ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - July 2nd
"BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA"
released in 1986
released in 1986
When Jack Burton helps his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed fiancée from bandits in San Francisco, they must go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown where they face an ancient sorcerer named David Lo Pan, in John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China!
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Truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) wins a bet with his restaurant owner friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), and accompanies him to the airport to pick up Wang's Chinese fiancée Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) to make sure he honours the payment. A Chinese street gang, the Lords of Death, tries to kidnap another Chinese girl at the airport who is being met by her friend Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), intending to sell her as a sex slave. After Jack intervenes, they take Miao Yin instead. In Jack's big-rig truck, he and Wang track the Lords of Death to the back alleys of Chinatown, where they find a funeral procession that quickly erupts into a tong war between the Chang Sing and Wing Kong, two ancient Chinese societies. When "The Three Storms" - Thunder, Rain, and Lightning, mighty warriors with weather-themed powers - appear, slaughtering the Chang Sing, Jack tries to escape but runs over Lo Pan (James Hong), a powerful and legendary sorcerer and the leader of the Wing Kong. Horrified, Jack exits his truck, but finds Lo Pan entirely unfazed and glowing with malicious power. Wang hurriedly guides Jack through the alleys; the two escape the carnage and mayhem, but Jack's truck is stolen. Wang takes Jack to his restaurant, where they meet up with Gracie, Wang's friend Eddie Lee (Donald Li), and magician Egg Shen (Victor Wong), a local authority on Lo Pan. They try to explain to an incredulous Jack some of the ancient knowledge and sorcery the Chinese brought with them to America. Later, Jack and Wang track down the front business used by Lo Pan, but are quickly captured and taken to Lo Pan - who now appears as a crippled old man - who explains that he needs to marry (and then sacrifice) Miao Yin to permanently break the curse and regain his human form. Eventually escaping with the help of Gracie, Eddie, and a journalist Margo Litzenberger (Kate Burton) - although Gracie is re-captured - Wang and Jack regroup with the Chang Sing and Egg Shen, and as a group they enter an underground cavern to return to Lo Pan's headquarters and face Lo Pan and defeat him once and for all!
TRIVIA: After the commercial and critical failure of the film, Carpenter became very disillusioned with Hollywood and became an independent filmmaker. He said in an interview, "The experience [of Big Trouble] was the reason I stopped making movies for the Hollywood studios. I won’t work for them again. I think Big Trouble is a wonderful film, and I’m very proud of it. But the reception it received, and the reasons for that reception, were too much for me to deal with. I’m too old for that sort of bullshit."
Top and Above: Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) and his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) must save their respective love-interests Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) and Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) from the evil clutches of Lo Pan (James Hong)!
Although the original screenplay by first-time screenwriters Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein was envisioned as a Western set in the 1880s (envisioned combining Chinese fantasy elements with the western), before screenwriter - and veteran script doctor - W.D. Richter was hired to rewrite the script extensively and modernize it. Discarding almost everything from the original storyline (except the Lo Pan backstory), Richter rewrote the script in 10-weeks. Fox wanted to deny Goldman and Weinstein writing credit, and even eliminated their names from press releases, before a Writers Guild of America, West ruling determined that "written by" credit would go to Goldman and Weinstein, based on the WGA screenwriting credit system which protects original writers, leaving Richter with an "adaptation by" credit. Director John Carpenter was disappointed that Richter did not get a proper screenwriting credit because of the ruling, and subsequently made his own additions to Richter’s rewrites, which included strengthening the Gracie Law role and linking her to Chinatown, removing a few action sequences due to budgetary restrictions and eliminating material deemed offensive to Chinese Americans.
Carpenter, who had a long-standing desire to make a martial arts film, was first approached by Fox for the project in July 1985. The studio then approached Carpenter's longtime collaborator Kurt Russell to star as Jack Burton. Russell, however, was initially not interested because he felt there were "a number of different ways to approach Jack, but I didn’t know if there was a way that would be interesting enough for this movie". But after talking to Carpenter and reading the script a couple of more times, Russell gained insight into the character and liked the notion of playing "a hero who has so many faults" and began lifting weights and running two months before production began in order to get ready for the physical demands of principal photography. After being impressed with his performance in Michael Cimino's Year of the Dragon, Carpenter cast Dennis Dun in the role of Burton's friend Wang Chi just two days before principal photography began.
TRIVIA: Big Trouble in Little China was rushed into production when Carpenter learned that the next Eddie Murphy vehicle, The Golden Child, which featured a similar theme, was going to be released around the same time as Big Trouble. Interestingly, Carpenter was asked by Paramount Pictures to direct The Golden Child. To beat the rival production at being released in theaters, Big Trouble went into production in October 1985 so that it could open in July 1986, five months before The Golden Child’s Christmas release.
Carpenter, who had a long-standing desire to make a martial arts film, was first approached by Fox for the project in July 1985. The studio then approached Carpenter's longtime collaborator Kurt Russell to star as Jack Burton. Russell, however, was initially not interested because he felt there were "a number of different ways to approach Jack, but I didn’t know if there was a way that would be interesting enough for this movie". But after talking to Carpenter and reading the script a couple of more times, Russell gained insight into the character and liked the notion of playing "a hero who has so many faults" and began lifting weights and running two months before production began in order to get ready for the physical demands of principal photography. After being impressed with his performance in Michael Cimino's Year of the Dragon, Carpenter cast Dennis Dun in the role of Burton's friend Wang Chi just two days before principal photography began.
To commemorate the release of Big Trouble in Little China, IHdb has included this in-depth featurette on the making of the film, including interviews with the cast and director John Carpenter, behind the scenes footage and clips from the movie.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 82%
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