John Carpenter said this about Jack Burton. “Jack is a character who doesn't know he's a sidekick. He thinks he's the hero of the story but he's not. He's a sidekick.” Jul 6, 2016
He's an American equivalent of a comedy Chinese sidekick, with all the cultural stereotypes turned up to eleven as they often were. So he's *really* 'American' - loud mouthed, ignorant, swaggering confidence, drives a huge truck, etc.
On the green eyes issue...the original idea is that the girl has to be Chinese, with green eyes. One idea that didn't make it into the movie is that Grace Law was actually born in China to American missionary parents. So from one perspective, she is Chinese with green eyes.
See I always had a theory that she was half Chinese, or adopted by Chinese, due to not only the using her within the lore, living in Chinatown, her activism in saving Chinese immigrants from being trafficked, and her last name.
Fun fact: Kurt Russell's character Jack Burton is the sidekick while Dennis Dun as Wang is actually the hero. This movie is one of my all time favorites
Yeah, I was going to say that. Jack is the "everyman" in this story. He is basically us. We don't understand what's going on until the story unfolds, just like Jack.
Goddamn love this movie. It’s both a homage and a loving jab in the ribs to cheesy martial arts movies where they take on some supernatural monster or monsters. The dialogue and especially Russell’s delivery of the lines is over the top sometimes but it’s all intentional. It’s only the movie where the main star is literally the sidekick to the main hero. I goddamn love this movie.
Russell said he was doing his part as John Wayne, and when you know that it explains everything. Jack thinks he's the hero, but he's the comedy sidekick.
You can tell everyone in this production was having SO MUCH FUN!!! Especially JAMES HONG!! Still kicking it at 93! Just recently FINALLY got his star on the walk of fame! ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!
@@aerthreepwood8021You pay for the maintenance fees for X amount of years. If a studio nominates someone, they often pay the fee. It's still a selective process and a big honor to have
I love George’s input on Chinese culture and translations on a lot of these movies. I only watch your reactions to movies I’ve seen many times, and George gives knowledge that I never even realized, and it adds to the experience. Love y’all’s reactions!
My wife is fluent in Russian and German, and one of the things I enjoy the most about watching movies with her is when characters say something in either language, then she translates it for me. Sometimes, side characters will say stuff that doesn't get translated, and it often adds a lot to the story, but only people who understand the language get it. That's why, like you, I love watching these reactions, to get George's unique insights.
There are a million movies where Jack Burton is swooping in to save the day and this one dares to say, brawn doesn't equal competence. I adore it. Best Carpenter.
This film was always a spectacular play of 80s action films and Eastern martial arts films. Kinda like the collaboration between Shaw Bros and Hammer Studios back in the day. Carpenter created a classic here.
Another thing that I see few people pick up on is that, other than the obvious Beholder reference, the story is kinda structured like a DnD campain in a modern setting, a protagonist thrown in the middle of the action receiving intense exposition between combat sequences, a team with different "classes" and affinities, a maiden to save, magic and sword fighting, a descent into a cave with monsters, magic items, "boss fights", an evil supernatural baddie and his army army of minions...
I’m not joking and I will die on this hill but this is one of the best films ever made…loved it from the day I saw it when it came out…Jack Burton is one of my fave lead characters of all time
@@galadballcrusher8182 he said that referring to their relationship. Wang is like Batman and jack is like robin. That is their relationship. If you aren’t talking relationship and talk movie terms, jack is obviously the lead. More screen time. Movie book ends on him. Wang isn’t even on the movie poster.
5:57 Yes they did, Ed Boon and John Tobias mentioned it before. Shang Tsung (Lo Pan) The Three Storms Rain, Thunder and Lightning (Rayden). And another fun fact: Johnny Cage design was based on Van Damme from Bloodsport. Basically the first Mortal Kombat drew inspiration from Enter the Dragon, Bloodsport and Big Trouble in Little China. It's crazy how the original MK became such a huge part of pop culture with just 4 people on the development team Ed Boon (programming), John Tobias (story and art), John Vogel (graphics), and Dan Forden (sound design)
The dialogue's speed is also a reference to old Howard Hawks movies. Carpenter commented that one of the big reasons he picked Kim Catrall is that she could really rip the dialogue.
I think that’s one of the reasons I love it so much. The dialogue kinda reminds me of films like Philadelphia Story or It Happened One Night. It’s so slapstick & silly. Just a wonderfully fun movie.
Greatest subversion of hero/sidekick ever. Also, it takes significant influence from the screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s, in which rapid-fire dialogue and a hectic pace are defining elements. John Carpenter is a major fan of Howard Hawks, who helped pioneer the genre.
17:13 George: "Wow, Chewie really let himself go!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 George, My man - that was WELL PLAYED. And you DEADPANNED it to boot! That was MST3K worthy right there! 👍
The biggest and most perfect joke of this movie is that Kurt Russel is playing the "Hero" stereotype to a tee, and he is absolutely useless, and everyone but him knows it
2:01 - "Oh, so is he just talking on the radio to anyone who'll listen?" Yes, he was. Citizen Band Radio was very big back in the day among truckers and car drivers. There was a craze for it in the late-70s where you could even get it as a factory option on some cars (Corvettes were one model that could come with them installed). People would use them to chat while they drove, tell each other where police traps were located, and so on. It died out in the mainstream after a few years, but they still have some use in the trucking world. Everyone else has slid over to cellphones. 3:15 - "What does 'Miller Time' mean?". "Miller Time" was a component of Miller High Life's primary advertising campaign ("If you've got the time, we've got the beer!"). There was a jingle that went with it that probably everyone in the country could sing. ua-cam.com/video/Vj-lYM5GCQg/v-deo.html
Yes,as far as CB radio goes,it became huge in the mid 70s and I got right into it as well.It was great fun,we had two or three main locations where we would congregate,multiple dozens of cars with different types of aerials sprouting from the roof and a dozen or so would break off and do a run up and down the main drag.A great way to meet and make new friends and massive fun but time goes by and you grow out of it...Great memories..
Sadly, no sequel but I have loved this movie since it came out when I was 11. It's a movie you try to pay attention to the story, but I just surrender to the fun and craziness.
@@cyberash3000 I wonder why it's being remade. There are good examples. For a good example, look at '82's The Thing which was a remake of '51's The Thing From Another World. It had the same very basic concept, but how it was the same but was also so very different was kind of why it was artistically if not financially successful.
One thing I loved was adding unto what others had said. Jack isn't the hero....even though he thinks that he is. Still...he is brave, loyal to his friends, and put himself on the line many times for them. So you can see that although he is oblivious to the fact he is not up to par with the rest of them with awareness or competence as they smirk knowingly to each other (like in the elevator) as he rants on.. they held him in high respect. Even in the very beginning when Egg Shen is being questioned about Jack... he has his back. "Will you leave him alone?! (Then) You leave Jack Burton alone. We are in his debt. He showed great courage!" In the end, he was a lovable sidekick who earned the respect. Loved the movie.
That beginning prologue scene was added after the fact due to studio insistence because they wanted Jack Burton to be seen as more of a hero by the audience iirc. Which might have added onto why the movie failed in the box office since people were probably expecting him to be this amazing action hero after he was built up.
-I believe the movie you mention (Tsui Hark's "Zu: Warriors from The Magic Mountain" 新蜀山劍俠) is indeed the one John Carpenter saw that inspired him to make this. -The original script took place in the 1860s during the San Francisco Tong wars. Jack was a cowboy who loses his horse instead of his truck. They decided to set it in contemporary Chinatown so that the "normal" world would feel more familiar and the mystical weirdness would be more of a removal from reality. -Along with Wuxia movies, it is a sendup of old school (racist) white-savior/yellow-peril pulp adventures, but instead of an Indiana Jones/James Bond super badass that swoops in and saves the hapless Chinese common folk from the sinophobic Fu Manchu-style bogeyman, Jack is the bumbling comic relief. He looks like the hero, he talks like the hero, he's got the swagger and the attitude, but *Wang* is the hero, Egg and his gang had been successfully keeping LoPan and who knows how many other supernatural threats at bay for centuries without any white people's help, and Jack is just the big dumb fish-out-of-water sidekick who barely manages to be less trouble than he's worth. -There's no sequel because, like "The Thing" this movie bombed on release and only found its audience later on home video and cable. The studio didn't get it, they thought they were getting a legit, Indiana Jones style adventure and panicked when they realized that their heroic lead was a joke. They made Carpenter add that scene at the beginning with Egg talking to the lawyer just to emphasize, Jack IS heroic, even if he isn't the best at it... And then the studio had no idea how to market the movie and didn't really try that hard and so nobody saw it when it came out.
@Latest Obsession Zu is way more crazypants even than Big Trouble. It was Hong Kong's first attempt at applying Hollywood style VFX to a wuxia fantasy movie, (Tsui Hark was inspired after seeing Star Wars and actually hired some of their VFX crew) and it can be a bit dizzying. It was really popular in Asia but it's not the most accessible to a Western viewer. Far more successful similar endeavors include "Chinese Ghost Story" (dir by Ching Siu Tung 1987) "The Bride with White Hair" (Ronny Yu 1993) and "The Storm Riders" (Andrew Lau 1998)
I actually like the introduction scene, the scene where Egg shoots the lighting was the in my opinion a perfect set up to the weirdness and mysticism of the film in that it totally made us unsuspecting of what comes next Also i don't mind the inference that Jack was Heroic, even if he is the side kick, the side kick is still a hero Jack still does heroic and brave things despite not understanding or having fear at great danger to himself etc. etc.
Kim Cattrall. Still my #1 80s crush. That being said, this movie has been one of my favorites since I was a kid in the 80s. Jack is such a likable goofball who all talk but manages to save the day. As I said before, he the sidekick who thinks he’s the hero.
I first saw this this when I was in the Marines in 88. There was a drinking game called “Jack Burton Appreciation Night”. You’d take a drink anytime you heard someone say, “China”, “Girl with Green eyes”, “Jack Burton” or “magic”. Not sure how it ended, don’t remember much.
This movie is a bit of a parody on both Chinese martial arts movies and 80s Action movies, but by people who love those movies. The big muscled American hero is actually the 'side kick' character to the small Chinese friend who is the true hero of the movie. All the super over-the-top stuff is intentional and why the movie is so funny. This is one of my favorite movies and always worth a rewatch.
When I think of movies that are really rewarded by multiple viewings, The Princess Bride, Big Trouble in Little China & The Fifth Element are the films that immediately come to mind. All three have so much dialogue & things happening onscreen that it takes a few watches to really appreciate all the craziness. I think that’s why they initially performed poorly at the box office, but became cult favorites, once they made their way to DVD & cable, which allowed people to watch them multiple times. I remember not getting either The Fifth Element or The Princess Bride the first time I saw them. Big Trouble was different. I was hooked from the first few minutes.
I think those three have a cult following because they subverted a major expectation and audiences weren't sure what to make of them at the time. Princess Bride was advertised as a romance and then the Grandpa "sells" it to the grandson as something else. This was sold as a action/comedy starring Kurt Russel, but it's a love letter to chinese cinema, is a action/comedy/horror/fantasy with Kurt as the sidekick! And Fifth Element, the protagonists never meet the antagonist. I can't tell you another movie where this is a plot point. It's awesome.
I'd add Hot Fuzz to that list. Basically every Edgar Wright movie but Hot Fuzz in particular. Almost every single line in the first two acts hints to something that is going to happen later in the movie and you only get that on multiple viewings. It's "Chekhov's Gun - the movie".
When this movie debuted, so many critics did not get the gag that, outside of doing one important thing at the end of the movie, the main character is a total screw up. I got it right away and loved where this movie took me. For some reason, my favorite exchange was the pre-elevator scene of "Hollow?", "Hollow", "@$#& it". It exemplified Jack Burton's bull-in-a-china-shop M.O.
The phrase, “It's Miller Time" refers to the commercials for Miller Beer in the 1980s, which would always depict people after a hard day's work going out to a bar and saying, “It's Miller Time!" Bill Murray also used the phrase in Ghostbusters.
This is still one of my favourite movies. I love how you expect Kurt Russell (especially after watching The Thing) to be the hero, but he turns out to be the bumbling sidekick completely out of his depth. John Carpenter is my favourite director, but as with many of his other movies Big Trouble In Little China only gained the recognition it deserved in later years.
Gotta love Carpenter and Russel when it comes to movies. Saw this in the theater and every time I watch it, that magic is still there. And yes, the makers of MK got inspirations for a few characters from this movie. You have to look close though, hard to tell which ones they were focused on.
invented by Terry Kuntz in 1974, they were the product of nightmares: floating ball creatures with laser eyes. The original idea looks nothing like the modern but Kuntz was its originator.
FYI, Russell is doing a straight-up John Wayne impression throughout this, which adds a layer of humor to his middling competence. In addition to Raiden, John Carpenter's movie They Live also inadvertently inspired some infamous video game content when a one-liner from the movie made it into Duke Nukem. Both this and the Raiden thing are fitting because Carpenter is a huge video game fan. It is not a prequel or sequel (despite some rumors suggesting otherwise), but if you want to see another similarly wild '80s movie by the same writer, you should check out The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.
"There's a girl in the garden!" Oh and BTW Jack isn't the hero. He's the comedy sidekick! (Humorously, World of Warcraft had a nifty item for casters in game called (you guessed it!) a Six Demon Bag. It was also rumored to have a hidden area called "The Room of Upside-Down Sinners")
As a wow player myself, I have a bunch of macros for Jack Burton quotes depending on the situation "Everybody relax, I’m here" - when I save someone, or reinc. as a shaman "I’m a reasonable guy. But, I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things" - setting loot from FFA to group "Okay. You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the president." - starting an instance or raid "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."" - before a duel
Victor Wong (Egg Shen) had to travel to Hollywood to film the opening prologue right after attending the wake for his son Lyon who had been killed by a drunken high school football player in Sacramento. The killer shouted r@ci$t and h0m0ph0bic slurs at Lyon and his friends before attacking and fracturing Lyon's skull. The family was told by the prosecutor that the killer would only serve 6 months because he was a minor. The Lee's asked if, because of the insults the killer shouted before attacking, the killing could be prosecuted as a h@te crime to get a stricter sentence, but the prosecutor told them that it couldn't be h@te crime because it was minority on minority violence. A local TV station's consumer advocate wanted to do a feature story about the case to get public support for the Lee family's struggle to get justice for Lyon, but when the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle happened, and coverage of the national tragedy was dominating all news coverage, the story was dropped. Victor suffered his first stroke soon after.
His final fatal attack was following the events of 9/11. Victor spent that day fearing for his children who worked in the area. They all survived but he didnt recover from the stress and died the next day.
*but the prosecutor told them that it couldn't be h@te crime because it was minority on minority violence.* II mean the actual hate crime laws do not say “only if white guys do it” at all so that imemdialtey is suspect to me and sounds like a made up excuse they had, Again people have been charged for hate crimes for homophobia based attacks regardless of ethnicity so this is really suspect.
One of my childhood favs. This film and Enter the Dragon were two influences for the original Mortal Kombat. The main villain was the inspiration for Shang Tsung.
Plus Raiden version in this movie set the looks for Raiden and some of the ways the other 2storms fight remind me of Baraka... And then there is the ghoul.....but what i don't understand is wtf does a beholder from DnD do here
BTILC was John Carpenter's love letter to Chinese cinema. Because he knew the studio wouldn't fund a film with a Chinese lead at the time, they put Kurt Russell's character front and centre on the poster and played him off as the lead when he's actually the comedy sidekick. JC and Kurt have a laugh about it in the commentary for the film.
Carpenter and Russell are obviously having a VERY good time on the commentary. They do TRY to talk mostly about the film. But as things progress more and more, it becomes very obvious that these two men were also having a very fine DRINKING PARTY and the booze was GOOD. Those two got LIT by the end! 😁😎😏 And because of that they kinda forget about the movie halfway through - but it's still loads of fun listening to them.
Well, it's not like Kurt Russell's character doesn't still have the majority of screen time. It's not that the studio wouldn't fund a film with a Chinese lead, it's that the studio was unsure about a film where Russell's character was depicted as a goofball who's just winging it most of the time. It was a far cry from Russell's performance as Snake Plissken in Escape From New York.
I love that 'Egg Shen' is phonetically 'action' with a heavy Chinese accent. More John Carpenter! Christine (1983)! Escape from New York (1981)! They Live (1988)! Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)!
Y'all should check out "Tremors" as well. And when it comes to John Carpenter...."Christine", "Starman", "The Fog", "Assault On Precinct 13", "They Live", and "In The Mouth Of Madness" as well.
Most Mortal Kombat character are "legally distinct" version of a real character: Liu Kang is Bruce Lee, Sonya is Cynthia Rothrock, Johnny Cage is Van Damme, etc. I always assumed Raiden is supposed to be this lightning god.
This is my favorite movie of all time. It has such a great blend of action, humor, and wackiness. Now you need to watch that other great 80's movie that pays homage to the Saturday movie matinee serials, Buckaroo Banzai Into the 8th Dimension. It stars Peter Weller (Robocop) and John Lithgow.
It is my understanding that this was originally written to be the sequel to Buckaroo Banzai, as advertised at the end of that move. For some reason, it was scrapped and picked up by Carpenter. I may misremembering the details, however...
Not only was Raiden from Mortal Kombat inspired by this movie but according to the creators of Teenage mutant ninja turtles Jack Burton was the inspiration for Casey Jones
I remember back in the day the cinema I was in screamed with laughter. I read later that the movie pretty much bombed and reviews were abyssmal. I mean, there we were, collecively gasping for air, thoroughly enjoying ourselves! Were we all wrong?
The Raiden character in Mortal Kombat was indeed inspired by this movie. Beholders had been around for some time before it, though. As you kind of guessed, Jack Burton was the bumbling sidekick in this movie, while Wang Chi was the hero. Burton also fills in for us (the audience), being just as confused by what's happening in the movie but then shrugging & deciding to see where it all goes. The scene with Egg Shen in the beginning was added in post-production after the studio felt Burton was *too* bumbling & wanted the character to come off as a bit more heroic--he did _try_ after all.
Yes, Mortal Kombat got "inspiration" from this movie ie Raiden, Ermac, Rain, Shang Tsung, Liu Kang, The Pit, Throne Room etc. John Carpenter said in the commentary that Kurt Russell is the bumbling sidekick. 🤞🏿I hope they scrapped the Dwayne Johnson remake🤞🏿
The best part for me was the one time Burton gets things right, asking why it took so long to find a green eyed girl. When it turns out that any woman, doesn't have to be Chinese, will work, then clearly Lopan's the idiot and should have found someone a long time ago. Also, pretty sure the hairy monster is supposed to be an Almas, the Chinese bigfoot
The eyeroll when he said his friend uses the exploding warrior as his profile picture was hilarious. I promise many guys, of any nationality, all nodded their heads in agreement and understanding of using that profile pic. And she gave the perfect eyeroll response.
I've seen a lot of weird movies in my life, but this one continues to be the weirdest one. The amount of characters that kept appearing out of the blue that you, as the viewer, are just supposed to accept that the main characters know them... It's still bewildering to me to this day...
This is a funny martial arts action comedy fantasy adventure film from John Carpenter. It was originally going to take place in the Old West during the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson were considered for Jack Burton. Burton was going to be a gunslinger, who meets up with his friend, an expert in martial arts and ancient Chinese mysticism, where they battle Lo Pan, after ge triggers the earthquake. Filmed on a $25 million dollar budget, the film would make $18 million dollars at the box office. It was competing against ALIENS and THE FLY, which were released that sane year. Carpenter would never direct a Hollywood film, having lost interest, thus returning to independent films. A Remake of the movie was in production but was put on hold. A sequel starring The Rock, was going to involve a trucker, skeptical of black magic and sorcery would team up with Jack Burton to take down Lol Pan for good. This has been put on hold for now.
This has been one of my favorite movies since I was six years old. Extremely quotable. Plus, clueless, cocky and only worth a damn in the clutch… Best action hero ever.
The actor who played Egg Shen was also seen in another guilty pleasures favorite: Tremors. And he had a short role in the Eddie Murphy film (which he later claimed he basically mailed in his performance but collected a fat check): The Golden Child.
*"It's all in the reflexes!"* Best movie line of all time 😆 On the big screen when it came out, the colour/visuals were AMAZING, and the music is awesome :)
the ladder in the theater trick is certainly older than that. Christoper Walken has said that he used to walk onto movie studio lots as a kid by carrying a bucket of water. the key is "walken" with confidence, i think he claimed that no one ever questioned or stopped him.
I loved how Jack Burton always called Eg Chen, Egg. Now go back and watch it again. Despite his hamhandedness, this is Kurt Russel's homage to John Wayne. Listen to his voice and inflection. It's unmistakeable.
An early draft of the script was a semi sequel to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Writer of Big Trouble was W.D.Richter, who directed Buckaroo Banzai.
Having watched this a ton as a child, thanks to my mom loving this film, I have so many things I quote from this movie. It's all in the reflexes. Yes sir the check is in the mail. To list the two I use the most lol.
Kurt Russell is a pilot, and owns his own plane. On the night of March 13, 1997 he was flying into Sky Harbor International in Phoenix, AZ. He saw the "Phoenix Lights" and reported them to the tower.
I remember liking this the first time I saw it, but George's input really made it easier to figure out what's happening. Most of all, loved how Kurt Russell seems to be channeling John Wayne through the entire film.
Big Trouble in Little China was originally supposed to be a western fantasy set in 1880s San Francisco. It was rewritten by W.D. Richter, the director of Buckaroo Banzai, as a contemporary fantasy-action film.
This is one of my all time favorite films! I still have this recorded on VHS from when it played on HBO. There is also an official Graphic Novel sequel to this from BOOM! Studios!
Once again your Chinese insights have jelped me gain a deeper understanding of a movie. This time one I and many people have enjoyed for years. Thank You George.
I am SOOOO Happy and proud of James Hong.. the actor that plays David Lo Pan.. or just Lo Pan to some (The main Bad Guy)... anyways.. he just finally got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame... WELL DESERVED!!
I love guessing the opening quote. This one took me a second. Keep it up! It was cool how much of this movie George was able to pick up on. I knew this would be right up his alley. One of my favorite Kurt Russell movies. His sarcasm is so on point.
20:45 No, Beholders were in the original AD&D Monster Manual published in 1978. Had played AD&D for years before this movie came out, and also thought it looked like a beholder.
I believe the beholder originates in mid-late '70's dungeons and dragons and pre-dates Big Trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if Carpenter was 'inspired' by the D&D monster but I don't know if that is actually true.
John Carpenter said this about Jack Burton. “Jack is a character who doesn't know he's a sidekick. He thinks he's the hero of the story but he's not. He's a sidekick.” Jul 6, 2016
Great quote, perfect way of describing his character.
Also Jack's the audience. We have no idea of what the hell's going on, but we're on this ride and we'll do our best to figure it out!
just like Doctor Strange and Obi Wan
He's an American equivalent of a comedy Chinese sidekick, with all the cultural stereotypes turned up to eleven as they often were. So he's *really* 'American' - loud mouthed, ignorant, swaggering confidence, drives a huge truck, etc.
It's the perfect takedown of the "mighty whitey" trope.
"Don't panic, it's only me - Gracie Law" *heroic pose*
This is quite probably my favorite character entrance in any movie.
Kim Katrell definitely understood the assignment.
George after watching the opening scene: ‘He’s Raiden’
Me: 😳 Just you wait, George. 😆
There's a million things he hasn't done ?
acutally the creators of Mortal Kombat said they got the idea of Raiden from this Movie.
Came here to say this!!!!
@@Kurdinov83 what, that the creators of Mortal Kombat said they got the idea of Raiden from this Movie, or the Hamilton line ?
@@36melodyproduction just to comment on George saying “that’s raiden!” 2 minutes into the movie before seeing the ACTUAL raiden
On the green eyes issue...the original idea is that the girl has to be Chinese, with green eyes. One idea that didn't make it into the movie is that Grace Law was actually born in China to American missionary parents. So from one perspective, she is Chinese with green eyes.
I just assumed that she was half, and that her surname was 羅.
Never knew that Brian, thanks!
See I always had a theory that she was half Chinese, or adopted by Chinese, due to not only the using her within the lore, living in Chinatown, her activism in saving Chinese immigrants from being trafficked, and her last name.
Ultimately it doesn't really matter since she wasn't Chinese enough for Lo Pan to want to keep her alive.
@@AshLee92490 Not to mention when Jack Burton says he starts feeling like an outsider, she says "You are".
Fun fact: Kurt Russell's character Jack Burton is the sidekick while Dennis Dun as Wang is actually the hero. This movie is one of my all time favorites
Yep. The comedic relief sidekick who thinks he is the main character.
@@bmw128racer that’s the point, it’s a bait and switch.
With that being said Jack does kill the main villain so he is useful
It's the subtle joke that Jack Burton THINKS he's the hero of the story but isn’t
Yeah, I was going to say that. Jack is the "everyman" in this story. He is basically us. We don't understand what's going on until the story unfolds, just like Jack.
@@bmw128racer The story is told through Jack's eyes.
Goddamn love this movie. It’s both a homage and a loving jab in the ribs to cheesy martial arts movies where they take on some supernatural monster or monsters.
The dialogue and especially Russell’s delivery of the lines is over the top sometimes but it’s all intentional. It’s only the movie where the main star is literally the sidekick to the main hero.
I goddamn love this movie.
I agree with this statement
I must’ve seen this movie 100 times, and “We may be trapped” still gets me every time.😏
@@stephenlackey5852 So many classic quotes in this film. Lol
@@mojoshivers true , another one , "you were not put on this earth Mr. Burton to get it"
@@TheTitandog70 “Which Lo Pan? Little old basket case on wheels or the ten foot tall roadblock?” Lol
Russell said he was doing his part as John Wayne, and when you know that it explains everything. Jack thinks he's the hero, but he's the comedy sidekick.
The original script for this was set in the old west. The studios made him put it in modern times. Carpenter really only wants to make Westerns
People love saying this but he kills Lopan and saves the day.
You can tell everyone in this production was having SO MUCH FUN!!!
Especially JAMES HONG!! Still kicking it at 93! Just recently FINALLY got his star on the walk of fame! ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!
My favorite performances of his was from balls of fury.
@@aerthreepwood8021You pay for the maintenance fees for X amount of years. If a studio nominates someone, they often pay the fee.
It's still a selective process and a big honor to have
I love George’s input on Chinese culture and translations on a lot of these movies. I only watch your reactions to movies I’ve seen many times, and George gives knowledge that I never even realized, and it adds to the experience. Love y’all’s reactions!
I really enjoyed that, lots of stuff missed if you aren't familiar with the culture and language. Makes me appreciate the movie even more.
My wife is fluent in Russian and German, and one of the things I enjoy the most about watching movies with her is when characters say something in either language, then she translates it for me. Sometimes, side characters will say stuff that doesn't get translated, and it often adds a lot to the story, but only people who understand the language get it.
That's why, like you, I love watching these reactions, to get George's unique insights.
There are a million movies where Jack Burton is swooping in to save the day and this one dares to say, brawn doesn't equal competence. I adore it. Best Carpenter.
This film was always a spectacular play of 80s action films and Eastern martial arts films.
Kinda like the collaboration between Shaw Bros and Hammer Studios back in the day.
Carpenter created a classic here.
carpenter farts out classics, number one hollywood underground hit maker
Just remember what ol' Jack Burton always says in times like these...
Another thing that I see few people pick up on is that, other than the obvious Beholder reference, the story is kinda structured like a DnD campain in a modern setting, a protagonist thrown in the middle of the action receiving intense exposition between combat sequences, a team with different "classes" and affinities, a maiden to save, magic and sword fighting, a descent into a cave with monsters, magic items, "boss fights", an evil supernatural baddie and his army army of minions...
@@redjakOfficialPlus they went to the sewers, not once but twice :D
@@paareth True !
I’m not joking and I will die on this hill but this is one of the best films ever made…loved it from the day I saw it when it came out…Jack Burton is one of my fave lead characters of all time
Not really cause according to Carpenter he is a sidekick who just thinks he is the lead
@@galadballcrusher8182 he said that referring to their relationship. Wang is like Batman and jack is like robin. That is their relationship. If you aren’t talking relationship and talk movie terms, jack is obviously the lead. More screen time. Movie book ends on him. Wang isn’t even on the movie poster.
@@galadballcrusher8182 I know and that is why i love him so much...lead character in his mind
@@galadballcrusher8182 He's the lead actor. Not the Hero.
@@pauldearmond5929 Then why is he the one that saves the day?
5:57 Yes they did, Ed Boon and John Tobias mentioned it before. Shang Tsung (Lo Pan) The Three Storms Rain, Thunder and Lightning (Rayden). And another fun fact: Johnny Cage design was based on Van Damme from Bloodsport. Basically the first Mortal Kombat drew inspiration from Enter the Dragon, Bloodsport and Big Trouble in Little China. It's crazy how the original MK became such a huge part of pop culture with just 4 people on the development team Ed Boon (programming), John Tobias (story and art), John Vogel (graphics), and Dan Forden (sound design)
The dialogue's speed is also a reference to old Howard Hawks movies. Carpenter commented that one of the big reasons he picked Kim Catrall is that she could really rip the dialogue.
I think that’s one of the reasons I love it so much. The dialogue kinda reminds me of films like Philadelphia Story or It Happened One Night. It’s so slapstick & silly. Just a wonderfully fun movie.
Greatest subversion of hero/sidekick ever. Also, it takes significant influence from the screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s, in which rapid-fire dialogue and a hectic pace are defining elements. John Carpenter is a major fan of Howard Hawks, who helped pioneer the genre.
17:13 George: "Wow, Chewie really let himself go!"
🤣🤣🤣🤣
George, My man - that was WELL PLAYED. And you DEADPANNED it to boot! That was MST3K worthy right there! 👍
Especially after Han died.
Ok... who else here grinned knowingly 😉when George said "He's Raiden"?
The biggest and most perfect joke of this movie is that Kurt Russel is playing the "Hero" stereotype to a tee, and he is absolutely useless, and everyone but him knows it
Not totally useless, just rather clueless.
Has a lot of dumb luck,
kind of like Maxwell Smart.
But, for all his bumbling, he did end up killing the bad guy at the end. So, Egg Shen is kind of right in the beginning monologue.
@@tjl9458
Yeah--"It's all in the reflexes."
@@laustcawz2089 Fair point. Clueless would definitely have been the better word to use. My apologies
Not really useless. But over-confident and under-qualified as hero. He's a perfectly good sidekick though.
2:01 - "Oh, so is he just talking on the radio to anyone who'll listen?"
Yes, he was. Citizen Band Radio was very big back in the day among truckers and car drivers. There was a craze for it in the late-70s where you could even get it as a factory option on some cars (Corvettes were one model that could come with them installed). People would use them to chat while they drove, tell each other where police traps were located, and so on.
It died out in the mainstream after a few years, but they still have some use in the trucking world. Everyone else has slid over to cellphones.
3:15 - "What does 'Miller Time' mean?".
"Miller Time" was a component of Miller High Life's primary advertising campaign ("If you've got the time, we've got the beer!"). There was a jingle that went with it that probably everyone in the country could sing. ua-cam.com/video/Vj-lYM5GCQg/v-deo.html
Breaker One Nine. You got a Smokey on your tail. Come back?
Yes,as far as CB radio goes,it became huge in the mid 70s and I got right into it as well.It was great fun,we had two or three main locations where we would congregate,multiple dozens of cars with different types of aerials sprouting from the roof and a dozen or so would break off and do a run up and down the main drag.A great way to meet and make new friends and massive fun but time goes by and you grow out of it...Great memories..
@@pvthitch Pigpen, this here's the Rubber Duck, I'm about to put the hammer on down
Sadly, no sequel but I have loved this movie since it came out when I was 11. It's a movie you try to pay attention to the story, but I just surrender to the fun and craziness.
its being remade atm alledgedly
There is a comic book sequel that is awesome.
Sequels can be a bad thing.
When you say no sequel....what do you call then mortal combat movies? Apart of Goro plenty of main chars have roots here
@@cyberash3000 I wonder why it's being remade. There are good examples. For a good example, look at '82's The Thing which was a remake of '51's The Thing From Another World. It had the same very basic concept, but how it was the same but was also so very different was kind of why it was artistically if not financially successful.
One thing I loved was adding unto what others had said. Jack isn't the hero....even though he thinks that he is. Still...he is brave, loyal to his friends, and put himself on the line many times for them. So you can see that although he is oblivious to the fact he is not up to par with the rest of them with awareness or competence as they smirk knowingly to each other (like in the elevator) as he rants on.. they held him in high respect. Even in the very beginning when Egg Shen is being questioned about Jack... he has his back. "Will you leave him alone?! (Then) You leave Jack Burton alone. We are in his debt. He showed great courage!" In the end, he was a lovable sidekick who earned the respect.
Loved the movie.
That beginning prologue scene was added after the fact due to studio insistence because they wanted Jack Burton to be seen as more of a hero by the audience iirc. Which might have added onto why the movie failed in the box office since people were probably expecting him to be this amazing action hero after he was built up.
-I believe the movie you mention (Tsui Hark's "Zu: Warriors from The Magic Mountain" 新蜀山劍俠) is indeed the one John Carpenter saw that inspired him to make this.
-The original script took place in the 1860s during the San Francisco Tong wars. Jack was a cowboy who loses his horse instead of his truck. They decided to set it in contemporary Chinatown so that the "normal" world would feel more familiar and the mystical weirdness would be more of a removal from reality.
-Along with Wuxia movies, it is a sendup of old school (racist) white-savior/yellow-peril pulp adventures, but instead of an Indiana Jones/James Bond super badass that swoops in and saves the hapless Chinese common folk from the sinophobic Fu Manchu-style bogeyman, Jack is the bumbling comic relief. He looks like the hero, he talks like the hero, he's got the swagger and the attitude, but *Wang* is the hero, Egg and his gang had been successfully keeping LoPan and who knows how many other supernatural threats at bay for centuries without any white people's help, and Jack is just the big dumb fish-out-of-water sidekick who barely manages to be less trouble than he's worth.
-There's no sequel because, like "The Thing" this movie bombed on release and only found its audience later on home video and cable. The studio didn't get it, they thought they were getting a legit, Indiana Jones style adventure and panicked when they realized that their heroic lead was a joke. They made Carpenter add that scene at the beginning with Egg talking to the lawyer just to emphasize, Jack IS heroic, even if he isn't the best at it... And then the studio had no idea how to market the movie and didn't really try that hard and so nobody saw it when it came out.
@Latest Obsession Zu is way more crazypants even than Big Trouble. It was Hong Kong's first attempt at applying Hollywood style VFX to a wuxia fantasy movie, (Tsui Hark was inspired after seeing Star Wars and actually hired some of their VFX crew) and it can be a bit dizzying. It was really popular in Asia but it's not the most accessible to a Western viewer.
Far more successful similar endeavors include "Chinese Ghost Story" (dir by Ching Siu Tung 1987) "The Bride with White Hair" (Ronny Yu 1993) and "The Storm Riders" (Andrew Lau 1998)
I actually like the introduction scene, the scene where Egg shoots the lighting was the in my opinion a perfect set up to the weirdness and mysticism of the film in that it totally made us unsuspecting of what comes next
Also i don't mind the inference that Jack was Heroic, even if he is the side kick, the side kick is still a hero
Jack still does heroic and brave things despite not understanding or having fear at great danger to himself
etc. etc.
Kim Cattrall. Still my #1 80s crush. That being said, this movie has been one of my favorites since I was a kid in the 80s. Jack is such a likable goofball who all talk but manages to save the day. As I said before, he the sidekick who thinks he’s the hero.
I first saw this this when I was in the Marines in 88.
There was a drinking game called “Jack Burton Appreciation Night”. You’d take a drink anytime you heard someone say, “China”, “Girl with Green eyes”, “Jack Burton” or “magic”.
Not sure how it ended, don’t remember much.
I'm surprised you survived!
I didn’t!
This movie is a bit of a parody on both Chinese martial arts movies and 80s Action movies, but by people who love those movies. The big muscled American hero is actually the 'side kick' character to the small Chinese friend who is the true hero of the movie. All the super over-the-top stuff is intentional and why the movie is so funny.
This is one of my favorite movies and always worth a rewatch.
When I think of movies that are really rewarded by multiple viewings, The Princess Bride, Big Trouble in Little China & The Fifth Element are the films that immediately come to mind. All three have so much dialogue & things happening onscreen that it takes a few watches to really appreciate all the craziness. I think that’s why they initially performed poorly at the box office, but became cult favorites, once they made their way to DVD & cable, which allowed people to watch them multiple times. I remember not getting either The Fifth Element or The Princess Bride the first time I saw them. Big Trouble was different. I was hooked from the first few minutes.
I think those three have a cult following because they subverted a major expectation and audiences weren't sure what to make of them at the time.
Princess Bride was advertised as a romance and then the Grandpa "sells" it to the grandson as something else.
This was sold as a action/comedy starring Kurt Russel, but it's a love letter to chinese cinema, is a action/comedy/horror/fantasy with Kurt as the sidekick!
And Fifth Element, the protagonists never meet the antagonist. I can't tell you another movie where this is a plot point. It's awesome.
Agreed, I watch Big Trouble and the fifth Element at least once a year.
I'd add Hot Fuzz to that list. Basically every Edgar Wright movie but Hot Fuzz in particular. Almost every single line in the first two acts hints to something that is going to happen later in the movie and you only get that on multiple viewings. It's "Chekhov's Gun - the movie".
When this movie debuted, so many critics did not get the gag that, outside of doing one important thing at the end of the movie, the main character is a total screw up. I got it right away and loved where this movie took me. For some reason, my favorite exchange was the pre-elevator scene of "Hollow?", "Hollow", "@$#& it". It exemplified Jack Burton's bull-in-a-china-shop M.O.
He's only a screwup by 80's action hero standards. He kills like a dozen ninjas and a demigod.
The phrase, “It's Miller Time" refers to the commercials for Miller Beer in the 1980s, which would always depict people after a hard day's work going out to a bar and saying, “It's Miller Time!" Bill Murray also used the phrase in Ghostbusters.
So did Tom Atkins in "Night Of The Creeps". Watch that, Cinebinge. 😎
@@Madbandit77 Oh yes, I remember Night of the Creeps. 😂
Miller Lite has great taste and is less filling, and you can always find a party. In Russia, party always find you.
This is still one of my favourite movies. I love how you expect Kurt Russell (especially after watching The Thing) to be the hero, but he turns out to be the bumbling sidekick completely out of his depth. John Carpenter is my favourite director, but as with many of his other movies Big Trouble In Little China only gained the recognition it deserved in later years.
Gotta love Carpenter and Russel when it comes to movies. Saw this in the theater and every time I watch it, that magic is still there. And yes, the makers of MK got inspirations for a few characters from this movie. You have to look close though, hard to tell which ones they were focused on.
I worked on MK for 10 years. I came here for this comment. :)
Aah, the story about the sidekick who thinks he is the "Hero". I love this movie !
Eddie Murphy's Golden Child would be a lot of fun. Same vibe as this one
Love this movie, always have. Let's not overlook at 10:13, Jack is just carrying a telephone as a prop to show he works for the phone company. 🤣
I love this movie! Childhood favourite. "It's all in the reflexes!" 😄
Beholders were introduced to D&D in 1975. Big Trouble in Little China came out 11 years latter.
Beholders definitely pre-date this film. They first appeared on the cover of the first D&D expansion book, the Greyhawk supplement, from 1975.
invented by Terry Kuntz in 1974, they were the product of nightmares: floating ball creatures with laser eyes. The original idea looks nothing like the modern but Kuntz was its originator.
Your channel change into to CineHong React, where you just watch delightful movies with James Hong in them, is going very well so far.
FYI, Russell is doing a straight-up John Wayne impression throughout this, which adds a layer of humor to his middling competence.
In addition to Raiden, John Carpenter's movie They Live also inadvertently inspired some infamous video game content when a one-liner from the movie made it into Duke Nukem. Both this and the Raiden thing are fitting because Carpenter is a huge video game fan.
It is not a prequel or sequel (despite some rumors suggesting otherwise), but if you want to see another similarly wild '80s movie by the same writer, you should check out The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.
James Hong, a national treasure.
@@tylerfoster6267 I came here to watch reactions and chew gum, and I’m all out of gum.
"There's a girl in the garden!"
Oh and BTW Jack isn't the hero. He's the comedy sidekick!
(Humorously, World of Warcraft had a nifty item for casters in game called (you guessed it!) a Six Demon Bag. It was also rumored to have a hidden area called "The Room of Upside-Down Sinners")
As a wow player myself, I have a bunch of macros for Jack Burton quotes depending on the situation
"Everybody relax, I’m here" - when I save someone, or reinc. as a shaman
"I’m a reasonable guy. But, I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things" - setting loot from FFA to group
"Okay. You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the president." - starting an instance or raid
"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."" - before a duel
He's the hero.
Victor Wong (Egg Shen) had to travel to Hollywood to film the opening prologue right after attending the wake for his son Lyon who had been killed by a drunken high school football player in Sacramento. The killer shouted r@ci$t and h0m0ph0bic slurs at Lyon and his friends before attacking and fracturing Lyon's skull. The family was told by the prosecutor that the killer would only serve 6 months because he was a minor. The Lee's asked if, because of the insults the killer shouted before attacking, the killing could be prosecuted as a h@te crime to get a stricter sentence, but the prosecutor told them that it couldn't be h@te crime because it was minority on minority violence. A local TV station's consumer advocate wanted to do a feature story about the case to get public support for the Lee family's struggle to get justice for Lyon, but when the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle happened, and coverage of the national tragedy was dominating all news coverage, the story was dropped. Victor suffered his first stroke soon after.
Victor Wong was one of my favorite character actors ever, and I had no idea about any of this. How heartbreaking.
His final fatal attack was following the events of 9/11. Victor spent that day fearing for his children who worked in the area. They all survived but he didnt recover from the stress and died the next day.
*but the prosecutor told them that it couldn't be h@te crime because it was minority on minority violence.*
II mean the actual hate crime laws do not say “only if white guys do it” at all
so that imemdialtey is suspect to me and sounds like a made up excuse they had,
Again people have been charged for hate crimes for homophobia based attacks regardless of ethnicity so this is really suspect.
One of my childhood favs. This film and Enter the Dragon were two influences for the original Mortal Kombat. The main villain was the inspiration for Shang Tsung.
Plus Raiden version in this movie set the looks for Raiden and some of the ways the other 2storms fight remind me of Baraka... And then there is the ghoul.....but what i don't understand is wtf does a beholder from DnD do here
BTILC was John Carpenter's love letter to Chinese cinema. Because he knew the studio wouldn't fund a film with a Chinese lead at the time, they put Kurt Russell's character front and centre on the poster and played him off as the lead when he's actually the comedy sidekick. JC and Kurt have a laugh about it in the commentary for the film.
Carpenter and Russell are obviously having a VERY good time on the commentary. They do TRY to talk mostly about the film. But as things progress more and more, it becomes very obvious that these two men were also having a very fine DRINKING PARTY and the booze was GOOD. Those two got LIT by the end! 😁😎😏
And because of that they kinda forget about the movie halfway through - but it's still loads of fun listening to them.
Well, it's not like Kurt Russell's character doesn't still have the majority of screen time. It's not that the studio wouldn't fund a film with a Chinese lead, it's that the studio was unsure about a film where Russell's character was depicted as a goofball who's just winging it most of the time. It was a far cry from Russell's performance as Snake Plissken in Escape From New York.
@@44excalibur The studio didn't want Russell for the role in Escape form New York (they wanted Bronson), shows what studio's know :)
20:41 is "Is this where beholders came from?" No. Rob Kuntz's brother Terry Kuntz created the Beholder published in the 1975 Greyhawk supliment.
I love that 'Egg Shen' is phonetically 'action' with a heavy Chinese accent.
More John Carpenter! Christine (1983)! Escape from New York (1981)! They Live (1988)! Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)!
"I'm fascinated, but I have no idea what the fuck is going on"- pretty apt description lol
Y'all should check out "Tremors" as well.
And when it comes to John Carpenter...."Christine", "Starman", "The Fog", "Assault On Precinct 13", "They Live", and "In The Mouth Of Madness" as well.
Most Mortal Kombat character are "legally distinct" version of a real character: Liu Kang is Bruce Lee, Sonya is Cynthia Rothrock, Johnny Cage is Van Damme, etc. I always assumed Raiden is supposed to be this lightning god.
This is my favorite movie of all time. It has such a great blend of action, humor, and wackiness. Now you need to watch that other great 80's movie that pays homage to the Saturday movie matinee serials, Buckaroo Banzai Into the 8th Dimension. It stars Peter Weller (Robocop) and John Lithgow.
It is my understanding that this was originally written to be the sequel to Buckaroo Banzai, as advertised at the end of that move. For some reason, it was scrapped and picked up by Carpenter. I may misremembering the details, however...
20:46 Beholders are older than me ^.^ They'd been in D&D for over a decade by the time this film came out.
Not only was Raiden from Mortal Kombat inspired by this movie but according to the creators of Teenage mutant ninja turtles Jack Burton was the inspiration for Casey Jones
"I was born ready!"
Terrific pick!!!
Jumping up and down with joy right now!
Love the way the local TV describes this movie, "A comedy action fantasy kung fu ghost story!"
The visual Hong Kong inspiration for this was allegedly "Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain" (1983).
I remember back in the day the cinema I was in screamed with laughter. I read later that the movie pretty much bombed and reviews were abyssmal.
I mean, there we were, collecively gasping for air, thoroughly enjoying ourselves! Were we all wrong?
critics don't know Jack, movies aren't made to please them, they are made to entertain the masses
The Raiden character in Mortal Kombat was indeed inspired by this movie. Beholders had been around for some time before it, though.
As you kind of guessed, Jack Burton was the bumbling sidekick in this movie, while Wang Chi was the hero. Burton also fills in for us (the audience), being just as confused by what's happening in the movie but then shrugging & deciding to see where it all goes. The scene with Egg Shen in the beginning was added in post-production after the studio felt Burton was *too* bumbling & wanted the character to come off as a bit more heroic--he did _try_ after all.
I love how Jack thinks he's the main character of the movie, but he's actually Wang's sidekick.
Big Trouble in Little China, The Burbs, and Tremors were played constantly in my house growing up. Great reaction!
Yes, Mortal Kombat got "inspiration" from this movie ie Raiden, Ermac, Rain, Shang Tsung, Liu Kang, The Pit, Throne Room etc. John Carpenter said in the commentary that Kurt Russell is the bumbling sidekick. 🤞🏿I hope they scrapped the Dwayne Johnson remake🤞🏿
Love how jack basically spends the entire movie saying, "who?", "what is that?", "how?" and "how come?"
The best part for me was the one time Burton gets things right, asking why it took so long to find a green eyed girl. When it turns out that any woman, doesn't have to be Chinese, will work, then clearly Lopan's the idiot and should have found someone a long time ago.
Also, pretty sure the hairy monster is supposed to be an Almas, the Chinese bigfoot
The eyeroll when he said his friend uses the exploding warrior as his profile picture was hilarious. I promise many guys, of any nationality, all nodded their heads in agreement and understanding of using that profile pic. And she gave the perfect eyeroll response.
I've seen a lot of weird movies in my life, but this one continues to be the weirdest one.
The amount of characters that kept appearing out of the blue that you, as the viewer, are just supposed to accept that the main characters know them...
It's still bewildering to me to this day...
There should have been a whole series of these films.
This is a funny martial arts action comedy fantasy adventure film from John Carpenter.
It was originally going to take place in the Old West during the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson were considered for Jack Burton.
Burton was going to be a gunslinger, who meets up with his friend, an expert in martial arts and ancient Chinese mysticism, where they battle Lo Pan, after ge triggers the earthquake.
Filmed on a $25 million dollar budget, the film would make $18 million dollars at the box office. It was competing against ALIENS and THE FLY, which were released that sane year. Carpenter would never direct a Hollywood film, having lost interest, thus returning to independent films.
A Remake of the movie was in production but was put on hold.
A sequel starring The Rock, was going to involve a trucker, skeptical of black magic and sorcery would team up with Jack Burton to take down Lol Pan for good. This has been put on hold for now.
This has been one of my favorite movies since I was six years old. Extremely quotable. Plus, clueless, cocky and only worth a damn in the clutch… Best action hero ever.
Simone has such a relaxing nice voice . Would love to hear her do a podcast
The actor who played Egg Shen was also seen in another guilty pleasures favorite: Tremors. And he had a short role in the Eddie Murphy film (which he later claimed he basically mailed in his performance but collected a fat check): The Golden Child.
The late Victor Wong.
he also played Miyagi to the 3 NInjas. his son was a guitarist for a punk band that inspired Nirvana.
*"It's all in the reflexes!"* Best movie line of all time 😆
On the big screen when it came out, the colour/visuals were AMAZING, and the music is awesome :)
the ladder in the theater trick is certainly older than that. Christoper Walken has said that he used to walk onto movie studio lots as a kid by carrying a bucket of water. the key is "walken" with confidence, i think he claimed that no one ever questioned or stopped him.
I loved how Jack Burton always called Eg Chen, Egg.
Now go back and watch it again. Despite his hamhandedness, this is Kurt Russel's homage to John Wayne. Listen to his voice and inflection. It's unmistakeable.
The room of exposition -- it was crazy!
"There's always a gourd."
Dear god, I love this movie and it’s so much fun watching the confusion of people who’ve never watch it before, lol.
The theme song for this movie was actually sang by Carpenter. Well, him and his band.
Big Trouble in Little CHina one of favorite John Carpenter films. A classic for sure
An early draft of the script was a semi sequel to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Writer of Big Trouble was W.D.Richter, who directed Buckaroo Banzai.
Having watched this a ton as a child, thanks to my mom loving this film, I have so many things I quote from this movie. It's all in the reflexes. Yes sir the check is in the mail. To list the two I use the most lol.
Kurt Russell is a pilot, and owns his own plane. On the night of March 13, 1997 he was flying into Sky Harbor International in Phoenix, AZ. He saw the "Phoenix Lights" and reported them to the tower.
I remember liking this the first time I saw it, but George's input really made it easier to figure out what's happening. Most of all, loved how Kurt Russell seems to be channeling John Wayne through the entire film.
I love that the gourd is a common trope. Had no idea
Big Trouble in Little China was originally supposed to be a western fantasy set in 1880s San Francisco. It was rewritten by W.D. Richter, the director of Buckaroo Banzai, as a contemporary fantasy-action film.
This is one of my all time favorite films! I still have this recorded on VHS from when it played on HBO. There is also an official Graphic Novel sequel to this from BOOM! Studios!
Once again your Chinese insights have jelped me gain a deeper understanding of a movie. This time one I and many people have enjoyed for years. Thank You George.
My dad and I used to watch this movie when I was a kid, even to this day it's one of my all time favorites.
I love this movie so much. Im not sure how they ever got it made. Imagine the pitch meeting.
23:33 the movie that George mentioned was the inspiration for big trouble in little China. They share the same chaotic storytelling style.
I can't tell how fun it was listening to the translations. I really appreciated that.
Men in Black AND Big Trouble in Little China?? You guys are hitting all my favorites!
I am SOOOO Happy and proud of James Hong.. the actor that plays David Lo Pan.. or just Lo Pan to some (The main Bad Guy)... anyways.. he just finally got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame... WELL DESERVED!!
I love that George was the one who had to explain the term Miller time to Simone.
Beholders are older than this movie. We were playing original AD&D in the early 80's and it was in the Monster Manual at that point.
I love guessing the opening quote. This one took me a second. Keep it up! It was cool how much of this movie George was able to pick up on. I knew this would be right up his alley. One of my favorite Kurt Russell movies. His sarcasm is so on point.
20:45 No, Beholders were in the original AD&D Monster Manual published in 1978. Had played AD&D for years before this movie came out, and also thought it looked like a beholder.
5:52
Funny fact: Thunder was in fact the inspiration for Raiden.
I just found you guys through this film, one of my all time favourites. Let the binge begin
"Is this where Beholders got -- came from? The inspiration?" Nope. Beholders were introduced in D&D in 1975, more than a decade before this movie.
I believe the beholder originates in mid-late '70's dungeons and dragons and pre-dates Big Trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if Carpenter was 'inspired' by the D&D monster but I don't know if that is actually true.
Kurt Rusell is the comedic sidekick, and the protagonist. This movie is great.
4:50 that “oohhhh!” sounded like the perfect old lady exclamation
The whole martial arts thing during the ritual is the Storms are gathering chi to be used in the ritual.
14:47 Jack Burton is a sidekick that doesn't know he's the sidekick. 😎
Everyone always forgets, Jack isnt the hero, he's the comic relief side kick!