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Tai-Pan

  • 19861986
  • RR
  • 2h 7m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
24,851
888
Tai-Pan (1986)
Adventure
Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
24,851
888
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Daryl Duke
    • Writers
      • John Briley(screenplay)
      • James Clavell(novel)
      • Stanley Mann(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Bryan Brown
      • Joan Chen
      • John Stanton
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Daryl Duke
    • Writers
      • John Briley(screenplay)
      • James Clavell(novel)
      • Stanley Mann(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Bryan Brown
      • Joan Chen
      • John Stanton
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 24User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 2 nominations

    Photos23

    Tai-Pan (1986)
    Tai-Pan (1986)
    Tai-Pan (1986)
    Tai-Pan (1986)
    Tai-Pan (1986)
    Tai-Pan (1986)
    Bryan Brown and John Stanton in Tai-Pan (1986)
    Bryan Brown and Joan Chen in Tai-Pan (1986)
    Bryan Brown in Tai-Pan (1986)
    Bryan Brown in Tai-Pan (1986)
    Bryan Brown, Joan Chen, Kyra Sedgwick, Janine Turner, Katy Behean, Tim Guinee, and John Stanton in Tai-Pan (1986)
    Bryan Brown and Joan Chen in Tai-Pan (1986)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Bryan Brown
    Bryan Brown
    • Dirk Struan
    Joan Chen
    Joan Chen
    • May-May
    John Stanton
    John Stanton
    • Tyler Brock
    Tim Guinee
    Tim Guinee
    • Culum Struan
    Bill Leadbitter
    • Gorth Brock
    Russell Wong
    Russell Wong
    • Gordon Chen
    Katy Behean
    • Mary Sinclair
    Kyra Sedgwick
    Kyra Sedgwick
    • Tess Brock
    Janine Turner
    Janine Turner
    • Shevaun Tillman
    Norman Rodway
    Norman Rodway
    • Aristotle Quance
    John Bennett
    John Bennett
    • Orlov
    Derrick Branche
    Derrick Branche
    • Vargas
    Vic Armstrong
    Vic Armstrong
    • Drunken Sailor
    Dickey Beer
    Dickey Beer
    • Brecks's Crew
    Edowan Bersmea
    Phil Chatterton Tongplaw
    • Boatswain
    Kuan Tai Chen
    Kuan Tai Chen
    • Pirate
    Shu Chen
    Shu Chen
    • Director
      • Daryl Duke
    • Writers
      • John Briley(screenplay)
      • James Clavell(novel)
      • Stanley Mann(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Producer Martin Ransohoff and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio in 1966 acquired the rights to James Clavell's source "Tai-Pan" novel for US $500,000. The movie was then announced by MGM in 1967-68 to star Patrick McGoohan to play Dirk Struan, to be directed by Michael Anderson, with source novelist Clavell writing the screenplay. The picture was originally budgeted to cost US $26 million which was then reduced to US $20 million. The project sat around stagnant for a time in development hell. However, after severe operating losses, the epic was one of a number of expensive projects the new management at the MGM studio dropped as being too costly. The project and the development of the movie at MGM was in the end canceled by executive James T. Aubrey.
    • 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.
    • Quotes

      Dirk Struan: No emperor has seen the guns of a British man-of-war.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: 52 Pick-Up/Nobody's Fool/Tai Pan/The Sacrifice (1986)
    • Soundtracks
      Mazurka
      (uncredited)

      Music by Adrien Talexy

      Arranged by Trevor L. Sharpe

    User reviews24

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    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.
    helpful•5
    2
    • Leofwine_draca
    • Feb 22, 2014

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 7, 1986 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Tai Pan
    • Filming locations
      • Chen Family Temple - Guangzhou, China
    • Production company
      • De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $25,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $4,007,250
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $1,863,469
      • Nov 9, 1986
    • Gross worldwide
      • $4,007,250
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 7 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

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