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In Big Trouble For Thirty Years

Published Mon, 04 Jul 2016 17:15:12 -0500

Patrick McAleer writes,

Thirty years ago this week a film opened in cinemas that has come to epitomise the very idea of a 'cult' movie. Released on July 1^st 1986, Big Trouble In Little China bombed at the box office and I'd like to say that this was probably because it was ahead of its time but the complete ridiculousness of the plot would have probably have had a big hand in it tanking also.

Thankfully with 30 years worth of consideration and hindsight, we can look back and say with confidence that Big Trouble.. was a criminally underrated gem and given that it recouped roughly half it's $20 million budget it wasn't nearly as big a disaster as some bombs (hello Heaven's Gate). Big Trouble…. was directed by John Carpenter and is a rip-roaring ride through the supernatural underbelly of San Francisco's Chinatown.

Starring Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, a long distance lorry driver who pulls into Frisco in his beloved big rig The Porkchop Express and gets dragged into a daring rescue mission by his old friend Wang Chi (played by Dennis Dun) whose girlfriend has been kidnapped by a Chinese Gang named the Lords of Death. Things go from bad to worse for Jack and Wang as all manner of Chinese mysticism and folklore is thrown in the mix to create an absurdly wonderful movie that has action, supernatural elements and beautifully hokey special effects.

James Hong stars as the villainous Lo Pan an ancient and evil Chinese sorcerer who meets his match in the tour guide and good guy sorcerer on the side Egg Shen (played brilliantly by Victor Wong). Much of the action is set in the belly of Chinatown, underneath the streets where Carpenter ladles on the neon and dry ice to evoke a truly memorable piece of cinematic delight. Kim Cattral plays the ballsy Gracie Law who is determined to bring to light the evil shenanigans of Lo Pan, just as long as she can subdue the crude attempts at seduction Jack Burton bombards her with. Lo Pan has powerful henchmen called the Three Storms, each with their own unique powers and I'm certain the creators of the Mortal Kombat game pilfered from this movie with regard to these guys.

Big Trouble is one of those quotable movies par excellence, usually from the mouth of Russell's Jack Burton (who we are first introduced to spouting his dime store wisdom to any and all via his big rig's CB radio) and I guarantee no matter what tricky situation you might find yourself in life, Big Trouble.. has a line to suit the occasion.

Looking at the movie as a whole, Carpenter devotees (full disclosure – I'm one) will recognise the Director's signature elements, there's tinges of horror but particularly with respect to the Western genre. He peppers Big Trouble with Western motifs, from the obvious ones such as Burton arriving and departing with a saddle bag over his shoulder to the more thematic ones such as the outsider arriving in a small town to aid the locals against the resident bad guy and riding off into the dusk again.. One could talk at length here about how John Carpenter is the greatest director of Westerns never to have actually directed a Western, but that would require a full on essay and unless you're a nerd for all things Carpenter like myself, it would not be fair to take up your time. Go back and watch Assault on Precinct 13 and you'll get a flavour of where I'm coming from.

It wouldn't be fair to finish this without a word about the main man, Kurt Russell, who demonstrates an exceptional talent for comedic timing in this movie. As Jack Burton he is theoretically the central hero of the piece yet in watching the film one realises that this idea of the central hero is subverted as Dennis Dun's Wang is a better fit. Burton tries hard to show bravery and do the right thing but is continually beset by accidents and issues that allow Wang to clean house. Carpenter got a bit of flak from the Asian-American community on the movie's release for using tired old stereotypes but as Russell explained in conversation with Carpenter on the Special Edition Commentary

"I remember you and I talking about this and saying that we would flip-flop the leading man and the sidekick….The sidekick would act like the leading man and the leading man would act like the sidekick and not know it."

So it was and that subversion of the heroic norms probably also played its part in the film's poor reception upon release. Moviegoers just hadn't seen that kind of set-up before and didn't appreciate what Carpenter and Russell were trying to do. This isn't so much the white savior as the white idiot comes along for the ride. Again with hindsight, such a bold inversion has to be commended even if it didn't pay off at the time.

Appearing to have transcended its cult status there are rumours of a big budget remake with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson reprising the role of Burton and Boom Studios has also been publishing an ongoing comic book series the last couple of years that's well worth a read if you want to go 'expanded universe'.

For me, this is the best Carpenter movie and that's in large part to Russell, who was something of a Marcello Mastroianni to Carpenter's Fellini. Snake Plissken is perhaps more of an iconic character (eye-patches will do that), but Jack Burton's have a go hero has my heart and if you haven't ever seen Big Trouble In Little China, trust me, he'll have yours afterwards too….and….

Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it."

Patrick McAleer lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland and is a 30 year veteran of watching John Carpenter movies over and over. He is also a firm believer that world peace is obtainable through the proliferation of action movies.

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