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For some measure of the progress of women, consider "1000 Pieces of Gold," set in the 19th century and telling the story of a Chinese woman sold from man to man as if she were property. The film is based on the little-known fact that years after slavery was abolished in America, Asians were still held in involuntary servitude - sometimes by their own people. Inspired by true stories, the movie is angry and impassioned, but it is also, somewhat surprisingly, a romance.

Rosalind Chao , an actress of great character and presence, stars as a young woman named Lalu, born in China where girl babies were not highly valued, and sold by her father to a Chinese "wife-trader" ( Dennis Dun ). He brings her to America and sells her as a wife to Hong King ( Michael Paul Chan ), another Chinese man, who runs a saloon in a dismal backwater settlement in Idaho, and plans to use her as a prostitute. Lalu reacts to his plans violently, with a knife, refusing to prostitute herself, and Hong King wisely observes that she does not seem cut out for the profession.

Lalu's innate self-esteem is her only protection in the wilderness. American laws deny Chinese men citizenship - they are wanted mostly for cheap labor - and women are viewed as even more insignificant. Lalu, nicknamed "China Polly" by the cowboys who cannot be bothered to pronounce her name, is saved from prostitution but then becomes Hong King's slave, until her husband's white partner, a genial alcoholic named Charlie ( Chris Cooper ), explains to her that slavery has been outlawed.

Charlie, a good man when he doesn't drink too much, is attracted to "Polly," but she dreams only of buying her freedom and returning to China. Then Hong King, short of funds and tired of living with a "hellcat," decides to auction his wife to the highest bidder - and Charlie, in a rare stroke of luck, wins her. She lives with him, but in fierce chastity, until Charlie is shot in an anti-Chinese race riot, and as she nurses him back to health she falls in love with him.

Meanwhile, the wife trader, whose conscience has been bothering him, returns to the mining camp with enough money to buy Lalu's freedom. He hopes to marry her and take her back to China, but, seeing her living with a white man, he considers her hopelessly damaged and abandons his plans.

I gather that this development, like most of the film, is based on fact, but as a consequence "1000 Pieces of Gold" paints an overwhelmingly negative portrait of Chinese men - from the father who betrays her, to the trader who sells her, to the saloon keeper who wants to prostitute her. The only man portrayed positively in the film is Charlie, the white. There must have been good Chinese men in America in those days, but you will not meet them in this film.

The story is told with power and high drama, however, and the love that grows between Lalu and Charlie, like all loves that smoulder for a long time, becomes a great passion. And Rosalind Chao's performance is a wonder - the sort that, in a conventional Hollywood epic, would inspire Oscar speculation. She gives us a character who begins as a child in grief and confusion, and prevails in a strange land until she is finally able to stand free as her own woman. It's quite a story.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Thousand Pieces Of Gold (1991)

105 minutes

Michael Paul Chan as Hong King

Chris Cooper as Charlie

Rosalind Chao as Lalu/Polly

Directed by

• Nancy Kelly

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Thousand Pieces of Gold Movie Review – An Unsettling Film of Perseverance

Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the true story of Lalu Nathoy, a young woman sold into marriage by her impoverished father in late 19th century China. A slave trader, Jim (Dennis Dun) brings Lalu to the U.S. They develop feelings for each other. Although conflicted, Jim fulfills his professional obligation to deliver Lalu to Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), a saloon owner in a rough Idaho mining town.

Refusing to participate in Hong King’s plan to make her into an exotic prostitute, Lalu keeps her dignity about her and wins the adoration of Charlie (Chris Cooper), Hong King’s white, alcoholic partner. Despite the prejudice of the locals, Lalu becomes a cleaning woman and a successful laundress. Though she dreams of marriage to Jim or escape to China, she recognizes Charlie’s admirable qualities after a violent incident that casts him in a different light.

Thousand Pieces of Gold Review

It’s likely that the name Lalu Nathoy means nothing to you. What historians do know about Lalu is subject to much debate. Known as Polly Bemis in the United States, Lalu was a Chinese American Pioneer in Idaho. She was among the first pioneers to settle the Salmon River, also known as The River of No Return. Known as the first Chinese bride of the wild west, historians also labeled Lalu as one of Idaho’s most romantic characters. She did indeed marry Charlie Bemis, fought for residency in the United States, and was an early entrepreneur. There is not much more to Lalu’s story. As a result, Thousand Pieces of Gold feels like it is missing something.

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Thousand Pieces of Gold portrays itself as a romantic film of perseverance and discovering love in the most unlikely of places. And yes, I would agree that this film falls within Romanticism. It’s a study of heroic individualism against the backdrop of the American frontier. It’s a Romantic journey of perseverance, a quest for independence and Lalu’s rediscovery of her identity. It is not, however, a romantic film about love.

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Lalu suffers greatly at the hands of Hong King. While the film downplays events, it’s clear that Lalu is Hong King’s unwilling mistress. In addition, Charlie’s adoration of Lalu is not so much pure as it is an obsession. His fixation on her is unhealthy.

While I know that Lalu’s experiences were far worse in reality than on screen, the film’s attempt to romanticize this aspect put me off. Resigned acceptance of Hong King’s attention is not consent and the film came too close to justify it as such.

The other romantic love aspect of the film was between Lalu and Jim. It was purer despite the circumstances that brought them together. It was heartbreaking as well. Rosalind Chao and Dennis Dunn were fantastic together as Lalu and Jim. Chris Cooper was equally wonderful as the troubled Charlie. You could see the struggle as Charlie tried to reconcile his motivations with his actions.

I also can’t say enough about Michael Paul Chan as Hong King. I’m a fan of Chan’s and to see him in this type of role threw me. He was perfect in the disgusting, selfish role of Hong King.

Final Thoughts on  Thousand Pieces of Gold

Rosalind Chao is magnificent as Lalu. She captures the emotion of every scene brilliantly. You can read her thoughts from the expressions on her face to the flash of her eyes. Her face is a storyboard of emotions. So much so, you can almost read her thoughts. She does not romanticize Lalu’s story.  Instead, Rosalind Chao’s performance is raw; powerfully raw.

Do not mistake T housand Pieces of Gold for a romantic story of love. However, it does offer a romantic view of the Wild West. It’s woman against man, nature, and internal conflict. It also portrayed the growing racism against the Chinese and their treatment by early western settlers. Furthermore, it’s worth watching for a glimpse into the experiences of Chinese immigrants who either willingly or unwillingly came to the United States. In this respect, it seems true to the time period.

Content Note : Rated PG-13 for sexuality, prostitution, slavery, and discriminatory language.

Have you seen Thousand Pieces of Gold? If so, what were your thoughts? Did you walk away with a completely different impression? Let me know in the comments below!

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Review/Film; Chinese Girl Sold Into Slavery in Old West

By Stephen Holden

• Sept. 27, 1991

Lalu Nathoy, or China Polly, as she is nicknamed in "1,000 Pieces of Gold," overcomes almost as many perils as Pauline in the cool, clear-eyed historical drama that opens today at the Angelika Film Center.

As an adolescent in famine-stricken northern China in the 1880's, she is pulled out of bed one morning by her father and summarily sold to a marriage broker, who ships her across the Pacific in chains. In San Francisco, she is auctioned off to an agent (Dennis Dun) for Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), a rapaciously greedy saloonkeeper in the gold-rush mining village of Warren's Diggens, Idaho.

When Lalu violently resists Hong King's attempts to turn her into a prostitute, he forces her to be his slave. But through her toughness, pluck, intelligence and charm and the sympathetic intercession of Hong King's white business partner, Charlie Bemis (Chris Cooper), who wins her in a poker game, she pulls herself out of a seemingly hopeless situation. Eventually, she comes to love Charlie.

"1,000 Pieces of Gold," which is based on a true story recounted in Ruthanne Lum McCunn's 1981 book of the same name, has enough plot for three movies. But because its events are so concisely distilled, the film still has enough room left over to ground Lalu's experience securely in the context of a little-known aspect of American pioneer history.

With the discovery of gold in the West, a wave of Chinese laborers arrived to work on the railroads and in the mines. Although welcomed at first, they were soon persecuted by white laborers motivated by a combination of racism and resentment of their industriousness and their willingness to work for very low wages. Denied naturalization and the right to vote, they were eventually excluded from the United States by the Chinese Restriction Act, which Congress passed in 1882 and which ended the country's free immigration policy. Not the least of the dangers Lalu survives is a white lynching party that drives all the Chinese laborers out of Warren's Diggens.

"1,000 Pieces of Gold," directed by Nancy Kelly, is so straightforward in its storytelling and unfussy in its cinematography that at times it has almost a documentary feel. Although the film contains many scenes that could have been directed for excruciating suspense or for tears, its tone remains objective to the point of detachment.

That tone is set by Rosalind Chao's impressive, understated portrayal of Lalu. From the opening scenes, in which she is tearfully carted off from her family while her father turns his back and puts his hands over his ears to block out her cries, the character is revealed as a figure in a larger historical landscape.

Even in moments of terrible anguish, Ms. Chao projects the character's steely will. Threatened with rape, she wields a knife with a determination so ferocious that her captor realizes she is unsuited for prostitution. Even the least sympathetic characters are revealed as vulnerable, multi-dimensional people buffeted by forces beyond their control. The fiendish Hong King and his money-making fever are seen as just an extension of the surrounding entrepreneurial fever.

Lalu's rescuer is himself far from unblemished. A survivor of Andersonville prison, he is a hard-drinking, war-weary lost soul who swallows his feelings. Mr. Cooper's gruff, reticent performance undercuts the romantic aura of savior that clings to the most heroic secondary role in this well-made old-fashioned movie. 1,000 Pieces of Gold Directed by Nancy Kelly; written by Anne Makepeace; director of photography, Bobby Bukowski; edited by Kenji Yamamoto; music by Gary Remal Malkin; production designer, Dan Bishop; produced by Ms. Kelly and Mr. Yamamoto; released by Greycat Films. At Angelika Film Center, Mercer and Houston Streets, Manhattan. Running time: 105 minutes. This film has no rating. Lalu (Polly) . . . Rosalind Chao Charlie . . . Chris Cooper Hong King . . . Michael Paul Chan Jim . . . Dennis Dun Jonas . . . Jimmie F. Skaggs Miles . . . Will Oldham Ohio . . . David Hayward Berthe . . . Beth Broderick

THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD: A Women’s Western

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The recent restoration and re-release of Nancy Kelly’s overlooked 1991 revisionist western Thousand Pieces of Gold is flying under the moniker as a “feminist western.” This endorsement lit up like a marquee to yours truly, the prospect of a feminist western is catnip to someone who’s both a rabid fan of the genre and an ally to the feminist cause. Naturally, the good people at Kino Marquee (who are hosting a 4K restoration via a virtual tour in lieu of these troubling times), aptly sold the movie, and Thousand Pieces of Gold delivers on that promise as a subtly brilliant revisionist western replete with period atmosphere and an original story.

A New Look into a Familar Past

Distinguished by a creative voice who identifies with the figure at the core of the story, Lalu ( Rosalind Chao ) a young Chinese woman, is sold into slavery by her impoverished family, and brought to America – landing in an Idaho mine town thanks to a Chinese wife trader ( Dennis Dun ). Here, she’s at the hands of a mercilessly greedy and chauvinistic saloon keeper/entrepreneur Hong King ( Michael Paul Chan ) who then tries to capitalize Lalu by fetishizing her Asian features (some things never change, eh?) and bidding her out as a prostitute to an overzealous crowd.

Lalu defends herself with righteous insistence that she’s not for sale. One level-headed patron and relative partner of Hong King, Charlie ( Chris Cooper ), eases the crowd and talks King into letting her work as a maid in order to eventually buy her freedom, at the cost of a thousand pieces of gold. This uneasy “deal” (the chances of Lalu earning that much is unlikely) lends an air of tension to the narrative that sits at the front. Providing enough room to let our characters develop as well as relinquish a thoroughly realized historical milieu.

Nancy Kelly strikes a unique tone with Thousand Pieces of Gold. There’s a sincerity to the film, and Kelly articulates Lalu’s tale with patience and maturity. The nature of the story naturally propels the feminist drive. If we look at the history of sexism in America and our treatment of immigrants (and those forcibly brought here), it doesn’t take much to do the math regarding the experience of a Chinese woman in the 1800’s.

Strong Cast Carries the Weight

Thousand Pieces of Gold is even-handed without being cautious. It might seem light at times, but there’s no need to rush into familiarity, and we get to grow into it at the same time as the characters. Lalu quickly establishes herself as a steadfast and motivated woman who refuses to be a victim or default to lovelorn, face-in-a-locket type. Rosalind Chao is rooted in this performance, creating a modicum of emotional range. Michael Paul Chan , whose hardened interpretation of the advantageous Hong King; the inverse of Lalu who’s cutthroat enterprising is somewhat ruthless, or is it the embodiment of American capitalism? You get the feeling that the prejudice he endures from the whites of the camp has less to do with race and more to do with his financial gain.

On the more romantic spectrum, there’s Charlie Bemis, brought to life by the always reliable Chris Cooper , whose subdued charisma is captivating. With the added presence of Will Oldham , it’s hard not to think about John Sayles’ Matewan , another revisionist western starring Cooper and Oldham four years before. There’s the undercurrent of a love story, but the picture is primarily concerned with Lalu, a creative decision that is shrewd and indicative of an instinctually strong storyteller.

Personal Passion

Nancy Kelly presses the film with personal resolve that’s thoroughly unpretentious and presents a driven women’s story that emanates a grounded spring of feminism. Thousand Pieces of Gold is a low cruising masterpiece that’s worthy to stand alongside superlative genre iterations from the period such as the aforementioned Matewan, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez , or the more recent The Homesman from 2014.

In an extra-textual sense, the production and the events following Thousand Pieces of Gold tell another feminist story that is both tragic and inspiring. Nancy Kelly had to fight to get the movie made; backers wanted to tweak the script to fit more gender normative conventions, while others were hesitant to hire a first time director who was a woman to make a women’s story set in the west. Luckily these rough patches only stoked the flames, and she sought to get the film made regardless. While Thousand Pieces of Gold received positive critical notices, Kelly’s directorial career fell prey to the entrenched sexism of studio brass and producers; at one point, she was told, “You’re a good director, too bad you’re a woman.”

From Sexism to Optimism

Fortunately, there’s been some advances for women in the film industry even if the numbers are still criminally lopsided (in 2019 12% of the 100 top grossing films were directed by women, with the representation of women of color even more dire) and the doors for Kelly to realize her long cradled project, “When We Were Cowgirls” will hopefully open. Thanks to Kino Marquee /Kino Lorber Kelly’s Thousand Pieces of Gold is touring via virtual theatre and is attracting a new audience of admirers. Kino’s Blu-ray release of the film was released on May 26th with bonus features including audio commentary with director Kelly and Producer Kenji Yamamoto , interview with Kelly , and an essay from Anne Makepeace .

In lieu of this overlooked gem coming to the fore can we anticipate more underseen westerns coming to the fore? Will the changing tide of the film industry give more female directors like Kelly a career renaissance?

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Movies · April 25, 2020

Review: Thousand Pieces of Gold

We’re all using our time in self-isolation differently. For me, it’s a lot of watching films that—until a global pandemic had me home 24/7—were blindspots in my viewing history (or as the Tribune’s Michael Phillips calls it, the Overdue Film Festival ). I recently delighted in an eight-film series of screen siren Rita Hayworth’s most iconic work, for example—the first time I’d ever really seen any of the legend’s work.

This week’s new streaming options present yet another opportunity to take in an older film I’d never seen: Nancy Kelly’s Thousand Pieces of Gold , the 1991 period piece that Roger Ebert called “angry and romantic.” Starring Rosalind Chao (who would go on to star in  The Joy Luck Club and, more recently,  The Laundromat and the upcoming  Mulan ), the film is set in the pioneer Idaho of the 1880s and based on the true stories of Asian men and women brought to the United States as indentured servants or forced brides—human property, however you cut it. Lalu (Chao) lives quietly with her family in the Mongolian hills, but all that is upended when her father sends her off to a marriage broker; after a de-humanizing experience on an auction block, a Chinese man (Dennis Dun) exchanges the gold of the film’s title for the right to walk away with Lalu.

Without any choice in the matter, Lalu is resigned to her fate as this man’s wife. But her journey has just begun. Jim (his Americanized name) is actually just a middleman, and he escorts Lalu all the way to the settlement in Idaho where he hands her off to the real source of the sale, Hong King (Michael Paul Chan). A merchant and business man who works out of the local saloon, Hong King plans to auction Lalu’s virginity off to the highest bidder. As Lalu, known as “China Polly” to the locals, fiercely resists—even threatening to kill herself rather than be forced into prostitution—the saloon’s owner Charlie (Chris Cooper) steps in to stop the auction all together. A veteran of the Civil War who fought against slavery, Charlie makes it clear that no human is property and helps Lalu, who’s beginning to learn English, understand she that might be able to find work and earn her freedom from Hong King.

Written by Anne Makepeace and based on a novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn,  Thousand Pieces of Gold was made and released in the same era as films like  Dances with Wolves and  The Piano. Though all three films explore colonialism, clashes between cultures and unlikely connections, it’s the latter two that are best remembered in popular culture. But the case could be made that Kelly’s lush drama, punctuated by stirring performances from both Chao and Cooper, should be just as appreciated thirty years on. As a woman who has to learn very quickly how to fend for herself and take her destiny into her own hands, Chao’s performance is a confident, even charming one. Scenes with Cooper, who like Chao was mostly a television actor up to this point, have a warmth that’s otherwise absent everywhere else in the rough and gritty Idaho mining town. Their eventual connection is a conclusion that’s evident from the moment he stops the auction for her virginity, but it’s nevertheless enjoyable to watch as each character acknowledges their growing affections.

Filmed by cinematographer Bobby Bukowski (who’s since built a lengthy resume, including Rosewater ,  Phoebe in Wonderland  and Saved! ) ,  Thousand Pieces of Gold features stunning landscapes of a developing settlement and its surroundings while immersing us in the mud and mess of the wild west. Kelly went on to make award-winning documentaries after this film’s original release; creating Lalu’s world and giving her story life—from the period costumes and sets to the gender, racial and societal dynamics of it all—must’ve felt like something similar to seeking the truth of those later films. Taken together,  Thousand Pieces of Gold  remains both a worthwhile exploration of individuality and agency as well as a beguiling love story.

Thousand Pieces of Gold is now streaming via Kino Marquee and the Siskel Film Center ; a portion of your rental goes to support the cinema.

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Thousand Pieces of Gold Reviews

Thousand Pieces of Gold confronts the West, both its history and its place in American cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 18, 2022

Chao is charming and believable as strapping Lalu... How she comes to find angels in a country that in 1882 expelled Chinese immigrants makes for an involving tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 16, 2022

Ms. Chao gives a spirited performance that's matched expertly by Mr. Cooper's aw-shucks courtliness and Mr. Chan's slick villainy... This first feature by independent filmmaker Nancy Kelly is a most winning little western.

Full Review | Feb 16, 2022

Despite some amateurish acting and editing, Thousand Pieces of Gold demands attention because of the very peculiar nature of this story of Lalu Nathoy (Rosalind Chao).

Director Kelly, who had previously made documentaries, uses the Montana locations to give an epic feel to the story, but keeps it warm and human by never caving in to melodrama. The performances are uniformly good, especially by Rosalind Chao.

Despite its occasionally slow moments, this account of a young Chinese woman's struggle for dignity in an 1880s mining town wins you over with its unassuming grandeur, its modest, sturdy production values and its gently asserted, keenly felt convictions.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 16, 2022

1000 Pieces of Gold documents the lives of women who have thus far remained invisible. And Lalu’s own story is compelling, recounting the life of a woman who’s able to determine her own fate in a world in which she’s virtually powerless.

With the sweep of an epic and the intimacy of an art film, Thousand Pieces of Gold is both an exploration of America's perverse magnanimity toward immigrants and a terse, eloquent story of love born of pragmatism.

Nancy Kelly's stirring feminist Western, Thousand Pieces of Gold, comes with a rare delicacy, like that of a small, four-character off-Broadway play that's been carefully -- and handsomely -- "opened up" for the screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 16, 2022

Chao's performance is so solidly tempered and the sweep of events is so tumultuous, that there is little time to contemplate the story's shortcomings.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 16, 2022

With remarkable skill, compression and economy, it takes art alternative look at American frontier life, lets us watch the mainstream of history from the smaller, more perilous currents outside.

Kelly's direction is competent, but tending toward the melodramatic cliché.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 16, 2022

The picture just drifts along, passively and pleasantly, never making more than minimal demands on the viewer's attention or intelligence.

For people who appreciate serious historical drama, Thousand Pieces of Gold is a fine addition to the cinematic legacy of the Old West.

Though its story is honestly earnest and plain... its characters are unpredictably and engagingly human.

Anne Makepeace's screenplay and Nancy Kelly's direction reflect what might be called a feminist fidelity to the material which turns out unsurprisingly to be the true, century-old story of a Manchurian woman named Lalu Nathoy.

1000 Pieces of Gold is a beautifully told story about the real American West and the immigrants who lived in it Rosalind Chao known best for her recurring role in television's Star Trek: The Next Generation gives a luminous performance.

The film has both epic sweep and a compelling human interest.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 15, 2022

1000 Pieces of Gold is a small story about real people and situations that has a genuineness and honesty but lacks dramatic tension.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 15, 2022

[An] insightful glimpse at a little-seen aspect of the Old West, based on a true story.

Full Review | Feb 15, 2022

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Thousand Pieces of Gold

In 1880s China, a girl is sold into marriage by her father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in a gold-mining town where she forges a path for her own freedom and, ultimately, true... Read all In 1880s China, a girl is sold into marriage by her father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in a gold-mining town where she forges a path for her own freedom and, ultimately, true love. In 1880s China, a girl is sold into marriage by her father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in a gold-mining town where she forges a path for her own freedom and, ultimately, true love.

• Nancy Kelly
• Ruthanne Lum McCunn
• Anne Makepeace
• Rosalind Chao
• Chris Cooper
• Michael Paul Chan
• 16 User reviews
• 7 Critic reviews
• 1 win & 1 nomination

• Charlie Bemis

• (as Albert J. Kalanick)
• (as Mary Lee)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Based on the true story of "China Polly".
• Connections Featured in Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997)

User reviews 16

• Dec 22, 2013
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• November 1, 1991 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• American Playhouse: Thousand Pieces of Gold
• Butte, Montana, USA (San Francisco)
• American Playhouse
• Channel Four Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• Apr 28, 1991

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• Runtime 1 hour 45 minutes

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Thousand Pieces of Gold

Review by brian eggert june 11, 2020.

The Western film genre once encapsulated what it meant to be American. Filmmakers active during the Western renaissance—such as Anthony Mann, John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Howard Hawks—epitomized why no other genre better captures the ideological underpinnings of American culture. Not only did they portray cowboys bringing law to the Wild West and pioneers confronting the wilderness to carve out a new life for themselves, but also, they seldom told stories about characters outside of the white race or male gender. Just as they went overlooked in American culture, non-white races and women were often excluded, marginalized, or demonized throughout the Western genre’s prime in the early to mid-twentieth century, with few exceptions. Westerns at the time were indicative of American values by what they did not represent. It was not until 1990, when director Nancy Kelly adapted Thousand Pieces of Gold from Ruthanne Lum McCunn’s 1981 novel, that the Western genre finally acknowledged the contribution of Chinese immigrants to American identity with a film told from the perspective of a Chinese woman. If the genre has mythologized America as a land of opportunity and a place where people could demonstrate their steadfast will to achieve something greater than themselves, it often undercuts the widespread gender biases and racism that befell Chinese immigrants. 

The story opens in Northern China in 1880, where Lalu Nathoy (Rosalind Chao) lives with her family during a season of droughts and despair. One day, Lalu’s father sells her for a handful of coins to support the rest of his family. Lalu is trafficked to San Francisco, where another dealer sells her to the highest bidder. Although slavery had been outlawed in the United States by this time, the practice of selling Chinese women to buyers in America continued behind closed doors for decades to follow. In Chinatown, she is purchased again by Jim (Dennis Dun), who speaks Mandarin and might be the first friendly person she meets in the New World. They will even fall in love. Except, Jim has been hired to bring Lalu to a small Idaho town built around a gold mine. Jim explains that in America, her name will be either “China Mary” or “China Polly,” and she will serve as wife to Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), a businessman who owns part of the gold mine. Hong King plans to prostitute his new wife to the locals, though Lalu’s independent streak puts a stop to that. Unlike many Chinese immigrants during this time, she refuses to be relegated to her intended role as a sex-worker. One of the first English phrases she learns is “No whore.” 

Much of the film’s violence was not present in the novel, but even as its presence underscores the racism and savagery against Chinese immigrants in the American West, the film never becomes a polemic or history lesson. Unlike, say, HBO’s Deadwood , the film does not dwell on the ugly details by depicting them. Thousand Pieces of Gold is gentle compared to the real-life crimes committed against Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth century. In the film’s final third, the white townspeople, whom the Chinese refer to as “white devils,” rally against and exile the small population of immigrants who work in their town. Some are hung, some are threatened with fire. It’s a rare example of an American motion picture that portrays the persecution of Chinese immigrants as a tragedy. History has more examples, such as the 1885 massacre in Rock Springs, Wyoming, that left twenty-eight Chinese people dead, killed by the white locals who wanted them out of their town. Or look up the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which sought to limit the influx of Chinese immigrants and make them ineligible for citizenship. Fortunately, there’s a happy ending here. Thousand Pieces of Gold is based on a true story, and the real Lalu lived out her life with Charlie on the “River of No Return” until an old age. 

Today’s viewer will recognize both the skill and limited budget behind the production. Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski knows that he only needs to point the camera at the Rocky Mountains to evoke awe; there are no elaborate camera movements to admire, only forthright scenery and well-lit interiors. Similarly, the town never looks like façades erected on a studio backlot; it has a makeshift quality, with old boards and tents, like a real mining town. Gary Malkin’s score, however, alternates between synth tones and bamboo flutes, and it rings somewhat generic—like a movie-of-the-week circa 1990. Thousand Pieces of Gold also has a quality that might be unfairly criticized as melodramatic, a word that is often misused as a pejorative. The high emotions of Anne Makepeace’s screenplay have been carefully acted by the leads. Chao and Cooper never over-accentuate their lines, bringing their characters dimension and humanity. Although Cooper would go on to become an Oscar winner, Chao has seen more exposure from her role as Keiko O’Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . This film suggests that, in an alternate universe where Hollywood saw Asian-Americans as bankable, she would have made a fantastic leading lady. 

Despite rousing notices from critics such as Roger Ebert and Stephen Holden, with many saying Chao’s performance deserved an Oscar nomination, Thousand Pieces of Gold made less than a third of its budget at the box-office. Enduring the fate of many female directors who fail to make a splash with their first film, Kelly never made another dramatic feature. “I ran into plenty of sexism—sometimes blatant, but more often veiled,” she told IndieWire . “It never occurred to me that breaking into the film industry would be harder than breaking a horse. I was wrong.” Her film was fantastically unconventional for this period. It is neither told from the white perspective nor a man’s perspective. American films about women were rare enough; American films about women from China simply did not happen. A Chinese character with agency in a Western is a rarer thing still. Chinese immigrants usually appear in Westerns on the margins of the frame as in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), or on the outskirts of town, operating opium dens, as in Tombstone (1993). 

Thousand Pieces of Gold confronts the West, both its history and its place in American cinema. It exposes the traditional Western as a myth, while its violence and racism against Chinese immigrants brings truth to the screen. That Kelly presents this reality within a sweeping romance makes the material all the more accessible, and all the more regretful that the film went virtually unseen in 1990. It was recently given new life by IndieCollect, a nonprofit that restores and brings awareness to forgotten works of American independent cinema. Before its 4K restoration, I had never heard of the film or its director. With any luck, it will be a new discovery for many others as well. The film’s new restoration and tour, however, has been interrupted from a theatrical re-release by the COVID-19 pandemic. Viewers can still rent the film in “virtual theaters” through Kino Lorber’s arthouse theater service, Kino Marquee . Given the impressive visual scope, one cannot help but ache over Thousand Pieces of Gold once again being robbed of its time on the big screen. For all of the frontiers it explores, it demands to be seen.

(Note:  This review was selected by vote from supporters on Patreon . )

Bibliography:

Kelly, Nancy. “How Industry Sexism Stopped the Career of ‘Thousand Pieces of Gold’ Director Nancy Kelly.” IndieWire . 30 April 2020. https://www.indiewire.com/2020/04/thousand-pieces-of-gold-nancy-kelly-industry-sexism-1202228333/ . Accessed 6 April 2020. 

Kitses, Jim. Horizons West: Directing the Western from John Ford to Clint Eastwood . British Film Institute; 2Rev Ed edition, 2008.

McCunn, Ruthanne Lum. Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Biographical Novel . Beacon Press, 1981.

Terry, Patricia. “A Chinese Woman in the West: ‘Thousand Pieces of Gold’ and the Revision of the Heroic Frontier.” Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 4, 1994, pp. 222–226. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43796635. Accessed 7 June 2020.

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Thousand pieces of gold.

1990 Directed by Nancy Kelly

A testament to the strength of the human spirit.

In 1880s China, young Lalu is sold into marriage by her impoverished father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in an Idaho gold-mining town, the property of a saloon owner who renames her China Polly and plans to sell her as entertainment for the locals. Refusing to become a whore, Lalu ultimately finds her own way in this strange country filled with white demons.

Rosalind Chao Chris Cooper Michael Paul Chan Dennis Dun Will Oldham Beth Broderick Kim Chan Jimmie F. Skaggs David Hayward Chris Evans Weili Fan Evan C. Kim Freda Foh Shen John M. Hosking Mary Matvy George Cheung Saachiko

Director Director

Nancy Kelly

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Gregory Jacobs

Producer Producer

Sarah Green

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

John Shum Kin-Fun Lindsay Law

Writer Writer

Anne Makepeace

Original Writer Original Writer

Ruthanne Lum McCunn

Editor Editor

Kenji Yamamoto

Cinematography Cinematography

Bobby Bukowski

Production Design Production Design

Primary language, spoken languages.

Cantonese Chinese English

Alternative Titles

Zlaté prokletí, Mil monedas de oro, 千金, 사우전드 피시즈 오브 골드

Romance Drama

Releases by Date

30 apr 1990, 26 apr 1991, releases by country.

• Premiere (San Francisco International Film Festival
• Theatrical PG-13

105 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by sloane yeehaw ★★★½

rosalind chao is seriously adorable & a badass but wtf is this poster

edit: poster is now acceptable

Review by delomir

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

...then a violent racist mob chased them out of town, and they lived happily ever after, the end.

A deceptively odd movie, and perhaps a brilliant one but for that abrupt, whiplash-y ending. Fundamentally, it's the story of Lalu's journey from slavery to freedom, but it's told like a love story. And it's not not one, ultimately, but it starts from his more base infatuation with her (combined with his gentlemanly manners) and her needing a path out of servitude and the near-certainty of a violent death. They find that behind that necessity are real feelings, and she eventually becomes quite successful and popular (along with the other Chinese residents) - which raises the ire of the racist mob, who…

Review by Alex Kittle ★★★★

Don't let the terrible poster fool you, this is a very good movie about a young woman from China shipped against her will to the American West and sold into marital slavery/indentured servitude, who eventually gains independence and a new life for herself in a strange country. Written and directed by women! And the story is based on a real woman! And Chris Cooper is hot in it!

Can't wait to eventually see the recent restoration of this since the version on prime is very low quality...

Review by Stewart Schuster ★★★★ 2

A beautiful, slightly slower paced western film about a Chinese woman who is sold by her family and taken to rural Oregon in America, circa post Civil War 1800's. All of the key players in this are fantastic, along with the production and costume design, as well as some of the cinematography. It's a shame that Nancy Kelly never made another feature...

Review by Buttcheese ★★★★½

Gimme a bowl of that forgetfulness soup 💖

Review by Nick Dets ★★½

A pretty, well-acted, sturdily-produced period drama that is occasionally undermined by affected, schmaltzy directorial choices. Still, the fact that a feminist Chinese immigrant story set in the American Reconstruction era exists is reason enough to consider a watch — especially given how gorgeous Kino Lorber’s recent restoration of it is. Also, Rosalind Chao carries the movie with effortless, resounding humanity and resilience. Ripe for an improved remake, hopefully one with a bigger budget and a steadier dramatic hand. (2/4)

On rewatch, I think the structure works fine, actually. The film just overall needs a little bit more of a "spark", a little more energy or momentum. It's one of those films that's kind of obviously a literary adaptation, where it renders each major scene as they are on the page (and renders them well, to be clear) but kind of loses some of the connective tissue that makes it flow.

That said, the film remains fascinating and complex. Lalu, once she understands what's actually going on, prepares to fight quite literally to the death to resist it; Charlie's interventions are the only reasons she doesn't, in fact, get killed. He at first feels like she owes him for "saving"…

Review by DiaDaily

gorgeous landscapes, skies, faces (her dimple SLAYED me) NEVER count on a man to save you the ending seemed abrupt.

Review by J.S. Lewis ★★★½

The story of Lalu Nathoy is an incredible one: a Chinese woman sold into slavery, transported to the American west, who overcame both circumstance and persecution to become a self-made entrepreneur and married to an American man, all before the turn of the century! A hundred years later, first-time filmmaker Nancy Kelly adapted Nathoy’s life story into a sweeping Western romance starring the electric Rosalind Chao and the sturdy Chris Cooper. This is an ambitious indie film starring an Asian woman, something that’s touted today and virtually unheard of 30 years ago when this was released. The making of Thousand Pieces of Gold captures the pioneering spirit of its subject.

Some of the rugged apprenticeship shows. The narrative is a…

Review by Mason ★★★★

can't believe it took me this long to see this movie

a marvelous performance by Rosalind Chao and an impressively real period piece.

Review by Meriem ★★★★½

9-  a movie with less than 1k views on letterboxd

Protect Lalu at all costs

Review by Knut André Dale ★★★★½

This film deserves so much more than the vaguely positive reviews I've seen here on Letterboxed. "Thousand Pieces Of Gold" isn't just "sturdy" and "beautifully shot". It's a sublime piece of work that refuses the idea of pure antagonism and does its best to remind us of our shared humanity at every turn. The performances are outstanding across the board, and yes, it is beautiful to look at. Oh, to live in a world where this was considered a 90s classic, instead of "Dances With Wolves".

Thank you, Kino Lorber!

Select your preferred poster

Once Upon a Time in a Western

Thousand pieces of gold (1991).

She’s taken first to San Franciso, then to a Oregon mining camp where Hong King (Michael Paul Chan) runs a saloon and has paid $1,500 for her.

He plans to enjoy her for a night, then put her to work as a whore in his saloon.

But she’s a determined young woman with no interest in becoming everyone’s “wife.” She rather kill them — or herself — first.

Charlie Bemis (Chris Cooper), the man who leases the saloon to Hong King, convinces him to have her work off her debt in other ways.

And so Lalu becomes an indentured servant of sorts, dreaming of the day she can raise enough money to return to her home in China.

Dennis Dun plays Jim, the young Chinese man who delivers Lalu to Oregon and would like to make her his wife.

Charlies begins to take a romantic interest in her as well, especially after he has to rescue her from Hong King for a second time.

Trouble comes again when the miners begin retaliating against the Chinese in camp, blaming them for their inability to make a decent living.

Rosalind Chao as Lalu, happy to have gained her independence in Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

Chris Cooper as Charlie Bemis in Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

If you’re looking for an action-packed Western, look elsewhere.

But this is an engrossing character study of one young woman’s plight in the Old West, and you’ll soon find yourself rooting for Rosalind Chao’s character.

Okay, she escapes a life of prostitution a bit too easily, especially considering how much her “owner” invested in her with hopes of turning a profit.

But the film does an excellent job of portraying Lalu as a woman willing to work as hard as necessary to accomplish her dream — returning to her father on a white horse with a whole herd of sheep.

Dennis Dun as Jim, the freighter who delivers Lalu to an Oregan mining camp, then tries to buy her freedom in Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

Michael Paul Chan as Hong King, in a high-stakes poker game with Charlie Bemis in Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

Directed by: Nancy Kelly

Cast: Rosalind Chao … Lalu Chris Cooper … Charlie Bemis Michael Paul Chan … Hong King Dennis Dun … Jim Jimmie Skaggs … Jonas Will Oldham … Miles David Hayward … Ohio Beth Broderick … Berthe Kim Chan … Li Ping Welli Fan … Sayan Evan C. Kim … Shun Lee Freda Foh Shen … Ah Ling

Runtime: 105 min.

Rosalind Chao as Lalu, prepared for her saloon debut by Berthe (Beth Broderick) in Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

Rosalind Chao as Lalu accuses Jim of delivering her to a dismal fate in Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

Memorable lines:

Jim to Lalu: “My name is Li Po. But it’s easier for the white demons to say Jim.”

Lalu to Hong King: “You can’t sell my flesh to ghosts. I belong to you. I won’t be a hundred men’s wife.”

Hong King to Lalu: “I did not buy you for conversation.”

Lalu, angry at Jim upon his return: “You knew. You say you bring me to husband. You leave me to be whore for ghosts.”

Lalu: “I’m free?” Charlie: “You’re as free as anyone.”

Charlie to Lalu: “You know, I went home for a while after the war. Sometimes, you just can’t go back to the way you were.”

Charlie: “Polly, do you still think we’re all demons?” Lalu smiles. Charlie: “Well, you’re right. But some of us, we just need an angel like you to save us from ourselves.”

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Thousand Pieces of Gold Film Review + Video Interview

Based upon a true story, Nancy Kelly’s Thousand Pieces of Gold is an affecting and slow-building narrative exploring issues of autonomy, captivity and dependence in the economy of the Gold Rush. The film calls attention to the hardships faced by Chinese Americans in the 19th century, such as human trafficking, discrimination and poverty. But rather than a tragic expose, Thousand Pieces of Gold is a narrative of survival that has moments of high drama alongside slice-of-life explorations of a certain time and place.

Rosalind Chao plays Lalu, a Chinese girl sold by her father as a slave to work overseas in Gold Mountain, a small prospecting town. Understated yet fierce, her performance has a melancholic sense of interiority even when she is at her most righteously indignant. Thousand Pieces of Gold reveals nuanced and intersectional aspects of race, class and gender in the Old West, shedding light on underrepresented narratives while faithfully maintaining the visual style of a classic Western.

Lalu has complex and troubled relations with the many men around her, including the Chinese horse herder Li Po, her master Hong King, who seeks to sell her as a prostitute, and Charlie, a well-meaning yet hot-tempered former Yankee soldier. Charlie strives to protect Lalu from the other men, but still struggles to gain her trust given the malicious intentions of the “demons”, or whites, who make up the majority of the townsfolk.

Lalu and Li Po form an immediate bond of solidarity based on shared knowledge of the old country, but are kept apart by circumstance and economic hardship. Meanwhile Charlie is affable and sympathetic yet misguided and often deeply problematic in his attempts to protect and encourage Lalu. Over the course of the film, Lalu has evolving notions of who she can trust trust and where her home is, spending most of the film seeking to return to China and to the same family that disowned her.

In its portrayal of race and class, Thousand Pieces of Gold is nuanced and uncompromising, showing the poverty and lack of freedom faced by immigrants in the 1800s and exploring the varying strategies used to cope and maintain a sense of identity by marginalized people in a hard-scrabble era and setting.

Language is a key issue touched upon by the film. Lalu arrives speaking little English, and is referred to as “China Polly” by the Anglophone denizens of Gold Mountain who refuse to call her by her real name. Her erstwhile friend Li Po is similarly referred to as “Jim”, and the two form an instant bond as he helps explain how to survive in America. However, he also leads Lalu into the hands of Hong King, a conniving and ruthless master who deliberately plays into the Orientalist fantasies of the white townsfolk in his plans for Lalu.

Avoiding typical Western tropes, the soundtrack is influenced by understated and contemplative traditional Chinese music. Spare and elegant, the music creates a winsome atmosphere and highlights Lalu’s sense of homesickness in her search for community amongst the alienation of a majority-white town. Bobby Bukowski’s cinematography is warm, earthy and austere, evoking mid-century Westerns while maintaining a feeling of lived-in realism. The 35mm film lends a burnished, vintage quality to the visual style, which complements the wistful and melancholy tone of the narrative. Director Anne Kelly shows a fine attunement to the materiality of life, giving a strong sense of the day-to-day tasks of cooking, washing, riding horses and eating.

Thousand Pieces of Gold deftly handles themes of home, identity, survival and solidarity while touching on the aftermath of the Civil War and the long shadow it cast over American culture, best represented by the conflict between Charlie and Jonah, an ornery former Confederate who spreads xenophobia about the Chinese denizens of the town. The film’s portrayal of human trafficking in an era that had ostensibly abolished chattel slavery speaks to an issue which still affects millions today, and its characters have a fundamental humanity that transcends historical eras.

Thousand Pieces of Gold is available for online screening and rental via Northwest Film Forum through May 31.

Thousand Pieces of Gold Cast & Crew Video Interview

An interview with director Nancy Kelly, producer and editor Kenji Yamamoto, and film leads Chris Cooper, Rosalind Chao, and Michael Paul Chan.

Thousand Pieces of Gold Film Trailer

Jackie Moffitt

Jackie Moffitt (any pronouns) is a 24 year old writer, actor, musician and filmmaker from Seattle, WA. Jackie has written and performed original works of theater as part of Theater of Possibility, an ensemble for autistic young adults. Their involvement in cinema began with their work at Reel Queer Youth as a teenager, and they have been volunteering at Northwest Film Forum since 2018 where they write film reviews. They have performed at the Vera Project Neurodiversity Nights events as a rapper and singer-songwriter. Jackie has also been involved in public speaking at the 2016 Three Dollar Bill Cinema auction and the 2018 ArtsWA Arts & Disabilities conference in Ellensburg, WA. Jackie centers queer and neurodivergent perspectives and life experiences in their multimedia art and activism work. When not writing film & music reviews and working on creative projects, Jackie enjoys running, swimming, studying linguistics and philosophy, and playing tabletop games.

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Thousand Pieces of Gold Reviews

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A Chinese woman in the 1880s U.S. Lalu: Rosalind Chao. Charlie: Chris Cooper. Jim: Dennis Dun. Directed by Nancy Kelly from a script by Anne Makepeace.

Despite its low budget and lack of superstar names, THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD is an epic motion picture, and one of the best Westerns to come along in several years. Rosalind Chao, a regular on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," turns in a searingly memorable performance as Lalu Nathoy, a remarkably courageous and extremely iron-willed young Chinese woman determined to keep her dignity and self-esteem intact. Based on a fascinating true story, the film opens in northeast China, circa 1880, where a frightened Lalu is being sold into slavery by her despairing, poverty-stricken father. Taken in chains across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco, she's promptly auctioned off to a Chinese trader known as Jim (Dennis Dun). Lalu slowly falls in love with Jim, whose Chinese name is Li Po and who, eight years earlier, had arrived in the US as a virtual slave-laborer for the railroad: he was an indentured worker who eventually worked off his debt and earned his freedom. Though Jim apparently yearns to return Lalu's affection, he is weak in the face of what he perceives to be his duty: namely, the transportation of Lalu from San Francisco to the isolated mining town of Warren's Diggens, Idaho, where she is to work as a prostitute for Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), the local would-be entrepreneur and saloon manager, the man who gave Jim the money to purchase a Chinese slave. Hong King's plans for Lalo include exploiting her as an exotic change-of-pace from the town's white whores. Unwilling to permit her body to be used or abused by the rough-and-rowdy mining camp drunkards, Lalu contemplates suicide before fate intervenes in the form of Charlie (Chris Cooper), the saloon's actual owner, whose admiration and respect for Lalu commences to grow from the moment he observes the way she handles herself with the first burly man imposed on her by Hong King. Sensing her fierce determination not to be a whore, Charlie gives Lalu tips on how to save herself from her seemingly hopeless fate. Following a confrontation, Hong King, who is Lalu's legal husband, is forced to admit that a live cleaning and scrubbing woman is better than a dead Chinese whore, and he finally grants Lalu her wish to work off her debt via hard labor. Charlie's fondness for Lalu blossoms into deep devotion, though it is to be a very long time before Lalu returns Charlie's affection. Not only does she still imagine herself in love with Jim, whom she sees every time business brings him back briefly to the mining camp, but she continues to dream of earning enough money for passage back to her homeland. Through sheer grit, incredibly hard labor and living daily by her wits, Lalu succeeds in setting up housekeeping in her own cabin while simultaneously fending off both actual and threatened violence triggered by the bigotry and xenophobia of the camp's gang of unwashed white miners. Charlie seems destined to lose Lalu forever when, her mind made up, she begins the long journey back to the Pacific coast and home. But something happens to Lalu at the eleventh hour, an incident that makes her realize just how much Charlie has come to mean to her and--in effect--where her true home really is. Documentarian Nancy Kelly makes a stunning theatrical directorial debut with this splendid film, co-produced with her film-editor husband, Kenji Yamamoto. Even though the film reportedly cost less than $2 million, it frequently has the look of a much more expensive and sweeping film. There are shades of the grandeur of a classic John Ford-style Western, even though much of this film (unlike Ford's frequent spectacular vistas in Monument Valley) is played out in confined, intimate quarters: the dingy saloon or the dank, dark back room where Lalu is forced to stay and, initially, receive her unwashed paying customers. When the picture does open up, the scenery is heart-wrenchingly magnificent, thanks to cinematographer Bobby Bukowski, who never fails to make the best possible use of the gorgeous Montana wilderness that serves as both northern China and Idaho. This true-life Western-romance, unquestionably, is one of the best features in recent release, thanks primarily to the vivid realization of the central character of Lalu as so brilliantly interpreted by Rosalind Chao, and by the sterling performances contributed by Chris Cooper, Dennis Dun, Michael Paul Chan and others. Very special plaudits go also to Anne Makepeace for her satisfyingly rich and marvelously intelligent screenplay, based on the novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn. (Violence, profanity, sexual situations.)

A Thousand Pieces of Gold

1991 directed by nancy kelly. starring rosalind chao, chris cooper, dennis dunn, michael paul chan., reviewed by marjorie baumgarten , fri., july 5, 1991.

In China, “a thousand pieces of gold” is a father's term of endearment for his daughter because that's the price she would fetch him if sold to a marriage broker. And indeed, that's where this movie begins: in the 1880s in Mongolia with a father who sells his two daughters in order to help the rest of the family through the drought. The story is drawn from the actual life experiences of Polly Bemis, born Lalu Nathoy. She's first shipped to San Francisco and bought by a young Chinese trader who delivers her to a mining camp in the American Northwest. Sold to a ruthless Chinese saloon keeper, she faces a life of forced prostitution. But our Polly has a will of her own and among the first English words she learns to say are “No whore!” which she declares frequently to all the brutish, sex-starved miners while emphatically flailing her arms in front of her. Her friend and ally is the kind and gentle Charlie Bemis who respects her and looks out for her and supports her desires. Gradually she is able to establish an independent business for herself as a laundress. The story is one of personal triumph over slavery and imposed destiny. Its drama is drawn from the infrequently examined history of the Chinese-Americans in the Gold Rush and the role played by women in those male enclaves. At points 1000 Pieces of Gold made me think of McCabe and Mrs. Miller with its realistic portrait of prostitution and the entrepreneurial spirit. Also the movie Heartland for its depiction of the isolation experienced by the pioneers of the American West and the difficulty experienced by the women drawn into that milieu. 1000 Pieces of Gold isn't quite as good as these other two movies, but one of the things they do have in common is their independence. Nowhere in these movies do you find the routine Hollywood myths about the building of the American West and it's no accident that these were all independent productions. Polly's personal story in 1000 Pieces of Gold is gradually subsumed by a focus on the growing love story between her and Charlie. There's also an interesting element of cross--culturalism because Polly must ultimately choose between her love for this man and her driving desire to return to her Chinese homeland. 1000 Pieces of Gold is a small story about real people and situations that has a genuineness and honesty but lacks dramatic tension.

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Josh Kupecki, April 23, 2021

Marc Savlov, Sept. 16, 2005

March 16, 2024

March 12, 2024

A Thousand Pieces of Gold , Nancy Kelly , Rosalind Chao , Chris Cooper , Dennis Dunn , Michael Paul Chan

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Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)

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In 1880s China, young Lalu is sold into marriage by her impoverished father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in an Idaho gold-mining town, the property of a saloon owner who renames her China Polly and plans to sell her as entertainment for the locals. Refusing to become a whore, Lalu ultimately finds her own way in this strange country filled with white demons.

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Thousand Pieces of Gold

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Rosalind Chao

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Michael Paul Chan

Jimmie F. Skaggs

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"Set in a mining town in the 1880s, Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao, The Laundromat, The Joy Luck Club), a young Chinese woman whose desperately poor parents sell her into slavery. She is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho’s gold country. Eventually Charlie, a man of a different ilk, played by Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty), wins her in a poker game and slowly gains her trust. Way ahead of its time, the film resonates even more powerfully in the #MeToo era. But director Nancy Kelly became a victim of prejudice against women directors within the American film industry and was never offered another movie to direct in spite of extraordinary reviews, some of which compared her talent to that of John Ford. Based on the classic novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, and written for the screen by awardwinning filmmaker Anne Makepeace (Tribal Justice), Thousand Pieces of Gold is a breathtaking feminist Western just waiting to be rediscovered, and is presented here in a new 4K restoration."

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.4 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Nancy Kelly
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Subtitled
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 46 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ May 26, 2020
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Rosalind Chao, Chris Cooper, Will Oldham, Michael Paul Chan, Dennis Dun, Jimmie F. Skaggs
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Kino Lorber
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0866N5F4R
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #1,259 in Westerns (Movies & TV)
• #12,351 in Drama DVDs

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Thousand pieces of gold.

Set in a mining town in the 1880s, Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao, The Laundromat, The Joy Luck Club), a young Chinese woman whose desperately poor parents sell her into slavery. She is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho’s gold country. Eventually Charlie, a man of a different ilk, played by Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty), wins her in a poker game and slowly gains her trust. Way ahead of its time, the film resonates even more powerfully in the #MeToo era. But director Nancy Kelly became a victim of prejudice against women directors within the American film industry and was never offered another movie to direct in spite of extraordinary reviews, some of which compared her talent to that of John Ford. Based on the classic novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, and written for the screen by awardwinning filmmaker Anne Makepeace (Tribal Justice), Thousand Pieces of Gold is a breathtaking feminist Western just waiting to be rediscovered, and is presented here in a new 4K restoration.

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