BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA continued the let’s-have-a-ball working relationship between director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell—begun in 1979s TV flick Elvis, on to Escape From New York, cemented by The Thing—hoisting brews for this 1986 action-comedy-fantasy frolic, an exercise in comic book mayhem, visual juice and tongue-in-cheek homage.

“Son of a bitch must pay.”

San Francisco, Chinatown. Hard-boiled trucker ‘Jack Burton’ (Russell) finds his swaggering bravado put to the test (a bunch of them) when he’s dragged into the middle of a centuries-old curse and power struggle that involves ancient Chinese sorcerers, modern triad thugs, kidnapped ladies with green eyes, Jack’s buddy ‘Wang Chi’ (Dennis Dun), and the underground (literal and figurative) of the Golden Gate’s favorite neighborhood.

“What does that mean? “China is here”? I don’t even know what the hell that means. All I know is this “Lo Pan” character comes out of thin air in the middle of a goddamn alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds, and he just stands there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him, with light coming out of his mouth!”

Despite high hopes, like The Thing this bombed at the box office, #66 in ’86, grossing only $11,100,000 against a cost that may have reached $25,000,000. Carpenter felt the studio (Fox) marketed it poorly, and it was caught in the sonic wave of Aliens as well as competing against the similarly themed The Golden Child. Today Aliens holds firm as a classic, The Golden Child woofs as a total dog, Big Trouble In Little China found afterlife as a cult fave.

Though it runs just 99 minutes, the overly cumbersome plot (never mind its essential pulp absurdity) and extended action (especially the finale) wear you down: watched by yourself you tend to wonder why so much effort would go into something so pointedly silly and what would semi-sophisticated adults (look hard) mine from sitting still for it. But—what the hell—that’s being a dick. Watch it with friends over some numerous drinks and/or in a recognizable cloud of fragrance and it’s good for a slew of laughs. Which is kinda the point. *

“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.”

Russell affectionately parodies John Wayne, Kim Cattrall deadpans a plucky reporter and the great James Hong as the chief villain looks to be having more fun until he’d land in 2022’s hit Everything Everywhere All At Once. The supporting cast are in on the joke with gusto; the art department, costume designers, sound effects team, stunt folk and special effects crew kick out their respective jams. Besides directing and helping with the script (W.D. Richter rewrote Gary Goldman’s and David Z. Weinstein’s original), Carpenter, as usual, composed the music score, and notched another win in that regard.

With Victor Wong (as ‘Egg-Shen’, Mr. Wong quite a character in real life, too), Kate Burton, Donald Li, Carter Wong (former martial arts instructor for the Hong Kong police), Suzie Pai (one-time Penthouse Pet, basically drop dead territory, guys), Peter Kong, James Pax and Chao-Li Chi.                                                                “Everybody relax, I’m here.”

* Hong: “John Carpenter had this feeling of wanting to make the Chinese fables come together with the American expression, and he succeeded because the popularity of [the movie] is extraordinary.”