A Charlie Chan Film Stirs an Old Controversy

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[ReneeLynn]

I guess Karloff, Lorre, Oland and Toler would be ousted from Hollywood today.

Why don’t one of these whiners do a movie about the real guy Charlie is based on, or shut up?

[Bringbackthedraft]

“Rose in fish market still smell like fish.” “Hey Pop”................. OOOOOOOH, that’s racist???? As a matinee kid, he was one of our favorites. Who knew?

[kaehurowing]

Chang Apana was most famous for carrying a bullwhip, rather than a gun, with which he would go after the bad guys.

[JoeProBono]

[goat granny]

Agree with you, loved him as a kid, that was before we were all taught that we were racists...I am glad I am old, wouldn’t want to be young in todays culture...

[AZLiberty]

I’m offended at all those white people wearing “blue face” in Avatar.

[goat granny]

This one was my favorite Charlie Chan...

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[tang-soo]

I caught that. Let’s see if anyone else does.

[Billthedrill]

Much ado over not very much. There was a clear line of demarcation in the Chan films: the racists were stupid or villains, Chan's colleagues viewed him with respect and deference, and his too-hip Americanized sons thought he was ridiculously old-fashioned and were nearly always wrong. The "fortune-cookie aphorisms" were intended to be funny. The underlying theme in the series was that young America had a lot to learn from old China, and it isn't really hard to figure out.

As far as Oland himself, the films had been tried with Asian leads and hadn't done well. What happened was pure Hollywood - a hot script tied to a name actor. The formula worked, and they repeated it 15 times. That wasn't about racism, it was all about the bottom line.

[Oatka]

For many activists

Yeah, all three of 'em. It always cheeses me off when Corporate America assumes the fetal position when dealing with these professional victims. Paying attention to them only increases their sense of power. Better to say, "Your complaint has been noted - NEXT?"

I just finished watching all of the Warner Oland DVDs and saw just a cool unassuming guy underplaying his hand - until the final scene when he ALWAYS outsmarted and nabbed the bad guy.

Gee, where were all the Italians "activists" when "Colombo" was in his prime? There were episodes where he was an absolute suck-up to some celebrity, then like Charle, nailed them in the end. Both used the "dumb as a box of rocks" approach, which every viewer knew, and just waited to see the bad guy tripped up.

Put this whiner Choy on the spot and ask him what scene in what Chan movie was so offensive. Bethcha this idiot never even watched those movies.

The character was usually played by white actors who were made up to seem Asian and who spoke English with an exaggerated accent. The portrayals also frequently perpetuated the cliché of Asian-Americans as inscrutable.
In one of the extras on those DVDs mentioned above, they showed Warner Oland touring Shanghai and the narrator made the observation that the Chinese there all thought Warner WAS Chinese. It's called ACTING for a reason, Mr. Choy.

[sportutegrl]

I know it’s TV and not movies, but David Carradine didn’t look like a Shaolin monk to me.

[navymom1]

I couldn’t have said this better. Bravo. You nailed it. I love Charlie Chan and as far as I’m concerned the biggest controversy is who is the better Chan, Oland or Toler. My vote goes to Toler and I LOVE Jimmy Chan!

[Fiddlstix]

Good Grief! Some people must go looking for or "inventing" stuff to be offended by.
Charlie Chan was a great series of movies. What is/was so offensive about those movies?
Some people must have too much time on their hands.
BTW, thanks for the ping

[JoeProBono]

[Tanniker Smith]

ANyone else remember this?
I thought it was just a bad dream until I found pages of images ....

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

A spade is a spade...