Victor Wong’s comic authority is well suited to a film whose supposed hero needs help. We like him best as Egg Shen in Big Trouble in Little China, while recognising how often his casting stopped at the eccentric older man.
Fi1m perspective
In Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Victor Wong’s Egg Shen is a sorcerer helping a truck driver who is spectacularly ill-equipped for the adventure. That gives Wong a useful place in John Carpenter’s comedy, with knowledge that Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton badly needs. We laughed at Jack’s expense, because the man at the centre of the action is so plainly in need of assistance. Wong’s comic authority helps that joke work without requiring him to be the fool.
Wong began his film work as Uncle Tam in Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), then took supporting parts in quick succession through the late 1980s and 1990s. The move into Hollywood genre films did not end the association with Wang: he returned as Old Chong in The Joy Luck Club (1993). Wang’s Chinese-American ensemble drama belongs beside the Carpenter films when considering Wong’s work, even if Egg Shen offers the clearest introduction.
In Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987), he plays Chen Pao Shen, a historical supporting part in a film built around imperial ceremony. The fascination and loneliness of that ceremony make it a more sober setting for his character work. It is an absorbing drama, though its adult protagonist can remain frustratingly remote. Its merits do not make it the obvious place to begin with Wong; Egg Shen gives us a firmer reason to seek him out.
Carpenter used him again as Professor Howard Birack, a physicist confronting supernatural forces, in Prince of Darkness (1987). Walter Chang, the comic-relief storekeeper in Tremors (1990), offers a less scholarly occupation. These parts help explain the appeal of Wong as a character actor, but also the persistent restriction to older men who provide wisdom, eccentricity or a laugh.
We enjoy that humour, though the repeated assignments can leave us wishing he had been given more to do. Being memorable in a supporting part should not oblige an actor to keep receiving versions of the same one. Start with Big Trouble in Little China, and allow for fights that labour and effects that outstay their welcome.
Biography
Victor Wong (1927–2001) was an American actor of Chinese descent. Before entering acting in his late fifties, he worked as a journalist and television reporter in San Francisco.
He appeared in supporting roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Wong played Egg Shen in Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Chen Pao Shen in The Last Emperor (1987) and Walter Chang in Tremors (1990). Other credits include The Golden Child (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987) and the 3 Ninjas series (1992–1998). He collaborated with directors including John Carpenter and Wayne Wang.
