Films/Shows to reference for Mid-Century Hollywood Asian-American Representation paper
by mr-karsanow | created - 15 Sep 2020 | updated - 30 Oct 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Flower Drum Song (1961)
Approved | 133 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A young woman arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown from Hong Kong with the intention of marrying a rakish nightclub owner, unaware he is involved with one of his singers.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Benson Fong, Jack Soo
Votes: 3,707 | Gross: $10.90M
2. Sayonara (1957)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Romance
A US Air Force major in Kobe confronts his own opposition to marriages between American servicemen and Japanese women when he falls for a beautiful performer.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Ricardo Montalban, Patricia Owens, James Garner
Votes: 7,694 | Gross: $26.30M
3. The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War
Set during the Korean War, a Navy fighter pilot must come to terms with with his own ambivalence towards the war and the fear of having to bomb a set of highly defended bridges. The ending of this grim war drama is all tension.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney
Votes: 6,331
4. The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)
Approved | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
In post-WWII Japan, an American captain is brought in to help build a school, but the locals want a teahouse instead.
Director: Daniel Mann | Stars: Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, Machiko Kyô, Eddie Albert
Votes: 3,775
5. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 192,084
6. A Shot in the Dark (1964)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Inspector Clouseau falls in love with a murder suspect and tries to clear her name.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom
Votes: 30,927 | Gross: $12.37M
7. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Crime
After escaping from an insane asylum, the bonkers Charles Dreyfus sends 26 assassins on the trail of the forever bumbling Inspector Clouseau.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down, Burt Kwouk
Votes: 31,992 | Gross: $33.83M
8. The Party (1968)
Approved | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
A clerical mistake results in a bumbling Indian film star being invited to an exclusive Hollywood party instead of being fired.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Natalia Borisova, Jean Carson
Votes: 43,704
9. South Pacific (1958)
Approved | 157 min | Musical, Romance, War
On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Ray Walston
Votes: 9,799
10. The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, Romance
A businessman moves to Hong Kong to pursue a career as an artist and falls in love with a prostitute he hires as a model.
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: William Holden, Nancy Kwan, Sylvia Syms, Michael Wilding
Votes: 2,758 | Gross: $7.30M
11. Star Trek (1966–1969)
TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.
Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols
Votes: 92,873
12. Walk Don't Run (1966)
Approved | 114 min | Comedy, Romance
During the housing shortage of the Summer Olympic Games in 1964, two men and a woman share a small apartment in Tokyo, and the older man soon starts playing Cupid to the younger pair.
Director: Charles Walters | Stars: Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton, John Standing
Votes: 4,511 | Gross: $9.81M
13. A Majority of One (1961)
Approved | 156 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A gentle love story about a Japanese businessman and widower, and a Brooklyn widow. But before a happy ending can ensue, they must learn again the lessons of tolerance, kindness, and forgiveness.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Alec Guinness, Ray Danton, Madlyn Rhue
Votes: 1,163
14. The Geisha Boy (1958)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy
Gilbert Wooley is a second-rate magician who is sent to entertain the troops in the pacific. During his time in Japan he becomes attached to a little orphan boy.
Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Jerry Lewis, Marie McDonald, Sessue Hayakawa, Barton MacLane
Votes: 2,124
15. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
PG-13 | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
This contemporary romantic comedy based on a global bestseller follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family.
Director: Jon M. Chu | Stars: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan
Votes: 189,966 | Gross: $174.53M
16. The Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
PG-13 | 100 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A hopeless romantic ambivalent about his future in medical school falls for a hard-luck young woman who doesn't believe in love.
Director: Ry Russo-Young | Stars: Yara Shahidi, Anais Lee, Charles Melton, John Leguizamo
Votes: 8,162 | Gross: $4.95M
17. My Geisha (1962)
Not Rated | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An actress disguises herself as a geisha in order to land the lead role in her director husband's film version of 'Madam Butterfly'.
Director: Jack Cardiff | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Yves Montand, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Cummings
Votes: 1,597
18. Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980)
TV-PG | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The investigations of Hawaii Five-0, an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police answerable only to the governor and headed by stalwart Steve McGarrett.
Stars: Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong, Herman Wedemeyer
Votes: 8,178
19. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
Approved | 102 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A widowed Chinese-English doctor falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist Revolution.
Directors: Henry King, Otto Lang | Stars: William Holden, Jennifer Jones, Torin Thatcher, Isobel Elsom
Votes: 5,377
20. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,728
21. Gypsy (1962)
Approved | 143 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Based on the Broadway hit about the life and times of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee and her aggressive stage mother, Mama Rose.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace
Votes: 6,993 | Gross: $13.01M
22. Hawaiian Eye (1959–1963)
60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
The cases of Hawaiian Eye Private Investigations and the two handsome, slick, tough-guy detectives who ran the firm, Thomas Jefferson Lopaka, or Tom for short, and Tracy Steele, a Korean War veteran and former city police detective.
Stars: Poncie Ponce, Connie Stevens, Douglas Mossman, Robert Conrad
Votes: 688
23. The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
G | 89 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After cheating death, master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu returns with a plot to contaminate the River Thames with a powerful toxin extracted from Tibetan poppies.
Director: Don Sharp | Stars: Christopher Lee, Nigel Green, Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor
Votes: 2,022 | Gross: $2.83M
24. Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
Bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith, Julie Harris
Votes: 8,211 | Gross: $2.10M
25. The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Crime, Fantasy
When Fu's age-regressing elixir vitae is spilled by a hapless flunky, Fu Manchu sends his lackeys to round up supplies for a fresh batch of elixir, including a precious jewel, which prompts a team of agents to track him down.
Directors: Piers Haggard, Peter Sellers | Stars: Peter Sellers, Helen Mirren, David Tomlinson, Sid Caesar
Votes: 2,388 | Gross: $10.70M
26. The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Musical, Sci-Fi
Mistaken identity and the acquisition of a rare Tibetan herb put two buffoonish con men on the wrong side of a secret organization geared toward world domination.
Director: Norman Panama | Stars: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Joan Collins, Robert Morley
Votes: 2,781
27. The King and I (1956)
G | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
A widow accepts a job as a live-in governess to the King of Siam's children.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson
Votes: 27,914 | Gross: $21.30M
28. South Pacific (1958)
Approved | 157 min | Musical, Romance, War
On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Ray Walston
Votes: 9,799
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