Tai-Pan (1986)

Directed by

Daryl Duke

Genre

adventure film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 07m

Rated

R

Rating

5.2 of 10 from 34 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In 19th century China, a British merchant fights for power and control over the opium trade in Hong Kong. The story follows his personal and professional battles amid colonial tensions.

epicslow-burndatedturbulentdryunpolishedserioussprawling

What happens

Tai-Pan is a 1986 adventure drama film directed by Daryl Duke, loosely based on James Clavell's 1966 novel of the same name. While many of the same characters and plot twists are maintained, a few smaller occurrences are left out. Filmed under communist Chinese censorship, some portions of Clavell's story were considered too offensive to be filmed as written and considerable changes were made. The De Laurentiis Entertainment Group handled the production and were actively seen battling the Chinese Government and Labor boards over the film during shooting. The film was a critical and box office bomb. Duke believed that a mini-series à la 1980's Shōgun or 1988's Noble House would have been a far superior means of covering the complexity of Clavell's novel. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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