Golden Gate (1994)

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I came across this film while in my workshop. I stopped working and from there on, I sat and was drawn into this film. Matt Dillon (you either like him or hate him). I like him, as the FBI agent Kevin David Walker, and Joan Chen as his lover Marilyn Song, have chemistry that appears real. The plot is era correct, in every way. The paranoia about Communism and Marijuana was depicted as a tool of subversive abuse by the FBI and local police. This was well acted by character actor Bruno Kirby who portrays Dillon's boss, Ron Pirelli and is good in this role. The story is a bit slow in some spots, but that is overcome by the underlying disintegration of Dillon's life. The last scene was a cinematic masterpiece and had me in tears. It is a gem that should be on every viewers list.

John Madden's "Golden Gate" mixes issues of racism with McCarthy-era witch hunts. Matt Dillon plays an FBI agent in San Francisco who trumps up charges against a Chinese-American man and later starts up a relationship with the man's daughter (Joan Chen). I actually thought that one of the most effective scenes was the college scene in which the Asian-American students reflect on discrimination. But even so I thought that they did a sufficient job looking at the issues. I understand that screenwriter David Henry Hwang is a noted dramatist; indeed, part of the movie feels like a play.Anyway, pretty good movie. Also starring Bruno Kirby (young Pete Clemenza in "The Godfather Part II"), Teri Polo (Pam in "Meet the Parents") and Tzi Ma (one of the accomplices in the remake of "The Ladykillers").

Who knew that the Golden Gate was made of cardboard instead of steel? Obviously not the producers and the director of this garbage. They filled the film with cardboard characters and standard tripe.Matt Damon plays a guy who wanders around morosely spouting below stock lines trying to reconcile his life as a Federal Agent. He works in Chinatown for years but throughout a whole film set in Chinatown not one damn person speaks Chinese ever in the film! Throughout the film the Chinese actors and actresses speak fluent 1980's style English. They all dress drably except when it is time to show of Ms. Chen. Then she wears a bright red tittie-forming top that makes her stand out against the drabness all around Chinatown. The hokiness of the story and characters dribs and drabs making one dread each next line of dialog for it is obviously going to be worse than the prior one.Meanwhile...like an Okie of John Steinbeck's...Matt Damon never is seen having a home in Chinatown at all. All he does is wander around from scene to scene. There is not one shred of him being a realistic human at all.This film is so awful it makes one want to throw themselves off the Golden Gate bridge.

I caught this film late one night in Japan. I had never heard of it and was amazed. I've always liked Matt Dillon, and fell in love with Joan Chen watching this film.Matt Dillon is his usual brilliant self playing an FBI agent who falls in love with a subject under observation. He contrives a way to meet her and they connect with a blinding love. However a love founded on a great lie and betrayal. Joan Chen is beautiful and pure, true to her culture and family. Her role here could not have been portrayed by an American-Chinese actress with such realism. This film spoke to my heart and I would definitely rate that night in Japan watching this as an unforgettable experience. Watch it if you like films that speak true.