China O'Brien was the first in a series of low-budget atypical 1980s martial arts films ("China O'Brien 2," etc...) starring actress and martial artist Cynthia Rothrock. In the first film, China is a city police officer who goes back to her home town, where her father, the town sheriff, is trying to put a stop to the local organized crime. Her father is killed by a car bomb; their maid goes to call another sheriff to tell him about the murder; he runs outside to his car and is killed by a car bomb also. The punches in the fights sound like slaps recorded in an empty echoey room; nearly every jump or swing snaps the air like a whip.

The plot hinges on China's election to her father's position as sheriff; about two-thirds of the way through, the film's antagonist arranges to have a ballot box stolen. The attempt fails and is followed by a martial arts fight in a high school gym; the antagonist retaliates for the thwarted attempt by arriving at China's celebration party and machine gunning lights and produce. One of China's supporters is later shown bleeding and so was apparently shot also.

The China O'Brien films have a limited cult film status but have gained notoriety in the late 1990s because a then-unheard of singer/songwriter Tori Amos (then going by her birth name Ellen Amos) recorded a song, "Distant Storm," which can only be heard by viewing the original film. Amos is billed in the credits as "Ellen" but the song is attributed to a band called "Tess Makes Good," with "additional vocals by Ellen Amos."

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