The Golden Child | Through the Shattered Lens

Well, I mentioned in the previous post that one of my guilty pleasures was watching the 80’s film to Eddie Murphy’s growing egocentricism called The Golden Child. There’s one particular scene in the film that has always struck me as hilarious for some reason. It does so even more so now that Charles Dance (who plays the main villain, Sardo Numspa) has seen a resurgence in popularity as the badass Tywin Lannister, patriarch of House Lannister on HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Whether it was staring down Eddie Murphy’s Chandler Jarrell in this film or King Joffrey in Game of Thrones it’s always great to see Charles Dance get some proper due for the work he’s doing.

I just love how he plays the straight man in this scene and one could almost sense that he would find it quite satisfying to punch Murphy’s face off. If there was one a redeeming quality to The Golden Child it would be Dance’s work as Sardo Numspa.

During the 80’s there were three names who earned the title of megastars. There was Sylvester Stallone with his Rocky and Rambo films. There was also Arnold Schwarzenneger who was pretty much the biggest action star of the decade. Then there’s Eddie Murphy who pretty much redefined the role of comedic action star. Yes, Murphy was an action star in his own right.

Once Murphy made a huge hit with the odd couple action comedy 48 Hours he began making one action comedy after the next. They all made money and to certain degree they were actually pretty good. There was one Murphy action comedy vehicle that was initially well-received by many when it came out in December of 1986, but has since seen a revisionist take from those who originally hyped up the film. I’m talking about The Golden Child.

Many who seem to have enjoyed and loved this film when it first came out has since backtracked to calling it one of the worst films of the 80’s. A film that indulges the ego of it’s star. While I agree with everything people have said about this film with each passing year I still can’t keep myself from enjoying it whenever it comes on cable (been awhile since it has). It was a fun flick when I first saw it as a 13 year-old and it continues to be fun.

Yes, it hasn’t aged well, but I think how it encompasses the kitchy-style of the 80’s not to mention the egocentricity of Murphy at the height of his stardom makes this one of my guilty pleasures. It even has a much y ounger, but still badass, Tywin Lannister playing the role of the main villain Sardo Numpsa aka Brother Numpsy.