Year of the Dragon (film)
Encyclopedia
Year of the Dragon is a 1985 film
directed by Michael Cimino
, starring Mickey Rourke
, Ariane Koizumi and John Lone
. The screenplay was written by Cimino and Oliver Stone
and adapted from the novel by Robert Daley
.
This was Cimino's first film after the infamous failure of Heaven's Gate
(1980). Year of the Dragon is a New York crime drama and an exploration of gang
s, the illegal drug trade
, ethnicity
, racism
, and stereotype
s.
(Rourke) is a decorated police captain and Vietnam War
veteran assigned to New York City's Chinatown
, where he makes it his personal mission to come down hard on Chinese organized crime.
White comes into conflict with Joey Tai (Lone), a young man who ruthlessly rises to become the head of the Chinese triad societies, and as a result of his ambition, creates a high profile both for himself and the triads' activities. Together, they end the uneasy truce that has existed between the triads and the police precinct, even as they conduct a personal war between one another.
The married captain also becomes romantically involved with Tracy Tzu (Ariane), a television reporter, who comes under brutal attack from the criminals, as does White's long-suffering wife. This makes him even more determined to destroy the triads, and especially Joey Tai.
's novel, but consistently turned the opportunity down. When he finally agreed, Cimino realized he was unable to both write and direct in the time allotted; The producers already had an approximate start date for the film. He brought in Oliver Stone, whom Cimino met through his producer and friend Joann Carelli, to help him write the script. "With Michael, it's a 24-hour day," said Stone. "He doesn't really sleep … he's truly an obsessive personality. He's the most Napoleonic director I ever worked with." Cimino did a year and a half of research on the project.
While producer Dino De Laurentiis
gave director Cimino final cut
in his contract, De Laurentiis also sent Cimino a side letter that said, notwithstanding the contract, he would not have final cut. This information was revealed when the producers of The Sicilian
sued Cimino over the length of that film.
or Jeff Bridges
in mind for the role of Stanley White, but after seeing Mickey Rourke
in The Pope of Greenwich Village
and working with him on Heaven's Gate
, Cimino changed his mind. According to Rourke, the difficulty with playing White was making himself appear 15 years older to suit the character. Cimino drew heavily on the real-life boxing
prowess of Rourke. At first, Rourke did not take his physical training seriously, so Cimino hired a Hells Angel to be Rourke's instructor.
, most of the film was shot not on location but on soundstages in Wilmington, North Carolina, after meticulous research of various locales which could be passed off as Little China and/or the Orient
. The sets proved realistic enough to fool even Stanley Kubrick
, who attended the movie's premiere. Cimino actually had to convince the Bronx-born Kubrick that the film's exteriors were shot on a sound-stage and not on location.
Other cities used in filming included New York City
, Toronto
, Vancouver
, Thailand
, Bangkok
and Shangirey
. Cimino has said he often likes to shoot in different cities, with interiors in one city and exteriors in another. In one scene, Joey Tai and his lawyer walk through a Chinese textile mill, past a guard-rail and into a shoddy apartment building to meet up with two of his assassins. The textile mill was in Bangkok, the guard-rail was in New York and the apartment building was in Whilmington. When one of the script girls commented that the scene "wouldn't cut" (edit seamlessly together), Cimino bet the script girl $1,000 that it would. On showing her the cut, the script girl conceded and Cimino won the bet but refused to take the $1,000.
Unlike Heaven's Gate, Cimino was able to bring the film in on time and on budget.
.
, costing $24 million but grossing only $18 million through its run. The film opened at #5 on the box office charts, grossing $4,039,079 in 982 theaters on its opening weekend of August 16, 1985.
wrote for The New York Times
: "Year of the Dragon is light years away from being a classic, but then it makes no pretense at being anything more than what it is — an elaborately produced gangster film that isn't boring for a minute, composed of excesses in behavior, language and visual effects that, eventually, exert their own hypnotic effect." Janet Maslin
, in contrast, also writing for The New York Times, deplored a lack of "feeling, reason and narrative continuity", under which the actors fared "particularly badly", especially Ariane Koizumi whose role in the movie was "ineffectual".
Rex Reed
of the New York Post
gave Dragon one of its most ecstatic reviews: "Exciting, explosive, daring and adventurous stuff." In his review of Cimino's later film The Sicilian
, Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
wrote that Year of the Dragon was "strongly plotted and moved along with power and efficiency." Leonard Maltin
gave the film two and a half stars, calling it a "Highly charged, arresting melodrama... but nearly drowns in a sea of excess and self-importance." Pauline Kael
of The New Yorker
dismissed the film as "hysterical, rabble rousing pulp, the kind that goes over well with subliterate audiences."
The film has a 60% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
.
has praised this film as one of his favorites, naming its climactic train tracks shoot-out as one of his favorite "Killer Movie Moments" in 2004, remarking, "You forget to breathe during it!".
and Asian American
communities protested the film, criticizing the film for its racial stereotyping, xenophobism (especially the use of the derogatory terms "chinks", "slant-eyed", and "yellow niggers"), and sexism. Some groups worried that the film would make Chinatown unsafe and cause an economic downturn in the community. As a result of the controversy, a disclaimer was attached to its opening credits, which read:
Mariko Tse of the Los Angeles Times
was critical of both the film and Shelia Benson's earlier positive review: "Cimino's film Year of the Dragon and Sheila Benson's review of it, are both travesties of information. Benson implicates her woeful lack of knowledge of any Chinatown
by calling the film 'part documentary.' Year of the Dragon is about as much a documentary as is a soft drink commercial." In her negative review, Pauline Kael added, "Year of the Dragon isn't much more xenophobic than The Deer Hunter
was, but it's a lot flabbier; the scenes have no tautness, no definition, and so you're more likely to be conscious of the bigotry."
Director Cimino responded to the controversy in an interview in Jeune cinéma: "The film was accused of racism, but they didn’t pay attention to what people say in the film. It’s a film which deals with racism, but it’s not a racist film. To deal with this sort of subject, you must inevitably reveal its tendencies. It’s the first time that we deal with the marginalization which the Chinese were subject to. On that subject, people know far too little. Americans discover with surprise that the Chinese were excluded from American citizenship up until 1943. They couldn’t bring their wives to America. Kwong’s speech to Stanley is applauded. For all these reasons, the Chinese loves the film. And the journalists’ negative reactions are perhaps a shield to conceal these unpleasant facts."
, including Worst Screenplay, Worst Picture
, Worst Director
, Worst Actress
and Worst New Star
(both for Ariane). The film was also nominated for a Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger) César
award. John Lone
received a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination and David Mansfield
received a Best Original Score
nod.
1985 in film
-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...
directed by Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and author. He is best known for writing and directing Academy Award-winning The Deer Hunter and the infamous Heaven's Gate. His films are characterized by their striking visual style and controversial subject...
, starring Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
, Ariane Koizumi and John Lone
John Lone
John "Johnny" Lone is a Hong Kong born American actor of Chinese and English descent. Lone has played roles as diverse as a caveman in Iceman , the last Emperor of China in The Last Emperor , and an apparently female opera performer in M. Butterfly .-Personal life:Lone was born as Ng Kwok-leung...
. The screenplay was written by Cimino and Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
and adapted from the novel by Robert Daley
Robert Daley
Robert Daley , is an American novelist. He is the author of 28 books, five of which have been adapted for film.Daley graduated from Fordham University in 1951 and served in the Air Force during the Korean War...
.
This was Cimino's first film after the infamous failure of Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (film)
Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
(1980). Year of the Dragon is a New York crime drama and an exploration of gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s, the illegal drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
, ethnicity
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, and stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s.
Plot Summary
Stanley WhiteStanley White
Captain Stanley "Stan" White is a fictional character from Robert Daley's 1981 novel Year of the Dragon and the 1985 film of the same name. In the film, he was portrayed by Mickey Rourke...
(Rourke) is a decorated police captain and Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran assigned to New York City's Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
, where he makes it his personal mission to come down hard on Chinese organized crime.
White comes into conflict with Joey Tai (Lone), a young man who ruthlessly rises to become the head of the Chinese triad societies, and as a result of his ambition, creates a high profile both for himself and the triads' activities. Together, they end the uneasy truce that has existed between the triads and the police precinct, even as they conduct a personal war between one another.
The married captain also becomes romantically involved with Tracy Tzu (Ariane), a television reporter, who comes under brutal attack from the criminals, as does White's long-suffering wife. This makes him even more determined to destroy the triads, and especially Joey Tai.
Cast
- Mickey RourkeMickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as Capt. Stanley White - John LoneJohn LoneJohn "Johnny" Lone is a Hong Kong born American actor of Chinese and English descent. Lone has played roles as diverse as a caveman in Iceman , the last Emperor of China in The Last Emperor , and an apparently female opera performer in M. Butterfly .-Personal life:Lone was born as Ng Kwok-leung...
as Joey Tai - Ariane Koizumi as Tracy Tzu (as Ariane)
- Raymond J. BarryRaymond J. BarryRaymond John Barry is an American film, television and stage actor.-Personal life:Raymond John Barry was born in Hempstead, New York . His father, Raymond Barry, worked in sales. His mother, Barbara Barry , was also an actor, known professionally as B. Constance Barry...
as Bukowski (as Ray Barry) - Caroline Kava as Connie White
- Eddie Jones as McKenna
- Victor WongVictor WongVictor Wong was a Chinese American character actor who appeared in supporting roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s.-Education:...
as Harry Yung - Roza Ng as "the daughter"
Pre-production
Michael Cimino was approached many times to helm an adaptation of Robert DaleyRobert Daley
Robert Daley , is an American novelist. He is the author of 28 books, five of which have been adapted for film.Daley graduated from Fordham University in 1951 and served in the Air Force during the Korean War...
's novel, but consistently turned the opportunity down. When he finally agreed, Cimino realized he was unable to both write and direct in the time allotted; The producers already had an approximate start date for the film. He brought in Oliver Stone, whom Cimino met through his producer and friend Joann Carelli, to help him write the script. "With Michael, it's a 24-hour day," said Stone. "He doesn't really sleep … he's truly an obsessive personality. He's the most Napoleonic director I ever worked with." Cimino did a year and a half of research on the project.
While producer Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
gave director Cimino final cut
Final cut privilege
Final cut privilege is a film industry term, usually used when a director has contractual authority over how a film is ultimately released for public viewing.- Condition :...
in his contract, De Laurentiis also sent Cimino a side letter that said, notwithstanding the contract, he would not have final cut. This information was revealed when the producers of The Sicilian
The Sicilian (film)
The Sicilian is a 1987 action film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. It was directed by Michael Cimino and stars Christopher Lambert, Joss Ackland and Terence Stamp.-Plot:...
sued Cimino over the length of that film.
Casting
Because the production was moving so fast, casting began before the script was completed. Originally, Stone and Cimino had either Nick NolteNick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
or Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
in mind for the role of Stanley White, but after seeing Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
in The Pope of Greenwich Village
The Pope of Greenwich Village
The Pope of Greenwich Village is a 1984 American film starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her two-scene role. The film was adapted by screenwriter Vincent Patrick...
and working with him on Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (film)
Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
, Cimino changed his mind. According to Rourke, the difficulty with playing White was making himself appear 15 years older to suit the character. Cimino drew heavily on the real-life boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
prowess of Rourke. At first, Rourke did not take his physical training seriously, so Cimino hired a Hells Angel to be Rourke's instructor.
Shooting
As with Streets of FireStreets of Fire
Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
, most of the film was shot not on location but on soundstages in Wilmington, North Carolina, after meticulous research of various locales which could be passed off as Little China and/or the Orient
Orient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
. The sets proved realistic enough to fool even Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
, who attended the movie's premiere. Cimino actually had to convince the Bronx-born Kubrick that the film's exteriors were shot on a sound-stage and not on location.
Other cities used in filming included New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
and Shangirey
Shangirey
Shangirey is a village in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.It is suspected that this village has undergone a name change or no longer exists, as no Azerbaijani website mentions it under this name....
. Cimino has said he often likes to shoot in different cities, with interiors in one city and exteriors in another. In one scene, Joey Tai and his lawyer walk through a Chinese textile mill, past a guard-rail and into a shoddy apartment building to meet up with two of his assassins. The textile mill was in Bangkok, the guard-rail was in New York and the apartment building was in Whilmington. When one of the script girls commented that the scene "wouldn't cut" (edit seamlessly together), Cimino bet the script girl $1,000 that it would. On showing her the cut, the script girl conceded and Cimino won the bet but refused to take the $1,000.
Unlike Heaven's Gate, Cimino was able to bring the film in on time and on budget.
Post production
At the end of the film, White's final line is "You were right and I was wrong. I'd like to be a nice guy. But I just don't know how to be nice." According to Cimino, the final line of White was supposed to be "Well, I guess if you fight a war long enough, you end up marrying the enemy." The studio vetoed the original line, written by Stone. Cimino feels that either the studio or the producers thought the original line was politically incorrectPolitical correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
.
Release
Year of the Dragon was a box office flopBox office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
, costing $24 million but grossing only $18 million through its run. The film opened at #5 on the box office charts, grossing $4,039,079 in 982 theaters on its opening weekend of August 16, 1985.
| Date | Rank | Weekend Gross | Theaters | Gross-to-date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 16–18 | 5 | $4,093,079 | 982 | $4,093,079 |
| August 23–25 | 5 | $2,864,487 | 970 | $8,938,692 |
| August 30–September 2 | 7 | $2,597,573 | 834 | $12,881,875 |
| September 6–8 | 7 | $1,461,768 | 796 | $14,898,009 |
| September 13–15 | 7 | $958,830 | 711 | $16,385,510 |
Reception
Year of the Dragon received polarizing reviews upon its release in 1985. Vincent CanbyVincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
wrote for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
: "Year of the Dragon is light years away from being a classic, but then it makes no pretense at being anything more than what it is — an elaborately produced gangster film that isn't boring for a minute, composed of excesses in behavior, language and visual effects that, eventually, exert their own hypnotic effect." Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
, in contrast, also writing for The New York Times, deplored a lack of "feeling, reason and narrative continuity", under which the actors fared "particularly badly", especially Ariane Koizumi whose role in the movie was "ineffectual".
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
Rex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
gave Dragon one of its most ecstatic reviews: "Exciting, explosive, daring and adventurous stuff." In his review of Cimino's later film The Sicilian
The Sicilian
The Sicilian is a novel by Italian-American author Mario Puzo. Published in 1984 by Random House Publishing Group , it is based on Puzo's most famous work, The Godfather. It is regarded as The Godfathers literary sequel....
, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
wrote that Year of the Dragon was "strongly plotted and moved along with power and efficiency." Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
gave the film two and a half stars, calling it a "Highly charged, arresting melodrama... but nearly drowns in a sea of excess and self-importance." Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
dismissed the film as "hysterical, rabble rousing pulp, the kind that goes over well with subliterate audiences."
The film has a 60% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Legacy
Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
has praised this film as one of his favorites, naming its climactic train tracks shoot-out as one of his favorite "Killer Movie Moments" in 2004, remarking, "You forget to breathe during it!".
Controversy
Members of the Chinese AmericanChinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
and Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
communities protested the film, criticizing the film for its racial stereotyping, xenophobism (especially the use of the derogatory terms "chinks", "slant-eyed", and "yellow niggers"), and sexism. Some groups worried that the film would make Chinatown unsafe and cause an economic downturn in the community. As a result of the controversy, a disclaimer was attached to its opening credits, which read:
"This film does not intend to demean or to ignore the many positive features of Asian Americans and specifically Chinese American communities. Any similarity between the depiction in this film and any association, organization, individual or Chinatown that exists in real life is accidental."
Mariko Tse of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
was critical of both the film and Shelia Benson's earlier positive review: "Cimino's film Year of the Dragon and Sheila Benson's review of it, are both travesties of information. Benson implicates her woeful lack of knowledge of any Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
by calling the film 'part documentary.' Year of the Dragon is about as much a documentary as is a soft drink commercial." In her negative review, Pauline Kael added, "Year of the Dragon isn't much more xenophobic than The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
was, but it's a lot flabbier; the scenes have no tautness, no definition, and so you're more likely to be conscious of the bigotry."
Director Cimino responded to the controversy in an interview in Jeune cinéma: "The film was accused of racism, but they didn’t pay attention to what people say in the film. It’s a film which deals with racism, but it’s not a racist film. To deal with this sort of subject, you must inevitably reveal its tendencies. It’s the first time that we deal with the marginalization which the Chinese were subject to. On that subject, people know far too little. Americans discover with surprise that the Chinese were excluded from American citizenship up until 1943. They couldn’t bring their wives to America. Kwong’s speech to Stanley is applauded. For all these reasons, the Chinese loves the film. And the journalists’ negative reactions are perhaps a shield to conceal these unpleasant facts."
Awards
The film was nominated for five Razzie Awards1985 Golden Raspberry Awards
The 6th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 23, 1986 at the Morgan-Wixon Theatre in Santa Monica, California to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1985. Though Rambo: First Blood Part II won Worst Picture, Rocky IV received the greatest number of nominations and "wins"...
, including Worst Screenplay, Worst Picture
Razzie Award for Worst Picture
The Razzie Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each film's distribution company and producer.-1980s:...
, Worst Director
Razzie Award for Worst Director
The Razzie Award for Worst Director is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst director of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
, Worst Actress
Razzie Award for Worst Actress
The Razzie Award for Worst Actress is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actress of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
and Worst New Star
Razzie Award for Worst New Star
The Razzie Award for Worst New Star is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst new actor or actress of the previous year from 1982 to 1989 and again from 1991 to 1999. The category has since been discontinued.-1982–1989:...
(both for Ariane). The film was also nominated for a Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger) César
César
Cesar Lacbu Nucum , better known as Kuya Cesar, was a Filipino radio personality. He was also known as "Speed Begal".-Early life:...
award. John Lone
John Lone
John "Johnny" Lone is a Hong Kong born American actor of Chinese and English descent. Lone has played roles as diverse as a caveman in Iceman , the last Emperor of China in The Last Emperor , and an apparently female opera performer in M. Butterfly .-Personal life:Lone was born as Ng Kwok-leung...
received a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination and David Mansfield
David Mansfield
David Mansfield is an American violinist, mandolin player, guitarist, pedal steel guitar player, and composer....
received a Best Original Score
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
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Further reading
- Chevrie, Marc (November 1985). "Le point de mire" (in French). Cahiers du cinémaCahiers du cinémaCahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
(n377). - Marchetti, Gina (1993). "Conclusion: The Postmodern Spectacle of Race and Romance in 'Year of the Dragon'". Romance and the "Yellow Peril": Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
- Marchetti, Gina (1991). "Ethnicity, the Cinema and Cultural Studies". Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American Cinema. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
- Masson, Alain (November 1985). "L’année du dragon" (in French). Positif (n297).
- Pym, John (December/January 1985-86). "After the Deluge". Sight and Sound (55).
- Toubiana, Serge (December 1985). “Il n'y a pas d'affaire Cimino” (in French). Cahiers du cinéma (n378).
- Wood, Robin (Summer/Fall 1986). “Hero/Anti-Hero: The Dilemma of ‘Year of the Dragon’”. CineAction! (n6).
External links
- Year of the Dragon at michaelcimino.fr (unofficial French website)
- Trailer of Year of the Dragon on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Excerpt: The Shootout from Year of the Dragon on YouTube
- Film review by John J. Puccio at DVD Town
- Film review at eFilmCritic.com