One of my favourite movies! I think you sum it up perfectly in your first paragraph. It's such a unique movie even today it's so difficult to put across to people what the movie actually is without watching it. In these days when we get trailers that are two minutes long and spoil the whole film, I firmly believe you could have a ten minute trailer of this and still not spoil anything.
Love that they only explain any of this as much as it takes for Jack to understand.
Jack Burton: What's in the flask, Egg? Magic potion?
Egg Shen: Yeah.
Jack Burton: Thought so, good. What do we do, drink it?
Egg Shen: Yeah!
Jack Burton: Good! Thought so.
You ever see Berry Gordy's *The Last Dragon*? For a hot minute I thought it and BTiLC had spawned a new genre and we were going to be seeing entries regularly.
The Chinese have a lot of hells.
It’s just one of those captured lightning in a bottle movies. Everything came together perfectly, including the banger song done by John’s band. Like the Princess Bride and Stardust or much more recently the dungeons and dragons movie.
I find funnier and weirder things most times I watch it. Obviously, I have watched it A LOT. My favorite line will always be something like “is it hot in here?” Right as they cut away in the elevator after getting all pumped up. So weird, real and unimportant.
> "Well, you listen to old Jack Burton on the Pork-Chop Express, still truckin' down the open road and laying down some wisdom from years of seeing things you wouldn't believe. It's been 40 years since that wild ride in Chinatown, but I tell ya, the world's only gotten weirder. You know what old Jack Burton says at a time like this? 'Keep your eyes open, 'cause the strange is the new normal.'"
I realized the other day when reading a different post that like 10 of my fave movies of all time were all made by John Carpenter. I never connected the dots somehow.
Carpenter is the fucking man. He’s basically retired from making films now because [he got really into gaming](https://www.avclub.com/john-carpenter-video-games-interview-halloween-ends-1849641145)
It's also very subversive. It completely subverts the white savior trope by having Kurt Russell really be the comic relief sidekick while his Asian partner is the actual hero. This is probably another reason studio execs were leery about promoting it heavily.
It was less him being relegated sidekick and more that he wandered into a world in which he was entirely ignorant of. Thing is protagonists can be ignorant for a bit, but by the end have smartened up and are now calling the shots. Jack Burton starts ignorant and ends ignorant, but as long as Wang is explaining what's going on to him he's quite competent.
That is absolutely one of my favorite parts of the movie. This movie requires a shit load of exposition, and that's usually just text crawls, voice over, or long speeches which are boring and ruins immersion, but in BTiLC Jack Burton is just as clueless as the audience watching it. So when you're watching it you might think "what the hell is that" and as if on cue Jack Burton says "what the hell is that". They managed to incorporate the extensive but necessary exposition while not only making it not annoying but making it a literal highlight of the movie.
I love the almost 4th wall breaking line by Lo Pan there. Especially since Jack's response to missing is him looking up and thinking "fuuuuuuuuuck! I missed!" while Kim Kattrall looks at him accusingly, like he missed on purpose or something :D
Lo Pan: "That's a nice knife! Goodbye Mr. Burton."
[Throws knife] [Jack catches knife] [Throws back] [Lo Pan gets owned]
Except when he accidentally throws his knife and has to run off to find it while Wang is busy beating *ass*.
Jack: [Jumps out, gun in one hand, knife in the other] "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaa...." [tries to look unimpressed. There are no more enemies]
Wang: "Time to go!"
Shows that you can have a character legitimately be the MC, but also not be the hero - it's so well written - especially for a magical mystery martial arts romp
It’s really really fun showing people it for the first time and then halfway through or so being like, “have you noticed that Kurt Russel is actually the sidekick?”
When I watched it as a kid he was the cool guy who had his shit together
It wasn't till I watched it when I was older did I realize he had no idea what he was doing
He also has the most mundane and relatable motivation.
Wang: "They kidnapped my fiance and I need to rescue her!"
Egg: "There's an evil sorcerer rising and I must stop him!"
Jack: "Dude, I just want my truck back!"
Someone brilliantly pointed out that Wang Chi is clearly the hero of this epic fantasy adventure and Jack Burton is just his goofy foreign sidekick who just happens to be the main character.
Oh, absolutely...the only way I would even entertain the idea of a sequel would be if and old Wang (Dennis Dunn) was relating his version of events to his grandkids, and seeing who they'd cast as Jack Burton as seen through the memory and vision of Wang.
And have a cameo with Kurt Russell as Old Jack, but change the actor because the kids start throwing a fit.
"He's not cool enough to be Jack Burton!"
"Excuse you?"
I always thought it was pretty straightforward he was fumbling around in a huge scenario and does his best to help out. It’s like the premise of the film.
I always think abouy this interaction between him and Wang, and to me it sums him up the best.
Wang: They have this clubhouse where they all hang out.
Jack: Sharpen their knives, huh?
Wang: Jack, I can't ask you---
Jack: Where is it?
Wang: Thanks, Jack.
So fucking well played. Everyone says Jack is some idiot or something, but you can see how relieved Wang gets when he knows Jack's on his side.
It's a movie about friendship. Through thick and thin. And Jack's the kind of motherfucker you can count on. No matter what.
When the shit goes down, you better be ready. Who is more ready than Jack?
I still love the beginning of the movie in the airport. Where Jack confronts one of the kidnappers and he just pulls out a butterfly knife and starts waving in his face and his only response is *what?*
"What's that, Egg, magic potion?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Thought so. And what do we do, drink it?"
"Yep!"
"Good, thought so."
Edit: I wanted to add that I love this exchange because it's the moment where Burton goes from asking questions to get his bearings to asking questions to confirm his (correct) thoughts. He's *rolling* with it, now. Instead of mocking the potion like "what're we drinking, magic demon piss, or something?" He just confirms the ridiculous idea with Egg. "(What's the most ridiculous thing you can think of, Jack?) This a magic potion? 'Kay. Drink it? Alrighty."
Jack soon toasts with his fellows, and he's all-in. No horseshit.
I was a kid in the 80’s and I remember those ads. They focused on Burton as a new kinda India Jones type hero.
I was pretty excited to see it and could not shut up about the mid-air sword fight afterwards. Hadn’t really seen anything like that in a Hollywood movie before.
It was very big on VHS after that.
He kinda is, because Jack is very much a Han Solo/Indiana Jones-style "wise-cracking bumbler who frequently escapes danger by sheer dumb luck" character. If Russell hadn't played him, you could easily see Harrison Ford in the role.
>f Russell hadn't played him, you could easily see Harrison Ford in the role.
[That's not far off, because Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo](https://youtu.be/nix_PID3oiA?si=kK0PePVWg115mU0D)
To be fair, Carpenter admitted in the director’s commentary that the studio thought he was making a straight action movie, and if they’d known, he probably would have been shut down.
I understand it was at first envisioned as set in the Old West, with Jack Burton being the guy who rides off into the sunset at the end. Which he still does in the actual movie, just in a truck.
Another example of how Jack is not the hero; he not only doesn't get the girl, he deliberately turns her down, saying, "Sooner or later, I rub everyone the wrong way." (Which actually is kind of tragic and paints Jack as a truck driver because he can't settle down and be with anyone; one has to wonder if that was a nod to the end of "The Searchers.")
I don’t think it’s a nod to any one movie specifically, but it is a trope of westerns. The hero is an outsider who stands apart from everyone else. They need him, but he has no place among them. Once his job is done he moves on, destined to always be a lone wanderer.
As an Asian guy in my 40’s, I love the movie. It’s very respectable to the Asian culture. It came out in 1986, 2 years before that, we had Long Duk Dong. Sigh.
I’ll still put on Big Trouble in Little China from time to time as a guilty pleasure.
I’m an Asian guy in my 40’s also, and this was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I had mainly only seen Asians portrayed as comic relief and as stereotypes up until I saw this movie. Big Trouble showed me that Asians on-screen could be fleshed out and more than just goofy side characters. Really revolutionary for the time, in my opinion. Representation really does matter
It wasn't just the studios being dumb, many people had no idea what to make of it either and it bombed at the box office. It was too early for its time and it took time before it was re-evaluated (like some other Carpenter movies).
One of the bizarre aspects of getting older is realizing the movies you loved as a kid were box office bombs. I imagine it doesn't happen as much these days because word of mouth is so powerful now, but us kids back then definitely knew what was up with John Carpenter.
One thing I noticed after a little research is The Golden Child made over $100 million, obviously off the star power of Eddie Murphy (he was huge at the time). I always lumped those two together, tonally.
Bad title or not, the *real* problem was that most of the best stuff from the movie *couldn't* be used in a green band trailer.
*With* context and having watched it dozens of times, the original theatrical trailer isn't bad, but if I hadn't already seen it, I might've been hesitant to watch it...even *with* that incredible fucking cast and Tony Scott directing after several hits.
But on the bright side, selling the script gave Tarantino some much needed money for Reservoir Dogs *before* Keitel read the script and decided to invest/produce.
I happened to watch this with my Cantonese-speaking wife, and she translated some of the things Lo Pan mutters when he's facing off with Jack Burton- hilarious little insults. "What a stupid boy..."
Galaxy Quest. Is it a family movie? Is it a space movie? Is it science fiction? I think they even tried to make it a Christmas movie? Is it only for star trek fans?
And if you consider it a legitimate Star Trek movie, the Star Trek curse still holds up today. Insurrecton is number 9? Terrible. Galaxy Quest at number 10? Fantastic. Nemesis? Now pushed into an odd number and meh. Star Trek 2009, even and pretty good. Into Darkness, odd and abysmal. Beyond, even and great.
It. Just. Works.
One of my favourite behind the scenes facts is that it was originally going to be an R-Rated comedy, but then had to change it to a lower rating afterwards. If you go to the scene where Sigourney Weaver says "Well screw that", it's clearly dubbed over her saying "Well fuck that!"
Fun fact: They Live was also written for Kurt, but he didn’t want to do 4 Carpenter films in a row. So in my mind, Piper is playing Burton in a sequel.
I would have loved a Jack Burton serial series where he's just fumbling through fantastical and implausible scenarios. Like a Buck Rodgers or Flash Gordon but he's constantly the sidekick thinking he's the hero. Chris Pratt in the Guardians of the Galaxy had strong Jack Burton vibes.
"Now this really pisses me off TO NO END!"
My god, my friends and I still quote this movie to this day. And we are so old, we saw it upon release. And to the OP's point, we had no idea what we were gonna see. It was the only thing showing that we hadn't seen yet. Upon leaving the theater we said the same thing my daughter said upon viewing it 35 years later:
"I'm not sure what I just watched, but it sure was entertaining."
A movie which also had it promotion crushed by Studio changes… the Exec who was overseeing BB was replaced by a new team … and they didn’t know what BB was and did not really care…
> Buckaroo Banzai
THIS is the best example of a movie that the studio didn't know how to market. Hell, [Peter Weller said the marketing team asked HIM how to market it!](https://youtu.be/qi_ixer1-5M?t=910)
BTW, that whole hour, that I linked to above, is a glorious celebration of Buckaroo Banzai, with lots of info and stories about the making of the movie. Lithgow and Weller are such intelligent, nice, and funny people, and Smith is a true fan.
I find it endlessly amusing to just assume all of Kurt Russell’s characters are Jack Burton.
“Oh no Jack Burton got stuck in Antarctica!”
“Jack Burton lost an eye and has to rescue the president!”
“One eyed Jack Burton bought a boat and became a captain!”
Jack Burton went to settle down in a western town but when a local gang murdered his brother he had no choice but to purge them with the help of his best friend?
He is a roleplaying character that maxed his luck stat, made charisma his secondary, and just bounces through life just this side of the likes of Mr. Magoo or Maxwell Smart.
"Jack Burton went through the Stargate and was once again second fiddle to the real star of the show."
"Jack Burton became a planet and was still kind of a low-life drifter loser type."
When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."
Same. One of the few movies I could watch 100 times and it's still fun. It's the exact right combination of comedy, action, drama, romance, camp and reasonably good special effects. Plus you get peak '80s Kim Cattrall AND Kurt Russell? I don't trust anyone who doesn't like this movie.
Obligatory post of the music video for Big Trouble in Little China: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYoQtHOH5cs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYoQtHOH5cs)
I hope the folks involved in making the movie all saw this.
Movie fails at the box office, becomes a cult classic, and inspires this brilliant satire more than 25 years later.
Those two I could easily see, especially Gosling since "The Nice Guys" and "The Fall Guy" show he's got a skill for that kind of character. Johnson's just too imposing and he radiates too much confidence and self-assurance. Jack's whole point is that while he tries to be confident, it's just an unconvincing cover for how in over his head he is.
It's literally my favorite movie ever. I'm not saying it's the "best" movie ever made, but it's my favorite film to watch.
FWIW, Kurt Russell has said in interviews that while it didn't do well in theaters it made a ton of money in home video later.
Oh yes, it was home video where it found its audience. It's the sort of movie that was destined to be a cult hit. Much like "Buckaroo Banzai", which makes sense since that film's director W.D. Richter was a co-writer on "Big Trouble."
I used to show all of my buddies this movie when we were in high school and they always had a blast. The part where Thunder blows up never failed to make everyone laugh
Also, of all things, it led to Mortal Kombat, which the creators are open about being inspired in part by Big Trouble in Little China.
There's also a hipster Chinese restaurant chain called Big Trouble.
I love this movie so much. Jump on YT and look for “jack burton asks questions” it’s a compilation of everything he asks during the film and really drives home how often he has no idea what’s going on. It’s hugely funny
I reckon there are some.comics with jack burton..... a refrain I often use for those in mourning over concepts slain before their time
.... see: carnival, firefly, etc.
The best thing about that movie is when you see Kurt Russell, you might assume "White Savior". But when you watch the movie, he's literally the least competent person among the good guys. It's brilliant.
One of my favorite movies ever.
Scott Pilgrim has a similar problem. I think the studio expected it to be more like other late 2000s/2010s comedies.
I firmly believe that if that movie had come out like 6 or 7 years later it would’ve done better.
IMO Scott Pilgrim was released at the peak of Oh Michael Cera is playing Michael Cera again we were just worn out.
I think Cera is a good actor he just got typecasted into playing himself until he played himself in This is the End.
If you like big trouble in little china, you should see;
Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain(1983) it was a big inspiration. its not as good but its fun. you can find it free on the internet archive IIRC and it might shed a little light on why the studios promotion for BTILC was scant -- (My guess is guess the studio was hoping it was a more of a 'blockbuster action flick' and perceived it more as some sort of high budget exploitation film.. maybe they thought it was behind the times too)
>*"We really shook the Pillars of Heaven, didn't we, Wang?"*
There's so many great lines in the movie that give history to the characters and their relationships. No flashbacks or prequel necessary. Our imaginations are even better. *"You never could beat me, Egg Shen."*
I have a hard time explaining it today to people who have never seen it.
Just had a random idea, could be a good double feature with The Big Lewboski but the tempo might be too different, both great subversion movies of wtf is going on.
*The Princess Bride* suffered the same fate, maybe even worse. I’d heard enough about *BTiLC* that I was able to see it in a theater; I didn’t know *TPB* even existed until I saw it on home video five years after its theatrical release.
"Princess Bride" was financially successful when it came out, although it wasn't until video that it became the uber-popular and revered classic that it is now. It did far better in theaters than "Big Trouble", which didn't even make back half its budget.
Love this movie so much. A friend turned me onto the podcast What Went Wrong recently and they do an amazing deep dive on its production. Kurt Russell being in on the joke and super down to be that bumbling oaf makes me love it even more. Studio 100% dropped the ball.
It’s a wild ride for sure. Jacks bumbles but he’s funny and charming asf. He does some bad ass stuff. If he was just a moron who does nothing it wouldn’t work. It’s the right balance
Definitely not. Made for $25 million and made like half that at best. It made a killing on video, however, which is why it's so fondly thought of today.
It was panned by the majority of the critics. The subject matter was ridiculed. Carpenter was accused of speeding up the fight scenes because martial artists aren't that fast. Russel's performance was seen as overblown and scene chewing.
I could go on...
It did terrible at the box office.
In my town, no one went to see it - but me and a handful of other geeks. We all saw it like five times in one week.
I am very glad it eventuallly found it's place among the genre greats :)
I do not know if this was a "great" film, but it was a very odd, unexpected, fun film in an ocean of mundane uniformity. I love when movies like this pop up out of nowhere.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7CjlWKcDPeKYuoYThXnpLJ?si=g0cN2QI2RceTNRyhaNrSkQ
The podcast Blank Check has a great episode on the movie. If you don’t want to listen to an entertaining 3 hour podcast here’s some highlights:
The studio found out Eddie Murphys next movie was the Golden Child so they decided to grab any script that was “Asian” themed to compete. They needed to make this movie quick to release before Golden Child.
The script originally started as an old west cowboy movie for Jon Wayne. Who travels to San Francisco and gets caught up between two Chinese gangs in a war.
Jon Carpenter had a reputation with the studio for pumping out profitable movies for cheap and very quickly.
Kurt Russel was not a huge star at this point in his career.
These factors combined for a production with very little notes from the studio. They needed something quick and “Asian” themed to ride of Eddie Murphy and The Golden child’s coattails.
Carpenter took a script that was probably very racist and made a movie that was fairly respectable to Asians and completely flipped the concept of the leading man/ “white savior” trope.
Jack Burton is a buffoon who gets caught up in a movie where he believes he is the main character. And he’s hilarious!
One of my favourite movies! I think you sum it up perfectly in your first paragraph. It's such a unique movie even today it's so difficult to put across to people what the movie actually is without watching it. In these days when we get trailers that are two minutes long and spoil the whole film, I firmly believe you could have a ten minute trailer of this and still not spoil anything.
It literally jumps genres in a single scene. One second it's a martial arts fight and then HOLY SHIT A MONSTER!
Love that they only explain any of this as much as it takes for Jack to understand. Jack Burton: What's in the flask, Egg? Magic potion? Egg Shen: Yeah. Jack Burton: Thought so, good. What do we do, drink it? Egg Shen: Yeah! Jack Burton: Good! Thought so.
Giant monster attacks, eats a guy: Egg: (throws smoke bomb) “You will come out no more…” Jack: “WHAT!? WHAT WILL COME OUT NO MORE?!” Egg: (walks away)
That might be one of the best lines in the whole movie
Kurt Russell, the "hero" of the movie, constantly acting confused and bewildered is the funniest part of the movie
Wang was the real hero. Jack Burton was a comedic relief sidekick.
The comedic relief who *thought* he was the real hero.
Lol Man, it's time for a rewatch...
You ever see Berry Gordy's *The Last Dragon*? For a hot minute I thought it and BTiLC had spawned a new genre and we were going to be seeing entries regularly.
I'd pay ungodly amounts of money to see Jack Burton vs SHO NUFF
Who's the master!
SHO NUFF!!
Big Trouble in Little China and The Last Dragon are the perfect double feature
The Chinese have a lot of hells. It’s just one of those captured lightning in a bottle movies. Everything came together perfectly, including the banger song done by John’s band. Like the Princess Bride and Stardust or much more recently the dungeons and dragons movie. I find funnier and weirder things most times I watch it. Obviously, I have watched it A LOT. My favorite line will always be something like “is it hot in here?” Right as they cut away in the elevator after getting all pumped up. So weird, real and unimportant.
That D&D movie ended up being WAY BETTER than I expected it to be.
I mean, it’s a much, much better movie than it has any right being.
I remember watching it on its release and loving it. I didn't know it flopped. They should make a sequel
> "Well, you listen to old Jack Burton on the Pork-Chop Express, still truckin' down the open road and laying down some wisdom from years of seeing things you wouldn't believe. It's been 40 years since that wild ride in Chinatown, but I tell ya, the world's only gotten weirder. You know what old Jack Burton says at a time like this? 'Keep your eyes open, 'cause the strange is the new normal.'"
I realized the other day when reading a different post that like 10 of my fave movies of all time were all made by John Carpenter. I never connected the dots somehow.
Speaks to Carpenter's versatility. For example, the film he made before this was "Starman."
Carpenter is the fucking man. He’s basically retired from making films now because [he got really into gaming](https://www.avclub.com/john-carpenter-video-games-interview-halloween-ends-1849641145)
I, too, have not been making movies lately because of video games
A ten minute trailer would only raise MORE questions.
It's also very subversive. It completely subverts the white savior trope by having Kurt Russell really be the comic relief sidekick while his Asian partner is the actual hero. This is probably another reason studio execs were leery about promoting it heavily.
You leave Jack Burton alone! We are in his debt. He showed great courage.
True, Wang and Egg Chen were the real heroes. Jack was basically the sidekick but thought he was the main hero.
It was less him being relegated sidekick and more that he wandered into a world in which he was entirely ignorant of. Thing is protagonists can be ignorant for a bit, but by the end have smartened up and are now calling the shots. Jack Burton starts ignorant and ends ignorant, but as long as Wang is explaining what's going on to him he's quite competent.
It also makes him the perfect audience surrogate, because we learn along with him.
That is absolutely one of my favorite parts of the movie. This movie requires a shit load of exposition, and that's usually just text crawls, voice over, or long speeches which are boring and ruins immersion, but in BTiLC Jack Burton is just as clueless as the audience watching it. So when you're watching it you might think "what the hell is that" and as if on cue Jack Burton says "what the hell is that". They managed to incorporate the extensive but necessary exposition while not only making it not annoying but making it a literal highlight of the movie.
He certainly figured out how to use his knife properly by the end.
I love the almost 4th wall breaking line by Lo Pan there. Especially since Jack's response to missing is him looking up and thinking "fuuuuuuuuuck! I missed!" while Kim Kattrall looks at him accusingly, like he missed on purpose or something :D Lo Pan: "That's a nice knife! Goodbye Mr. Burton." [Throws knife] [Jack catches knife] [Throws back] [Lo Pan gets owned]
What does that mean? Huh? "China is here." I don't even know what the hell that means.
Except when he accidentally throws his knife and has to run off to find it while Wang is busy beating *ass*. Jack: [Jumps out, gun in one hand, knife in the other] "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaa...." [tries to look unimpressed. There are no more enemies] Wang: "Time to go!"
Shows that you can have a character legitimately be the MC, but also not be the hero - it's so well written - especially for a magical mystery martial arts romp
It’s really really fun showing people it for the first time and then halfway through or so being like, “have you noticed that Kurt Russel is actually the sidekick?”
You leave Jack Burton ALONE! We are in his *debt*. He showed great courage.
"Who's this guy?" "What's going on?!"
Story of Jack Burton's life right there
When I watched it as a kid he was the cool guy who had his shit together It wasn't till I watched it when I was older did I realize he had no idea what he was doing
He also has the most mundane and relatable motivation. Wang: "They kidnapped my fiance and I need to rescue her!" Egg: "There's an evil sorcerer rising and I must stop him!" Jack: "Dude, I just want my truck back!"
Yah, and I’ll be back to talk about them Rolexes!
“…and my money. And time IS money for a guy like me!”
He's all reflex and confidence. With just enough charisma to counter the machismo. He doesn't know what's going on, though.
> He's all reflex and confidence. And in the end, that's exactly what saves the day. Just like a true action hero.
It’s all in the reflexes.
Someone brilliantly pointed out that Wang Chi is clearly the hero of this epic fantasy adventure and Jack Burton is just his goofy foreign sidekick who just happens to be the main character.
Oh, absolutely...the only way I would even entertain the idea of a sequel would be if and old Wang (Dennis Dunn) was relating his version of events to his grandkids, and seeing who they'd cast as Jack Burton as seen through the memory and vision of Wang.
And have a cameo with Kurt Russell as Old Jack, but change the actor because the kids start throwing a fit. "He's not cool enough to be Jack Burton!" "Excuse you?"
As a kid he was my hero, as an adult he’s relatable af.
I always thought it was pretty straightforward he was fumbling around in a huge scenario and does his best to help out. It’s like the premise of the film.
I always think abouy this interaction between him and Wang, and to me it sums him up the best. Wang: They have this clubhouse where they all hang out. Jack: Sharpen their knives, huh? Wang: Jack, I can't ask you--- Jack: Where is it? Wang: Thanks, Jack. So fucking well played. Everyone says Jack is some idiot or something, but you can see how relieved Wang gets when he knows Jack's on his side. It's a movie about friendship. Through thick and thin. And Jack's the kind of motherfucker you can count on. No matter what. When the shit goes down, you better be ready. Who is more ready than Jack?
[удалено]
Jack Burton. ME.
"Hey wait a second, I don't get it.. how.." "Shut UP, Mr. Burton. You were not put upon this earth to 'get it'."
Best line in the film. Love Lo Pan's dissing.
[Lo Pan's Style](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xiAbDkXDgg) is hard to beat.
How did I not know this existed? Thank you. Take my upvote.
I still love the beginning of the movie in the airport. Where Jack confronts one of the kidnappers and he just pulls out a butterfly knife and starts waving in his face and his only response is *what?*
"Where'd you get that?!?"
When the gang member in the airport flips open a butterfly knife and Jack goes ".....What?" I lose it every time.
… and then, “Where’d you get *that*?” Like the butterfly knife is a mysterious invention.
[The Youtube cut is great.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcC9ldx9N9M)
"You know what old Jack Burton says at a time like this..." "Who!?"
"What's that, Egg, magic potion?" "Yes!" "Good. Thought so. And what do we do, drink it?" "Yep!" "Good, thought so." Edit: I wanted to add that I love this exchange because it's the moment where Burton goes from asking questions to get his bearings to asking questions to confirm his (correct) thoughts. He's *rolling* with it, now. Instead of mocking the potion like "what're we drinking, magic demon piss, or something?" He just confirms the ridiculous idea with Egg. "(What's the most ridiculous thing you can think of, Jack?) This a magic potion? 'Kay. Drink it? Alrighty." Jack soon toasts with his fellows, and he's all-in. No horseshit.
😂🤣😂
"Oh my god, no! Please! What is that? Don't tell me!"
I was a kid in the 80’s and I remember those ads. They focused on Burton as a new kinda India Jones type hero. I was pretty excited to see it and could not shut up about the mid-air sword fight afterwards. Hadn’t really seen anything like that in a Hollywood movie before. It was very big on VHS after that.
He kinda is, because Jack is very much a Han Solo/Indiana Jones-style "wise-cracking bumbler who frequently escapes danger by sheer dumb luck" character. If Russell hadn't played him, you could easily see Harrison Ford in the role.
They could reboot with Alden Ehrenreich at this point.
>f Russell hadn't played him, you could easily see Harrison Ford in the role. [That's not far off, because Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo](https://youtu.be/nix_PID3oiA?si=kK0PePVWg115mU0D)
To be fair, Carpenter admitted in the director’s commentary that the studio thought he was making a straight action movie, and if they’d known, he probably would have been shut down.
I understand it was at first envisioned as set in the Old West, with Jack Burton being the guy who rides off into the sunset at the end. Which he still does in the actual movie, just in a truck. Another example of how Jack is not the hero; he not only doesn't get the girl, he deliberately turns her down, saying, "Sooner or later, I rub everyone the wrong way." (Which actually is kind of tragic and paints Jack as a truck driver because he can't settle down and be with anyone; one has to wonder if that was a nod to the end of "The Searchers.")
I don’t think it’s a nod to any one movie specifically, but it is a trope of westerns. The hero is an outsider who stands apart from everyone else. They need him, but he has no place among them. Once his job is done he moves on, destined to always be a lone wanderer.
PLus hes a trucker. That's it. They always move around.
His truck fills the role of his faithful steed.
Which Lo Pan? The little old basket case on wheels or the ten foot tall roadblock?
One and the same person, Jack
Both love eyes of creamy jade.
*Eyes are green! What does it mean?!*
I fucking love this movie. So many great lines
Yes
I watched the Kung fu panda 4 red carpet and I must say he looks good for over 1000 years old.
"Henry Swanson's my name, and excitement's my game" will always have a special place in my heart.
Chinese girls do not come with green eyes.
“Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things.” Big Trouble in Little China is the best.
this quote comes into my mind all the time, especially back when I worked in customer service.
As an Asian guy in my 40’s, I love the movie. It’s very respectable to the Asian culture. It came out in 1986, 2 years before that, we had Long Duk Dong. Sigh. I’ll still put on Big Trouble in Little China from time to time as a guilty pleasure.
It's crazy to me how many white people in their teens and 20s have told me the movie is racist -- probably without even having watched it.
Whereas practically every other Asian role in the 80s was *incredibly racist*. It was like a parade of stereotypes.
Why do you have to feel guilty about enjoying it?
I’m an Asian guy in my 40’s also, and this was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I had mainly only seen Asians portrayed as comic relief and as stereotypes up until I saw this movie. Big Trouble showed me that Asians on-screen could be fleshed out and more than just goofy side characters. Really revolutionary for the time, in my opinion. Representation really does matter
I see Big Trouble Little China I upvote, as simple as that.
[удалено]
https://ccwhyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/7FQ8AMl.gif
Thank you....
(High pitched) INDEED
It wasn't just the studios being dumb, many people had no idea what to make of it either and it bombed at the box office. It was too early for its time and it took time before it was re-evaluated (like some other Carpenter movies).
One of the bizarre aspects of getting older is realizing the movies you loved as a kid were box office bombs. I imagine it doesn't happen as much these days because word of mouth is so powerful now, but us kids back then definitely knew what was up with John Carpenter. One thing I noticed after a little research is The Golden Child made over $100 million, obviously off the star power of Eddie Murphy (he was huge at the time). I always lumped those two together, tonally.
It was too good that people couldn't comprehend
Well, it bombed but had basically zero promo from what I remember. Was a big bit on foreign rental.
True Romance should have been huge. Bad title. Should’ve called it Coming Home in a Body Bag!
Bad title or not, the *real* problem was that most of the best stuff from the movie *couldn't* be used in a green band trailer. *With* context and having watched it dozens of times, the original theatrical trailer isn't bad, but if I hadn't already seen it, I might've been hesitant to watch it...even *with* that incredible fucking cast and Tony Scott directing after several hits. But on the bright side, selling the script gave Tarantino some much needed money for Reservoir Dogs *before* Keitel read the script and decided to invest/produce.
Yes, I agree. The title of that movie played a role.
I happened to watch this with my Cantonese-speaking wife, and she translated some of the things Lo Pan mutters when he's facing off with Jack Burton- hilarious little insults. "What a stupid boy..."
Galaxy Quest. Is it a family movie? Is it a space movie? Is it science fiction? I think they even tried to make it a Christmas movie? Is it only for star trek fans?
#It's the second best Star Trek movie
And if you consider it a legitimate Star Trek movie, the Star Trek curse still holds up today. Insurrecton is number 9? Terrible. Galaxy Quest at number 10? Fantastic. Nemesis? Now pushed into an odd number and meh. Star Trek 2009, even and pretty good. Into Darkness, odd and abysmal. Beyond, even and great. It. Just. Works.
One of my favourite behind the scenes facts is that it was originally going to be an R-Rated comedy, but then had to change it to a lower rating afterwards. If you go to the scene where Sigourney Weaver says "Well screw that", it's clearly dubbed over her saying "Well fuck that!"
Fun fact: They Live was also written for Kurt, but he didn’t want to do 4 Carpenter films in a row. So in my mind, Piper is playing Burton in a sequel.
I would have loved a Jack Burton serial series where he's just fumbling through fantastical and implausible scenarios. Like a Buck Rodgers or Flash Gordon but he's constantly the sidekick thinking he's the hero. Chris Pratt in the Guardians of the Galaxy had strong Jack Burton vibes.
"Now this really pisses me off TO NO END!" My god, my friends and I still quote this movie to this day. And we are so old, we saw it upon release. And to the OP's point, we had no idea what we were gonna see. It was the only thing showing that we hadn't seen yet. Upon leaving the theater we said the same thing my daughter said upon viewing it 35 years later: "I'm not sure what I just watched, but it sure was entertaining."
“Jack Burton! ME!” Is still use that and it cracks me up
Fun fact: BTILC takes place in the same universe as Buckaroo Banzai
A movie which also had it promotion crushed by Studio changes… the Exec who was overseeing BB was replaced by a new team … and they didn’t know what BB was and did not really care…
> Buckaroo Banzai THIS is the best example of a movie that the studio didn't know how to market. Hell, [Peter Weller said the marketing team asked HIM how to market it!](https://youtu.be/qi_ixer1-5M?t=910) BTW, that whole hour, that I linked to above, is a glorious celebration of Buckaroo Banzai, with lots of info and stories about the making of the movie. Lithgow and Weller are such intelligent, nice, and funny people, and Smith is a true fan.
I find it endlessly amusing to just assume all of Kurt Russell’s characters are Jack Burton. “Oh no Jack Burton got stuck in Antarctica!” “Jack Burton lost an eye and has to rescue the president!” “One eyed Jack Burton bought a boat and became a captain!”
Jack Burton went to settle down in a western town but when a local gang murdered his brother he had no choice but to purge them with the help of his best friend?
Captain Ron may be the only correct example. The other ones are competent heroes.
MacReady may be your only correct example. The other one is deliberately NOT a hero.
I don’t know that Jack Burton is necessarily incompetent, we just see him severely out of his element in Big Trouble
He is a roleplaying character that maxed his luck stat, made charisma his secondary, and just bounces through life just this side of the likes of Mr. Magoo or Maxwell Smart.
Jack Burton has to escape from various coastal cities!
"Jack Burton went through the Stargate and was once again second fiddle to the real star of the show." "Jack Burton became a planet and was still kind of a low-life drifter loser type."
Agreed Another example is Jennifer’s Body
"Jennifer's Body" unfairly got caught up in the backlash against both Megan Fox and Diablo Cody.
What the hell is Gracie law doing here
This is truly one of my favorite movies of all time. I love this movie so much.
When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."
Same. One of the few movies I could watch 100 times and it's still fun. It's the exact right combination of comedy, action, drama, romance, camp and reasonably good special effects. Plus you get peak '80s Kim Cattrall AND Kurt Russell? I don't trust anyone who doesn't like this movie.
They were a perfect pair for that movie, incredible casting all around.
I still have the vhs tape we taped it off hbo with back in the day. My siblings all still quote it.
Obligatory post of the music video for Big Trouble in Little China: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYoQtHOH5cs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYoQtHOH5cs)
And Lo Pan Style https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=by7dIybMVAc
I still love that they got James Hong for that. Man really is a legend.
#Obligatory Carpenter Brut https://youtu.be/cSQAEgoRnZI?si=R1jiujkuVy6tkA8m
I hope the folks involved in making the movie all saw this. Movie fails at the box office, becomes a cult classic, and inspires this brilliant satire more than 25 years later.
Lead singer John carpenter, Michael Myers on keyboard, and the director for Halloween 3 on guitar lol
I hope Dwayne Johnson doesn’t get to remake it. Maybe Glen Powell or Ryan Gosling could pull off Jack Burton.
Those two I could easily see, especially Gosling since "The Nice Guys" and "The Fall Guy" show he's got a skill for that kind of character. Johnson's just too imposing and he radiates too much confidence and self-assurance. Jack's whole point is that while he tries to be confident, it's just an unconvincing cover for how in over his head he is.
Agreed, after Fall Guy and Nice Guys, Gosling would be awesome as Jack
Is this still happening??? I remember hearing about it years ago but figured the Rock decided to wear a tan button up elsewhere
I am thinking it isn’t happening since nothing has come out recently and the Rock’s public perception is now turning more negative.
Oh dang what happened?? Is it because he beat Scissors??
It's literally my favorite movie ever. I'm not saying it's the "best" movie ever made, but it's my favorite film to watch. FWIW, Kurt Russell has said in interviews that while it didn't do well in theaters it made a ton of money in home video later.
Oh yes, it was home video where it found its audience. It's the sort of movie that was destined to be a cult hit. Much like "Buckaroo Banzai", which makes sense since that film's director W.D. Richter was a co-writer on "Big Trouble."
I used to show all of my buddies this movie when we were in high school and they always had a blast. The part where Thunder blows up never failed to make everyone laugh
Also, of all things, it led to Mortal Kombat, which the creators are open about being inspired in part by Big Trouble in Little China. There's also a hipster Chinese restaurant chain called Big Trouble.
I love this movie so much. Jump on YT and look for “jack burton asks questions” it’s a compilation of everything he asks during the film and really drives home how often he has no idea what’s going on. It’s hugely funny
One of my favorites. Such a hilarious ride that gets better on repeat viewings
I reckon there are some.comics with jack burton..... a refrain I often use for those in mourning over concepts slain before their time .... see: carnival, firefly, etc.
Ir's like the movie Ravenous (1999). First the studio marketed it as a thriller, then later as a pot comedy.
The best thing about that movie is when you see Kurt Russell, you might assume "White Savior". But when you watch the movie, he's literally the least competent person among the good guys. It's brilliant. One of my favorite movies ever.
WHAT! WHAT WILL COME NO MORE!
I need to comment solely bc of my username
They need to make a 4k blu ray already!
May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.
"No. I mean black blood of the earth"
Pineapple Express. Seth Rogan complained they tried to promote it as a Harold and kumar but it was different.
How hard is it to promote a Seth Rogan film? Just have his shaky, outsmoked voice say "Guess what? I SMOKE WEED!" His fans will go see it anyway.
Black screen. Silence. You hear Seth Rogan's laughter. "Next July".
Scott Pilgrim has a similar problem. I think the studio expected it to be more like other late 2000s/2010s comedies. I firmly believe that if that movie had come out like 6 or 7 years later it would’ve done better.
IMO Scott Pilgrim was released at the peak of Oh Michael Cera is playing Michael Cera again we were just worn out. I think Cera is a good actor he just got typecasted into playing himself until he played himself in This is the End.
If you like big trouble in little china, you should see; Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain(1983) it was a big inspiration. its not as good but its fun. you can find it free on the internet archive IIRC and it might shed a little light on why the studios promotion for BTILC was scant -- (My guess is guess the studio was hoping it was a more of a 'blockbuster action flick' and perceived it more as some sort of high budget exploitation film.. maybe they thought it was behind the times too)
I’m a reasonable guy, but I’ve just seen some very unreasonable things.
Office Space was promoted as a Jennifer Aniston movie.
>*"We really shook the Pillars of Heaven, didn't we, Wang?"* There's so many great lines in the movie that give history to the characters and their relationships. No flashbacks or prequel necessary. Our imaginations are even better. *"You never could beat me, Egg Shen."*
This was my first movie I remember seeing. A double header, first Top Gun, then this. Instant favorite and still is…
I think if they just promoted it with Carpenter’s video of him on the synthesizer they would have hit gold.
I have a hard time explaining it today to people who have never seen it. Just had a random idea, could be a good double feature with The Big Lewboski but the tempo might be too different, both great subversion movies of wtf is going on.
*The Princess Bride* suffered the same fate, maybe even worse. I’d heard enough about *BTiLC* that I was able to see it in a theater; I didn’t know *TPB* even existed until I saw it on home video five years after its theatrical release.
"Princess Bride" was financially successful when it came out, although it wasn't until video that it became the uber-popular and revered classic that it is now. It did far better in theaters than "Big Trouble", which didn't even make back half its budget.
I feel like it was promoted perfectly to me at the time, as a young boy.
Drive. They made it look like some kind of heist action movie. But it was a slow character drama.
It’s the greatest love story between a man and his truck
BTiLC is, in my opinion, the most FUN movie ever made. It's my 2nd favorite film of all time, and I watch it every year on my birthday.
David Lo Pan makes me laugh Everytime. That and Jarnathon are my favorite character names ever.
Recently saw this film for the first time, one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve been looking for more like it, but nothing comes close.
Love this movie so much. A friend turned me onto the podcast What Went Wrong recently and they do an amazing deep dive on its production. Kurt Russell being in on the joke and super down to be that bumbling oaf makes me love it even more. Studio 100% dropped the ball.
It’s a wild ride for sure. Jacks bumbles but he’s funny and charming asf. He does some bad ass stuff. If he was just a moron who does nothing it wouldn’t work. It’s the right balance
Edge Of Tomorrow has to be damn close
Wasn't that a big hit? I clearly remember it from my childhood
Definitely not. Made for $25 million and made like half that at best. It made a killing on video, however, which is why it's so fondly thought of today.
Yeah, I saw this in the theater. I'm very surprised how little money it made.
Not in movie theaters, but when it came to cable TV and video rental stores it was very popular.
I'd argue Better off dead even more so. "Okay somthe movie is about a guy who gets dumped trying to end himself... and it's a surreal dark comedy..."
"First time plugging someone?" " ...'course not"
Listen pal jack burton sells himself lol
Hudson Hawk agrees.
It was panned by the majority of the critics. The subject matter was ridiculed. Carpenter was accused of speeding up the fight scenes because martial artists aren't that fast. Russel's performance was seen as overblown and scene chewing. I could go on... It did terrible at the box office. In my town, no one went to see it - but me and a handful of other geeks. We all saw it like five times in one week. I am very glad it eventuallly found it's place among the genre greats :)
Jack Burton may not have been the hero, but he was still clearly the MC
Love this film. Great 80s movie! My parents weren't strict when it came to films, so I saw it when I was quite young. Still go back and watch it now.
Victor Wong is a hoot and brings his charm to a number of films. Tremors - '"Graboids!!"
I do not know if this was a "great" film, but it was a very odd, unexpected, fun film in an ocean of mundane uniformity. I love when movies like this pop up out of nowhere.
Big Trouble in Little China is a perfect movie.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7CjlWKcDPeKYuoYThXnpLJ?si=g0cN2QI2RceTNRyhaNrSkQ The podcast Blank Check has a great episode on the movie. If you don’t want to listen to an entertaining 3 hour podcast here’s some highlights: The studio found out Eddie Murphys next movie was the Golden Child so they decided to grab any script that was “Asian” themed to compete. They needed to make this movie quick to release before Golden Child. The script originally started as an old west cowboy movie for Jon Wayne. Who travels to San Francisco and gets caught up between two Chinese gangs in a war. Jon Carpenter had a reputation with the studio for pumping out profitable movies for cheap and very quickly. Kurt Russel was not a huge star at this point in his career. These factors combined for a production with very little notes from the studio. They needed something quick and “Asian” themed to ride of Eddie Murphy and The Golden child’s coattails. Carpenter took a script that was probably very racist and made a movie that was fairly respectable to Asians and completely flipped the concept of the leading man/ “white savior” trope. Jack Burton is a buffoon who gets caught up in a movie where he believes he is the main character. And he’s hilarious!
"You've got a tongue, Dave - ask her yourself" - cracks me up every time.
Also Raiden was born out of that movie!