Ali MacGraw can't act, c'mon give me a break. One reviewer must be a Jr. High drop-out with no taste. MacGraw and Scott both do a fine job in China Rose. After all it is listed as a T.V. movie and that should be taken into consideration. Briefly, man goes to China to look for his son, lady is assigned to help him, romance sort of develops, but must take a back seat to the search. The rest you must watch to find out for yourself.I didn't have enough lines, so I will add the fact that there is a dark secret to be revealed but again you must watch the movie and I recommend you do. I found it on Amazon and added to my collection because I am a huge Ali MacGraw fan, no matter what some say. Yes, she was older in this film, but all of us age or die, so don't judge someone because they are aging.

I thought "Any movie with George C. Scott has to have something on the ball...!" I was wrong.This is the only movie that has moved me enough to want to write a review for IMDb.There's not a single good performance in the movie. Scott's is best, clocking in at "not too bad" which is a gross disappointment for an actor of his caliber. Ali MacGraw is painful to watch. It goes downhill from there, one awkward scene with stilted dialog after another.Where was the director? Busy having lunch during the whole shooting? About the only positive reaction I have is the photography, giving a nice flavor of mainland China and Hong Kong.I am so glad I didn't actually pay money to watch this.

Besides the somewhat credible explanation of how his son "went bad," this was poor, even by TV movie standards. The relationship between Scott and McGraw is unbelievable and often embarrassing, the plot generally predictable, and except for a couple of flashes by Mr. Scott, the acting ranges from unremarkable to downright poor. There's no romantic chemistry between the two leads, the only apparent motivations for them getting romantically involved appears to be that they're the two leads and they're both widowed. Most of the plot "turns" are easily predictable, and the acting questionable enough to wonder whether everybody was supposed to be a bad liar, or the lines were just being delivered poorly. Probably the best that can be said for it was that it was only 88 minutes.

George C. Scott's character comes to Communist China to look for his long lost son. The US Embassy or Consulate assigns Rose (Ms. McGraw) who is studying in China, to be his guide and interpreter. Together, they set out looking for the son and have a dangerous time it. That sounds pretty banal but the acting is good and the chemistry between Ms. McGraw and Mr. Scott is palpable. And, from what I could tell, I think the locations were actually shot in China, not in a Hollywood lot. And the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land came across quite nicely. Everything considered, a superior movie