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362 - BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986) + LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992)
🕑 Added 2025-01-05 04:18:50 +0000 UTCHosts Josh and Jamie discuss white guys getting involved in cultural and geopolitical conflicts they probably shouldn't be in John Carpenter's comical merging of All-American trucker cowboys and surreal Hong Kong martial arts fantasy BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986) and Michael Mann's merging of old-fashioned frontier American historical epic mythmaking with his tragic, impressionistic romanticism LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992).
See you all in a week's time where we'll be back over on the main feed doing our annual countdown of our favorite genre films of 2024. Keep it sleazy!
Intro // 00:00-11:13
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA // 11:13-1:34:43
LAST OF THE MOHICANS // 1:34:43-3:28:34
Outro // 3:28:34-3:31:57
(Sorry about Jamie's place progressively turning more and more into a party in the background during the last 30-45 mins, he was just as annoyed about it as many of you will be.)
Comments
Aromal Ray Donovan
In the discussion of KR's performance as Jack Burton, Josh raised the question of whether John Wayne ever did a role against type other than in The Searchers. One example that comes to mind is Red River, where he is essentially in an Ahab role. Wayne's character fluctuates between protagonist and antagonist over the course of the film, and there is ultimate resolution within the narrative. But he is unquestionably the main threat of the movie in parts. I think Wayne displays genuine skill as an actor when he shifts between playing the more conventional cowboy hero and playing a fanatical heavy driven by the Protestant capitalist (cattle) drive that built the west, in the Western mythology. It is a revisionist Western in a lot of ways, in particular the psychosexual drama and homosexual undertones. I think it's easily as good a testament to Wayne's ability to convincingly render a changing character as The Searchers. Much better even. Also, Red River is another Howard Hawks favorite of John Carpenter's.
Nirvana Hotdog
I had the pleasure of seeing John Carpenter on tour with his band about 10 years ago. He was playing his film themes while projecting scenes from the movies behind the performance. When he got to the relevant theme, he intro'd it with, "I got to make a few movies with my good friend, Kurt ... this is from the time we got up to some ... Big Trouble!" and *bam* the synths kicked in. Was a great show.
JKL
They used to show those over-the-top, flying, mystical karate or kung-fu movies on local TV back in the '70s and early '80s. Saturday mornings and afternoons were when we got a lot of our older horror, sci-fi, and monster movies, so Carpenter may have first seen them that way.
