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Smuggler. Prince. Murderer. Father. Sinner. Saint.

There can only be one.


Daryl Duke directed this epic adventure, based on James Clavell's best-selling novel, concerning the battle for control of the China trade in early 19th-century Hong Kong. The film takes place in 1842 on the China Coast, where the Chinese object to the British imperialist policy of buying opium from the Chinese and then selling it back to them at a higher price. As a result, British warships arrive to pound the recalcitrant Chinese into submission. The outcome of the assault is a treaty giving England the right to operate Hong Kong as a free-port. The problem is who will become the Tai-Pan, or British merchant ruler of Hong Kong? The battle lines for the position are drawn between two swashbucklers -- Dirk Struan (Bryan Brown), a skipping and jumping buccaneer, and Tyler Brock (John Stanton), a weaselly cheat. Brock makes the first move by forcing Straun into bankruptcy, but, thanks to the help of the local prostitute May-May (Joan Chen), who has a score to settle with Brock, Straun is able to raise the money at the last minute. This enrages Brock, who remains bitter through the years and finally confronts Straun in a climactic sword fight

Tai-Pan is a 1986 film directed by Daryl Duke, loosely based on James Clavell's 1966 novel of the same name. While many of the same characters and plot twists are maintained, a few smaller occurrences are left out. Filmed under communist Chinese censorship, some portions of Clavell's story were considered too offensive to be filmed as written and considerable changes were made. The De Laurentiis Entertainment Group handled the production and were actively seen battling the Chinese Government and Labor boards over the film during shooting. The results fared poorly at the box office and in critical reviews. Director Daryl Duke believed that a mini-series à la Shōgun or Noble House would have been a far superior means of covering the complexity of Clavell's novel.


There had been numerous attempts to film Tai Pan over the years. Patrick McGoohan was announced to play Dirk Struan in a version for MGM in 1968 which was postponed due to high costs, despite Carlo Ponti and Martin Ransohoff as producers and Michael Anderson attached to direct.[2][3]

In the late 1970s Georges-Alain Vuille obtained the rights and hired Richard Fleischer to direct. George MacDonald Fraser was hired to adapt the novel. (Previous versions had been written by Carl Foreman and James Clavell himself.) Fraser's script met with approval - Vuille hired him to write a sequel - Richard Fleischer was attached to direct, and Steve McQueen agreed to star for a reported fee of $10 million. However he later dropped out of the project; Roger Moore became briefly attached, then Vuille lost the rights. Fraser's script was not used in the final movie.[4]

In 1842, the Chinese are outraged by the British imperialists who buy opium from them and then sell it back at a higher price. In response to this anger, the British send warships to the China Coast to maintain control. This results in a treaty which gives England the right to use Hong Kong as a free-port, and necessitates finding a Tai-Pan, who will be the British ruler of merchant trade in Hong Kong. Buccaneer Dirk Struan and dishonest Tyler Brock vie for the position. After Brock forces Struan into backruptcy, a prostitute named May-May helps Struan raise the money he needs to succeed and he takes the post. Many years later, Brock's bitterness surfaces and the two men fight it out with swords.


Release Date: November 7, 1986


Distrib: DeLaurentis Entertainment Group


Boxoffice: $4,007,250 2014: $9,019,000