Year of the Dragon

19851985
18A18A
2h 14m

6.9/10

A police detective cracks down on organized crime in Chinatown after the murders of Triad and Mafia leaders.A police detective cracks down on organized crime in Chinatown after the murders of Triad and Mafia leaders.A police detective cracks down on organized crime in Chinatown after the murders of Triad and Mafia leaders.

6.9/10

15K

Director
- Michael Cimino
Writers
- Robert Daley(novel)
- Oliver Stone(screenplay)
- Michael Cimino(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 10 nominations

Videos1

Trailer 2:07

Year of the Dragon

Mickey Rourke and John Lone in Year of the Dragon (1985)

Mickey Rourke and Ariane in Year of the Dragon (1985)

Mickey Rourke and Fabia Drake in Year of the Dragon (1985)

Director
- Michael Cimino
Writers
- Robert Daley(novel)
- Oliver Stone(screenplay)
- Michael Cimino(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

Chinatown, New York City. There has long been an unofficial agreement that the NYPD will leave the traditionally run Chinese triad alone to manage the crime issue in the neighborhood, the triad who is the face of organized crime of Chinatown. The triad also has an unofficial agreement with the Italian mafia, still seen as the major player in organized crime in the city, to be cooperative in a win-win situation in their illegal activities. However, the Chinese youth gangs are disregarding these unofficial agreements, being another violent player in the crime scene in Chinatown, they who take a stand by killing Jackie Wong, the head of the triad. To deal with the matter, the NYPD reassign Captain Stanley White from Brooklyn to Chinatown. Stanley, of Polish heritage, is not averse to slinging slurs toward his adversaries, most of those of a racial nature. This reassignment will not help the already deteriorating marriage he has to his long suffering wife, Connie. While Stanley is supposed to target his efforts against the youth gangs, he instead decides to target his efforts against Joey Tai, Jackie's son-in-law who has taken over the triad. Stanley's actions do not sit well with his superiors who want to honor their long held tradition of leaving the triad alone. Although Joey convinced the triad elders that they needed a more vigorous leadership which he could accomplish, Joey, in reality, may have more to do with the increased violence in Chinatown than they realize, including Jackie's murder. In achieving his goal, Stanley co-opts the assistance of Herbert Kwong, a neophyte NYPD officer to go undercover to infiltrate Joey's organization, a job for which his training may make him ill-prepared. Also to further his goals, Stanley begins a love-hate relationship with Tracy Tzu, an American born ethnic Chinese reporter who works the Chinatown beat for an English language network. As Joey goes about his business and Stanley tries to bring him down, the battle between the two becomes personal, which places those around them in danger. The question becomes whether each will survive the battle, not only against each other but by their respective organizations who may not see what they're doing as maintaining what was the on the surface peace that existed in Chinatown before the current problems. —Huggo

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Taglines
- It isn't the Bronx or Brooklyn. It isn't even New York. It's Chinatown...and it's about to explode.
Genres
Certificate
- 18A
Parents guide

Trivia
Tracy's apartment was not a set. In order to get the desired view though the windows, it was specially constructed at the top of the famed Clocktower Building in New York. Cimino says in the commentary track how proud he is to be the first (and likely only) director to get that view of the New York skyline. "I can't stand going to a place and shooting it the way everyone's shot it before. People go to Paris, there's always the Eiffel Tower. They come to New York and it's The Plaza Hotel and Central Park. So I wanted a view of the city which would be unique and memorable."

Goofs
The first time Stanley is shown on screen his hair is gray and white all over. The next time Stanley is shown in the police station his hair is brown with gray only visible on his temples. In other scenes of the film his hair changes color from gray/white to brown with graying at the temples.

Quotes
Stanley White: The first time I saw you, I hated your guts. I think I even hated you before I met you. I hated you on TV. I hated you in Vietnam. You want to know what's destroying this country? It's not booze. It's not drugs. It's TV. It's media. It's people like you. It's vampires. I hate the way you make your living sticking microphones in people's faces. You lie every night at 6:00. I hate the way you kill real feelings. I hate everything that you stand for. Most of all, I hate rich kids and I hate this place. So why do I want to fuck you so bad?

Crazy credits
The end credits roll over a image of the Chinese woman restaurant-singer crooning a Chinese easy-listening ditty.

Connections
Featured in Slaying the Dragon (1988)

Soundtracks
Dream Dance (Tian Mi Mi)
Composed by Lucia Hwong
Performed and arranged by Yukio Tsuji and Lucia Hwong
Recording engineering by Gene Ricciardi (as Gene Ricardi)

Top review

8/10

Mickey lights the fire underneath a unusually thoughtful Oliver Stone script.

In this entertaining and illuminating 1985 crime thriller,Mickey Rourke stars as Capt. Stanley White,a hard-bitten cop with a weary intelligence far beyond his years.

Transferred to a new precinct,the abrasive detective White soon finds himself involved in a crusade to take down the corrupt,criminally run higher powers of NYC's Chinatown. To boil a complex storyline down to it's basics: White must balance his intense desire to bring the violent Triad leader Joey Thai(John Lone)to justice,despite the protests of his bought-off supervisors, with his crumbling personal life(his wife has grown to despise him and he is attracted to a Chinese-American reporter working his Chinatown expose). Adding color to his predicament is his attempt to stay true to justice by fighting off his racist attitudes towards Chinese. While there is no doubt that the triads are engaged in illegal Mafia-style activity,and that White is justified in pursuing them,there is the strange possibility that his rough treatment of Chinatown as a whole stems from his unwillingness to lose another war "because of politics",like he did in Vietnam.

Directed by the stylish Michael Cimino(recovering quite well from the *bloatatious* "Heaven's Gate") and boasting a strong script from the early years of (pre-P.C.)Oliver Stone,"The Year of the Dragon" is a very fine addition to the cop-on-a-mission subgenre. Mickey Rourke,an ever-underrated talent-gives one of his finest performances in the lead,and,despite all of his character's flaws,we become endeared to the character and enraptured by his pursuit of the oft-overlooked Triads of Chinatown. Rourke is a strong and capable presence here,and it's a shame his career didn't survive the 80's. Only the occasional logical gap or plot hole,and the juvenile performance of the obnoxious(but gorgeous) Arianne as the reporter detract from the film's glory. A little trimming of it's excessive 136 minutes would have helped as well.

Regardless of these few failures,"The Year of the Dragon" is a sumptuous and exciting thriller,and awaits a larger audience to discover it's challenges. Stay tuned for this one. ***1/2 out of ****stars. "It's always about politics.This is Vietnam all over again. I'm not gonna lose another war over politics." -Stanley White

Note: A ridiculous,politically-correct disclaimer has been attached to the film by it's distributers. This is a stupid move as the film is in NO WAY demeaning to Chinese-Americans as a whole. The movie only attacks the old-world criminal elements feeding on the underbelly of a few of the larger Chinese communities in the U.S.-the Triads,youth gangs,etc. These organizations do exist,but are not representative of the Chinese-American majority. In the end,crime does not discriminate between the races,and neither does "The Year of the Dragon".

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