High Road to China
High Road to China
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
| High Road to China | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Brian G. Hutton |
| Produced by | Fred Weintraub |
| Screenplay by | Sandra Weintraub S. Lee Pogostin |
| Based on | High Road to China by Jon Cleary |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Ronnie Taylor |
| Edited by | John Jympson |
Production company | Golden Harvest Company City Films Jadran Film Pan Pacific Productions |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Umbrella Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States Yugoslavia Hong Kong |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $28,445,927 |
High Road to China (a.k.a. Raiders of the End of the World) is a 1983 American adventure-romance film set in the 1920s starring Tom Selleck in his first major starring role, playing a hard-drinking biplane pilot hired by society heiress Eve "Evie" Tozer (Bess Armstrong) to find her missing father (Wilford Brimley). The supporting cast includes Robert Morley and Brian Blessed. The Golden Harvest film (released by Warner Bros.) is loosely based on a novel of the same name by Jon Cleary. However, little beyond character names and the basic premise of an aerial race to China survived the translation to film.
While Brian G. Hutton ended up as the final director, originally, High Road to China was helmed by John Huston, before being replaced by Sidney J. Furie. The musical score was composed by John Barry. It was the 27th highest-grossing film of 1983, bringing in $28,445,927 at the domestic box office.[1]
.mw-parser-output .toclimit-2 .toclevel-1 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-3 .toclevel-2 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-4 .toclevel-3 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-5 .toclevel-4 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-6 .toclevel-5 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-7 .toclevel-6 ul{display:none}
Contents
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
4.1 Honors
5 Home media
6 References
6.1 Notes
6.2 Bibliography
7 External links
Plot[edit]
Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) is a society heiress and flapper living the high-life in 1920s Istanbul. She needs to find her father, Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley), before he is officially declared dead or risk losing her inheritance to his scheming business partner, Bentik (Robert Morley). She only has 12 days. Eve hires World War I ace pilot Patrick O'Malley (Tom Selleck) and his aircraft. O'Malley is eager to take the job as he needs to leave town rather urgently himself. Eve, also an accomplished pilot, however, is determined to accompany him in his other aircraft, which causes the first of many arguments on the way from Istanbul and China.
Their journey in two biplanes (named "Dorothy" and "Lillian" after the famous Gish silent film star sisters[2]) through six countries leads them to finally find the eccentric Bradley Tozer in China, where he is helping a small village defend itself against a local warlord. O'Malley and Eve help them win the final battle, but their one remaining aircraft is damaged in the process, leaving her seemingly unable to meet her deadline.
Cast[edit]
Tom Selleck as Patrick O'Malley
Bess Armstrong as Eve "Evie" Tozer
Jack Weston as Struts
Wilford Brimley as Bradley Tozer
Robert Morley as Bentik
Brian Blessed as Suleman Khan- Sime Jagarinac as Khan's Nephew
- Domagoj Vukusic as Chauffeur
Cassandra Gava as Alessa- Peggy Sirr as Alessa's Mother
Michael Sheard as Charlie
Lynda La Plante as Lina
Terry Richards as Ginger
Robert Lee as Zura- Shayur Mehta as Ahmed
Jeremy Child as Silversmith- Peter Llewellyn Williams as Franjten Khan
- Hai Ching Lim as Tozer's Lieutenant
Dino Shafeek as Satvinda
Anthony Chinn as General Wong- Chua Kahjoo as Wong's Aide
Timothy Bateson as Alec Wedgeworth
Wolf Kahler as Von Hess
Ric Young as Kim Su Lee- Zdenka Hersak as Countess
- Marc Boyle as Henchman
- Kim Rook Teoh as Wong's Lieutenant
- Daniel Clucas as British Officer
- John Higginson as British Officer
Simon Prebble as British Officer
Timothy Carlton as Officer
Production[edit]
High Road to China is regarded as one of the better 'imitators' that populated movie theaters in the years following Raiders of the Lost Ark however, as in the case of Romancing the Stone, another so-called 'imitator', the source material actually predated the aforementioned Lucasfilm production by four years.[3] Rumor has it that it was "given" to Selleck as a sort of consolation prize for having to pass on Raiders of the Lost Ark due to scheduling conflicts with Magnum, P.I.[4]
In early development, the film was slated to star Roger Moore and Jacqueline Bisset under the direction of John Huston.[5] Then Huston and Bissett dropped out and Bo Derek was to co star with Moore. The budget was to be $16 million. Then Derek dropped out because she only wanted to be directed by her husband.[6]
Filming for High Road to China took place in Yugoslavia with a crew of 231 (145 Yugoslavs, 60 British, 15 Italians, 10 Americans, and one Frenchman). They also added 50 Yugoslav actors to the speaking cast and hired 4,000 extras. Headquarters for the film company was in the small Adriatic coastal town of Opatija, Croatia, located on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Rijeka at the foot of Mt. Ucka. It was filmed in Opatija and Istria, Croatia. Scenes set in Afghanistan were shot at Kamenjak near Rijeka, while scenes set in Turkey were filmed at Volosko, and the final battle in China was shot in Boljun.
Originally, Bristol F2B replicas were built by Vernon Ohmert of Ypsilanti, Michigan. This aircraft type was in the novel, but after construction, the replicas were thought to be dangerous to fly at high altitude and were replaced by two Stampe SV-4 biplanes, (G-AZGC and G-AZGE), provided by Bianchi Aviation Film Services.
Reception[edit]
High Road to China was the only new wide release on the March 18–20 weekend, and debuted atop the box office with $6,156,049.[7] It eventually grossed over $28 million domestically.[8]
Tom Selleck later recalled:
Patrick O'Malley I'm very fond of ... There were actors at that point who had left a series and started a feature career, but there was no one at that point who was trying to do both at the same time. So that was unique. It also made the jury rather tough, because a lot of people didn't see it that way, so I was walking into an arena where that wasn't accepted. But it's a good movie. It holds up.[9]
Aerofiles, a historical aviation website, considered the film as "Strictly mediocre, with substandard action scenes and the flattest dialogue this side of the Great Wall."[10] Aviation film historian Christian Santoir described the film thusly: "Arriving two years after 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Raiders of the End of the World' was in the same vein, despite certain missing qualities. This, however, could have been the start of another 'Indiana Jones'–type franchise."[2] Film historian Stephen Pendo found High Road to China "... notable mainly for its aviation sequences, for it lacks character and plot development."[11]
C.J. Henderson reviewed High Road to China in The Space Gamer No. 63.[12] Henderson commented that "Unless one is looking for a pleasant, harmless, non-sexy, non-violent, disinteresting film to take the grandparents to its best to pass this one by."[12]
Honors[edit]
High Road to China was nominated for the 1984 Saturn Award as Best Fantasy Film, while Bess Armstrong was nominated as Best Actress at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Festival.[13]
Home media[edit]
High Road to China was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in February 2012.[14] In February 2013, Umbrella Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray.[15]
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
^ "1983 Box office results: High Road to China" Archived 2006-11-13 at the Wayback Machine.. Movies.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
^ ab Santoir, Christian. "Review: Raiders of the End of the World." Aeromovies, October 18, 2010. Retrieved: December 4, 2015. (In French.)
^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Road_to_China_(novel)
^ Bricken, Rob. "Tom Selleck sets the record straight about him and Indiana Jones." io9.com, March 6, 2014. Retrieved: December 4, 2015.
^ Warga, Wayne. "Author! Author!: Upwardly Prolific Down Under". Los Angeles Times, July 4, 1980, p. e2.
^ AT THE MOVIES; THE MAN BEHIND BAD TIMING; The man behind 'Bad Timing.' New York Times19 Sep 1980: C.6.
^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=1983&wknd=11&p=.htm
^ Champlin, Charles. "Selleck: A runaway male sex symbol." Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1984, p. l1.
^ Harris, Will. "Tom Selleck on Jesse Stone, Friends, and fighting for Magnum, P.I." avclub.com, October 14, 2015. Retrieved: December 4, 2015.
^ "Review: 'High Road to China'." Aerofiles. Retrieved: December 4, 2015.
^ Pendo 1985, p. 31.
^ ab Henderson, C.J. (May–June 1983). "Capsule Reviews". The Space Gamer. Steve Jackson Games (63): 38–39..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "Awards: 'High Road to China' (1983)." IMDb. Retrieved: December 4, 2015.
^ "Dvd: 'High Road to China'." Umbrella Entertainment. Retrieved: December 4, 2015.
^ "Blu-ray:'High Road to China'." Umbrella Entertainment. Retrieved: December 4, 2015.
Bibliography[edit]
.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{list-style-type:none;margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>dl>dd{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-100{font-size:100%}
- Pendo, Stephen. Aviation in the Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985.
ISBN 0-8-1081-746-2.
External links[edit]
 | Wikiquote has quotations related to: High Road to China |
High Road to China at the TCM Movie Database
High Road to China on IMDb
High Road to China at Box Office Mojo
High Road to China at Rotten Tomatoes
Categories:
- 1983 films
- English-language films
- 1980s adventure films
- American films
- American adventure films
- American aviation films
- Films scored by John Barry (composer)
- Films based on works by Jon Cleary
- Films directed by Brian G. Hutton
- Films set in Afghanistan
- Films set in China
- Films set in Istanbul
- Films set in the 1920s
- Jadran Film films
- Yugoslav films
- War romance films
(window.RLQ=window.RLQ||).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.332","walltime":"0.463","ppvisitednodes":{"value":1722,"limit":1000000},"ppgeneratednodes":{"value":0,"limit":1500000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":50233,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":2870,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":21,"limit":40},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":1,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":11281,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":1,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 393.308 1 -total"," 24.84% 97.706 1 Template:Reflist"," 23.77% 93.493 1 Template:Infobox_film"," 20.92% 82.274 1 Template:Infobox"," 16.10% 63.324 1 Template:Cite_journal"," 8.07% 31.756 1 Template:ISBN"," 7.32% 28.796 1 Template:Tcmdb_title"," 5.71% 22.467 1 Template:Rotten-tomatoes"," 5.60% 22.034 1 Template:IMDb_title"," 4.44% 17.460 3 Template:Navbox"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.100","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":3376103,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw1264","timestamp":"20181226043409","ttl":3600,"transientcontent":true}}});mw.config.set({"wgBackendResponseTime":104,"wgHostname":"mw1249"});});
