Big Trouble in Little China
Big Trouble in Little China
Directed by	John Carpenter
Produced by	Larry J. Franco
Written by	Adaptation: W. D. Richter Screenplay: Gary Goldman David Z. Weinstein
Starring	Kurt Russell Kim Cattrall Dennis Dun James Hong Victor Wong Kate Burton
Music by	John Carpenter Alan Howarth
Cinematography	Dean Cundey
Editing by	Steve Mirkovich Mark Warner Edward A. Warschilka
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 2, 1986 (USA)
Running time	99 min.
Language	English
Budget	$25,000,000 (est.)
IMDb profile

Big Trouble in Little China (also known as John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China) is a 1986 comedy/action film, directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall, set in San Francisco's Chinatown. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (510x762, 117 KB) Summary 20th Century Fox; http://www. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... W. D. Richter (born December 7, 1945) is a screenwriter and has occasionally directed and produced. ... Gary Goldman is an American screenwriter. ... Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American actor. ... As Samantha Jones in Sex and the City Kim Victoria Cattrall (born August 21, 1956) is an Anglo-Canadian actress. ... James Hong (吳漢章, PY: Wu Hanzhang, born February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Chinese American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). ... Victor Wong (31 July 1927 - 12 September 2001) (Chinese: 黃自強; pinyin: Huáng Zìqiáng) was a Chinese American actor who appeared mostly in small roles. ... Kate Burton (born on 10 September 1957 in Geneva, Switzerland) is an American actress. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... The Rt. ... Dean Cundey is a celebrated cinematographer born 12 March 1946 in Alhambra, California, USA. He has worked on some of the most influential special effects films in history and has collaborated extensively with directors John Carpenter and Robert Zemeckis. ... See Mark Warner (travel company) for the British travel company Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Virginia and a member of the Democratic Party. ... Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ... July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 182 days remaining. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humour with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... Action films, or movies, are a film genre, where action sequences, such as fighting, stunts, car chases or explosions, take precedence over elements like characterisation or complex plotting. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American actor. ... As Samantha Jones in Sex and the City Kim Victoria Cattrall (born August 21, 1956) is an Anglo-Canadian actress. ... An intersection of Chinatown in San Francisco. ...

Plot

A roguish long-haul truck driver named Jack Burton (Russell) has his rig, The Pork Chop Express, stolen in the course of the kidnapping of his friend Wang Chi's (Dennis Dun) fiancée – the lovely and green-eyed Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) – by the ancient and evil Chinese sorcerer, David Lo Pan (James Hong). James Hong (吳漢章, PY: Wu Hanzhang, born February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Chinese American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). ...

Centuries ago, Lo Pan, a great warrior, was defeated in battle by the First Sovereign Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The Emperor placed upon Lo Pan the curse of No Flesh. Although Lo Pan can be temporarily granted a decrepit body by supplication to the gods, in order to permanently break the curse and regain his human form, he must marry a woman with green eyes. Simply marrying her will please the God of the East. But to satisfy the Emperor, he must sacrifice her. Lo Pan is served by a ruthless street gang, the Wing Kong, and the Three Storms – three mystical henchmen named Thunder, Lightning and Rain. An emperor is a (male) monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. ... Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: ; pinyin: Qín Shǐ Huáng; Wade-Giles: Chin Shih-huang) (November / December 260 BCE – September 10, 210 BCE), personal name Zheng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE, and then the first emperor of a unified China... The word henchman (irregular Germanic plural: henchmen) referred originally to one who attended on a horse, that is, a horse groom. ...

Jack and Wang – aided by lawyer Gracie Law (Cattrall), a tour bus-driving sorcerer named Egg Shen (Victor Wong), Wang's friend Eddie Lee (Donald Li), and a rival street gang to the Wing Kong known as the Chang Sing – fight many battles as they venture into the mysterious depths of Lo Pan's lair to save the girl and get Jack's truck back. Victor Wong (31 July 1927 - 12 September 2001) (Chinese: 黃自強; pinyin: Huáng Zìqiáng) was a Chinese American actor who appeared mostly in small roles. ...

Cast

• Kurt Russell .... Jack Burton
• Kim Cattrall .... Gracie Law
• Dennis Dunn .... Wang Chi
• James Hong .... Lo Pan
• Victor Wong .... Egg Shen
• Kate Burton .... Margo
• Donald Lee .... Eddie Lee
• Carter Wong .... Thunder
• Peter Kwong .... Rain
• James Pax .... Lightning
• Suzee Pai .... Miao Yin
• Chao Li Chi .... Uncle Chu
• Jeff Imada .... Needles
• Rummel Mor .... Joe Lucky
• Craig Ng .... One Ear
• June Kim .... White Tiger
• Noel Toy .... Mrs. O'Toole
• Jade Go .... Chinese girl in White Tiger
• Jerry Hardin .... Pinstripe lawyer
• James Lew, Jim Lau, Ken Endoso, Stuart Quan, Gary Toy, George Cheung .... Chang Sing
• Jimmy Jue .... Wounded Chang Sing
• Noble Craig .... Sewer monster
• Danny Kwan .... Chinese guard
• Min Luong .... Tara
• Paul Lee .... Chinese gambler
• Al Leong, Gerald Okamura, Willie Wong, Eric Lee, Yukio G. Collins, Bill M. Ryusaki, Brian Imada, Nathan Jung, Daniel Inosanto, Vernon Rieta .... Wing Kong hatchet men
• Daniel Wong, Daniel Eric Lee .... Security guards
• Lia Chang, Dian Tanaka, Donna L. Noguschi, Shinko Isobe .... Female Wing Kong security guards

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American actor. ... As Samantha Jones in Sex and the City Kim Victoria Cattrall (born August 21, 1956) is an Anglo-Canadian actress. ... James Hong (吳漢章, PY: Wu Hanzhang, born February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Chinese American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). ... Victor Wong (31 July 1927 - 12 September 2001) (Chinese: 黃自強; pinyin: Huáng Zìqiáng) was a Chinese American actor who appeared mostly in small roles. ... Kate Burton (born on 10 September 1957 in Geneva, Switzerland) is an American actress. ... Donald Edward Lee (born February 26, 1934 in Globe, Arizona) is a right-handed former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers (1957-58), Washington Senators (1959), Minnesota Twins (1961-62), Los Angeles & California Angels (1962-65), Houston Astros (1965-66) and Chicago Cubs (1966). ... The Most Reverend Dr Peter Kong-kit Kwong (Traditional Chinese: 鄺廣傑) is the first Archbishop and Primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui and Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong Island. ... James Pax is best known as an actor. ... Jerry Hardin (born 20 November 1929 in Dallas Texas) is a United States actor who has made many television and film appearances. ... James Lew (born September 6, 1952) is an American martial arts actor born in Escalon, California. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Artist rendering of Al Leong by Brandon Blackmoor, 1998 Al Leong (born Albert Leong, aka Al Kabong) is an Asian-American stuntman and actor. ... Gerald Okamura is a skilled theatrical martial artist. ...

Production History

Big Trouble in Little China was originally written as a period Western set in the 1880s with Jack Burton as a cowboy who rides into town. Producer Paul Monash bought Gary Goldman and David Weinstein's screenplay, but after a reading he found that it was virtually unfilmable due to the bizarre mix of Chinese mythology and the Wild West setting. He had the two first-time screenwriters do a rewrite, but Monash still didn't like it.

The producer decided against having Goldman and Weinstein do additional rewrites because they didn't want to upgrade the story to a contemporary setting and felt that they had done their best. Keith Barish and Monash brought in Stephen Colbert, a veteran script doctor (and director of cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) to extensively rewrite the script. Almost everything in the original screenplay was discarded except for Lo Pan's story. Barish and Monash offered Carpenter the movie in July of 1985. After reading Colbert's script he decided to direct. This article is about Stephen Colbert, the actor. ... The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! (sometimes just Buckaroo Banzai) is a science fiction film that has reached cult film status. ...

Carpenter made his own additions to Richter's screenplay which included strengthening Gracie Law's role and linking her to Chinatown, removing a few action sequences (due to budgetary restrictions), and eliminating material deemed offensive to Chinese Americans. Carpenter was disappointed that Richter didn't receive a proper screenwriting credit on the movie for all of his hard work. A ruling by the Writer's Guild of America gave Goldman and Weinstein sole credit. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries. ...

Problems began to arise when Carpenter learned that the next Eddie Murphy vehicle, The Golden Child (1986), featured a similar theme and was going to be released around the same time as Big Trouble in Little China. (As it happened, Carpenter was asked by Paramount Pictures to direct The Golden Child). To avoid being wiped out by the bigger star's film (something that had happened before with The Thing being released two weeks after E.T. in 1982), Carpenter began shooting Big Trouble in Little China in October 1985 so that 20th Century Fox could open the film in July 1986 - a full five months before The Golden Child's release. This forced the filmmaker to shoot the film in 15 weeks with a $25 million budget. Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Golden Globe-nominated actor and comedian. ... The Golden Child (1986) is an American action comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Eddie Murphy. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... John Carpenters The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter. ... E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (E.T. for short) is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg. ... Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ...

Carpenter surrounded himself with a seasoned crew from his previous films. He reunited with three long-time collaborators, line producer Larry J. Franco (Starman), production designer John Lloyd (The Thing), and cinematographer Dean Cundey. Big Trouble in Little China also saw Carpenter work again with his old friend, actor Kurt Russell, who has appeared in several of the director's films, most notably Escape From New York and The Thing. Carpenter saw only Russell as Jack Burton and could think of nobody better to play him, but 20th Century Fox wanted to cast a big star like Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson to compete with Golden Child's casting of Eddie Murphy. However, both Eastwood and Nicholson were busy, and Carpenter suggested his first and only choice, convincing 20th Century Fox that Russell was an up-and-coming star. Starman (1984; see also 1984 in film) is a science fiction film directed by John Carpenter which tells the story of an alien from another planet (Jeff Bridges) who has come to Earth in response to the invitation left of the gold phonograph record on the Voyager space probes. ... John Carpenters The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter. ... John Carpenters Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. ... John Carpenters The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter. ... Clinton Eastwood, Jr. ... This article refers to the actor. ...

The studio pressured Carpenter to cast a rock star in the role of Gracie Law, Jack Burton's love interest and constant source of aggravation. For Carpenter there was no question, he wanted Kim Cattrall. The studio wasn't keen on the idea because at the time Cattrall was primarily known for raunchy comedies like Porky's (1981) and Police Academy (1984). Porkys is a 1982 Twentieth Century Fox movie about the sexual escapades of teenagers at a 1950s Florida high school. ... Police Academy is a long-running series of comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s. ...

Other Media

• In the film, Egg Shen arms himself for the climactic battle with Lo Pan with what he refers to as a Six-Demon Bag. When Jack asks what it contains, Egg Shen answers, "Wind, fire, all that kind of thing." In the online computer game World of Warcraft, a Six-Demon Bag appears as a rare item whose powers are described with a phrase using those words in its description. Similarly: in the film, Eddie Lee explains to Jack that "the Chinese have many Hells". Later, Jack and Wang Chi find themselves trapped in the Hell of Upside-Down Sinners – an underwater area with upside-down chained corpses. In World of Warcraft, there is an area in Deadwind Pass with an unopened dungeon in it. When viewed in an external map viewer, one can see an area of this dungeon called "The-Upside Down Sinners" containing such corpses.

• Six Demon Bag is also the name of the second album by experimental rock group Man Man.^[1]

• An official video game based on the movie was released for the ZX Spectrum,^[2] Amstrad CPC^[3] and Commodore 64.^[4]

• Many fans of the video game Mortal Kombat that came of age in the 1980s notice a similarity between "Raiden" and the Storm "Lightning" in the film. Raiden and Shang Tsung were inspired by "Lightning" and "Lo Pan". John Tobias has confirmed this.^{[citation needed]}

• Lo Pan is the name of a non-player character (an evil martial arts practitioner in San Francisco's Chinatown) in the computer game Fallout 2. Lo Pan is also the name of a sorcerer in Master of Magic.

• Lo Pan is part of the anti-Chuck Norris gang in the web animation The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.^[5]

• A fan site, The Wing Kong Exchange, features a South Park version of Big Trouble in Little China.

• From "Book of Chantries", a Mage: The Ascension supplement, chapter 3 page 119:

"In Chicago's Chinatown there is a being of great power and unspeakable evil. He is called the Jade Demon... known as... "Lo Pan"... The Jade Demon has two basic forms. On Earth, he is a feeble, nearly bald Chinese man who looks at least 100. In his Horizon Realm, he resembles a Chinese mandarin in the prime of life... Sometimes he grows his fingernails to extreme lengths..."

• The 1994 PC game Master of Magic lets the player portray a wizard attempting to dominate a fantasy world; the player can customize and name their own wizard, or use one of the "pre-generated" wizards...one of whom is an Asian wizard named Lo Pan.

World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ... for the World of Warcraft item, see Other Media section for the John Carpenter film Big Trouble in Little China Six Demon Bag is the second album by experimental rock group Man Man. ... The ZX Spectrum is a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. ... The Amstrad CPC was a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad during the 1980s and early 1990s. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... Mortal Kombat has multiple meanings. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... Fallout 2 is a critically-acclaimed computer role-playing game published by Interplay in 1998. ... Master of Magic (MoM) is a turn-based fantasy strategic computer game published by Microprose in 1994 and developed by Steve Barcia (Simtex), who also wrote the better-known Master of Orion. ... Carlos Ray Chuck Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist, action star, and Hollywood actor. ... The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny is a Flash animation, song, and Internet meme released by Neil Cicierega under the pseudonym of Lemon Demon on December 23, 2005. ... South Park is a Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning American animated television series about four fourth grade school boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. ... Mage: The Ascension is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and is published by White Wolf Game Studio. ... Master of Magic (MoM) is a turn-based fantasy strategic computer game published by Microprose in 1994 and developed by Steve Barcia (Simtex), who also wrote the better-known Master of Orion. ...

Trivia

• The final storm Lightning dies when Egg Shen drops a stone Buddha sculpture on him. Upon Lightning's death, bolts of electricity surge through the air. On close examination, the last few lightning bolts form Chinese characters. These characters read "carpenter" – presumably a reference to John Carpenter, the director of the film.^[6]

• James Hong, the actor that portrayed David Lo Pan, reprised the role in the 2001 Sci Fi Channel series The Chronicle episode "Here There Be Dragons".^[7]

• One of the film's Associate Producers, James Lew, is also listed as "Chang Sing #1" in the cast credits.^[8]

• Egg Shen's bus tour agency is named Egg Foo Young Tours, presumably a reference to the well-known Chinese dish.

• The gun used by Jack Burton and shown on the movie poster is a Intratec TEC-DC9.

• VIZ Media made a reference to this film's title when they released the first Ranma ½ film, Ranma ½: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China.

• The full name of the PlayStation game Jumping Flash! 2 includes the subtitle "Big Trouble in Little Muu"

Media:Example. ... 漢字 / 汉字 Chinese character in Hànzì, Kanji, Hanja, Hán Tá»±. Red in Simplified Chinese. ... James Hong (吳漢章, PY: Wu Hanzhang, born February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Chinese American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). ... SCI FI (sometimes rendered Sci-Fi when part of a longer phrase) is an American cable television channel, launched on September 24, 1992, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. ... Characters Tucker Burns played by Chad Willett Grace Hall played by Rena Sofer Wes Freewald played by Reno Wilson Donald Stern played by Jon Polito Sal the Pig-Boy played by Curtis Armstrong Kristen Martin played by Elaine Hendrix Vera played by Sharon Sachs Ruby played by Octavia Spencer Chronicle... A film producer creates the conditions for making movies. ... Egg fooyung, or egg furong (Chinese: 芙蓉蛋 ; Pinyin: fúróng dàn, literally means hibiscus egg) is a dish in Chinese cuisine that is commonly served in Westernized Chinese restaurants. ... The Intratec TEC-9 is a blowback-operated, semi-automatic 9mm Parabellum caliber firearm, classified by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as a handgun. ... This article deals with the American media company. ... Serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday Original run 1987 – 1996 No. ... The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... Jumping Flash! 2 is a platform game released in 1996 for the PlayStation. ...

References

1. ^ PopMatters.com
2. ^ WorldOfSpectrum.org
3. ^ CPCZone.net
4. ^ Lemon64.com
5. ^ UltimateShowdown.org
6. ^ Internet Movie Database trivia for Big Trouble in Little China
7. ^ Internet Movie Database filmography for James Hong
8. ^ Internet Movie Database

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Big Trouble in Little China

• Big Trouble in Little China at the Internet Movie Database
• Big Trouble in Little China at John Carpenter's official website
• Jason's Big Trouble in Little China page
• The Wing Kong Exchange
• The Wing Kong Exhange - Big Trouble on the Magic Mountain