I just finished watching Big Trouble in Little China for the first time, and here are some of my thoughts on it:
1. That intro began a little slow but nicely setup the story, as soon as the music starts it really sets the energetic and fun tone of the movie.
2. That was both some of the best and some of the corniest fighting, and it was fantastic. I think the highlight for me was at the Chinese standoff when one guy took the time to prepare a board behind the others head, just so he could punch him through it.
3. "Chinese standoff. Don't make a sound." -- that's not a direct quote, which is a shame as the movie is full of really quotable parts but they tended to have an extra bit thrown in the middle ruining it.
4. I can see why it has been so popular and has been a part of American culture, I've seen it mentioned so many times but never knew anything about it.
5. That was an awesome ending, all the evil minibosses got cool little deaths and the knife catching was typical Kurt Russell awesomeness.
Big Trouble in Little China spent a long time in the woods. I think it wasn't until the Internet that the two nerds in every small town who played that VHS until it snapped were able to find the other two nerds in every small town and fire up the Kult of Kurt. I love all the ridiculous weapons in it. It's kind of an '80s, American Jackie Chan movie.
I saw it in the theater and had no idea it didn't do well. I thought it was totally awesome. It's one of a handful of films i introduced my wife to it. She's seen a ton of films but it seems like she never saw half of my favorite movies. She thought it was great.
- Vincent Canby, June 15, 1980 There are lots of films that are derided when they come out but become classics with time. “The Empire Strikes Back is not a truly terrible movie. It’s a nice movie. It’s not, by any means, as nice as Star Wars. It’s not as fresh and funny and surprising and witty, but it is nice and inoffensive and, in a way that no one associated with it need be ashamed of, it’s also silly. Attending to it is a lot like reading the middle of a comic book. It is amusing in fitful patches but you’re likely to find more beauty, suspense, discipline, craft and art when watching a New York harbor pilot bring the Queen Elizabeth 2 into her Hudson River berth, which is what The Empire Strikes Back most reminds me of. It’s a big, expensive, time-consuming, essentially mechanical operation. The Empire Strikes Back is about as personal as a Christmas card from a bank.”
It would be cool if movie reviewers went back and reviewed films that have become cult classics which they panned when they came out. The local weekly occasionally goes back and re-reviews restaurants that they originally slammed but which the public has become fond of (it's a poor comparison because restaurants can change over time while a film is what it is). I wonder how many critics would change their minds after a few decades have passed. I'm sure that in some cases opinions would change. Sometimes it isn't the right day, month or year for a certain book, film or album. My mind is blown. Ebert gave House Party a better score than Big Trouble. I love House Party but I never would have guessed Roger would have perceived it's charm (That's right, I fucking loved it, loved it enough to go see kid and play do a screening and Q&A last year).
My first encounter with Kurt Russell was Escape From New York... I love that movie, it's a crazy mucked up view of the world but it's just so much fun to watch. I just discovered he was O'neill in the Stargate movie! I think the SG-1 cast just replaced all memory of the movie to be honest.
Nothing else I put up is going to last either, as Disney hasn't put up a successful trailer for The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (what they have on Youtube is a random clip from Apple Dumpling Gang) and the pirates don't care how long it's up. But I fixed it for now.
Hey, wanna get even more nerdtastic? The script of this film was reworked from the abandoned sequel to the even more cultabulous "The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension". Yes, really! Younger readers must at this point ritually say "awesome!' several times.
These are like my 2nd and 3rd favorite movies! But I'm not sure if I see how it would work as a sequel. Do you know if it was more of a "continued story" style of sequel, or a "same character" style movie? I could see Buckaroo fitting in to Big Trouble's world pretty well.
My brother and I spent years quoting this movie and people just wondered. It took me a few years to stop quoting it after we lived apart... people just looked at me and stared. And I stared back in amazement that they didn't know what I was referring to.the movie is full of really quotable parts but they tended to have an extra bit thrown in the middle ruining it.
Big Trouble in Little China is a really fun movie. I have watched it twice and feel I should again. I confess, I first watched it because I've watched most of Sex and the City and knew that Big Trouble was Kim Cattrall's "break out role." If you are in a Western kick, and haven't seen it, watch the 1995 film "The Quick and the Dead." It's cheesy but I enjoy it. It's one of those movies that, if it is on TV, I always put on.
Pff. Big Trouble in Little China was a box office bomb. it opened at #12 and made back $11m of its $25m budget (not including P&A). It's fair to say nobody saw it and then, years later, people were all "huh. Kurt Russell was in that thing?" You wanna see Kim Cattrall's break out role? You're watching the wrong genre. knew that Big Trouble was Kim Cattrall's "break out role."
Wow, I haven't thought about that movie in a long time. I watched it quite a bit when I was a kid and I've never looked at a mannequin the same way since.