Shanghai Noon (2000)

Jackie Chan plays a Chinese man who travels to the Wild West to rescue a kidnapped princess. After teaming up with a train robber, the unlikely duo takes on a Chinese traitor and his corrupt boss.

Director:

Tom Dey

Writers:

Miles Millar, Alfred Gough

Stars:

Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jackie Chan	...	Chon Wang
Owen Wilson	...	Roy O'Bannon
Lucy Liu	...	Princess Pei Pei
Brandon Merrill	...	Indian Wife
Roger Yuan	...	Lo Fong
Xander Berkeley	...	Van Cleef
Rongguang Yu	...	Imperial Guard (as Rong Guang Yu)
Ya Hi Cui	...	Imperial Guard (as Cui Ya Hi)
Eric Chen	...	Imperial Guard (as Eric Chi Cheng Chen)
Jason Connery	...	Andrews
Walton Goggins	...	Wallace
Adrien Dorval	...	Blue (as P. Adrien Dorval)
Rafael Báez	...	Vasquez
Stacy Grant	...	Hooker in Distress
Kate Luyben	...	Fifi

Storyline

A 19th century Western. Chon Wang is a clumsy Imperial Guard to the Emperor of China. When Princess Pei Pei is kidnapped from the Forbidden City, Wang feels personally responsible and insists on joining the guards sent to rescue the Princess, who has been whisked away to the United States. In Nevada and hot on the trail of the kidnappers, Wang is separated from the group and soon finds himself an unlikely partner with Roy O'Bannon, a small time robber with delusions of grandeur. Together, the two forge onto one misadventure after another.

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Plot Keywords:

princess | chinese | rescue | traitor | 19th century | 

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Taglines:

The first kung-fu western ever

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for action violence, some drug humor, language and sensuality

Details

Country:

USA Hong Kong

Language:

English Mandarin Sioux Spanish

Release Date:

26 May 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shanghai Kid

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$34,901 (Finland) (10 November 2000)

Gross:

ESP 240,216,009 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Roger Birnbaum Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Roy O'Bannon finds out that the new member of his gang is from Texas, he replies, "Texas, are you insane?!" Owen Wilson, who plays Roy, is from Texas.

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Goofs

During the bath scene, the level of the "firewater" in the bottle varties inconsistently between shots.

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Quotes

Roy O'Bannon: You gotta be able to laugh at stuff like that. Like me in the desert. I don't hold any grudges; I laugh about it. I'm not angry at you. You just left me there with chopsticks to die. Roy, all by his lonesome, just me and the buzzards, pickin' at my head... You're a very silent man, aren't you?

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes from the filming of the movie.

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Connections

References Caddyshack (1980)

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Soundtracks

"La Grange"
Written by Billy Gibbons (as Billy F. Gibbons), Dusty Hill, Frank Beard
Performed by ZZ Top
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Another great Chan comedy

When Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) is kidnapped and taken to American by Lo Fong (Roger Yuan), the honour guard of The Forbidden City is dispatched to deliver the ransom and bring her back. Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) accompanies the guards on their journey and finds himself entangled with Indians, cowboys and the greedy attentions of train robber Roy O'Brannon (Owen Wilson).

This is essentially a mismatched buddy movie transferred to the American West and in that respect it is not exact an original plot, there aren't any great twists to grab you and a lot of the plot drivers are forced or predictable. However let's be honest - we're not hear for the plot! As with the Rush Hour movies, the plot is secondary to the comedy and the fight scenes. Here Owen Wilson provides the comedy as the laid back train robber while Jackie Chan provides the action and the comedy. The strength here is that this is a little unassuming film that will take you by surprise. The chemistry between Wilson and Chan is effortless and is as comfortable as the Chan/Tucker combo. Wilson's character is hilarious in a very easy way - he is clearly so out of place in the West and partially accepts it but also wants to be more than he is, as one of the bad guys put it "you're terrible. How have it made it this long?"

Chan again shows that he is the closest we have to a modern day Chaplin, he is as good at interacting with Wilson as he is with the physical comedy that is his trademark. One complaint is that, as with Rush Hour, we could probably have done with a few more fight scenes. However the comedy more than fills any voids that are between fights.

Other cast members are little more than excuses for the action. Roger Yuan and Xander Berkeley provide good baddies (Berkeley especially) but Lucy Liu is almost in her own little 'serious' movie and doesn't have much to do except be rescued (although she does show some of her "Charlie's Angels" potential in a fight scene towards the end).

Overall a gentle enjoyable comedy that is made all the more enjoyable by the ease by which it succeeds at making you laugh. Chan's fights are a little less impressive than other films but he excels in the comedy stakes. One very good thing is the customary outtakes at the end - unlike Rush Hour 2 they are NOT funnier than the rest of the film.