Why Kurt Russell Channeled John Wayne For A Beloved Cult Classic

John Carpenter's 1986 action-comedy "Big Trouble in Little China" is a pretty strange movie that has earned a special place in the hearts of fans as a cult classic. In it, truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) becomes entangled in a battle against ancient evil with his friend and pseudo-sidekick, Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). Instead of being an all-out action hero, however, Jack is actually really kind of Wang Chi's sidekick, cracking wise and getting the girl but never doing much in the way of fighting. He's an all-American hero archetype despite this, and apparently, it's at least partially because Russell was channeling Western movie legend John Wayne.

In his interview book, "John Carpenter: Prince Of Darkness," Carpenter explained that he and Russell decided that he should play the character like the famous Western actor because Wayne had a certain kind of "blowhard" attitude that worked perfectly. By playing Jack Burton as John Wayne might have played him, Russell was also able to bring the actor's old school machismo (for better and worse) to the character. Sure, Burton is likable because he rolls with the punches (and because Russell is almost permanently a little likable), but he's also a self-centered egotist with some old-fashioned attitudes. You know, kind of like John Wayne was.

In the book, Carpenter explains that "Jack Burton is John Wayne, and Kurt is playing it blow-hard John Wayne." Russell also famously channeled Western great Clint Eastwood in Carpenter's sci-fi action movie "Escape From New York," and this apparently helped inspire the discussion between the director and actor about how to approach playing Jack Burton. "Big Trouble in Little China" was originally planned to be a fantasy adventure in the old West, so taking an approach that uses one of the most famous Western stars of all time makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of Wayne in how Russell delivers his lines, from his slight drawl down to the cadence of his speech. He's extremely self-assured despite never seeming to live up to his own hype, and it feels like both a tribute to Wayne and a criticism of his inflated ego.

"Big Trouble" may've been inspired by the idea of doing a Chinese martial arts film in the West, but since Westerns weren't doing very well commercially in the 1980s, Carpenter and his creative team decided to set it in contemporary San Francisco instead. That mash-up of east and west worked a bit better, although the film's lead was still bringing a bit of the original screenplay through in his performance. After all, Russell knew a few things about Westerns, having starred in quite a few excellent ones himself and even begun his career on TV Westerns. His riff on John Wayne is pretty perfect, and it wouldn't be the last time he did it.

Though Russell has said that he has some special conditions for playing Jack Burton again, he did bring back his version of John Wayne in another movie: Quentin Tarantino's underrated 2007 ode to exploitation, "Death Proof." In "Death Proof," Russell plays another over-confident man, Stuntman Mike, who uses his "death proof" stunt car to torment and kill young women. However, it's eventually revealed that he's not as tough as he pretends to be when his potential victims turn the tables on him, which makes Mike kind of the perfect role for Russell to channel Wayne again. When he's stalking his first round of victims in the movie, Mike even informs Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) that she's "okay in his book" and explains his deeper meaning with a heavy drawl that's reminiscent of the Western actor.

Not only that, but there's also a pretty great "Big Trouble in Little China" Easter egg in "Death Proof," as Jack Burton's shirt is hanging on the wall in the very bar where Stuntman Mike chows down on nachos and picks out his next victims. Whether or not Russell did this as an intentional ode to Jack Burton is anyone's best guess, but it's still pretty great, giving ole John Wayne another footnote in his complicated legacy.