Shanghai Noon is a 2000 action western martial arts comedy. It is directed by Tom Dey from a script by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and stars Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, and Lucy Liu.
The film was followed by a sequel Shanghai Knights.
Synopsis[]
In 1881, when a Chinese princess is kidnapped and brought to the American west, the ironically named Chon Wang arrives in search of her, only to team up with an outlaw named Roy O'Bannon.
Plot[]
In 1881 Forbidden City, China, Princess Pei-Pei is waited on by the Chinese Empire. Despite her planned betrothal, to a rather immature Emperor, she wishes to leave her nation. Andrews, an English tutor who is assigned to her, offers to whisk her away to Carson City, Nevada. She agrees, but while leaving, runs into Chon Wang, a servant and member of the royal guard whom she has a fondness for. Pei-Pei orders that he leave her alone, but in doing so drops her English story book. Upon her leaving, Chon reveals her escape. The Emperor orders three of the soldiers to go and bring her back, but Chon insists he go too. The Royal Interpreter, Chon's uncle, allows it.
Seven weeks later, the Chinese guard is on a train in Nevada. The train itself is targeted by Roy O'Bannon and his gang consisting of Vasquez, Blue, and newcomer Wallace whom Roy immediately dislikes due to his abrasiveness. They board the train and rob it, but during the heist, Wallace impulsively shoots and kills the Interpreter. Chon finds out and gives chase just as the group is about to use dynamite to blow out a safe on the train. The plan fails as the safe is blown out and lands in a nearby river. During the chase, Roy hesitates killing Chon who jumps off the train while Wallace takes over the gang and promptly buries Roy up to his neck in the desert.
Elsewhere, Andrews takes Pei-Pei to a mining sight filled with other indentured Chinese servants. Pei-Pei realizes that she has been entrapped by Lo Fong, a former member of the guard who turned traitor and fled to the U.S. to start his own empire. He kills Andrews when he threatens for more and promptly puts Pei-Pei to work among the other slaves. Chon finds Roy in the desert who gives him directions to Carson City, in exchange for his freedom. Chon instead gives Roy chopsticks to dig himself out of the ground.
Chon runs into a young Sioux boy, named Little Feather, being chased by attackers, forcing him to fend them off. Upon doing so, Little Feather is rescued by his tribe who thank Chon by letting him stay for the night, even though there is a language barrier. Chon ends up smoking a peace pipe and wakes up the next morning to learn that he has gotten married to a young Sioux wife (she is never named in the film with the credits listing her as simply "Indian Wife", but the script referred to her as "Falling Leaves"). Falling Leaves tasks herself with helping Chon reach his destination, popping up every now and then.
Chon arrives at a small town where the locals refuse to help him. He becomes incensed when he finds Roy, who managed to succeed with his escape, is at the local bar where he admits that he lied to him about directions to Carson City. Chon and Roy get into a fight that encompasses the whole bar before the sheriff arrives and arrests the two for disturbing the peace. While in prison, Roy tells Chon to loosen up and learns about his mission. When he informs him that he and the guard were carrying gold to pay for Pei-Pei's safe return, Roy decides to help Chon. Just as they are in mid-escape attempt, Falling Leaves manages to break them out of prison.
The trio head to a field where Chon trains Roy to defend himself while Roy shows Chon how to use a gun, despite not being a particularly good shot himself. Roy also becomes friendly with Falling Leaves, whom he doesn't think understands him. Chon and Roy make it to Carson City where they discover too late that they are both wanted fugitives with Chon being called the "Shanghai Kid", which he scoffs at as he is not from Shanghai. They soon run afoul of corrupt Marshal Nathan Van Cleef who corners Roy while Chon battles his posse. Luckily, Chon defeats them and rescues Roy as they flee. Meanwhile, the rest of the Chinese guard continue their journey while Roy's old gang discover that he is alive.
Chon and Roy hide out in a brothel where everyone knows the latter. The two try to find information on Pei-Pei, but ultimately Roy convinces Chon to relax. The two end up bonding with one another by playing a Chinese drinking game. While speaking to one of the women, Roy claims that Chon is not his partner. A drunken Chon overhears this and belligerently enters another room where he runs into Van Cleef. Roy and Chon attempt to escape, but are captured. Van Cleef is revealed to be in league with Fong who demands to know where the gold is. While Roy attempts to lie about it, Chon, who is a committed soldier only tells the truth.
Roy and Chon are set to be hanged, but Chon's horse, combined with Falling Leaves' marksman abilities, helps the two escape with their lives. Once again, Chon refuses to have anything to do with Roy and sets out to continue his rescue of Pei-Pei. He finds the rock quarry she is being held in, but she refuses to leave as Fong threatens killing the workers one by one should she attempt escape. Chon runs away with Roy arriving to save him in the nick of time. The two resume their partnership.
Fong brings Pei-Pei to a church where the Chinese guard arrive to deliver the gold. Chon and Roy appear, as does Van Cleef, staging a Mexican standoff. Chon, now overcoming his need to be loyal to the guard, sides with Pei-Pei's decision to stay in America, against the guards' wishes. Pei-Pei destroys their creed as she flees into the church with Fong in pursuit. Chon battles the guard, while Roy and Van Cleef have a shootout. The guard eventually allow Chon to pursue Fong, with the two battling in the belltower. Van Cleef attempts to outwit Roy, who only has one bullet, but Roy miraculously shoots Van Cleef, whose bullets managed to only go through the robe he was wearing. Chon, with Pei-Pei's help, defeats Fong by tricking him into hanging himself with the bell's rope.
Wallace and the gang appear outside with Chon and Roy choosing to go out and take them on, despite them being well armed. As they exit the church, they are surprised by the arrival of Falling Leaves and the Sioux who surround Wallace and the gang. Wallace lucklessly asks Roy to rejoin the gang, but he turns him down and instead plans to turn him over to the authorities. The now freed Chinese slaves celebrate with it being implied that Chon and Pei-Pei are together while Falling Leaves, who reveals that she can speak English, kisses Roy.
Later, Chon and Roy have both become marshals and prepare to go after another gang of criminals who are robbing a train. Chon implies that he will accept the moniker "John Wayne", as Roy previously misheard, while Roy admits that now that he is no longer an outlaw, he might use his real name, which is "Wyatt Earp". The two partners ride off to deal out justice.
Cast[]
- Jackie Chan as Chon "John Wayne" Wang
- Owen Wilson as Wyatt "Roy O'Bannon" Earp
- Lucy Liu as Princess Pei-Pei
- Roger Yuan as Lo Fong
- Walton Goggins as Wallace
- Xander Berkeley as Marshal Nathan Van Cleef
- Jason Connery as Calvin Andrews
- Brandon Merrill as Indian Wife / Falling Leaves
- Rafael Baez as Vasquez
- P. Adrien Dorval as Blue "Big 'un"
- Kate Luyben as Fifi
- Simon R. Baker as Little Feather
- Henry O as Royal Interpreter
- Yu Rongguang as Imperial Guard Rong Guang Yu
- Eric Chen as Imperial Guard Eric Chi Cheng Chen
- Yuen Biao as Saloon Fighter (uncredited)
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- It is heavily inspired by the 1971 Franco-Italian film Red Sun with its title inspired by the 1952 film High Noon.
- This film remains Brandon Merrill's only film role as she was supposedly the only actress the filmmakers could find who was of Native American descent who could ride a horse.
- As is tradition with Jackie Chan features, the film ends with outtakes.
- The movie was greenlit primarily due to the success of another Jackie Chan buddy feature Rush Hour.
- Owen Wilson did uncredited rewrites for his character to punch up the humor.
- This movie is one of John Lasseter's favorites and was partially responsible for convincing him to cast Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen in Cars.
External links[]
