list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Shanghai Noon on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Shanghai_Noon/140787/default.aspx Title: Shanghai Noon
Year: 2000
Director: Tom Dey
Plot: Jackie Chan has often played a fish out of water, but he's rarely found himself so far upstream as in this comic adventure, in which he puts his fighting skills to the test in the Old West of the 1850s. Lo Fong (Roger Yuan), onetime captain of the Chinese Imperial Guard, has traded upholding the law for smuggling opium. Needing some operating capital, Lo Fong kidnaps the Emperor's daughter, Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu), and takes her to America. When the Emperor sends his best men to find her, Chon Wang (Chan), one of the Emperor's less distinguished guards, insists on joining them; he feels at fault for Lo Fong's capturing the Princess, and he wants to make amends. However, while the rescue party scours the West, Chon Wang gets separated from the group and soon becomes lost. When he crosses paths with Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson), a bright but arrogant train robber, the two become unlikely allies. While Shanghai Noon was billed as Jackie Chan's follow-up to Rush Hour, his first successful American-made feature, it was actually filmed in Canada, as was Chan's breakthrough film in America, the Hong Kong-backed Rumble in the Bronx. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 6
Number of Lists: 33
Number of blog posts: 2
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Mon, 11 May 2009 00:57:02 GMTShanghai Noon2000Tom Dey<a href="/players/P____84650/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jackie Chan</a> has often played a fish out of water, but he's rarely found himself so far upstream as in this comic adventure, in which he puts his fighting skills to the test in the Old West of the 1850s. Lo Fong (Roger Yuan), onetime captain of the Chinese Imperial Guard, has traded upholding the law for smuggling opium. Needing some operating capital, Lo Fong kidnaps the Emperor's daughter, Princess Pei Pei (<a href="/players/P___267831/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lucy Liu</a>), and takes her to America. When the Emperor sends his best men to find her, Chon Wang (Chan), one of the Emperor's less distinguished guards, insists on joining them; he feels at fault for Lo Fong's capturing the Princess, and he wants to make amends. However, while the rescue party scours the West, Chon Wang gets separated from the group and soon becomes lost. When he crosses paths with Roy O'Bannon (<a href="/players/P___200996/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Owen Wilson</a>), a bright but arrogant train robber, the two become unlikely allies. While Shanghai Noon was billed as <a href="/players/P____84650/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jackie Chan</a>'s follow-up to <a href=/films/128809/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Rush Hour</a>, his first successful American-made feature, it was actually filmed in Canada, as was Chan's breakthrough film in America, the Hong Kong-backed <a href=/films/92245/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Rumble in the Bronx</a>. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide6Taggedy Taggged (6-10)3323http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t08041pezfm.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Shanghai_Noon/140787/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/19/35323.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/19/2008 5:01:43 PM
Body: Sometimes I really wish David Bordwell’s blog permitted comments. Mostly it’s better that it doesn’t, but the man’s last post has made me want to discuss the art of movie titles for a whole week now. And it didn’t help that coinciding in time with Bordwell’s post was another one of those sidebars in Entertainment Weekly pointing out some new movies with misleading titles. Yes, Lakeview Terrace does sound like a period romance, as do many other badly titled films (Elizabethtown and Wicker Park come to mind). This weekend also sees two new movies employing the method of borrowing song titles, which are typically not appropriate (Ghost Town seems more like a horror western hybrid, while My Best Friend’s Girl actually fits its plot). Well, fortunately for me (and hopefully you), I can bring the discussion over to SpoutBlog, though not quite as in depth as Bordwell. I’ll be more than happy to have a conversation in the comments section regarding the more general topic of movie titling, but for now I’ll kick things off with a list of what I find to be the most interesting movie titles of the past decade. It’s been a time when studios and filmmakers have been very loose with ill-fitting and overlong titles, as well as some that are too plainly literal (Snakes on a Plane), but the following selections have the benefit of featuring clever, well-chosen and more meaningful monikers. All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) (1999) This Pedro Almodóvar film has a very telling title, one that goes along with Bordwell’s acknowledgment of titles that speak for the character. Yet the character spoken for here is Esteban, the kid who dies in the beginning. Or does he? The title actually refers to a story Esteban has written for school and is inspired by the film All About Eve, which he has just watched. Esteban doesn’t so much die in the film as he does in his own story, which is depicted within the film. Also, the word “Mother” in the title doesn’t so much refer to his actual mother, Manuela, as it does his (made-up) transvestite “father”, Lola, who we learn all about. Amores Perros (2000) Although improperly translated as “Love’s a Bitch,” that phrase does at least apply on some level to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film. As does the more acceptable translation of “Love is Dogs,” which references the film’s canine companions, each of which parallels its owner. But there is also another translation that’s more like “Goodness Wretchedness,” referring to a phrase on the film’s website that basically translates as “If your story turned out well, put it down to ‘amores.’ If bad, put it to ‘perros.’” The fact that you can interpret the meaning of the title multiple ways, and therefore you can interpret its meaning to the film multiple ways, is the reason that it was so important to release the film in the U.S. with its original Mexican title. The Perfect Storm (2000) Although the title comes from Sebastian Junger’s book, the name took on a whole new meaning for the film, which is, in my opinion, completely about the attempt to perfectly create a storm on a computer. Sure, there’s a plot within the film, too, but nothing more attended to than the perfectly rendered storm. In fact, the film’s storm may have been too perfect-looking, as the film lost the Visual Effects Oscar to Gladiator. While the title was clearly not intended for such purpose, and I had planned to ignore titles that inadvertently become more ironically meaningful upon release (Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed; Disaster Movie), I think the filmmakers at least meant to produce a spectacular storm more than a good story, so I believe it more qualifiable for the list at hand. Shanghai Noon (2000) This title doesn’t necessarily add anything to the meaning of the film nor does it really have multiple layers of meaning by itself. But it features the most cleverly punned title of the last ten years, in my opinion. The sequel’s title, Shanghai Knights, isn’t too bad, either. But just as the movie isn’t nearly as good as the original, neither is the title. Adaptation (2002) This title may actually be my favorite of all time due to its consisting of only a single word, which can be lent to the film in a multitude of ways. The title refers to the adaptation of a book to a film, the adaptation of a plant to its environment, the adaptation of a screenwriter character to his assignment, the adaptation of the same character to the events of his environment and, finally, the adaptation of the film itself to fit the mold of a certain kind of film that fares well in the present environment of the movie biz (ironically it’s this adaptation in the end from a smart film to a silly action movie that fails in execution, even though the joke more fittingly works perfectly on paper). Bad Company (2002) Even awful movies can have titles with multiple meanings, and this lame Joel Schumacher effort is a good example of such. Because “Company” means the CIA in addition to companionship, the title may refer to any of the following: an incapable member of the CIA (Chris Rock’s character); an incapable CIA in general (this was a time when the organization was called into question); a defective spy or untrustworthy spy; or simply the bad buddy team-up of Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock (diegetically and extradiegetically). The same title had been used previously for a bad 1995 movie dealing with the CIA, so its multilayered usage here was not that inspired, but it is nevertheless a good title, in my opinion, and perhaps it will one day be put to better use. National Treasure (2004) The same goes for this movie, which should have and could have been a lot better. The title, which is a well-played mix of figurative and literal meaning and seems more thoughtful than most blockbuster Hollywood titles, would have you believe there was once some smarter writing to be found within the film itself. Shaun of the Dead (2004) For a short while, I thought the title of this comedy didn’t really appropriately fit the film’s story. Shaun isn’t of the dead, I reasoned, because he never “dies.” I accepted the title, though, because it was a nice play on the title Dawn of the Dead. Eventually I decided that it does indeed fit, because the general theme of the movie is that Shaun has been living his life as if he were a zombie. Before the real zombies show up, the “dead” of the title refers to all the people living in this spiritless way, Shaun included. Yet while the rest of these “dead” become undead creatures, Shaun proves that he is capable of living more fully and is able to survive the (allegorical) outbreak. 2046 (2004) Wong Kar-Wai loves to play with the idea of Hong Kong’s transition from British territory to Chinese (which occurred in 1997), and the title partly refers to the final year in which Hong Kong is allowed self-regulation before becoming fully integrated into mainland China in 2047. In the film, the numerical title literally references both a hotel room and the future year, which is employed in a science fiction story being written by the main character. Some people also like to interpret the title as reading “two-oh-four-six” meaning “to owe for sex.” Though there are prostitute characters in the film, this meaning is less likely the intention of Wong. But the additional interpretation makes for a richer title anyway. There Will Be Blood (2007) Why not retain the title of Upton Sinclair’s source novel, “Oil!”? Well, besides all the changes made to the story, it could be because Paul Thomas Anderson’s new title has more possible meanings. The word “Blood” in the title may refer to the actual oil, or the blood shed for the oil (as in drilling accidents then and wars now), or family, especially actual blood relatives (of which there aren’t actually many in the film). Mostly, though, the title allows for and acknowledges a connection between the film’s setting and the current events it appears to be commenting on. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:01:43 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/19/2008 5:01:43 PMSometimes I really wish David Bordwell’s blog permitted comments. Mostly it’s better that it doesn’t, but the man’s last post has made me want to discuss the art of movie titles for a whole week now. And it didn’t help that coinciding in time with Bordwell’s post was another one of those sidebars in Entertainment Weekly pointing out some new movies with misleading titles. Yes, Lakeview Terrace does sound like a period romance, as do many other badly titled films (Elizabethtown and Wicker Park come to mind). This weekend also sees two new movies employing the method of borrowing song titles, which are typically not appropriate (Ghost Town seems more like a horror western hybrid, while My Best Friend’s Girl actually fits its plot). Well, fortunately for me (and hopefully you), I can bring the discussion over to SpoutBlog, though not quite as in depth as Bordwell. I’ll be more than happy to have a conversation in the comments section regarding the more general topic of movie titling, but for now I’ll kick things off with a list of what I find to be the most interesting movie titles of the past decade. It’s been a time when studios and filmmakers have been very loose with ill-fitting and overlong titles, as well as some that are too plainly literal (Snakes on a Plane), but the following selections have the benefit of featuring clever, well-chosen and more meaningful monikers. All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) (1999) This Pedro Almodóvar film has a very telling title, one that goes along with Bordwell’s acknowledgment of titles that speak for the character. Yet the character spoken for here is Esteban, the kid who dies in the beginning. Or does he? The title actually refers to a story Esteban has written for school and is inspired by the film All About Eve, which he has just watched. Esteban doesn’t so much die in the film as he does in his own story, which is depicted within the film. Also, the word “Mother” in the title doesn’t so much refer to his actual mother, Manuela, as it does his (made-up) transvestite “father”, Lola, who we learn all about. Amores Perros (2000) Although improperly translated as “Love’s a Bitch,” that phrase does at least apply on some level to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film. As does the more acceptable translation of “Love is Dogs,” which references the film’s canine companions, each of which parallels its owner. But there is also another translation that’s more like “Goodness Wretchedness,” referring to a phrase on the film’s website that basically translates as “If your story turned out well, put it down to ‘amores.’ If bad, put it to ‘perros.’” The fact that you can interpret the meaning of the title multiple ways, and therefore you can interpret its meaning to the film multiple ways, is the reason that it was so important to release the film in the U.S. with its original Mexican title. The Perfect Storm (2000) Although the title comes from Sebastian Junger’s book, the name took on a whole new meaning for the film, which is, in my opinion, completely about the attempt to perfectly create a storm on a computer. Sure, there’s a plot within the film, too, but nothing more attended to than the perfectly rendered storm. In fact, the film’s storm may have been too perfect-looking, as the film lost the Visual Effects Oscar to Gladiator. While the title was clearly not intended for such purpose, and I had planned to ignore titles that inadvertently become more ironically meaningful upon release (Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed; Disaster Movie), I think the filmmakers at least meant to produce a spectacular storm more than a good story, so I believe it more qualifiable for the list at hand. Shanghai Noon (2000) This title doesn’t necessarily add anything to the meaning of the film nor does it really have multiple layers of meaning by itself. But it features the most cleverly punned title of the last ten years, in my opinion. The sequel’s title, Shanghai Knights, isn’t too bad, either. But just as the movie isn’t nearly as good as the original, neither is the title. Adaptation (2002) This title may actually be my favorite of all time due to its consisting of only a single word, which can be lent to the film in a multitude of ways. The title refers to the adaptation of a book to a film, the adaptation of a plant to its environment, the adaptation of a screenwriter character to his assignment, the adaptation of the same character to the events of his environment and, finally, the adaptation of the film itself to fit the mold of a certain kind of film that fares well in the present environment of the movie biz (ironically it’s this adaptation in the end from a smart film to a silly action movie that fails in execution, even though the joke more fittingly works perfectly on paper). Bad Company (2002) Even awful movies can have titles with multiple meanings, and this lame Joel Schumacher effort is a good example of such. Because “Company” means the CIA in addition to companionship, the title may refer to any of the following: an incapable member of the CIA (Chris Rock’s character); an incapable CIA in general (this was a time when the organization was called into question); a defective spy or untrustworthy spy; or simply the bad buddy team-up of Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock (diegetically and extradiegetically). The same title had been used previously for a bad 1995 movie dealing with the CIA, so its multilayered usage here was not that inspired, but it is nevertheless a good title, in my opinion, and perhaps it will one day be put to better use. National Treasure (2004) The same goes for this movie, which should have and could have been a lot better. The title, which is a well-played mix of figurative and literal meaning and seems more thoughtful than most blockbuster Hollywood titles, would have you believe there was once some smarter writing to be found within the film itself. Shaun of the Dead (2004) For a short while, I thought the title of this comedy didn’t really appropriately fit the film’s story. Shaun isn’t of the dead, I reasoned, because he never “dies.” I accepted the title, though, because it was a nice play on the title Dawn of the Dead. Eventually I decided that it does indeed fit, because the general theme of the movie is that Shaun has been living his life as if he were a zombie. Before the real zombies show up, the “dead” of the title refers to all the people living in this spiritless way, Shaun included. Yet while the rest of these “dead” become undead creatures, Shaun proves that he is capable of living more fully and is able to survive the (allegorical) outbreak. 2046 (2004) Wong Kar-Wai loves to play with the idea of Hong Kong’s transition from British territory to Chinese (which occurred in 1997), and the title partly refers to the final year in which Hong Kong is allowed self-regulation before becoming fully integrated into mainland China in 2047. In the film, the numerical title literally references both a hotel room and the future year, which is employed in a science fiction story being written by the main character. Some people also like to interpret the title as reading “two-oh-four-six” meaning “to owe for sex.” Though there are prostitute characters in the film, this meaning is less likely the intention of Wong. But the additional interpretation makes for a richer title anyway. There Will Be Blood (2007) Why not retain the title of Upton Sinclair’s source novel, “Oil!”? Well, besides all the changes made to the story, it could be because Paul Thomas Anderson’s new title has more possible meanings. The word “Blood” in the title may refer to the actual oil, or the blood shed for the oil (as in drilling accidents then and wars now), or family, especially actual blood relatives (of which there aren’t actually many in the film). Mostly, though, the title allows for and acknowledges a connection between the film’s setting and the current events it appears to be commenting on. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/8/8/33761.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 8/8/2008 2:00:37 PM
Body: Yesterday’s list dealt with Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder. Today, a response to Robert Downey Jr.’s role in the same film as a white actor portraying a black soldier in a war movie (seen in the above clip). Doesn’t it seem such an original and shocking idea? I guess not if you see it as an update on blackface. Fortunately, it’s different when it’s an actor playing a character who makes himself up to look black. It’s funny. But isn’t it typically more acceptable when the make-up isn’t quite as authentic-looking as Downey’s? He actually looks black. Specifically, he looks like Fred Williamson. I’ve seen plenty of lists detailing the worst instances of one race or nationality playing characters of another race/nationality (John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror comes to mind as #1), but I can’t recall any lists involving actors playing characters disguised as or playing another race. So here’s one: My Geisha (”Lucy Dell”/”Yoko Mori”) - Shirley Maclaine is an American movie star who fools her filmmaker husband when she disguises herself as Japanese in order to win the lead role in his latest movie. She’s so good that throughout the whole production, he thinks he’s shamefully falling for a woman who isn’t his wife. But really, she’s not so much passing for Japanese as she is passing for the look of a geisha, which itself is not an ethnicity but a costume. Still, the makeup designer (Shu Uemura) pinned Maclaine’s eyes back in a way that wasn’t always done for “yellowface” in Hollywood films. The method (seen here) looks like it must have been excruciatingly painful. Gambit (”Nicole Chang”) - A few years after My Geisha, Maclaine played white playing Asian again in this crime caper starring Michael Caine, but this time her primary character is apparently part-Asian already, hence her surname, Chang. So, I guess she’s more like Eurasian playing more exaggerated Asian. Shanghai Noon (”Chon Wang”) - Did you know that Chinese and Native Americans look the same? You don’t even have to do anything cosmetic. Well, maybe some war paint. Otherwise, just put some Native American dress on Jackie Chan, and he’ll pass as an Injun. Or a Jew? (see this gag). Once Upon a Time in China and America (”Wong Fei-Hung”) - In that part of Shanghai Noon, Chan’s racial “transformation” was likely referencing this film, directed by his oft-collaborator Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, in which an amnesia-inflicted Jet Li mistakes himself for Native American. Which is even more ridiculous when considering that all the Native Americans in this sixth installment of the Once Upon a Time in China series were apparently played by white actors. Black Like Me (”John Finley Horton”) - The problem with this adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s memoir is that James Whitmore doesn’t look all that convincing as a black guy. Eddie Murphy was more convincing the other way around in the old SNL skit when he goes undercover as a white man. Soul Man (”Mark Watson”) - Even C. Thomas Howell looked more black in this unofficial remake. The thing I truly don’t buy with this movie, though, is how Rae Dawn Chong’s character forgives him and even falls for him at the end despite the fact that he pretended to be another race to win the scholarship she should have won. That couple belongs on the list I compiled earlier this year of romances that probably didn’t last. True Identity (”Miles Pope”) - Going back to the Eddie Murphy thing, I never realized that this early ’90s comedy was actually a feature-length spin-off of that SNL skit (both were written by Andy Breckman) combined with the ol’ accidental murder witness plot of Some Like It Hot, Pineapple Express, etc. Here, the witness is a black actor (British comedian Lenny Henry) who disguises himself as white. I’ve never seen True Identity, nor can I even find any stills from the movie (the image above comes from the Siskel & Ebert review), but in the Washington Post review, Henry is said to resemble Mr. Potato Head more than an actual white guy. Trading Places (”Louis Winthorpe III”) - Another Eddie Murphy connection. Here it’s Dan Aykroyd, though, whose character changes race. Let me tell you: I know this reggae singer who sounds authentically Jamaican and almost seems to think he’s actually Jamaican. But he’s still just a white guy in dreads. Yet I have to give him credit for being more passable as Jamaican than Louis. Silver Streak (”George Cardwell”) - Maybe it’s just easier to fool people on trains. A few years before Aykroyd’s character did it in Trading Places, Gene Wilder’s character attempted to look black in order to sneak past some cops and get onto a train. I get the tradition to portray policemen as stupid, but nobody is that stupid. The Master of Disguise (”Pistachio Disguisey”) - Among the many disguises Dana Carvey’s character takes on in this lame comedy, a few are offensively ethnic, including Indian and Cuban (really just an impersonation of Al Pacino as Tony Montana from Scarface). The fact that this guy is supposed to be the greatest master of disguises is upsetting. The fact that so many children saw the thing was even more upsetting. Zelig (”Leonard Zelig”) - The titular “Chameleon Man” character of Woody Allen’s mockumentary also “becomes” other ethnicities, such as African American, Chinese and Native American. The fact that he always still just looks like Woody Allen is part of the joke, though. Torch Song (”Jenny Stewart”) - Most of the time I don’t even buy Joan Crawford as a white woman, but in this movie her character performs in blackface for the infamous number “Two Faced Woman,” and she looks even less authentic as an African American woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what race and gender I would have actually accepted her as. Sexless alien creature? (YouTube clip, unauthorized for embedding, can be found here). L’eclisse (”Vittoria”) - Maybe I’m just used to seeing women with too much bronzer or too many tanning salon visits, but when Monica Vitti’s character goes blackface for a tribal dance in this Antonioni film, she simply looks like a white girl who has darkened her skin. I guess she’s not really trying to pass (neither is Crawford in Torch Song), but her costume isn’t traditional minstrel-type blackface, either. Krippendorf’s Tribe (”Shelly Krippendorf”) - To produce a fake documentary program on a made up lost tribe, James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) disguises his children in black skin and junky tribal costume. But as even his daughter (Natasha Lyonne) admits, she looks more like Tammy Faye Baker than a native of New Guinea. White Chicks (”Kevin Copeland” and “Marcus Copeland”) - Quite possibly the least convincing racial disguises of all time, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two FBI agents (so I guess this list is actually of 16 characters) who go undercover as Paris Hilton types. But they look like a cross between a Michael Jackson Halloween mask and Eric Stoltz in Mask. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:00:37 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com8/8/2008 2:00:37 PM Yesterday’s list dealt with Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder. Today, a response to Robert Downey Jr.’s role in the same film as a white actor portraying a black soldier in a war movie (seen in the above clip). Doesn’t it seem such an original and shocking idea? I guess not if you see it as an update on blackface. Fortunately, it’s different when it’s an actor playing a character who makes himself up to look black. It’s funny. But isn’t it typically more acceptable when the make-up isn’t quite as authentic-looking as Downey’s? He actually looks black. Specifically, he looks like Fred Williamson. I’ve seen plenty of lists detailing the worst instances of one race or nationality playing characters of another race/nationality (John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror comes to mind as #1), but I can’t recall any lists involving actors playing characters disguised as or playing another race. So here’s one: My Geisha (”Lucy Dell”/”Yoko Mori”) - Shirley Maclaine is an American movie star who fools her filmmaker husband when she disguises herself as Japanese in order to win the lead role in his latest movie. She’s so good that throughout the whole production, he thinks he’s shamefully falling for a woman who isn’t his wife. But really, she’s not so much passing for Japanese as she is passing for the look of a geisha, which itself is not an ethnicity but a costume. Still, the makeup designer (Shu Uemura) pinned Maclaine’s eyes back in a way that wasn’t always done for “yellowface” in Hollywood films. The method (seen here) looks like it must have been excruciatingly painful. Gambit (”Nicole Chang”) - A few years after My Geisha, Maclaine played white playing Asian again in this crime caper starring Michael Caine, but this time her primary character is apparently part-Asian already, hence her surname, Chang. So, I guess she’s more like Eurasian playing more exaggerated Asian. Shanghai Noon (”Chon Wang”) - Did you know that Chinese and Native Americans look the same? You don’t even have to do anything cosmetic. Well, maybe some war paint. Otherwise, just put some Native American dress on Jackie Chan, and he’ll pass as an Injun. Or a Jew? (see this gag). Once Upon a Time in China and America (”Wong Fei-Hung”) - In that part of Shanghai Noon, Chan’s racial “transformation” was likely referencing this film, directed by his oft-collaborator Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, in which an amnesia-inflicted Jet Li mistakes himself for Native American. Which is even more ridiculous when considering that all the Native Americans in this sixth installment of the Once Upon a Time in China series were apparently played by white actors. Black Like Me (”John Finley Horton”) - The problem with this adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s memoir is that James Whitmore doesn’t look all that convincing as a black guy. Eddie Murphy was more convincing the other way around in the old SNL skit when he goes undercover as a white man. Soul Man (”Mark Watson”) - Even C. Thomas Howell looked more black in this unofficial remake. The thing I truly don’t buy with this movie, though, is how Rae Dawn Chong’s character forgives him and even falls for him at the end despite the fact that he pretended to be another race to win the scholarship she should have won. That couple belongs on the list I compiled earlier this year of romances that probably didn’t last. True Identity (”Miles Pope”) - Going back to the Eddie Murphy thing, I never realized that this early ’90s comedy was actually a feature-length spin-off of that SNL skit (both were written by Andy Breckman) combined with the ol’ accidental murder witness plot of Some Like It Hot, Pineapple Express, etc. Here, the witness is a black actor (British comedian Lenny Henry) who disguises himself as white. I’ve never seen True Identity, nor can I even find any stills from the movie (the image above comes from the Siskel & Ebert review), but in the Washington Post review, Henry is said to resemble Mr. Potato Head more than an actual white guy. Trading Places (”Louis Winthorpe III”) - Another Eddie Murphy connection. Here it’s Dan Aykroyd, though, whose character changes race. Let me tell you: I know this reggae singer who sounds authentically Jamaican and almost seems to think he’s actually Jamaican. But he’s still just a white guy in dreads. Yet I have to give him credit for being more passable as Jamaican than Louis. Silver Streak (”George Cardwell”) - Maybe it’s just easier to fool people on trains. A few years before Aykroyd’s character did it in Trading Places, Gene Wilder’s character attempted to look black in order to sneak past some cops and get onto a train. I get the tradition to portray policemen as stupid, but nobody is that stupid. The Master of Disguise (”Pistachio Disguisey”) - Among the many disguises Dana Carvey’s character takes on in this lame comedy, a few are offensively ethnic, including Indian and Cuban (really just an impersonation of Al Pacino as Tony Montana from Scarface). The fact that this guy is supposed to be the greatest master of disguises is upsetting. The fact that so many children saw the thing was even more upsetting. Zelig (”Leonard Zelig”) - The titular “Chameleon Man” character of Woody Allen’s mockumentary also “becomes” other ethnicities, such as African American, Chinese and Native American. The fact that he always still just looks like Woody Allen is part of the joke, though. Torch Song (”Jenny Stewart”) - Most of the time I don’t even buy Joan Crawford as a white woman, but in this movie her character performs in blackface for the infamous number “Two Faced Woman,” and she looks even less authentic as an African American woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what race and gender I would have actually accepted her as. Sexless alien creature? (YouTube clip, unauthorized for embedding, can be found here). L’eclisse (”Vittoria”) - Maybe I’m just used to seeing women with too much bronzer or too many tanning salon visits, but when Monica Vitti’s character goes blackface for a tribal dance in this Antonioni film, she simply looks like a white girl who has darkened her skin. I guess she’s not really trying to pass (neither is Crawford in Torch Song), but her costume isn’t traditional minstrel-type blackface, either. Krippendorf’s Tribe (”Shelly Krippendorf”) - To produce a fake documentary program on a made up lost tribe, James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) disguises his children in black skin and junky tribal costume. But as even his daughter (Natasha Lyonne) admits, she looks more like Tammy Faye Baker than a native of New Guinea. White Chicks (”Kevin Copeland” and “Marcus Copeland”) - Quite possibly the least convincing racial disguises of all time, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two FBI agents (so I guess this list is actually of 16 characters) who go undercover as Paris Hilton types. But they look like a cross between a Michael Jackson Halloween mask and Eric Stoltz in Mask. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/fun/MemberTagFilms.aspxfun
Number of films tagged: 459

Number of people who tagged: 142

Number of times used: 296

]]>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:23:09 GMT459142296Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/kidnapping/MemberTagFilms.aspxkidnapping
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]]>Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:04:00 GMT1933Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/drinking-game/MemberTagFilms.aspxdrinking-game
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