Shanghai Noon (2000)

"Two thumbs up!  Roger Ebert At The Movies

Editor's Note An action-comedy with a decidedly Western twist, SHANGHAI NOON features more acrobatics from superstar Jackie Chan. Chon Wang (Chan) is a dedicated member of the Chinese Imperial Guard. When the emperor's former captain, Lo Fong (Yuan), oversees an illegal operation that involves kidnapping Princess Pei Pei (Liu) and bringing her to America's wild West, it's up to Chong to save the day. Eventually partnering with the wise-cracking bandit Roy O'Bannon (Wilson), Chong uses his Eastern skills to tackle the wild West. SHANGHAI NOON is an high-kicking adventure with great comic chemistry between stars Chan and Wilson.

	Jackie Chan
	Lucy Liu
	Owen Wilson
	Xander Berkeley
	Tom Dey - Director
	Daniel Mindel - Director of Photography
	Randy Edelman - Musical Score
	Gary Barber, et al. - Producer
	Alfred Gough - Writer
	Miles Millar - Writer

Jackie Chan takes on the Old West in this campy sendup of some of the greatest Westerns ever made. When Princess Pei-Pei (Lucy Liu) is kidnapped from the Forbidden City in 1881 China, Chon Wang accompanies the three bravest Imperial Guardsmen on a journey to Carson City to rescue her. Along the way he cannot shake train robber Roy O'Bannon (an eminently likable Owen Wilson), who is after the pot of gold the Guardsmen have brought from China to ransom the princess. The film pays direct homage to such classic Westerns as HIGH NOON, HANG 'EM HIGH, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, BLAZING SADDLES, and, primarily, John Ford's THE SEARCHERS in ways that are charmingly familiar. The film is chock-full of saloon brawls and shootouts that are turned upside down by Chan's martial artistry as he battles gun-toting baddies with his trademark chops and kicks as well as makeshift weapons (including a fabulous horseshoe slingshot). Cowriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and director Tom Dey don't leave out a thing--trains are robbed, brothels are visited, whiskey bottles are shattered, horses are jumped onto from balconies, tin cans are shot at, townspeople cheer for a hanging--and our heroes even take a bath that would make Mel Brooks proud. New York Times
"...The movie benefits from an unusually witty, high-spirited script....it's giddily, effervescently funny..." 05/26/2000 p.E12

USA Today
"...[A] smoothly filmed, generally funny and brilliantly titled Western..." 06/02/2000 p.13E

Rolling Stone
"...Wilson is flat-out hilarious....A slap-happy treat..." 06/22/2000 p.140

Box Office
"...[Chan and Wilson are] perfectly matched in temperament and timing, they make for a classic duo whose cinematic exploits have surely only begun..." 07/01/2000 p.102

Los Angeles Times
"...The hilarious, knockabout SHANGHAI NOON, Jackie Chan's best American picture to date, breathes fresh life into the virtually dormant comedy-western..." 05/26/2000 p.C1

Chicago Sun-Times
"...A wink at Westerns, martial arts and buddy movies -- enriched by a goofy performance by Owen Wilson, who would steal the movie if Chan were not so clever at sharing it with him..." 05/26/2000 p.25

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
...a wink at Westerns, martial arts and buddy movies--enriched by a goofy performance by Owen Wilson, who would steal the movie if Chan were not so clever at sharing it with him... Chan, who does his own stunts, creates moments of physical comedy so pure, it's no wonder he has been compared with Buster Keaton... If you see only one martial arts Western this year, this is the one. - Roger Ebert

San Francisco Chronicle 8 of 10
...Playful high jinks, buddy bonding make Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon a real kick...[it is] screwball kung fu... All the Wild West types in Shanghai Noon are stock comic figures but with an ethnic twist. This is almost Mel Brooks territory... - Bob Graham