Editing China O'Brien

{{Short description|1990 film by Robert Clouse}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = China O'Brien
| image          = China-obrien-movie-poster-md.jpg
| caption        =
| director       = [[Robert Clouse]]
| screenplay     = Robert Clouse
| story          = [[Sandra Weintraub]]
| producer       = {{plainlist|
* [[Fred Weintraub]]
* Sandra Weintraub
}}<!-- producer only, not executive producers -->
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Cynthia Rothrock]]
* [[Richard Norton (actor)|Richard Norton]]
* [[Doug Wright]]
* Nijel
* [[Arturo Rivera]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Kent L. Wakeford]]
| editing        = Mark Harrah
| music          = {{plainlist|
* David Wheatley
* Paul Antonelli
}}
| distributor    = Studio / Sterling<br>[[Orange Sky Golden Harvest|Golden Harvest]]<br>[[Media Asia Group]]
| released       = {{Film date|1990|02||United Kingdom|1991|||United States}}
| runtime        = 86 min
| language       = English
| budget         =  
}}
'''''China O'Brien''''' is a 1990 [[martial arts film]] produced by [[Orange Sky Golden Harvest|Golden Harvest]] studios and starring actress and martial artist [[Cynthia Rothrock]]<ref>{{cite news|title= Sly's Match?|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=1989-01-29|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-29-ca-1566-story.html|access-date=2010-12-21|first=Pat H.|last=Broeske}}</ref> with co-stars [[Richard Norton (actor)|Richard Norton]] and Keith Cooke. The film was directed by [[Robert Clouse]], the fight choreography was by Nijel Binns, and it was executive produced by [[Raymond Chow]].  Rothrock plays a former cop who runs for sheriff after her father, the previous sheriff, is killed.

== Plot ==
Police officer China O'Brien is a good cop who teaches martial arts class to her fellow officers.  After an altercation with a gang that leads to the accidental death of a young boy, China resigns from the force, and returns to her hometown of Beaver Creek, Utah. On her way into town she runs into her former high school sweetheart Matt Conroy. Searching for her father, she goes to the Beaver Creek Inn and encounters a hostile situation, as her father has just arrested one of the men there. Her father, John O'Brien, is the town sheriff. China finally catches up with him back at the station. John is losing control of the town to local crime boss Edwin Sommers, who controls corrupt deputy Marty Lickner and corrupt local judge Harry Godar. When John and honest deputy Ross Tyler are killed by car bombs that were planted by Sommers's henchmen, there is an emergency election to elect a new sheriff.

Matt tells China that she has a lot of support from the townspeople, so she decides to run for sheriff against Lickner. At the same time, she starts cleaning up the town with the help of Matt and a Native American biker named Dakota, whose mother was murdered by Sommers.  China wins the election, and then Maria, who had been her father's housekeeper up until his death, is murdered by Sommers' men in a drive-by shooting during the victory celebration. China has to force Judge Godar to swear her in as the new sheriff. China deputizes Matt and Dakota, and they set out to free Beaver Creek from Sommers' stranglehold.

First, they bulldoze a house that Sommers was using to distribute drugs. Then, during an altercation at the Beaver Creek Inn, Dakota questions Lickner about his mother, and Lickner admits Sommers was responsible for his mother's death. Dakota takes Lickner's gun and gets on his motorcycle to Sommers's home. China realises Dakota intends to confront Sommers, and so she and Matt pursue Dakota. Dakota finds Sommers at the stables and points the gun at him. However, he restrains himself and when China and Matt arrive, Sommers is still alive. Matt handcuffs himself to Sommers but as they leave the stable, a woman that Sommers had locked up and beaten fires at Sommers and kills him. The next day, China asks Dakota what he will do next. Dakota says he will stay for the trial and China tells him she could use a man like him. Dakota laughs off being a cop to which Matt replies that they can discuss it over a beer.

==Cast==
* [[Cynthia Rothrock]] as Officer Lori "China" O'Brien
* [[Richard Norton (actor)|Richard Norton]] as Matt Conroy
* Keith Cooke as Dakota
* Patrick Adamson as Deputy Marty Lickner
* David Blackwell as Sheriff John O'Brien
* Chad Walker as Deputy Ross Tyler
* Stanton Davis as Barlow
* Robert Tiller as Owens
* Lainie Watts as Patty
* Steven Kerby as Sommers
* Frank Magner as Jake Karns
* Wil Hazlett as Judge Harry Godar
* Gae Cowley as Maria
* Doug Wright as "Termite"
* Bubba Reeves as Ballard
* Nijel Binns as "Jonsey" Jones

== Production ==
Parts of the film were shot in [[Park City, Utah]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=D'Arc|first1=James V.|title=When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah|date=2010|publisher=Gibbs Smith|location=Layton, Utah|isbn=9781423605874|edition=1st}}</ref>

After a career in Hong Kong, [[Orange Sky Golden Harvest|Golden Harvest]] worked to raise Rothrock's profile in her native America, and she was cast in ''China O'Brien''.{{sfn|Schubart|2007|p=148}}  Film scholar [[Rikke Schubart]] says the producers paired her with [[Richard Norton (actor)|Richard Norton]], who plays her former highschool boyfriend, and made her the daughter of a slain cop to make her more feminine and seem less threatening.{{sfn|Schubart|2007|p=151–152}} Production halted temporarily when Rothrock had to fly back to Hong Kong to reshoot the ending scene of ''[[Righting Wrongs]]'' after the original cut was met with a negative reception in [[Taiwan]].<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9U9Z3OmLvk |title=Cynthia Rothrock's Best Fight Scenes HD |author-link=Cynthia Rothrock |last=Rothrock |first=Cynthia |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=6 March 2022 |access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref>

Early in her career, [[Tori Amos]] recorded a song, "Distant Storm", which can only be heard by viewing the original film. Amos did not want to be credited under her real name and created a fake band, [[Tess Makes Good]], to be credited.<ref>{{cite book|title=Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos|last=Jacobs|first=Jay S.|publisher=[[Hal Leonard Corporation]]|year=2006|isbn=9781423400226|page=27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wP3xiglTL2EC&pg=PA27}}</ref>

== Release ==
''China O'Brien'' was released direct-to-video in the United States in 1990.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=China Syndrome|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=1991-08-09|url=https://ew.com/article/1991/08/09/cynthia-rothrock-action-star/|access-date=2010-12-21|first1=Paula|last1=Parisi|first2=Jess|last2=Cagle|archive-date=2008-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122063135/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315130,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Reception ==
''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called it "an okay showcase" for Rothrock.<ref>{{cite book|title=Variety TV REV 1991-92 17|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=1994|isbn=9780824037963|chapter=July 1, 1991: Home Video: China O'Brien|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxHbPxbBM1AC&pg=PP145}}</ref>
 
== Sequel ==
''[[China O'Brien II]]'' was released in 1990, with the same cast and crew.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|title=Super Bitches and Action Babes: The Female Hero in Popular Cinema, 1970-2006|last=Schubart|first=Rikke|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2007|isbn=9780786429240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vVWBAAAQBAJ}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0099260}}

{{Robert Clouse}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:China O'brien}}
[[Category:1990 films]]
[[Category:1990 action films]]
[[Category:American martial arts films]]
[[Category:American police detective films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Utah]]
[[Category:American action films]]
[[Category:1990 martial arts films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:Golden Harvest films]]
[[Category:English-language action films]]