Meanwhile, in Little China...

To quote Jack Burton, “Everybody relax, I'm here.” I wish I could say that, like Kurt Russell’s character in Big Trouble in Little China, I was off having action-packed, supernatural-tinged adventures with Kim Cattrall, but alas, my absence from the blog just isn’t that sexy. Rather, MSN has been moving things around (note the new URL), tinkering and waiting for a fresh shipment of 1’s and 0’s so it could continue to bring you this portion of the internet. Thank you for your patience.

That said, I was off at the San Diego Comic-Con, and you can read my coverage, here, here and here, and I was in Montreal at the FanTasia film festival, watching crazy genre films and presenting my own short film. Good times, indeed. I’ll post some pics and stories from Comic-Con, but in the meantime I’d like to share something I’ve been obsessing on for the last few days…

It’s nothing new for actors to try their hands at being musicians after establishing themselves as thespians – Eddie Murphy, Bruce Willis, Johnny Depp, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thornton, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Keanu Reeves are but a few examples (check out this huge list). And look no further than Rob Zombie for established musicians becoming filmmakers. But established directors getting into music? That’s rarer.

Eastwood has contributed music to his films as recently as Gran Torino (the theme song sounded like it was recorded while he was passing a kidney stone, but hey…), Mike Figgis does much of his own soundtrack work, such as the music for Leaving Las Vegas, and Robert Rodriguez cut some killer tracks for Planet Terror. And then there’s John Carpenter, who scored a bunch of his own films, and even created the famous theme for Halloween. This brings us to Big Trouble in Little China, one of Carpenter’s classic ‘80s movies, in which Jack Burton (Kurt Russell’s character) and sidekicks get caught up in some mystical shenanigans in Little China, and must rescue Kim Cattrall’s character from ninja/gangster/monster David Lo-Pan and his lighting bolt-throwing henchmen. The movie is required viewing for anyone who doesn’t hate fun, and those that have seen it probably recall the ridiculous theme song, “Big Trouble in Little China.”

What I hadn’t realized before is that it’s performed by John Carpenter’s Coupe DeVilles, with the Man himself singing, and there’s a music video for it. Well, praise YouTube, for having it, because it’s one of those monumentally mental, dated embarrassments that the world deserves to watch. And laugh at.

See it for yourself, here, before I continue.

It’s a testament to just how popular Carpenter way in the mid ‘80s that a bunch of money was poured into this ambitious music video. Obviously there were hopes for MTV rotation, as it pulls out all the staples of the era, from the band members rockin’ out with every overacting bone in their bodies, to terrible animated lightning effects, to the day-glo hand-coloured photocopier pages animation sequence. My favourite part of the vid sees The Carp’ wearing a kimono and a pair of those sunglasses with slats in ‘em instead of lenses while grooving with his axe. (Of course, other scenes with giant-shouldered blazers and fluffy, waving mullets are also pretty choice.) The visuals cut between performance footage on a stage, footage from the movie and the band rockin’ out in the editing suite, where scenes from the film begin to interact with the players, inviting all kinds of silly special effects (I told you it had a budget).

Lyrically, it’s also typically ‘80s: “If you feel the wind is risin’/baby, then the truth is here … Oh, we’d better run/run into the mystic night/run until they take us a-waaay.” Musically, it’s pure ‘80s synth, and the best/worst part of it all is that the song mercilessly gets stuck in your head. After watching the video at my office this week, it became a regular habit for someone to call out in a baritone, “Biiiiiig Trouble,” and to hear the higher pitched response, “In Liddle Chi-nah!” More good time than my description can possibly do justice to.

That said, the Big Trouble in Little China soundtrack is considered a classic, with used cassette versions of it listing on Amazon at close to $100. A double disc CD version of the album was reissued a few years ago by soundtrack reissue specialists La La Land Records. Again, it’s out of print and used ones are rather pricey, but if I watch this video many more times, I may just have to pony up for it. After all, you know what Russell’s character would think about it: “Ol' Jack always says... what the hell?”

 

-Dave Alexander

Comments

You just broke my head.