Tai-Pan (1986)

Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.

Director:

Daryl Duke

Writers:

John Briley (screenplay), James Clavell (novel)

Stars:

Bryan Brown, Joan Chen, John Stanton

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited 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
Phil Chatterton Tongplaw	...	Boatswain

Storyline

Tai-Pan is Chinese for "supreme leader". This is the man with real power to his hands. And such a Tai-Pan is Dirk Struan who is obsessed by his plan to make Hong Kong the "jewel in the crown of her British Majesty". In 1841 he achieves his goal but he has many enemies who try to destroy his plans. Will they succeed?

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Plot Keywords:

businessman | rivalry | hong kong | competition | based on novel | 

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Taglines:

There can only be one.

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 November 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

James Clavell's Tai-Pan

Filming Locations:

China

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,863,469, 9 November 1986, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$4,007,250

Company Credits

Production Co:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Though an American production of the USA, the picture had two top-billed lead male stars who were both Australian actors, they being Bryan Brown and John Stanton.

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Goofs

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.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Chevy Chase/Siskel & Ebert/Al Jarreau (1986)

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Soundtracks

Mazurka
(uncredited)
Music by Adrien Talexy
Arranged by Trevor L. Sharpe

User Reviews

A crushing disappointment

It's worth pointing out that I came to this film having read James Clavell's excellent novel, TAI-PAN, on which this is based. If I hadn't read the book beforehand, I probably would have enjoyed this adaptation a lot more.

Sadly, I was left feeling that the filmed TAI-PAN is a crushing disappointment, purely because it cuts so very much out of the story. The whole background is missing, the Triad stuff, the politics, the trade with the Chinese. The story is reduced to the human relationships and particularly the family rivalries between the main characters, but there was so much more to it than that.

I do understand that films are very different to books and that adaptations have to cut material out, but TAI-PAN has a two hour running time and a lot of it is slow-paced. If it had told events at a much faster pace, it would have been able to include a lot more of the details and subtleties that are missing here. As it is, there are elements of greatness - plus the novelty of seeing Bryan Brown in a leading role - but it could have been so much more. A miniseries would suffice better, I think.