Big Trouble in Little China (1986) dir. John Carpenter, 20th Century Fox
A cult film is hard thing to create. A paraphrase: If one million people see a film once, it's a hit. If ten people see the same film a million times, you've got a cult hit.
Trucker Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) has just gotten off a long haul and just hooked up with his old buddy Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). A gambling session ends with Wang owing Jack over two grand. Despite Wang swearing he's good for it, Jack doesn't trust his buddy to be out of his sight. This extends to Wang picking his bride to be at the airport, so Jack is a witness when Miao Yun (Suzee Pai) gets grabbed by the Lords of Death after Jack disrupts their kidnapping of Grace Law's (Kim Cattrall) client.
The chase ends up in Chinatown and right in the middle of a Tong funeral procession. The Chang Sing ignore Jack's truck, but Jack is parked smack middle of them when the rival Wing Kong gang shows up. The fight is pretty even, that is until the Wing Kong's friends so up; Rain (Peter Kwong), Thunder (Carter Wong), and Lightning (James Pax) are aptly named as they summon their named elements and go through the Chang Sing like a chainsaw through butter.
Jack decides to gun it, but in doing so runs over a tall pale man dressed in ancient robes (James Hong). The fellow seems more annoyed but Wang is freaked out as he knows the man-Lo Pan! Jack has no idea who that is but he follows Wang when he hightails it out of there. When they finally return, Miao Yun is gone and so's Jack's truck.
Back at Wing's family restaurant, Jack, Wing, and Eddie Lee (Donald Li) plan their next move when Grace drops in. She's got a line on Miao Yun and they have to hurry as she's been sold to the White Tiger (June Kyoto Lu), the biggest human trafficker on the West Coast. So, all Jack and Wing have to do sneak into the heaviest guarded brothel and get out without being killed. Easy as pie, right?
Well, Jack manages to get inside but so do the Three Storms and they steal Miao Yun. Well, they know the Storms are working for Lo Pan, although what a mythically character from Chinese history wants with Miao Yun is a bit harder to explain. Turns out Miao is a special girl, more special than Wang realizes; you see Miao has green eyes. For Lo Pan, a green eyed girl isn't just a fetish but rather the key to undo his curse of living death.
That's when Grace steps in. She doesn't know Lo Pan, but she does know David Lo Pan, local reclusive bigwig and rumored gangster. She knows his headquarters but Jack and Wing are going to need some heavy guns this time and they get them. Enter: Egg Shen (Victor Wong), tour bus driver and local wizard.
Absolutely wonderful and infinitely quotable. Carpenter perfectly captures of the kind of insanity that was coming out of Hong Kong cinemas at the time. Carpenter perfectly subverts the expiations of the audience. Jack is brave, snarky, and in any other film would be the unstoppable hero. Here? He's the sidekick and he doesn't know it.
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