‘China O’Brien’ 1 & 2 or — Bloody God-Awful yet Awfully Good?
Despite being a big Cynthia Rothrock fan I’ve only been familiar with her incredible Hong Kong output meaning I’d never seen the two films for which she was most famous to Western audiences, the two ‘China O’Brien’ movies, until last night that is when I sat down and finally watched them both. However, I knew I had to tread carefully as I’d heard that in comparison to her previous work that these American films (although still Hong Kong produced) were supposed to be a bit… shit? And now that I’ve seen them both?
Oh, these films are complete shit all right, and then some! In fact, you could say they’re almost unwatchable what with their ear-scraping dialogue, appalling acting, small-scale action and workmanlike, if not downright amateurish, direction. I know I’ve said I’d happily watch Rothrock in anything but this is REALLY pushing it. Surely there must be something to salvage all this and, if so, then what the hell could it possibly be?! But first, let’s see what these films are about.
In ‘China O’Brien’ (1990) Lori ‘China’ O’Brien (Rothrock) is a big city cop and martial arts trainer who hangs up her badge and gun after accidentally shooting a kid in the line of duty and returns to her small hometown of Beaver Creek, Utah, where her dad is the local sheriff. When her dad is killed by the local crime boss China decides to run for sheriff herself and clean up Beaver Creek with the aid of her trusty side-kicks Matt (Richard Norton) and Dakota (Keith Cooke).
In ‘China O’Brien 2’ (1991) China is the sheriff of Beaver Creek. She doesn’t carry a gun after accidentally shooting a kid in the line of duty back in the big city which is why she returned to her small hometown of Beaver Creek, Utah. When a drug kingpin escapes jail and starts threatening the small town of Beaver Creek, Utah, China decides to clean up Beaver Creek with the aid of her trusty side-kicks Matt and Dakota.
To call these plots simple would be to insult your intelligence (although if you find them filled with Pynchon-esque complexity then I do apologise) but that’s okay because these storylines are deliberately minimalistic purely in order to hang loads of expertly choreographed fight scenes from, aren’t they? Not only that but these films were directed by Robert Clouse who made ‘Enter the Dragon’ (1974), so the action’s going to be mind-blowing, right? Er…
You see, Clouse might’ve directed ‘Enter the Dragon’ but he also directed ‘Game of Death’ (1978), a movie of such exploitative bad taste that footage of Bruce Lee’s actual funeral was inserted to legitimise it as a Bruce Lee movie, and there are many who believe Clouse got lucky with ‘Enter the Dragon’ and that it was Lee and his stunt team responsible for the film’s success. What Clouse was, however, was quick, cheap and an expert at making something from nothing, and that’s on full display with the ‘China O’Brien’ movies for good and bad.
Both films were shot consecutively in six weeks (some Hong Kong productions would spend that amount of time on a single fight sequence alone) with a minimal stunt team so anyone expecting intricate choreography or large-scale set-pieces is going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, the fights are scrappy, quickly concocted and seemingly shot in one take. Not only that but aside from Rothrock, Norton and Cooke almost every other stunt person appears to have little, if any, martial arts experience and were hired simply because they were willing to be thrown about.
Yet what the China O’Brien movies do have going for them (thank god!) is a bucket load of adorable charm. They’re the type of movie that the more shonky they became, the more their seams and stitches showed, the more impressed I was that they were even capable of entertaining me at all. Their flaws and limitations become, much like Rothrock’s China herself, exceptionally endearing and when they do burst into life everyone involved is certainly giving it everything they’ve got with any deficiencies purely down to lack of time and certainly not talent. Even Clouse manages to muster up a few nice flourishes at certain points and whenever the action kicks off its always a blast (there’s a moment involving a water-cooler in Part 2 that’s fantastic).
The films also work great as a double-bill, possibly because there isn’t quite enough in either to recommend them individually, and they’re both so pleasantly watchable that by the time the second film was drawing to a close I found myself wishing there was a third adventure for China, Matt and Dakota I could dive straight into. I wanted more.
I can understand why these movies have their fans because they’re both very appealing, although if you only know Cynthia Rothrock from her ‘China O’Brien’ movies then you should track down her vastly superior Hong Kong work ASAP where in films such as ‘Yes, Madam’ (1985) or the astonishing ‘Righting Wrongs’ (1986) she shows you exactly what she‘s capable of — i.e. kicking you through the fucking wall.
