Jackie Chan's breakthrough film in the United States provides a perfect showcase for Chan's physical agility and death-defying stunt work. As the naive Hong Kong nephew of a South Bronx grocer, he gets on the bad side of a biker gang who enjoy terrorizing the new owner (Anita Mu) of the store. Soon he finds himself caught in the middle of a vicious battle between the biker-delinquents and gun-crazed Chinese gangsters over some stolen jewels.

Set in the South Bronx but actually filmed on location in Vancouver, Rumble in the Bronx features some of Jackie Chan's most dangerous stunts and, if you stick around for the end credits, you can see numerous outtakes in which Jackie barely avoids serious injury. Here are some perfect examples. The script called for Jackie to leap from the top of a parking lot to a fire escape and then to the floor below on the building across the street. As is his custom, director Stanley Tong attempted the stunt before asking any of his actors to try it. First he tried it with the help of a cable harness, but quickly decided it would be safer without the harness. The landing point was not visible from the point where the jump began, so tape was placed on the take-off point as a guide. The jump was completed perfectly by Jackie Chan on the first attempt, doing his own stunts as is his custom. The jump was captured by four cameras.

While attempting the scene where he jumps onto the moving hovercraft, Jackie broke his ankle. Yet, despite his injury, he insisted on attending the premiere of Jui kuen II (1994) at the Vancouver International Film Festival that night. Later in the production, Tong sprained his ankle, completing the film on crutches. Françoise Yip also broke her leg while filming the scene where she rides a motorbike across the tops of parked cars. She insisted on returning to the set after her leg was plastered at hospital. Two stunt women also broke their legs during the filming of the motorcycle chase. As for the famous warehouse fight sequence, it took twenty days to shoot as Jackie had to teach each of the local stunt players how to fight "Hong Kong style."

Rumble in the Bronx was well received by the American press upon its release and here a few sample comments. Richard Corliss of Time Magazine wrote, "Rumble audiences may titter at the naive plot (the director is Stanley Tong), but they will gasp at Chan's lithe, lightning reflexes when he takes on five creeps in a deli or executes a jump from one high building to another. You watch these impossible stunts with fear and gratitude for the hardest-working man in show biz. To see your first Jackie Chan movie is to fall in love with what the movies once were: a comic ballet of bodies in motion." Roger Ebert said "The way to look at a Jackie Chan movie, according to my friend Donald Westlake, the mystery writer, is the same way you would look at an Astaire; Rogers movie: "The plot exists only to connect the production numbers, and the movie exists only because of the production numbers." He's right about "Rumble in the Bronx," the latest attempt to break into the North American market by Chan, the Hong Kong star who is second only to Arnold Schwarzenegger in worldwide popularity. The movie uses the flimsiest of plots as an excuse to string together astonishing action sequences in which Chan exhibits the physical grace and athletic control of a Buster Keaton."

Rumble in the Bronx swept the Hong Kong Film awards in 1995, winning in these categories - Best Action Choreography, Best Actor (Chan), Best Actress (Anita Mui), and Best Film Editing. The film also includes a rock 'n roll soundtrack that features "Stigmata" by Ministry, "Kung Fu" by Ash, and "Elegant Everyday" by Gold Tilt.

Rating: TV-14-V.