''Shanghai Surprise'' is a 1986

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Jim Goddard Jim Goddard (2 February 1936 – 17 June 2013) was an English film and TV director who was born in Battersea, London. He directed episodes of many UK TV series such as ''Public Eye'', ''Callan'', ''Special Branch'', ''The Sweeney'', ''The Ruth R ...

and starring then-newlyweds

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

and

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

. The screenplay was adapted by

John Kohn John Kohn (1925 – May 4, 2002) was an American writer and producer who also served as head of production for EMI (1979–1983).

and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel ''Faraday's Flowers''. Produced by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

's HandMade Films and distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

, Harrison himself appeared as a night club singer, and recorded several songs for the soundtrack, including "Breath Away from Heaven", which was re-recorded and released on his 1987 album '' Cloud Nine'' along with "Someplace Else", also used in the film. The soundtrack was never officially released, and was only briefly available as a promotional single featuring the title track, coupled with "Zig Zag". Both of these songs have since been released as "additional tracks" on the 2004 ''Cloud Nine'' re-release. Another track, "The Hottest Gong in Town", was included on the EP ''Songs by George Harrison Volume 2''. ''Shanghai Surprise'' was a critical and

commercial failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...

Plot summary

Glendon Wasey is a sleazy, down-on-his-luck con man struggling to sell glow-in-the-dark neckties in Shanghai. When he encounters the lovely Gloria Tatlock, a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

nurse who wants to obtain a supply of opium to ease the suffering of her patients, he decides to help her get hold of a stolen supply of the valuable drug. The only problem is that a lot of other people want to secure the stolen opium as well—gangsters, smugglers, thugs and a host of upstanding air force recruits.

Cast

as Glendon Wasey *

as Gloria Tatlock * Paul Freeman as Walter Faraday *

Richard Griffiths Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play '' The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk ...

as Willie Tuttle *

Philip Sayer Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

as Justin Kronk *

Clyde Kusatsu Clyde Kusatsu (born September 13, 1948) is an American actor and trade union leader of Japanese descent. Since 2013, he has served as the National Vice President of SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local. Life and career Clyde Kusatsu was born in Hawaii a ...

as Joe Go *

as Night Club Singer * Victor Wong as Ho Chong *

Lim Kay Tong use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

as Mei Gan

Marketing

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' reported in October, 1986, "The movie opened so poorly in its first wave of playdates (late August in the Northeast and Midwest) that MGM has made severe cuts in its marketing budget. One MGM exec was quoted in the trades as saying this was necessary because 'the interest in the film has been non-existent.'"

Critical reception

An overwhelming number of critics panned ''Shanghai Surprise''. Bill Cosford of ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.icof Rita Hayworth in ''The Lady From Shanghai'', and a roguish adventure hero (Sean Penn) as well as a pop-sprinkled score (partly the work of George Harrison)... There's a plot here, involving Madonna's quest to find a load of hijacked opium for conversion to morphine to help the troops fighting the Japanese. Penn, though he spends his big scene panting in a brothel, will save the day. But the film was conceived and executed as a star vehicle. Wrong stars, wrong roles, not much happening here. And for George Harrison and his Handmade Films, the first big bust." ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pen ...

'' also gave it only 1 star: "''Shanghai Surprise'' is so dismally scripted and directed that no one could redeem it... an atmospheric, handsomely shot and, sadly, utterly empty piece of work." The ''

Lexington Herald-Leader The ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' is a newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and based in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paid circulation of the ''Herald-Leader'' is the second larg ...

'' called it "a turkey": "This film is bad. The acting is terrible. The hackneyed screenplay traffics in stereotype and yuk-yuk jokes. And the point is non-existent." The ''

San Diego Union ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' said, "In its campy nostalgia for old adventure films, ''Shanghai Surprise'' is cloddish. There's something rotten at the core about a movie that would recycle lines like "That's mighty white of you." Even sadder is the realization that some of the old cornball movies are still fresher, more alive, than this regurgitation." The ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Da ...

'' faulted the casting as well as the script: "The ever-important spirit is missing as Mr. and Mrs. Penn wrestle with old gags that are beyond their ken. It's not entirely their fault though: They've been given no characters to play. Much of ''Shanghai Surprise'' might have worked if they at least were permitted to play themselves — a punk rocker and punk actor at large in an alien movie world." The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'', awarding the movie half a star, complained of its "warped attitudes toward women," adding, "It's hard to know for whom this wretch of a film was made. Idiotic dialogue should turn off the adults, teens will be disappointed by their rock heroine and kids shouldn't even be watching." Film professor Michal Conford, of Ryerson University, reviewed the film for the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' with another half-star rating, saying sardonically, "''Shanghai Surprise'' stars Madonna and Sean Penn together for the first time and has songs by George Harrison. That is the most positive sentence that can be written about the film, now playing locally. MGM must have suspected – the company tried to open the film in places like Iowa to avoid getting slaughtered. Nice try... The film is supposed to be a shaggy dog adventure... Shaggy, no. Dog, yes." ''Shanghai Surprise'' currently holds a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews.

Awards and nominations

7th Golden Raspberry Awards The 7th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 29, 1987, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1986 in film, 1986. For the first time, the Razzies had a tie for Worst Picture, between ''Ho ...

: Won: Worst Actress -

: Nominated:

Worst Picture The Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Over the 39 ceremonies that have taken place, there have been 202 films nominated for Worst Picture and 42 ...

: Nominated: Worst Director -

: Nominated: Worst Screenplay - John Kohn and Robert Bentley : Nominated: Worst Original Song - "Shanghai Surprise" : Nominated: Worst Actor -

Stinkers Bad Movie Awards The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards (formerly known as the ''Hastings Bad Cinema Society'') was a Los Angeles-based group of film buffs and film critics devoted to honoring the worst films of the year. The society was founded by Mike Lancaster and Ray ...

: Nominated: Worst Picture

References

External links

* * * {{HandMade Films 1986 films 1980s adventure comedy films 1986 romantic comedy films British adventure comedy films British romantic comedy films Films set in 1937 Films set in 1938 Films set in Shanghai HandMade Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Jim Goddard Second Sino-Japanese War films Films scored by Michael Kamen Films scored by George Harrison Golden Raspberry Award winning films 1980s English-language films 1980s British films