Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

An All-American trucker gets dragged into a centuries-old mystical battle in Chinatown.

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein

Stars:

Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kurt Russell	...	Jack Burton
Kim Cattrall	...	Gracie Law
Dennis Dun	...	Wang Chi
James Hong	...	David Lo Pan
Victor Wong	...	Egg Shen
Kate Burton	...	Margo
Donald Li	...	Eddie Lee
Carter Wong	...	Thunder
Peter Kwong	...	Rain
James Pax	...	Lightning
Suzee Pai	...	Miao Yin
Chao Li Chi	...	Uncle Chu
Jeff Imada	...	Needles
Rummel Mor	...	Joe Lucky
Craig Ng	...	One Ear

Storyline

Truck driver Jack Burton arrives in Chinatown, San Francisco, and goes to the airport with his Chinese friend Wang Chi to welcome his green-eyed fiancée Miao Yin who is arriving from China. However she is kidnapped on the arrival by a Chinese street gang and Jack and Wang chase the group. Soon they learn that the powerful evil sorcerer called David Lo Pan, who has been cursed more than two thousand years ago to exist without physical body, needs to marry a woman with green eyes to retrieve his physical body and Miao is the chosen one. Jack and Wang team-up with the lawyer Gracie Law, the bus driver and sorcerer apprentice Egg Shen and their friends and embark in a great adventure in the underground of Chinatown, where they face a world of magicians and magic, monsters and martial arts fighters.

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Plot Keywords:

truck | truck driver | cb radio | 1980s | airport | 

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Taglines:

They told Jack Burton to go to hell...and that's exactly where he's going! (From Trailer)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese

Release Date:

2 July 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$11,100,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, TAFT Entertainment Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Production designer John J. Lloyd designed the elaborate underground sets and re-created Chinatown with three-story buildings, roads, streetlights, sewers and so on. This was necessary for the staging of complicated special effects and kung fu fight sequences that would have been very hard to do on location. This forced the filmmaker to shoot the film in 15 weeks with a $25 million budget.

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Goofs

When Jack, Wang et al exit the Wing Kong Import/Export Exchange Company, Uncle Choo is waiting outside in a yellow bus. Wing Kong security then open fire on the bus as it drives away. However, as the bus turns a corner seconds later you can see that there aren't any bullet holes or broken windows on the side of the bus they were shooting.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Pinstripe lawyer: What I'd like to do today is get your version of what happened.
Egg Shen: Oh, you mean the truth.
Pinstripe lawyer: Of course. First, just state your name and your occupation for the record.
Egg Shen: Oh, Egg Shen. Bus driver.

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Connections

Referenced in Night Shadow (1989)

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Soundtracks

Big Trouble in Little China
Written by John Carpenter
Performed by The Coupe de Villes

User Reviews

John Caprenter's opus magnum

John Carpenter really steps away from his usual fare in this easy going `fortune-cookie theater' parody that was originally the manuscript for the second Buckaroo Banzai movie. It features a cast of pithy characters, bizarre and memorable dialogue, entertaining special effects and fight scenes that are well choreographed by western standards.

For those of you who already love John Carpenter, prepare for one of his finest moments. In 1987 Carpenter's sentimental sci-fi-side made `Starman' an instant classic and in 1984 his tense, brooding gothism made `Prince of Darkness' truly frightening. Sandwiched in-between these movie greats is the 1986 production of `Big Trouble on Little China', where eastern martial arts mysticism meets John Wayne bravado with zany and often absurdly hilarious results. How can you not love a movie unwilling to take itself too seriously while at the same time still managing to keep a straight face?

Carpenter's skills as a director, producer and songwriter come together in this film to produce what many consider to be his finest work. Big Trouble' s theme and content naturally compliments Carpenter's style of cynical humor, flashy cinematic expression and loose, caricature-esque development of memorable story line figures. If this isn't his opus magnum then it is at least one of his greatest moments as a director.