Licence To Thrill: Big Trouble In Little China
now showing: Big Trouble in little China
Graeme Mason discovers how a fun Eighties action movie failed to translate to home computers
Despite its cult following today, John Carpenter’s action movie was a flop upon release. We take a look at what went wrong for both movie and game…
Watching it today, Big Trouble In Little China appears to have all the ingredients for a smash hit movie. Plenty of action and humour; a likeable hero in Kurt Russell’s insouciant truck driver; and a unique theme, echoing the popularity of martial arts stars such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Referred to famously by director John Carpenter as an “action/ adventure/comedy/kung-fu/ghost story/monster movie”, maybe that was the big trouble of the title: John Carpenter’s movie was trying to be too much in one film, while smashes such as Aliens and Top Gun focused on one particular evocative theme.
Another problem, and one that would drive its director to independent filmmaking, was studio interference. 20th Century Fox clearly wanted an Eastern-inspired Raiders Of The Lost Ark; what it got was something very different to Indiana Jones’ first adventure. As with most ideas, the movie began on the page, specifically writers Gary Goldman and David Z Weinstein who liked the notion of a Wild West-themed mystical adventure. Set in 19th century San Francisco, and originally titled Lotus, much of the eventual film’s plot was familiar; after some name changes, the title Big Trouble In Little China was hit upon, and 20th Century Fox optioned its rights. The script, as was common, was sent to another writer, in this case W D Richter. Richter’s first suggestion was to change the setting to a more contemporary one, yet his major alteration was