Jackie Chan fans have had the blues lately . . . and that includes me.
For the past few years, we have been able to count on Salt Lake's lone art house, the Tower Theater, to bring in a Chan flick every few months. But those days are gone for awhile.After the Tower screened "Amour of God II" in March and then "City Hunter" in May, the entire U.S. library of the Hong Kong comedy-action star's films was pulled to make way for Chan's first big "wide" American theatrical release, "Rumble in the Bronx."
"Rumble" was scheduled to hit theaters this month, but, obviously, it did not. Then it was rescheduled for early January, but now that date has been blitzed as well.
At the moment, rumblings in Hollywood indicate that "Rumble" will be in a theater near you come February. Let's hope so.
If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, find out for yourselves. You can still rent some Chan movies at selected video stores around the valley.
At least one Blockbuster store in town has a dubbed version of "Police Story," a vintage Chan epic that offers a knockout demonstration of his charming on-screen persona, his amazing martial-arts expertise and his Buster Keaton/Harold Lloyd-like knack for athletic slapstick comedy.
And the Tower Theater's video store has several subtitled Chan films on its shelves, including "Drunken Master II," considered by many critics to be his finest hour.
Watch one or two of these films on video and you'll be primed for "Rumble in the Bronx," which promises to broaden his audience - an audience that currently includes much of the world outside of the United States.
Domestically, however, Chan is still strictly a cult star, with a small but fevered following that has great respect for his body of work - work that he does with his body, rather than relying on computer-generated special effects.
Chan, a respected filmmaker who has directed 11 of his own movies, performs all of his own stunts, as well as carefully choreographing the physical comedy. His spinning, twitching, jumping, climbing and leaping-from-tall-buildings-with-a-single-bound skills are eye-popping, to say the least. Even Sylvester Stallone is impressed, and he told Time magazine that Chan is "giving audiences these extraordinary stunts that are unparalleled anywhere in the world."
But that doesn't keep the Hong Kong superstar from getting hurt, which happens on a regular basis. In fact, he has become so well-known for the broken bones and pain he has suffered that most of his movies include outtakes under the end-credits that show him being carried off, patched up and otherwise helped out after he's been tossed around too much. (The closing moment of one film even shows him being carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.)
"Rumble in the Bronx" isn't Chan's first attempt at crossover stardom. In the early '80s, he appeared as an actor-for-hire in the two all-star "Cannonball Run" movies, as well as a pair of English-language action pictures ("The Big Brawl," "The Protector") that went nowhere.
So, he returned to Hong Kong and became an even bigger star in films over which he had more control.
Here's hoping "Rumble" causes more than a rumble at the box office.
Then maybe the studio that owns his past films will cut them loose to be seen in theaters once again.
- DID YOU NOTICE that after the end-credits in "GoldenEye" we are informed that "James Bond will return"? But it doesn't specify the title of his next film.
Most of the Bond movies say at the end of each end-credits roll that he will return in whatever film was next in the series.
After a six-year hiatus the studio is apparently hedging its bets. At least initially, "GoldenEye" seems to be living up to those hopes, however.
So, like Schwarzenegger's "Terminator," he'll be back.
- ALSO RETURNING, though this sequel is decidedly more surprising, are the Blues Brothers.
A follow-up to the 1981 film that starred Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi in their deadpan, shades-wearing "Saturday Night Live" characters of Elwood and Jake Blues, respectively, is in the works. The screenplay was written by Aykroyd, and John Landis is again directing.
But the role of Jake will not be taken over by a different actor. Instead, a pair of similar characters - cousins of the brothers - will show up, to be played by John Goodman and Jim Belushi.
"Blues Brothers 2000" is scheduled to be in theaters next summer.
(Do you suppose they'll crash another billion cars this time out?)
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Jackie Chan, discussing his stunt-driven movies:
"Audiences know that if they want special effects, they go see Schwarzenegger. If they want a tough movie, they go see Sly. If they want an action movie, they choose Jackie Chan - because I do a lot of things that normal people can't do."
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK II: Sharon Stone, currently co-starring in Martin Scorsese's "Casino" as an alcoholic, drugged-out hustler/hooker in Las Vegas:
"I think playing someone like that is the most fun of all. The audience will like you if you do a good job. I don't think of them as a bunch of nitwits who want a box of chocolates and a pat on the head. This is not a film about being liked."
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK III: Shannen Doherty, late of TV's "Beverly Hills 90210" and recent co-star of "Mallrats":
"I have always been ambitious, and I have always been willing to work hard and give 150 percent to the role, and I think those two attributes have helped me have a steady career since I was 10. There's also the element of luck, and I know how lucky I have been, because there a lot of talented actors out there who don't get to work steadily. There also is the talent factor. Even when those people were saying all those horrible things about me, they always said I was a very talented actress."