Shanghai Surprise (1986)

Director:

Jim Goddard

Writers:

John Kohn (screenplay) &
Robert Bentley (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A romantic adventure for the dangerous at heart.

Plot:

Glendon Wasey is a fortune hunter looking for a fast track out of China. Gloria Tatlock is a missionary...

Plot Keywords:

Opium | Critically Bashed | Adventurer | City Name In Title | Box Office Flop

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Sean Penn	...	Glendon Wasey
Madonna	...	Gloria Tatlock
Paul Freeman	...	Walter Faraday
Richard Griffiths	...	Willie Tuttle
Philip Sayer	...	Justin Kronk
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Joe Go
Kay Tong Lim	...	Mei Gan
Sonserai Lee	...	China Doll
Victor Wong	...	Ho Chong
Professor Toru Tanaka	...	Yamagani San
Michael Aldridge	...	Mr. Burns
Sarah Lam	...	China Doll's Maid
George She	...	Wu Ch'En She
Won Gam Bor	...	Rickshaw King
To Chee Kan	...	China Doll's Boatman

Also Known As:

Shanghai Express (Australia)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:12 (DVD rating) | UK:15 (original rating) | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

HandMade Films

Trivia:

The Peignot typeface in the opening credits was created in 1937, the same year in which the film's beginning is set.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Wasey and Miss Tatlock catch up with Faraday in the ship's cabin, the amount of shaving-foam on Faraday's face varies between shots.

Quotes:

[first title card]
Title Card: Shanghai 1937
Title Card: The Year of the Japanese Occupation

Movie Connections:

Featured in I Love 'Shanghai Surprise'! (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Zig-Zag

The only surprise is how this movie got made

The only surprise is how this movie ended up being made. HA HA.The plot has Gloria(Madonna) as a missionary who needs to get some jewels to buy opium.In turn to sell the opium for medicine for the mission. She is joined by (Glendon)Sean Penn who helps her to get the jewels and avoid the sneaky Walter Faraday(played by Paul Freeman) who is after them and the jewels.He is disguised as an old man whom Gloria thinks is just a storekeeper.Most of the action is corny , the acting bad ,poor writing but you can't blame it all on the writers.Casting Madonna as a virginal missionary and Sean Penn in an Indiana Jones type role was pure idiocy. Actually ,I will say one positive thing , I did like the soundtrack-all of the songs are performed by the late former beatle George Harrison. The only reason I went to see it at the time was I loved Madonna and her music and wanted to see her on screen. She was terrible and so was Sean Penn(he is so damn ugly) how could they cast him as a romantic lead.Guess because they were going together at the time. 4 stars for the soundtrack by George Harrison, 0 stars for the movie itself.

Of note to movie buffs - Paul Freeman who plays the bad guy Walter Faraday in this movie was also in Raiders of the Lost Ark playing Indy's nemesis Belloq.