Shanghai Noon Movie Review
The movie Shanghai Noon was directed by a man named Tom Dey and was produced by a group of men: Roger
Birnbaum, Gary Barber, and Johnathan Glickman. This movie starred Jackie Chan as the Shanghai Kid, Owen Wilson as
Roy O’Bannon/Wyatt Earp, Lucy Liu as Princess Pei-Pei, and Brandon Merrill as Falling Leaves.. Shanghai Noon was
released in the United States on May 26, 2000 (Wikipedia Contributors). The characters come from all walks of life. Most
of the actors and actresses were of the nationality that they portrayed. The majority of the Native American
actors/actresses were Native American, although there were some who played background characters who were most
likely not. Many good movies such as Shanghai Noon are based off of good books, however this movie is not.
The movie begins in China where we are introduced to Chon Wang, pronounced John Wayne, and Princess Pei-
Pei. Her English teacher kid naps her. The Chinese send guards after her. Fast forward to a train which Roy O’Bannon
robs. Roy gets turned on by the gang, buried alive, and left for dead. Chon stumbles upon Roy and puts two chop sticks in
Roy’s mouth for him to dig himself out. Chon crosses the mountain and saves a Sioux boy from Crow warriors. The chief
gives him his daughter and a horse. Chon goes into town where he runs into Roy. They end up in jail, break out, and
become wanted. They hide out until they are captured by Lo Fong. Roy then rescues Chong. The next day they all meet in
a church which is the ransom drop. Roy and Chon come out on top with the girls they love and ride off into the sunset as
Marshalls.
Overall I think that the movie Shanghai Noon has as overlaying theme of honor. There are several references to
honor specially. “Fight with honor. You will win (Shanghai Noon Script).” For the Imperial Guards most of their life has
to do with maintaining their honor. They follow the Imperial Decree to the letter, in doing so they can honor, respect, and
self-worth. Without those things, they could easily fall into bad ways of thinking, and pure evil. This is represented in this
movie by the character Lo Fong. He is the man that sets up the whole plan to kidnap the Princess and hold her for ransom.
As soon as Pei-Pei gets to his place in America and she see him, she knows exactly how nasty he is. “Forgive me if I do
not bow. Calvin, this man is a trai—traitor (Shanghai Noon Script).” Soon thereafter he kills his partner. He used to be a
guard in the Imperial Palace and now he is using Chinese immigrants as slaves over in America. When Chong sees who
the man that kidnapped Pei-Pei is he is disgusted because he used to call the man the same as himself. There are things
that symbolize what the guards stand for, such as wearing their hair in a long braid. Chon will not lie because he is bound
to, in a sense, his honor. “He cannot lie. He is bound by Imperial decree (Shanghai Noon Script).” When Chon’s hair gets
cut off he is told he can no longer return to his homeland because slaves are with out honor. The Chinese workers all bow
to Princess Pei-Pei once they know who she is out of respect for her and trying to honor her. With all of these references
to honor I think it is safe to say that honor is an overlaying theme for the movie.
Through out the movie there were characters that come from all different corners of the world and all different
walks of life. In general there are some stereotypes that come with different types of people. In the movie Shanghai Noon
these stereotypes make an appearance. Some of the very first stereotypes we see are associated with the Native American
people. You see this one young child being chased by these massive warriors who are horseback, screaming their heads
off, completely covered in war paint along with their horses, and waving around tomahawks. Of course it is a Sioux boy
being chased by the Crow. There more than likely is some truth to portraying Native Americans in this light. However, I
highly doubt that Crow men always went around on their horses covered in war paint with only tomahawks and spears to
use. If they were out on horseback I would have assumed that they would be hunting with bows and arrows or guns and
they would not be covered in war paint and have mohawks and feathers decorating their hair. There were definitely some
stereotypes of other cultures being portrayed as well. Roy was a cowboy He was buried underneath the sand was
dreaming about being in a whorehouse surrounded by scantily clad, beautiful women. He was cocky, arrogant, and good
