Tai-Pan

1986
R
2h 7m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.Historical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 nominations

Trivia
Producer Martin Ransohoff and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio in 1966 acquired the rights to James Clavell's source "Tai-Pan" novel for US $500,000. The movie was then announced by MGM in 1967-68 to star Patrick McGoohan to play Dirk Struan, to be directed by Michael Anderson, with source novelist Clavell writing the screenplay. The picture was originally budgeted to cost US $26 million which was then reduced to US $20 million. The project sat around stagnant for a time in development hell. However, after severe operating losses, the epic was one of a number of expensive projects the new management at the MGM studio dropped as being too costly. The project and the development of the movie at MGM was in the end canceled by executive James T. Aubrey.

Goofs
In a scene, set in 1841, several of the ladies were wearing bright mauve outfits. That would have been most unlikely for the wives of middle class traders at that time as the color purple was prohibitively expensive before the invention of analine dyes in London - in 1856. By 1870 these gaudy colors had become so cheap and commonplace that it became a status symbol to mimic the subtler, paler colors of the pre analine dye days.

Quotes
Dirk Struan: No emperor has seen the guns of a British man-of-war.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: 52 Pick-Up/Nobody's Fool/Tai Pan/The Sacrifice (1986)

Soundtracks
Mazurka
(uncredited)
Music by Adrien Talexy
Arranged by Trevor L. Sharpe

User reviews24

Review

Featured review

7/10

Too much in too short a time

I agree with other comments that this should have been a miniseries but on HBO not commercial TV. The scenes with the various women would have been destroyed with censorship. I believe that it did give an accurate "feel" to the times and events depicted.

Upon viewing this I immediately ordered the book ( I had ignored it due to some disappointment at Nobel House ). Also bit the bullet and ordered Shogun the miniseries. Mr. Clavell's work s are to be appreciated even in movies that fall short. I do wish Bryan Brown had a better accent but Joan Chen mimicked it perfectly.

The supporting cast both western and oriental were excellent. Also the "few" ships used were great. Now I want Noble House on DVD.