The Golden Child is a
1986-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle*Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
AmericanThe cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
mysticalMysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
starring
Eddie MurphyEdward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, comedian and singer. He is the second-highest grossing actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian...
. Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who is confronted by a young
AsianAsian people or Asiatic people is a demonym for people from Asia. However, the use of the term varies by country and person, often referring to people from a particular region or subregion of Asia...
woman (
Charlotte LewisCharlotte Lewis is an English actress. Lewis is Irish from her mother's side and Iraqi-Chilean from her father's side. -Acting career:...
), who tells him that he is
the Chosen OneThe One may refer to:* "Τὸ Ἕν," An alternative name for the Monad, the Absolute, the Source of Reality, Greek Philosophy's definition of Godhead and The Good in Pythagoreanism to Neoplatonism, the Prime Principle in Gnosticism, The All in Hermeticism....
destined to save The Golden Child, the saviour of all mankind, from the clutches of the demon Sardo Numspa, played by
Charles DanceCharles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains....
. The film was directed by
Michael RitchieMichael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director.Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie, who was a college professor. His sister, Elsie, acted in two of his films...
for
Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
.
In an unknown location in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
, a young boy with mystical abilities, the Golden Child, receives badges of station and demonstrates his power by reviving a dead bird, which is to become a constant companion.
The Golden Child is a
1986-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle*Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
AmericanThe cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
mysticalMysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
starring
Eddie MurphyEdward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, comedian and singer. He is the second-highest grossing actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian...
. Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who is confronted by a young
AsianAsian people or Asiatic people is a demonym for people from Asia. However, the use of the term varies by country and person, often referring to people from a particular region or subregion of Asia...
woman (
Charlotte LewisCharlotte Lewis is an English actress. Lewis is Irish from her mother's side and Iraqi-Chilean from her father's side. -Acting career:...
), who tells him that he is
the Chosen OneThe One may refer to:* "Τὸ Ἕν," An alternative name for the Monad, the Absolute, the Source of Reality, Greek Philosophy's definition of Godhead and The Good in Pythagoreanism to Neoplatonism, the Prime Principle in Gnosticism, The All in Hermeticism....
destined to save The Golden Child, the saviour of all mankind, from the clutches of the demon Sardo Numspa, played by
Charles DanceCharles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains....
. The film was directed by
Michael RitchieMichael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director.Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie, who was a college professor. His sister, Elsie, acted in two of his films...
for
Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
.
Plot
In an unknown location in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
, a young boy with mystical abilities, the Golden Child, receives badges of station and demonstrates his power by reviving a dead bird, which is to become a constant companion. However, a band of villains led by a mysterious man (Sardo Numspa) breaks into the hidden temple, slaughters the monks and takes the boy away.
Some time afterwards, a young woman named Kee Nang watches a
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
TV show in which Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who engages in finding missing children, appears and tries to present his latest case (a missing girl named Cheryll Mosley) over the host's prattling. She seeks him out the next day and openly informs him of the kidnapping of the Golden Child and that he is the 'Chosen One' who would recover it from the hands of evil. Jovial and worldly as he considers himself, Chandler does not take this seriously, even after the appearance of the
astral formAstral projection is an esoteric interpretation of any form of out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of travelling outside it...
of the Child and his bird familiar following Chandler everywhere he goes, but he is instantly taken with Kee Nang and constantly tries to flirt with her.
Soon Cheryll Mosley is found, dead from loss of blood, near an abandoned house smeared with Tibetaian graffiti and a pot full of blood-soaked oatmeal. Kee Nang reveals to him that this house was a holding place for the Child and brings Chandler in contact with Doctor Hong, a mystic expert, and Kala (a creature half dragon, half human woman, who remains hidden behind a screen). Together they track down a motorcycle gang named the Yellow Dragons, which Cheryll had joined, and then the Chinese restaurant owner Tommy Tong, a henchman of Numspa, to whom Cheryll had been 'sold' for her blood, which was to be used to make the Child vulnerable to earthly harm; Tong, however, is killed by Numspa as a potential traitor. Still not taking the case too seriously, Chandler is quickly convinced when Numspa — whom Chandler begins to continuously call "Numpsy" — draws him into a controlled dream, where he leaves a burn mark on Chandler's arm. He also presents his demands: the Ajanti Dagger (a mystic weapon which is capable of killing the Golden Child) in exchange for the boy.
Chandler and Kee Nang travel to Tibet, where Chandler is apparently swindled by an old amulet seller, who later turns out to be the High Priest of the temple where the dagger is kept hidden (and, subsequently, Kee Nang's father). In order to obtain the blade, Chandler has to pass a test: an obstacle course in a bottomless cavern whilst carrying a glass of water without spilling even one drop. With luck and wits, Chandler recovers the blade and even manages to bring it past customs into the United States.
At their hideout, however, Numspa and his henchmen attack them. The Ajanti Dagger is lost to the villains, and Kee sacrifices her life for Chandler, taking a crossbow bolt meant for him, and dies in his arms confessing her love for him. Doctor Hong offers him hope, for as long as the sun shines upon Kee, the Child might be able to save her yet. Driven now by a personal motive, Chandler — with the help of the Child's familiar — locates Numspa's hideout, retrieves the dagger, fights past the guards with the help of Til, one of Numspa's men converted to good by the Child, and frees the boy. But as he prepares to finish Numspa, the latter reveals his true face as a flying
demonIn religion, folklore, and mythology a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled...
from hell. Chandler and the Child escape the hideout, only to be tracked down by the demon. After some narrow escapes, Chandler and the child seek shelter in an old abandoned industrial warehouse, but seconds later, Sardo is back on top of them, destroying the warehouse and fighting Chandler. Having been outmatched by Sardo, he and the child escape, but Chandler loses the dagger after Sardo whacks him with his right wing. They escape again and head over to Doctor Hong's shop where Kee is being kept.
As the two approach Kee Nang's body, Numspa smashes up through the floor with the dagger in his hand, but his attempt to kill Chandler with it is foiled by the amulet the Old Man had sold him. The Child places the dagger back into Chandler's hands, and Chandler destroys Numspa with it. The Child then uses the last ray of sunlight and his powers to bring Kee back from the dead. As the movie ends, the three take a walk discussing the Child's return to Tibet and (as Chandler jokingly suggests) the boy's prospective fame as a stage magician.
Cast
- Chandler Jarrell - Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, comedian and singer. He is the second-highest grossing actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian...
- The Golden Child - J.L. Reate
- Sardo Numspa - Charles Dance
Charles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains....
- Kee Nang - Charlotte Lewis
Charlotte Lewis is an English actress. Lewis is Irish from her mother's side and Iraqi-Chilean from her father's side. -Acting career:...
- The Old Man - Victor Wong
Victor Wong was an American character actor who appeared in supporting roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s....
- Til - Randall "Tex" Cobb
- Doctor Hong - James Hong
James Hong is an American actor and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists .-Early life:...
- Kala - Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The...
- Yu - Tau Logo
- Khan - Tiger Chung Lee
- Fu - Pons Maar
- Tommy Tong - Peter Kwong
Peter Kwong Kong-kit, GBS, was the first Archbishop Primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui and, in 1998, was named as Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong Island....
- Detective Boggs - Wally Taylor
- Yellow Dragon - Eric Douglas
Eric Douglas was a stand up comedian who occasionally acted in low budget movies.-Family:He was born Eric Anthony Douglas in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of actor Kirk Douglas and Belgian mother Anne Buydens...
- TV Host - Charles Levin
For the actor, see Charles Levin .Charles Leonard Levin was a Michigan jurist. He served as a Michigan Court of Appeals judge from 1966 to 1972 and as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1973 to 1996.Levin's father, Theodore Levin, was a federal district court judge...
- The Thing - Frank Welker
Franklin W. "Frank" Welker is a veteran American actor, who specializes in voice acting. He is responsible for a broad spectrum of character voices and other vocal effects that have appeared over the last 40 years in American television and motion pictures.Welker is listed as number one on the...
(voice)
Production details
John CarpenterJohn Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York,...
was at one point attached to direct, but ultimately dropped out. He would later direct
Big Trouble in Little ChinaBig Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American action comedy, directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell as truck driver Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed girlfriend from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown...
, a film with similar
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
mysticism themes which was initially set to be released in the same time frame as this film.
Actor
Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
was also originally slated to play the role of Chandler Jarrell. When Gibson was unavailable, the producers selected Murphy, and changed the movie from a serious adventure drama to a partial comedy. Until Murphy did
The Nutty ProfessorThe Nutty Professor is a 1996 science fiction-romantic comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. It is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name starring Jerry Lewis. The original music score was composed by David Newman....
, this was the only film he starred in that was rated less than R in America.
Gene LeBellGene LeBell is a former American judo champion, instructor, stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and professional wrestler. LeBell has worked on over 350 films and TV shows, and has authored a number of books....
makes a small, cameo appearance as a drunk member of the Yellow Dragons biker gang with horrible breath from previously-consumed liquor. A tied-up Murphy, as LeBell (in character) coughs near his face, begs him to please take as many Tic Tacs from out of his pocket as he likes.
John BarryJohn Barry, OBE is an English film score composer. He is best known for composing 11 James Bond soundtracks and was hugely influential on the 007 series' distinctive style.-Personal life:...
began scoring this film, but during production left the project after differences with the producers, and his music was replaced with a mostly synth-pop/orchestral score by
Michel ColombierMichel Colombier , was a French composer, songwriter, arranger, and conductor.Colombier was born in Lyon, and began his musical education at the age of six. By age fourteen, he had discovered jazz and improvisation and was performing with small combos and big bands...
, however some Barry cues remain in the final film, and one track, "Wisdom of the Ages," appears on the soundtrack.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Ajanti Dagger in the film is not the same knife prop used in
The ShadowThe Shadow is a 1994 action film, directed by Russell Mulcahy, and based on the character of the same name created by Walter B. Gibson in 1931. Alec Baldwin starred in the title role...
(with
Alec BaldwinAlexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in films such as Beetlejuice and The Hunt for Red October, in addition to the Martin Scorsese films The Aviator and The Departed.He was nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild...
), but both are based on the Tibetan
PhurbaThe kīla is a three-sided peg, stake, knife, or nail like ritual implement traditionally associated with Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Bön, and Indian Vedic traditions. The kīla is associated with the meditational deity The kīla (Sanskrit; Tib. Phurba, pronunciation between pur-ba and fur-pu, alt....
dagger. The exotic weapons wielded by the villain Tommy Tong are called
hook swordThe Hook Sword or Shuanggou also known as tiger-head is an exotic Chinese weapon traditionally associated with Northern styles of Chinese martial arts, but now often practiced by Southern styles as well.-Background:...
s.
YodhaYodha is a Malayalam film produced in India in 1992. The film was written and directed by Sangeeth Sivan. The movie stars Mohanlal, who is told he is the saviour destined to rescue the Rimpoche of a Nepalese Buddhist monastery from practitioners of black magic.-Plot:In an unknown location in the...
was a Malayalam film inspired from this movie.
Although the Golden Child is referred to as a boy throughout the film, the character was actually played by a girl.
Reception
Released in December 1986,
The Golden Child was a box office success. It took in $79,817,937 in the U.S. alone, making it the 8th biggest film of the year. However, the film was considered a disappointment by the studio when compared to Murphy's previous film,
Beverly Hills CopBeverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American action-comedy film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox. Murphy stars as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop, who heads to Beverly Hills, California to solve the death of his best friend...
, which garnered
$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
234,760,478 at the U.S. box office.