a 1995 review for the

Hong Kong Film Critics Society The Hong Kong Film Critics Society (HKFCS; Traditional Chinese: 香港電影評論學會), founded in 1995, is the peak organization of film critics and professionals in Hong Kong. It is also a member of FIPRESCI The International Federation of ...

, 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." 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.

Awards and nominations

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

Hong Kong Film Award The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, ...

s ** Winner: Best Action Choreography (

) ** Nomination: Best Actor (

) ** Nomination: Best Actress (

) ** Nomination: Best Film Editing (Peter Cheung) ** Nomination: Best New Performer (

) ** Nomination: Best Picture (Barbie Tang) ** Nomination: Best Supporting Actress (

) * 1997 Key Art Awards ** Winner: Best of Show – Audiovisual
For the "Ben Knows" comedy TV spot * 1996

MTV Movie Awards The MTV Movie & TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV. The first MTV Movie Awards were presented in 1992. The ceremony was renamed the MTV Movie & TV Awards for its 26th editio ...

** Nomination: Best Fight (

)

Television

In the United Kingdom, the film was watched by viewers on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in 2008, making it the year's most-watched foreign-language film on BBC. It was later watched by UK viewers on BBC1 in 2009, making it the year's most-watched foreign-language film on UK television. In 2011, it was again the year's most-watched foreign-language film on UK television with 900,000 viewers on BBC1. Combined, the film drew at least UK television viewership on BBC1 between 2008 and 2011.

Home video

The majority of DVD versions of the film contain the heavily edited US

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

cut, with the relevant dubs created for each market. However, other versions exist, which are closer to the original theatrical release.

Warner

* A DVD was produced by Warner Brothers HK for Hong Kong and South Korea. This contains the New Line Cinema version with additional abridged Cantonese and Mandarin soundtracks. It has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, but includes no English subtitles. * Warner Home Video also released a DVD in Japan of the Hong Kong version. This version contains the Hong Kong cut of the film. The dialogue is completely undubbed in a mono 2.0. However, its aspect ratio is cropped to 1.85:1 and contains no English subtitles. * In Hong Kong, a

VCD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...

containing the Hong Kong version in Cantonese, with newly generated English and Chinese subtitles was also released. It's 2.35:1. * A

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on 6 October 2015.

Thakral/Chinastar

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.

Speedy

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

n 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.

Funny

The film had three separate DVD releases by

ese 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.

''4 Film Favorites''

* Another DVD was released as part of the ''4 Film Favorites: Martial Arts collection''. The release is exactly like the

version. The film is also attached to '' The Corruptor'', '' Showdown in Little Tokyo'', and '' Bloodsport''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rumble In The Bronx 1995 films 1995 action films 1995 martial arts films English-language Hong Kong films Films set in New York City Films set in the Bronx Films shot in Vancouver Golden Harvest films American action comedy films American martial arts films Hong Kong action comedy films Hong Kong martial arts films Kung fu films Martial arts comedy films Films directed by Stanley Tong Films scored by J. Peter Robinson Films scored by Nathan Wang Chinese New Year films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s Hong Kong films Foreign films set in the United States