I Want To Be Like Connie Chan by Sue Guttilla I was eight years old when her movies made it to the USA. Our family always went to NYC Chinatown on Sunday mornings so we could go to Chinese school while my parents did the food shopping for the week. After that, we would go eat soup noodles and then we would go to one of the local theaters in Chinatown to see a movie. There were two movies usually, and it seemed like my mom went to same theater over and over again because it was the one that played the movies she liked. That place was packed, you paid and then walked in and just stood until you got a seat. But we didn’t care, we were kids, we had our treats to eat and a place to hang on. It was the only time in the week when we could relax—at other times it was study, study, study and housework. I remember watching Beautiful Queen of Hell—it was in color, not many were back then—and I saw this person who played the guy, but she was a girl! She impressed me, and I thought that I would like to have a big brother like that. Then when Banner of the Twin Phoenixes came out, I thought it was the most awesome movie and wished Chan’s character was my boyfriend. This is how impressive she was in her role as a guy. Later she did modern stuff and I really liked her in the Lady Killer series [also known as Lady Bond and Chivalrous Girl]. I said I wanted to be like her—kicking people’s butts! Then a big change happened when she started doing the modern romances. I didn’t care for those roles where she played a weak, naive girl. But I liked her long hair, the way she dressed, and how she always wore a small watch. A lot of the teenagers wanted to be just like her and dress like her. Later on when Black Killer came out, I said this is the Chan Bo Chu I like to see. I remember that my sister and brother and I would sit in the theater and watch the movie three times before Mom came to get us. The movie house didn’t kick you out, you just left when you were done watching. But since it was our only playtime, the theater was our haven to dream and pretend. Who wouldn’t fall for a Chivalrous Girl like Connie? Connie was the ideal big brother or boyfriend.