IMDb RATING
5.6/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.
- Awards
- 2 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaProducer Martin Ransohoff and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio in 1966 acquired the rights to James Clavell's source "Tai-Pan" novel for US $500,000. The movie was then announced by MGM in 1967-68 to star Patrick McGoohan to play Dirk Struan, to be directed by Michael Anderson, with source novelist Clavell writing the screenplay. The picture was originally budgeted to cost US $26 million which was then reduced to US $20 million. The project sat around stagnant for a time in development hell. However, after severe operating losses, the epic was one of a number of expensive projects the new management at the MGM studio dropped as being too costly. The project and the development of the movie at MGM was in the end canceled by executive James T. Aubrey.
- GoofsIn a scene, set in 1841, several of the ladies were wearing bright mauve outfits. That would have been most unlikely for the wives of middle class traders at that time as the color purple was prohibitively expensive before the invention of analine dyes in London - in 1856. By 1870 these gaudy colors had become so cheap and commonplace that it became a status symbol to mimic the subtler, paler colors of the pre analine dye days.
- Quotes
Dirk Struan: No emperor has seen the guns of a British man-of-war.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert: 52 Pick-Up/Nobody's Fool/Tai Pan/The Sacrifice (1986)
Featured review
A Non-Epic
While I wouldn't quite call this film a full-on failure, it does not ultimately live up to the high expectations it creates in the opening. While extremely condensed down from the James Clavell novel covering the founding of Hong Kong as a British territory, this film is ultimately undone by meandering among too many different lurid relationships and not really delivering much action outside of a couple sword fights and an unrealistic man vs. Gang of assassins brawl on a Chinese junk.
Bryan Brown delivers another one of his characteristically fine performances complete with a nearly spot-on Scottish accent. Ditto for the actor who plays his son, who I was shocked to learn was played by an American. The big climax focuses largely on a massive typhoon surging in right at the worst time, which is well realized, but ultimately a major letdown in what characters wind up getting killed off-screen in a decidedly undramatic manner. It would have had a little more punch had the core romance of the movie been established earlier on. The movie also would have been much less confusing if two opposing characters weren't named "Gord" and "Gort".
There's also a couple goofs I had a tough time overlooking, like the wobbly composited ships on the shots of the harbor and the egregiously fake knife used in a key attack scene. All in all, it's decently directed, acted, and well-shot, but this late-stage attempt at an epic film falls just short of delivering the goods.
Bryan Brown delivers another one of his characteristically fine performances complete with a nearly spot-on Scottish accent. Ditto for the actor who plays his son, who I was shocked to learn was played by an American. The big climax focuses largely on a massive typhoon surging in right at the worst time, which is well realized, but ultimately a major letdown in what characters wind up getting killed off-screen in a decidedly undramatic manner. It would have had a little more punch had the core romance of the movie been established earlier on. The movie also would have been much less confusing if two opposing characters weren't named "Gord" and "Gort".
There's also a couple goofs I had a tough time overlooking, like the wobbly composited ships on the shots of the harbor and the egregiously fake knife used in a key attack scene. All in all, it's decently directed, acted, and well-shot, but this late-stage attempt at an epic film falls just short of delivering the goods.
helpful•11
- Aylmer
- Oct 26, 2021
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Tai Pan
- Filming locations
- Chen Family Temple - Guangzhou, China(Commissioner Lin's court)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,007,250
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,863,469
- Nov 9, 1986
- Gross worldwide
- $4,007,250
- Runtime2 hours 7 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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