I wanted to take a moment and show some appreciation for actress Jan Gan Boyd on her birthday. Jan has been a part of my life since I was 13 years old since she co-starred with Charles Bronson in the 1987 Cannon film ASSASSINATION.
In a nutshell, the plot of ASSASSINATION revolves around secret service agent Jay Killian (Bronson), who finds himself in the position of trying to protect an extremely strong-willed first lady (Jill Ireland) from assassins trying to kill her. Jan plays Charlotte “Charlie” Chang, a member of the team assigned to protect the first lady, who has an extra special relationship with Killian. And while ASSASSINATION is not one of Charles Bronson’s best movies, I always liked Jan in the film. She had spunk and attitude, and her relationship with Bronson’s character is definitely unique in Bronson’s 80’s filmography. Believe it or not, Killian and Charlie had casual sex, and she survived the end of the movie to talk about it! As a matter of fact, her exchange with Killian the next morning leads to one of the great moments of Bronson dialogue:
Charlie Chang: “Killy, why don’t you move in here permanently?”
Jay Killian: “I don’t want to die of a terminal orgasm!”
I guess lines like that bond actors for life and Jan stayed friends with Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland all the way up to each of their deaths.
Jan got her start in the movies through her abilities as a trained dancer when she co-starred with Michael Douglas in the 1985 film, A CHORUS LINE, directed by Richard Attenborough. I think she’s one of the best characters in the film. And 1987 was a very busy year for Jan. After filming ASSASSINATION with Bronson, she would co-star with Martin Kove in the film STEELE JUSTICE, and then with David Soul in HARRY’S HONG KONG. She would spend the next few years of her career doing guest spots on shows like CHEERS, SISTERS, and SILK STALKINGS. It was at this point that she took a break from her career to get married and raise a family. Over the last few years, she has started to get involved in voice-over work, as well as appearing on shows like “Dance Dish,” where she discussed her time as a dancer and her work on A CHORUS LINE.
On a personal note, I must say that Jan Gan Boyd is one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met. My partner Eric Todd and I got the opportunity to interview her for an episode of the THIS WEEK IN CHARLES BRONSON podcast a couple of years ago. She told us some of the best stories about Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland, as well as what it was like to work with them on ASSASSINATION. She truly loved them in real life, and it was so fun sharing that time with her. As a matter of fact, over on our TWICB Facebook page, every January is now Jan-Gan-uary! I’ve attached a link to the podcast episode if you would like to hear more from Jan about her career and her work with Bronson, Michael Douglas, and Richard Attenborough.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Congratulations from Vienna/Austria!
I must admit I don´t remember her from ASSASSINATION (which I consider – if I dare say so – not one of Charlies best, since it was pretty underfinanced, as far as I remember, though I just watched it once), but I do remember her from CHORUS LINE!
Happy Birthday!
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Assassination definitely got hamstrung by budget issues, which took away a lot of the big action that was going to take place, especially at the end. It’s still a breezy little film that is fun to watch if you’re in the right frame of mind. It’s just one of those movies I saw so many times as a kid that it has a strong nostalgic value to me.
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Yes, I have read – in one of the 2 BRONSON´S LOOSE books by Talbot, which I of course have, being BRONSON´s biggest fan in Austria, LOL – that they/Cannon simply didn´t have the money (or didn´t want to spend it, which is more likely) to shoot that big action scene at the end (and others as well), so that as far as I recall it ended with some – dare I say: a bit lame? – shoot-out in some wood (I vaguely remember). Anyway, BRONSON is always great to see!
And I am definitly with you re the nostalgic value of movies seen as a kid. I am * 1967 and saw my first US-action gem (DIRTY HARRY) when I was 11 (!), which made me a life-long fan of 60ies and 70ies cinema. My 1st BRONSON I enjoyed not very long after that, which was C´ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST, which lead me to watch as many EASTWOOD, BRONSON and McQUEEN movies (my first of his was THE GREAT ESCAPE) as possible in the years to come. This was pretty easy, because we had a rerun cinema just app. 15 minutes by foot away from our house and they showed all these gems usually for two days, so when I was 12/13 I had seen (at least?) a dozen movies of each of those super-males/kings of cool/kings of action/real men/…, which totally formed my view on how men should be: loners, taciturn, doers (so toadays world is not mine, LOL).
When movies like ASSASSINATION hit cinemas here in Austria, I was already 20, so I was a seasoned Bronson-fan by then, who had practically seen all his movies except the most obscure/bit part-ones, which is why my nostalgic value is more connected to the likes of HARD TIMES, MECHANIC, CHATO´S LAND, MR. MAJESTYK, BREAKOUT, DEATH WISH I, VIOLENT CITY, RIDER IN THE RAIN, … etc etc.
No disrespect at all, but at 20+ I had already noticed that the “production values” of his 80ies movies were unfortunately in decline and as much as I LOVE Bronson and his “minimal acting style” I could not overlook that most of his 80ies movies didn´t compare well to what he had done a decade before (not his fault at all, most 80ies movies look poorly), so that is why my memories with the likes of ASSASSINATION are not as great as with the aforementioned. No disrespect at all, just my humble opinion.
But I am happy to have learned later that Bronson took this with his usual cool stating that “nobody can stay on top forever”. Well, for me he is still “on top” and will always be – together with EASTOOD and McQUUEN, so I am so dearly happy to see that his legacy lives on with other fans and on sites like this.
Great work!!!
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I definitely prefer Bronson’s 70’s films to his 80’s films in general. That transition took place as I got older and was able to take a “bigger picture” look at his filmography. With that said, I’ve always really appreciated J. Lee Thompson’s contribution to Bronson’s work in the 80’s. J. Lee brough a level of professionalism and polish to those films even with the budget and script limitations. I think it’s notable that Assassination was not directed by Thompson, and that probably also hurt the overall quality of the film.
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Yes, 100% correct!
BRONSON had an eye for talented directors with an efficient working style: both Englishmen, Winner and Thompson, were real pro´s when they teamed with THE MAN, both already had plenty of great movies under their belt at that time.
Winner and Bronson teamed in 1972, their first being CHATO´S LAND, before which Winner had directed more than a dozen feature length movies, of which I wanna recommend THE SYSTEM, THE JOKER and IˇLL NEVER FORGET …, but in fact ALL of Winners earlier movies are worth watching (some star another later action guy: Oliver Reed).
Thompson and Bronson teamed already in 1976 with ST. IVES being their first (featuring a great Lalo Schifrin soundtrack, of which most music is still unreleased) and continued with THE WITE BUFFALO. Their first Cannon-production was CABO BLANCO (if I am not mistaken) and they made 9 movies (!) together. Thompson was even more famous than Winner already before he and Bronson teamed, because he had made one of THE best-known 60ies war-adventure movies, 1961´s THE GUNS OF NAVARONE. He also made TARAS BULBA and I HIGHLY recommend watching the forgotten gem RETURN FROM THE ASHES.
My “guilty pleasure” from Bronsons 80ies-flicks is Thompsons THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, one that really “got me” at first viewing.
Yes, you´re absolutely right, Thompsons 7 80ies Bronson movies are more refined and stick out from other “fast jobs”, although ASSASSINATION´s “failure” (well, that might be too harsh a verdict, but …) is IMHO not primarily due to the director (who made a great job on Charlies DEATH HUNT IN 1981 and also directed the very good sole Bond Lazenby ever did, ON HER MAJESTY´S SECRET SERVICE, as well as Roger Moore´s GOLD), but indeed due to an underdevelopped script and budget restraints.
Well, one can´t win all the time and Charlie also once commented that he was pleased that audiences still wanted to see him in his later career (primarily in Europe, in fact). And compared to how other actors finished their “twilight years” he was indeed right. Other leading men did much worse – or had no offers at all – at this age (just look at Glenn Fords last dozen or so movies), so he was still blessed, I might say, as he was still able to do decent work.
Sorry for the lengthy comment, but it just poured outa me. 🙂
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Thanks so much for all that information, as well as your thoughts on Bronson. Just a couple of comments, I believe that Cabo Blanco was an independent film produced by Lance Hool and a couple of others. It actually had a high budget for an independent film. I think it really looks good on the Kino Lorber blu ray that came out a few years ago. It’s still not a great movie, but you can finally fully appreciate the beautiful locales. I believe Cannon first got involved with DW2. And you are probably correct on Peter Hunt not being the problem with Assassination. I just find it interesting that Thompson was working with Bronson and Cannon all around that timeframe and didn’t seem to have the same issues. But movies are complicated affairs, and I do agree that Hunt certainly had shown the ability to make good movies.
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Yes, you are right on CABO BLANCO, it was an independent production, I mis-remembered. Might be that it was distributed in Europe by Cannon, I don´t know/remember. It sat on the shelf for some (few, 1-2 ?) years and was shortened/cut. I don´t have the Kino Lorber DVD (too expensive to import, I watch Bronson movies on various sites, lol), but I wonder if it was ever restored to full length? If you know, please share info.
I can only speculate on why Thompson had less troubles with Cannon, but given his knowledge/experience in the business, I am sure he had a different/better standing/reputation with whomever company he worked with/for. Besides I think I remember that actually THE MAN himself teamed Thompson up with Cannon, when they looked for a director for one of his Cannon-production (I might misremember though, it is a long time since I read Talbots 2 books), which would mean getting in a fight/discussion with Thompson would have also meant to alienate/anger Charlie. Hm.
That said what I really regret is that he only worked once with Walter Hill and only once with Don Siegel. Both are in a league of their own.
I know/read that he had a falling out with Hill, who didn´t speak too well about Jill Irelands acting skills (well … OK she is, which is fine with me anyway), so Ryan O´Neal got the lead in DRIVER (and delivered a good performance anyway, but just think how that might have been with Charlie), because Charlie declined (if he was asked at all?) or wasn´t available.
Re Don(ald) Siegel (whose bio I have, but only read in parts) I don´t know if the one-off had special reasons or it just didn´t happen another time, but Eastwood had such great roles in his 4 (I think it was 4: BEGUILED, COOGAN´S BLUFF, DIRTY H., ALCATRATZ) Don Siegel flicks that I just wish Bronson would have done a few more with this magnificent action-diractor.
Well, just a few cents more of my thoughts. 🙂
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