Miracles - Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989)
"Ji ji" (original title)

Jackie Chan's Hong Kong variation of Frank Capra's "A Pocketful of Miracles" set in the 1930s. Jackie plays a country boy who rescues a gang boss. Jackie becomes the head of a gang through ... See full summary »

Director:

Jackie Chan

Writers:

Hal Kanter, Robert Riskin,

Stars:

Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Ya-lei Kuei

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jackie Chan	...	'Charlie' Cheng Wah Kuo
Anita Mui	...	Luming Yang
Ya-lei Kuei	...	Madam Kao (as Yah-Leh Gui)
Chun Hsiung Ko	...	Tiger
Ma Wu	...	Uncle Hai
Bill Tung	...	Tung
Vincent Lyn
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kenny Bee	...	Reporter #1
Anthony Carpio	...	One of Tiger Lo's men
Anthony Chan	...	Reporter #2
Ching-Wan Chan
Joanna Chan
Kwok Kuen Chan
Sai-Tang Chan
Tat-kwong Chan	...	Rope Factory Worker

Storyline

Jackie Chan's Hong Kong variation of Frank Capra's "A Pocketful of Miracles" set in the 1930s. Jackie plays a country boy who rescues a gang boss. Jackie becomes the head of a gang through the purchase of some lucky roses from an old lady. Jackie and a singer at the gang's nightclub try to do a good deed for the old rose-seller when her daughter comes to visit, all this while battling a rival gang.

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Plot Keywords:

nightclub | 1930s | rose | mixed martial arts | triad | 

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Taglines:

"Overwhelmingly wonderful", "Nothing short of miraculous...a must see" - The Hollywood Reporter

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese English

Release Date:

15 June 1989 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Black Dragon

Box Office

Budget:

HKD 64,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company, Golden Way Films Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min 101 min (DVD edition)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A typhoon destroyed many of the sets of the film. The crew had to rebuild to finish the production.

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Connections

References The NeverEnding Story (1984)

User Reviews

Less than miraculous

1987's Miracles was one of Jackie Chan's biggest flops, and it's not that difficult to see why. A lavish Hong Kong reworking of the Frank Capra-Damon Runyon classic Lady For a Day set in a lovingly recreated Twenties Hong Kong, you can see where the money's been spent, but too often the film feels like it's all window dressing. Director-star Chan is so enamoured of the project that he loses sight of the story and the audience and it constantly tips over into drawn-out self-indulgence even in the two hour version, so it's hard to imagine how slow Chan's original unreleased and reportedly lost three-hour cut must have been. Chan's a down-on-his-luck chancer who, after buying a lucky rose from an old woman, finds his luck changing, quickly working his way to the top as a gangster-cum-gambler-cum-club owner (of the kind who never kills anyone, naturally) and repays the favor by roping in his gang and various IOUs to masquerade as the cream of high society when the flower seller's daughter - who believes her mother to be a rich socialite - comes to visit. Action is thin on the ground until the elaborate ladder-fight finale, but that's less of a problem than the fact that neither the film nor the characters really engage your sympathy or much of your interest along the way. There are some good sequences, including a virtuoso single-take shot of making over a gambling den into a fancy restaurant with several nods to Buster Keaton along the way, but there just aren't enough of them.