Shanghai Noon - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Shanghai Knights

"Chon Wang? That's a terrible name for a cowboy!"

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 onto one misadventure after another. Directed by Tom Dey, it was written by 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) who team up to stop a crime.

In the sequel directed by David Dobkin, Shanghai Knights, they travel to Victorian London to foil a plot against the Queen. Also starring Singaporean actress Fann Wong

as Chon Wang's sister, Chon Lin. In the 1880's, Chon Wang's father and keeper of the Imperial Seal has been murdered by Parliament and royal family member Rathbone, (who steals the Imperial Seal) with Chon Wang's sister, Chon Lin, witnessing the murder. Chon Lin follows Rathbone to London to kill him, while sending Chon a letter telling him of the murder. Chon then travels to New York for Roy O'Bannon. Together they travel to England and meet up with Chon Lin to kill Rathbone and get the Imperial Seal back.

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. She ditches them BOTH in the sequel.
All Animals Are Dogs: A horse who knew "sit" and probably a few other commands. Played for laughs, as it's a partial parody of the Improbably Well-Trained Horse common to a lot of Westerns.
Anachronism Stew: A major source of comedy.
Authority Equals Asskicking: Rathbone basically hands Chon his head.
Big Damn Heroes (Chon and Roy fail at this whenever the Rule Of Funny calls for it, but succeed whenever the Rule Of Drama is in play)
Bloodstained Glass Windows: Guns and swords in a church. And Roy dressed up as a monk...
Bolivian Army Ending (subverted, the Indians Chon befriended earlier show up to save the day.)
Bookcase Passage - The fireplace subtype. It's a woman's breast.
Buried Alive
California Doubling
Catch And Return: Unexpected, because it's done by a random Indian warrior to Chon Wang, the Chinese martial artist.
Chinese Laborer - How Wang starts out.
Clock Tower - Shanghai Knights has its climax in Big Ben. Rathbone is tossed out of it, and Wang and O'Bannon must go the same way. But they have a flag to slow their descent.
Crashing Dreams: From surrounded by lovely ladies, to playful biting, to waking up and getting half-eaten by vultures in the first movie.
- And again in the second movie, the same character dreams of the girl he likes making out with him, then wakes up surrounded by sheep.
Disney Villain Death: Happens in Shanghai Knights when Chon cuts the supports and sends Rathbone flying out the clock tower face. Rathbone falls to his death and even gets a Wile E. Coyote puff of smoke when he hits the ground. Subverted immediately after when Chon and Roy fall off the clock tower as well, but survive after grabbing the flag and landing in the Queen's carriage. But really, they should have broken something.
Everything's Better With Princesses: In the first movie, it's LUCY LIU!
Fetish Fuel: Lin licking Roy.
Good Old Fisticuffs: "I don't know karate but I know kah-razy!" (with apologies to James Brown).
The Guards Must Be Crazy (subverted: "Oh, you mean the sick prisoner routine? Does that still work in China? 'Cause here it's sorta been done to death.")
Hey, It's That Guy!: Singaporeans may recognize Lin from the second movie as actress Fann Wong.
- There's also Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, and Lucy Liu. And Donnie Yen in the second movie.
- And Bridget Jones' mom is Queen Victoria.
- There isn't a cowboy named Shane in "Noon", but there is Shane as a cowboy.
Historical In Joke - WAY too many to list here. We start with Charlie Chaplin tagging with the heroes, who get him into the film business.
If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Her: In the second movie, after initially objecting to the idea of a relationship between his sister Lin and Roy, Chon accepts it, but adds, "Break her heart, I break your legs," to which Roy replies, "That's fair."
Indian Maiden
Indy Ploy: Parodied, where Roy - at this point a train robber - comes up with an elaborate and well-timed plan to stop the train and get the money seamlessly. His men - who aren't the brightest of the bunch - stare blankly and Roy reluctantly agrees to "wing it."
In The Past Everyone Will Be Famous: In the second movie, the main characters create the personas of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, freely give the idea to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and take on a young Charlie Chaplin as a sidekick.
- Oh, and Roy O'Bannon's real name is Wyatt Earp.
It Will Never Catch On - O'Bannon dismisses Sir Author Conan Doyle's detective stories as ridiculous.
Line Of Sight Name: In Shanghai Knights, Roy comes up with the pseudonym "Sherlock Holmes" in this manner. No, not from seeing anything written by Arthur Conan Doyle: In fact, he's the one who inspires Sir Arthur to use that name.
Mexican Standoff: Lampshaded. The corrupt sheriff comes in during the ransom money trade-off and pulls out dual pistols, aimed at Jackie and Owen Wilson. He quips, "Looks like we have a Mexican standoff... except we don't have any Mexicans."
Monumental Battle: 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.
My Life Flashed Before My Eyes - "My life is flashing before my eyes! Wait! I don't remember her"
Noodle Implements - "She picked the lock using a deck of rather risque playing cards, then she scaled the walls using a mop, a fork, and various pilfered undergarments. You've got to hand it to the Chinese; they're really quite ingenious, aren't they?"
Oh Crap: Wu Chow has this expression right before he explodes. Rathbone also gets an ...off putting look on his face when Chon cuts the support ropes.
One Buwwet Weft: 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. Roy gets him right through the heart.
Bad Guy: "Now how the hell did that happen?" *collapses*
- :By the way, this is the only time in the movie Roy successfully shot 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 Singing In The Rain.
Pocket Protector - Subverted. When Roy shoots the corrupt sheriff at the climax of the first movie, the bullet goes right through the center of the sheriff star, leaving a big hole.
- Also subverted when Doyle is shot in the second movie.
Rape Of The Lock: 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.)
Shut Up Kiss: At the end of the first movie, Chon's utterly silent Indian wife (from an Accidental Marriage) performs this on a babbling Roy, then delivers her only line in the film: "Shut up, Roy; you talk too much."
- Her only line in English, that is. She also speaks a line or two in her tribal language earlier in the film.
Stock Yuck
Sword Fight: At the climax of Shanghai Knights.
Taking You With Me: At the climax of Shanghai Knights, 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.
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 he's not really from Shanghai.
Tuckerization: In Shanghai Noon, Jackie Chan's character is named Chon Wang (John Wayne), and in the sequel, Shanghai Knights, Owen Wilson's character uses the name Sherlock Holmes as an alias. A nearby Arthur Conan Doyle hears the name, and likes it. While Owen Wilson's character goes by Roy O'Bannon, he reveals at the end of the first movie that he changed it — from Wyatt Earp. Finally, the kid sidekick in the second film is none other than Charlie Chaplin.
Unexpected Successor: The second movie had an noble who was way, way far down the line of succession hatch a conspiracy to kill everybody ahead of him so he could ascend to the throne.
Unwilling Suspension: Shanghai Knights
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:
Chon: Chon Wang, movie star? It could work.

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