ROVIN’ AND RAVIN’ WITH MIKE

Copyright © 2000 by Michael Segers, All rights reserved

Shanghai Noon Express

Go West, young man, and young woman, too, to see just how good Eastern star Jackie Chan can be. He’s not just for kung fu anymore. And, by the way, check out how much fun it can be to let your guard and maybe even your taste down a little for a very summery comedy, the best kung fu Western adventure comedy to come along in a long time.

You don’t go to see a movie like this for the plot, a murky tale of a kidnapped Chinese princess who ends up in slavery in America, the imperial guard who let her get away, and more bad guys than you can imagine. But the plot provides a framework, maybe even an excuse, for a romp through a whole trainload of movie clichés.

Chon Wang (pronounce it to find out why someone says that is a bad name for a cowboy) roves blithely through an anthology of Western settings that he would probably have to cover hundreds and hundreds of miles to reach. The comic variations on barroom brawls, kung fu choreography, and train robberies just don’t stop. Although parody and pastiche are cobbled together for images and plot, the music is a jarring rap. That seems a pity, because I can imagine a lot of fun with take offs on the music of Westerns, especially the absurd ballad that runs through the almost namesake High Noon.

Chan provides some fancy footwork (not to mention armwork, headwork, and queue-work, too), to nobody’s surprise, but he provides some fancy chemistry, humor, and even grace that elevates his comic characterization. Owen Wilson brings a conviction and believability to his strange New Age outlaw who doesn’t believe in violence. The two create a sort of Butch Cassidy and the Shanghai Kid teamwork, each learning from the other, not only about kung fu fighting and gun fighting but also about friendships and stereotypes.

But, speaking of stereotypes, you should know that some of the humor depends upon perceptions and misperceptions of ethnic stereotypes. The Chinese are identified as Jews, and the Native Americans make derogatory remarks about white guys. There are some scenes in a house of ill repute, some alcohol consumption, as well as consumption of other drugs. This is one very violent film, something you might wish to consider before bringing the kids; in fact, I was surprised to see so many kids in the audience. The film turns into an equal opportunity demolition derby, with one of the first fights pretty effectively demolishing a saloon, while the final fight pretty effectively demolishes a church.

Shanghai Noon is in some ways a movie about movies, with its joking references to so many films. Of course, there is a punning link in the title of the film to the classic 1952 more-than-a-Western, High Noon, which I have previously raved about. I’m going to stretch a little to link the title to another grand old film, Shanghai Express, which reflects the Asian side of Shanghai Noon.

Besides, such a link gives me an excuse to rave about Shanghai Express, one of seven remarkable products of a five-year collaboration between director Josef von Sternberg and actress Marlene Dietrich. The locales of the films, from their native Germany and nearby Austria, through Morocco, various American back roads, czarist Russia, and Spain, as well as China, were all as much a neverland of images never seen off a movie screen as the Marlboro country backgrounds of Shanghai Noon.

Shanghai Noon is the most accessible of these films today. It has more of a story, almost an adventure, and a much more varied gallery of characters than the other six films von Sternberg made with Dietrich. Take your pick—a fussy boarding house keeper, a gambler, a drug-smuggler, a religious fanatic, a doctor, and the notorious "white flower of the Chinese coast," whom the British doctor (Brook) is surprised to learn is a sometime lady friend of his, whom he knew as Madeline. It’s worth the effort to track this film down just to hear Dietrich purr, "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily."

One of the perhaps accidental echoes of this film in Shanghai Noon is in the friendship that crosses ethnic lines and plays against ethnic stereotypes. In the earlier film, however, the friendship is between two women, Shanghai Lily and Hui Fei (Wong).  Shanghai Express is a visual treasure. Dietrich never looked more Dietrich-y, and never stood up to more costume changes either, thanks to Paramount Studio designer Travis Banton. Photographer Lee Garmes won an Academy Award for his work on this film, which was nominated for Best Picture.

Returning to Shanghai Noon, I’m going to return to my most frequent complaint about contemporary films. At 110 minutes, Shanghai Noon is just too long. Even its goofy energy sags at times. With a film like this, we don’t need a chance to catch a breath and think. We just need to be bowled over by it. I start raving loudly when serious films push the three hour limit; it takes a very good comedy to sustain itself for much over half that time. By contrast, the two classic films I’ve grouped with it each come in at under ninety minutes.

Here’s a review of Shanghai Noon that I enjoyed, especially since Anthony Leong knows more about Jackie Chan’s career than I do—

www.geocities.com/aleong1631/shanghainoon.html

A good introduction to Josef von Sternberg is at—

www.pcs.sk.ca/sjk/dietrich/sternber.htm

Keep your feet dry, your heart full of noble thoughts, and your watches set for the highest noon to come along in a while.

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