China Girl (1987)

A modern day Romeo & Juliet story is told in New York when an Italian boy and a Chinese girl become lovers, causing a tragic conflict between ethnic gangs.

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Writer:

Nicholas St. John

Stars:

James Russo, Richard Panebianco, Sari Chang

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Russo	...	Alby
Richard Panebianco	...	Tony
Sari Chang	...	Tye
David Caruso	...	Mercury
Russell Wong	...	Yung Gan
Joey Chin	...	Tsu Shin
Judith Malina	...	Mrs. Monte
James Hong	...	Gung Tu
Robert Miano	...	Enrico Perito
Paul Hipp	...	Nino
Doreen Chan	...	Gau Shing
Randy Sabusawa	...	Ma Fan
Keenan Leung	...	Ying Tz
Lum Chang Pang	...	Da Shan
Sammy Lee	...	Mohawk

Storyline

A modern day Romeo & Juliet story is told in New York when an Italian boy and a Chinese girl become lovers, causing a tragic conflict between ethnic gangs.

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Plot Keywords:

italian boy | tragedy | chinese american | italian american | shakespeare's romeo and juliet | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Krieg in Chinatown

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,262,091

Company Credits

Production Co:

Great American Films Limited Partnership, Street Lite, Vestron Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Hong (Gung Tu) previously played in the unrelated film of the same name China Girl (1974).

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Quotes

Mercury: [talking to an elderly Chinese man] Hey chopsticks, that's your daughter? Real pretty lookin' chink! ha-ha
Tony: Shut the fuck up, Mercury!
Mercury: What?
Tony: You heard what I said. Shut the fuck up.
Mercury: Hey, you don't like it you go over to the 'chink' booth. How about that?
Tony: They ain't 'chinks', they're people, man.
Mercury: They're people, huh? Then why don't you take a look and see what these "people" did to your family store, how about that?
Tony: And what "people" did this to my brother?
Mercury: Hey Alby! What's this kid whacked on? ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

After the credits there is a line: Dedicated to the people of Chinatown and Little Italy.

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Alternate Versions

The UK video version was cut by 7 seconds to remove the use of a butterfly knife. The Columbia DVD features the same cut print.

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Connections

Referenced in Shakedown (1988)

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Soundtracks

Bewitched
Written by Lucia Hwong
Performed and arranged by Yukio Tsuji and Lucia Hwong
Recording engineering by Gene Ricciardi
Courtesy of Private Music

User Reviews

Romeo And Juliet of New York

William Shakespeare's eternal tale of young love gets yet another version in China Girl. Despite the racial tensions between the Chinese of Chinatown and the shrinking Italian population of Little Italy, Sari Chang and Richard Panebianco find each other and find love. Now if only those who might become their prospective in-laws will stop the hate.

China Girl was filmed completely on location in New York's neighborhoods of Little Italy and Chinatown. As the film says Little Italy where the fabled fictional Godfather had the Genco Olive Oil company is shrinking block by block as the Italians move out and a huge influx of Orientals move in and expand Chinatown. China Girl was done in 1987 so in twenty years the trend is exacerbated.

Players like James Russo, Russell Wong, and David Caruso have all gone on to bigger and better things, they're certainly more known than the leads are now. Still Panebianco and Chang are an attractive pair of kids.

The soundtrack is typical music from the Eighties in keeping with the times. Don't expect any songs for the ages like there were in West Side Story.

China Girl is a nice retelling of Romeo and Juliet a story that as long as there's life on planet Earth will never go out of style.