Tai-Pan (1986)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Daryl Duke

Writers:

John Briley (writer)
James Clavell (novel)

Release Date:

7 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

There can only be one.

Plot:

Tai-Pan is Chinese for "supreme leader". This is the man with real power to his hands. And such a Tai-Pan...

Plot Keywords:

Hong Kong | Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity | Historical | China

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Bryan Brown	...	Dirk Struan
Joan Chen	...	May-May
John Stanton	...	Tyler Brock
Tim Guinee	...	Culum Struan
Bill Leadbitter	...	Gorth Brock
Russell Wong	...	Gordon Chen
Katy Behean	...	Mary Sinclair
Kyra Sedgwick	...	Tess Brock
Janine Turner	...	Shevaun Tillman
Norman Rodway	...	Aristotle Quance
John Bennett	...	Orlov
Derrick Branche	...	Vargas
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vic Armstrong	...	Drunken Sailor
Dickey Beer	...	Brecks´s Crew
Chuang Cheng
Kuan Tai Chen	...	Pirate
Shu Chen
Rosemarie Dunham
Robert Easton
Richard Foo
Nicholas Gecks
Carol Gillies
Pat Gorman	...	British Merchant 2
Michael C. Gwynne
Billy Horrigan	...	Brecks´s Crew
Denise Kellogg	...	Nude Model
Barbara Keogh
Lisa Lu
Bronco McLoughlin	...	Brecks´s Crew
Bert Remsen
Patrick Ryecart
Rob Spendlove
Patty Toy
Jie Zhang

Also Known As:

James Clavell's Tai-Pan (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:M | Singapore:M18 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Trivia:

The film was originally announced by MGM in 1967-8 and was to be directed by Michael Anderson, but after severe operating losses the film was one of a number of expensive projects the new management at the studio dropped as too costly. In the 70s Steve McQueen agreed to play the lead for a then-record $10m and was paid an advance of $1m. When the producers were unable to pay the second installment on time, he dropped out, keeping the $1m he had already been paid. In 1980 Roger Moore agreed to play the lead, even going as far as to start to grow a beard for the part before that version fell through as well.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene, set in 1841, several of the ladies were wearing bright mauve outfits. That would have been most unlikely for the wives of middle class traders at that time as the color purple was prohibitively expensive before the invention of analine dyes in London - in 1856. By 1870 these gaudy colors had become so cheap and commonplace that it became a status symbol to mimic the subtler, paler colors of the pre analine dye days.

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Noble House" (1988)

Not bad!

I found this movie to follow the novel pretty closely, considering of course that the novel is about 900 pages and the movie is only two hours! While not of the same outstanding caliber of adaptation as the Shogun miniseries, it nevertheless manages to generate some excitement and give a flavor for the happenings of that period, during which the colony of Hong Kong was founded.

Joan Chen was especially good as Mai-Mai, and all the other parts were at least adequately cast. The locations, sets and production values were of uniformly good quality. The only thing lacking was enough time to tell a story this long and complex--in such a short production one only has time to hit the high points of the plot. But it was enjoyable nevertheless.