China Girl (1987)

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Writer:

Nicholas St. John (writer)

Release Date:

25 September 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A modern day Romeo & Juliet story is told in New York when an Italian boy and a Chinese girl become lovers...

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Chinese Girl | Chinese | Italian | Romeo And Juliet Plot

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

James Russo	...	Alby
Richard Panebianco	...	Tony
Sari Chang	...	Tye
David Caruso	...	Mercury
Russell Wong	...	Yung Gan
Joey Chin	...	Tsu Shin
Judith Malina	...	Mrs. Monte
James Hong	...	Gung Tu
Robert Miano	...	Enrico Perito
Paul Hipp	...	Nino
Doreen Chan	...	Gau Shing
Randy Sabusawa	...	Ma Fan
Keenan Leung	...	Ying Tz
Lum Chang Pan	...	Da Shan
Sammy Lee	...	Mohawk

Also Known As:

Krieg in Chinatown (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Çinli kiz (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
A Rapariga da China (Portugal) [pt]
China Girl - vihan maailma (Finland) [fi]
China girl (Greece) [el]
Chinka (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 (cut) | Australia:R | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Great American Films Limited Partnership

Trivia:

Out of all of the films he has directed, Abel Ferrara has stated that China Girl is his favorite.

Quotes:

Enrico Perito: "You wanna be a wiseguy Alby?"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shakedown (1988)

Soundtrack:

La Donna Mobile

Romeo And Juliet of New York

William Shakespeare's eternal tale of young love gets yet another version in China Girl. Despite the racial tensions between the Chinese of Chinatown and the shrinking Italian population of Little Italy, Sari Chang and Richard Panebianco find each other and find love. Now if only those who might become their prospective in-laws will stop the hate.

China Girl was filmed completely on location in New York's neighborhoods of Little Italy and Chinatown. As the film says Little Italy where the fabled fictional Godfather had the Genco Olive Oil company is shrinking block by block as the Italians move out and a huge influx of Orientals move in and expand Chinatown. China Girl was done in 1987 so in twenty years the trend is exacerbated.

Players like James Russo, Russell Wong, and David Caruso have all gone on to bigger and better things, they're certainly more known than the leads are now. Still Panebianco and Chang are an attractive pair of kids.

The soundtrack is typical music from the Eighties in keeping with the times. Don't expect any songs for the ages like there were in West Side Story.

China Girl is a nice retelling of Romeo and Juliet a story that as long as there's life on planet Earth will never go out of style.