A movie with Madonna and Sean Penn in 1986 should have been gold. But thanks to the two temperments of the stars and a terrible script, "Shanghai Surprise" became a public relations disaster for George Harrison's HandMade Films.
But there was one good thing -- George contributed music that included a wonderful theme song. A proposed soundtrack album was never issued.
Still, there's this great theme. Here's a video of George recording the song.
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Comments
Hey Steve,
George also made a cameo in Shanghai Surprise; he played a guitarist and singer in the nightclub scene. His hair is all slicked back and he has a pencil mustache.
George was on record that Madonna was the difficult one during this film and that Sean was an OK guy...
Thanks for mentioning that, Patti. There's a lot more than just the theme song, but watching the DVD and getting to it is almost torture since the movie is so bad. :)
I think Shanghai Surprise is one of George's very best! Too bad they wasted so much of the video on Sean and Madonna.
When I saw the headline, I thought surely you were talking about "Wonderwall."
Funny... I thought "Wonderwall" too!
I admit to owning Shanghai Surprise on VHS and DVD...and on a rare occasion, I will actually watch it despite the fact that the chemistry between Madonna and Sean was awful! I think the storyline was actually quite good.
The soundtrack to this movie blows my mind...I've always loved the music from this movie. Thanks for mentioning it Steve! :-)
A perfectly fine movie in my opinion. I have the DVD. Thanks to bad reviews, I think I got it on it's release day, pretty cheap. Any word on the Blu-Ray? I'll be there, too.
I like Madonna and Sean together and the story was good. The music put it over the top. Someplace Else may be George's greatest song. I'd love to have the earlier version used in the movie.
The best reason why there should have been a soundtrack album (apart from George and the music) is that "Shanghai Surprise", "The Hottest Gong In Town", "Breath Away From Heaven" and "Someplace Else" do a far better job of explaining what's happening in the movie than the script and the acting.
The cinematography was great, too. There was not a scene that wasn't just beautiful colors.
This movie sufffered from the clash of fan bases. Penn fans (and probably Beatle fans, too) did not want to watch a Madonna movie. This movie was not a movie that Sean fans had come to expect from Sean. Madonna fans wanted a Madonna movie, which this wasn't (why was George singing and not her?, why was Madonna a nun?).
You think Steve may be baiting us a little here? I mean, who would have responded if I had written the article about how the movie was better than the credits say?
Baiting you? Not at all. The movie was soundly drubbed by critics and moviegoers. The music was much better than the film.
I thought the plot line was good, and I thought the film looked beautiful, and couldn't beat the music (Hottest Gong in Town and Shanghai Surprise being my favorites). But I thought Madonna was mediocre at best (I'm being kind). I wish there had been a dvd set with extras that included the documentary about the film (from which the video of George in the studio came...) It really isn't that bad a film. I may watch the dvd next time I'm snowed in.
Oh, and I forgot the lovely duet with the late Vicki Brown (who was a Vernons Girl back in the day and married to musician Joe Brown) on Shanghai Surprise. They sounded great together!
Hey Harrison experts, videos for Someplace Else, Hottest Gong In Town, and Shanghai Surprise are all on the DVD Dark Horse Years 1976-1992, released in Fall 2004 & still available on amazon & elsewhere.
Shanghai Surprize and Zig Zag are bonus tracks on the 2004 Cloud 9 CD.
All are available in the Dark Horse Years box set from the same year.
No one has to sit through the Shanghai Surprise film to hear the Harrison music. Sheeesh.
Although George had already started working with Jeff Lynne at the time he recorded the songs for the soundtrack, "Someplace Else" and "Breath Away From Heaven" on "Cloud Nine" are remakes.
um yeah, we know.
Hottest Gong in Town was available as the bonus disc on the limited edition book Songs By George Harrison Volume 2.
All the movie versions of the music have been available on bootlegs for years.
Madonna cant act. FACT!
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