Shanghai Noon: Difference between revisions

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''Shanghai Noon'' is a comedy [[Western]] film starring [[Jackie Chan]] and Owen Wilson. Chan plays a Chinese guardsman, Chon Wang, who travels to America to rescue a kidnapped Imperial princess, teaming up along the way with disreputable gunslinger Roy O'Bannon (played by Owen), a small time robber with delusions of grandeur. Together, the two forge through one misadventure after another. Directed by Tom Dey, it was written by [[Smallville|Alfred Gough and Miles Millar]]. The movie, set in Nevada and other parts of the west in the 19th century, is a juxtaposition of a western with a [[Jackie Chan]] kung fu action movie with extended martial arts sequences. It also has elements of comedy and the "Buddy Cop" film genre, as it involves two men of different personalities and ethnicities (a Chinese imperial guard and a Western outlaw) [[They Fight Crime|who team up to stop a crime]].

This film series provides examples of:

* [[Accidental Marriage]]: Chon Wang ends up accidentally married (from his POV) to the Sioux chief's daughter (who knew exactly what she was doing). She follows him around for the rest of the movie, periodically saving his ass, only to end up trading him in for Roy at the end. {{spoiler|She ditches them BOTH in the sequel.}}

* [[Actor Allusion]]: Roy is off to fight [[Queer as Folk|a sissy]] lord.

** [[Jackie Chan|"You could do your own stunts!"]]

* [[Lovable Rogue]]: Roy.

* [[Mexican Standoff]]: Lampshaded. The corrupt sheriff comes in during the ransom money trade-off and pulls out dual pistols, which equates to a lot of weapons drawn and a lot of targets.

* [[Monumental Battle]]: {{spoiler|Big Ben}} in the second film.

* [[Mugging the Monster]]: [[Jack the Ripper]] tried to attack Lin after she just left their inn in a bad mood. End result is, at least we know why the killings suddenly stopped.

* [[Oh Crap]]: [[The Dragon|Wu Chow]] has this expression right before {{spoiler|he explodes}}. Rathbone also gets an ...off putting look on his face when Chon cuts the support ropes.

* [[One Bullet Left]]: This first movie has this in probable homage to ''A Fistful of Dollars''. Roy O'Bannon has one bullet left in his gun, and says as much to his nemesis. Out of a "sense of fair play", the bad guy mimes emptying his still fully-loaded revolvers, leading to a final shootout with Roy's one bullet vs. the bad guy's 12. {{spoiler|Roy gets him right through the heart.}}

** {{spoiler|By the way, this is the only time in the movie Roy successfully shoots anything. When he tells Chon, he doesn't believe him at all. Roy notes that the baddie's bullets all went through the robe he was wearing without leaving a scratch on him}}.

* [[Parasol of Pain]]: Chon also had a memorable umbrella fight in ''Shanghai Knights'', complete with a [[homage]] to ''[[Singin' in the Rain|Singin in The Rain]]''.

* [[Taking You with Me]]: At the climax of ''Shanghai Knights'', {{spoiler|Chon Wang is clearly outmatched by Lord Rathbone, so he cuts the ropes supporting the platform they are both standing on and sends both of them through the glass face of Big Ben. Chon is caught by Roy O'Bannon, who was knocked through the same glass a little earlier.}}

* [[This Cannot Be!]]: The sheriff is a little more than taken aback when {{spoiler|Roy shoots him despite only having one bullet to the sheriff's loaded dual pistols, and through the badge no less.}}

* [[Traumatic Haircut]]: The first movie has Chon lose his long pony tail when Chon and Roy are captured by the princess's kidnapper, Lo Fong; he cuts Chon's hair off, knowing exactly what this means for him if he should try to return. (See the Real Life example on that page for the significance of this act.)

* [[The Trope Kid]]: Chon is listed on a wanted poster as "The Shanghai Kid." His partner notes, "That's a really cool nickname, too." Jackie's character immediately complains that [[Comically Missing the Point|he's not really from Shanghai.]]

* [[Where Do You Think You Are?]]: "This isn't the East, this is the West. The sun doesn't rise here, it sets."

* [[Who Would Want to Watch Us?]]: Happened in ''Shanghai Knights'', where Roy tries to sell Jackie Chan's character, a Chinese cowboy named Chon Wang (say it out loud and see who it sounds like) on the idea of the then-new "moving pictures", even going so far as to suggest "You could do your own stunts." In a slight subversion, Chon nods and replies:

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