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In 1976, director Luo Wei established "Luo Wei Pictures", which won Jackie Chan and launched a number of action movies, but all of them ended in failure.
Luo Wei Pictures could not open the pot, and Jackie Chan also became a burden to Luo Wei, driving away is not, keeping is not.
At this time, Wu Siyuan and Yuan Heping of Siyuan Pictures borrowed from Luo Wei to shoot "Snake-shaped Executioner", Luo Wei was worried that he had no money to pay his salary, and gladly agreed, 50,000 Hong Kong dollars sold, the film was made, but Wu Siyuan earned 2.71 million.
This also became the first peak of Jackie Chan's career.
Jackie Chan raised his eyebrows, knowing that there was no future for following Luo Wei, and he and Wu Siyuan filmed "Drunken Fist".
Wu Siyuan thought that Luo Wei would definitely not borrow it again, so he joined hands with Taiwanese film dealer Lin Rongfeng to talk to him, promising that as long as Luo Weiken borrowed Jackie Chan again, Several movies released by Luo Wei Pictures in the future, Lin Rongfeng could buy and distribute them together.
Of course, Luo Wei could not refuse in the face of this big cake, so "Drunken Fist" was able to start filming smoothly.
Compared with "Serpentine Executioner", "Drunken Fist" is better in terms of story script and action arrangement.
Released in 1978, the film set a box office record of HK$6.76 million in Hong Kong, becoming the runner-up of the annual box office, and also made Jackie Chan completely turn over and become popular overnight.
Jackie Chan probably didn't expect that the second peak of his career would come so quickly, and all this was no accident.
The reason why the film "Drunken Fist" can flourish at the time of the flood of Hong Kong kung fu films and make Jackie Chan's reputation greatly enhanced is inseparable from the ingenuity of director Yuan Heping in these three aspects.
The story is based on the folk tale of Huang Feihong's practice of "Drunken Eight Immortal Fists" with his teacher.
It is rumored that the Drunken Eight Immortals Fist was created by Su Can, one of the two Cantonese boxers in the late Qing Dynasty and one of the Ten Tigers of Guangdong. Su Can, nicknamed Su Qi'er, is a debauchery and unruly person, and regards money, fame and fortune as dung. After encountering the misfortune of the family, he wandered into the rivers and lakes and begged, created his own drunken Eight Immortal Fist, and later became the 52nd generation gang leader of the beggar gang.
Huang Feihong, on the other hand, is a well-known generation of grandmasters.
According to expert research, Huang Feihong was highly accomplished in martial arts throughout his life, and was once the martial arts instructor of the Guangzhou Marine Division and the head coach of the Guangdong Militia Regiment, specializing in Hong Quan, Clematis and Flying Thallium Stunts.
There is a folk saying that Su Qi'er once passed on the drunken fist to Huang Feihong, and the story of the movie is based on this legend.
In the "Huang Feihong" movie in the 40s, Guan Dexing's Huang Feihong was a master of martial arts, but in "Drunken Fist", he was completely subverted by Jackie Chan.
Jackie Chan's version of Huang Feihong is unique, in terms of image, he gave up the long braids of the Qing Dynasty and replaced it with a Republic of China-style Tang costume; his personality is smart and clever and playful, and he likes to mess around everywhere; although he can do it a little in martial arts, he refuses to work hard, but it is just commonplace, teaching little hooligans more than enough, and he is powerless when he encounters real opponents.
It is such a naughty boy image that needs to be advised and adjusted by a respected teacher, and the core of the story of the film revolves around this pair of masters and apprentices.
This kind of story design has long been commonplace today, but it was very groundbreaking at the time.
The film revolves around the theme of a person's efforts and growth, such a story seems very close to the people, and Jackie Chan's humorous interpretation also injects new vitality into this old folk story.
"Drunken Fist" Yuan Heping used his father Yuan Xiaotian to play Su Qi'er, and the combination with Jackie Chan and one old and one young is very brilliant.
As early as the time of "Snake-like Executioner", Yuan Heping used his father Yuan Xiaotian to play Bai Changtian, the master of the male protagonist Jian Fu (also played by Jackie Chan) in the film, and when filming "Drunken Fist", Yuan Xiaotian played Su Qi'er again.
Yuan Oda was a native of Beijing and a martial artist of the Northern School, who went to Hong Kong in 1937 to design martial arts scenes in Cantonese opera. Two years later, he entered the film industry and designed martial arts actions for "Iron Arm King Kong" in 1960, becoming the first martial arts instructor in the history of Chinese cinema.
When starring in "Snake-shaped Executioner" and "Drunken Fist", Yuan Xiaotian was originally just playing, but he did not expect that with the success of the two movies, his kung fu mentor image was deeply rooted in people's hearts.
After "Drunken Fist", Yuan Xiaotian starred in a number of kung fu films, which were not only widely sought after in Hong Kong and the mainland, but also popular in neighboring countries.
The Japanese fighting game King of Fighters series, which we are familiar with, includes a Chinese named Zhen Yuansai, which is based on him.
After experiencing the cooperation of "Snake-like Executioner", Yuan Xiaotian and Jackie Chan have a very tacit understanding in performance.
A dinner scene in the film is enough to convey the mentor-apprentice friendship between the two people-
Huang Feihong practiced martial arts until his hands were weak, lifting chopsticks but could not clip the dish, Su Qi'er sandwiched the dish for him, and his eyes and movements showed love and affection, which made people feel warm.
Su Qi'er taught Huang Feihong to drink, and after three cups of belly, the poem flourished, and the two of them said a sentence of poetry to me, and the scene was almost perfect from the line to the performance, and also showed the skills of the screenwriter.
At the beginning, it was Li Bai's "Will Enter the Wine, Jun's Disappearance": "A song with Jun, please listen to it for me." The bell and drum are not expensive enough, and I hope that I will not wake up after a long time of drunkenness. The ancient sages were all lonely, but the drinker kept his name. ”
Then there is a poem from Wang Wei's "Young Journey": "Xinfeng Meijiu Dou Ten Thousand, Xianyang Ranger how many years." ”
Then there is Du Fu's "Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking": "The Son of Heaven did not come to the ship, and claimed that his subject was a wine immortal." ”
Li Bai's "Drinking Alone Under the Moon": "Raise a glass to invite Mingyue, and the shadow will become three people." ”
There is also Wang Han's "Liangzhou Words": "Grape wine luminous cup, want to drink pipa immediately urge." Drunken battlefield Jun Mo laughed..."
Originally, Huang Feihong should have said, "How many people have returned to gulai's conquest?" By this time he was already drunk and unconscious.
This old and young are in harmony with each other, which makes people laugh uncontrollably.
A play quotes 5 ancient poems, which is quite a test of the screenwriter's skill.
The cultural heritage of Hong Kong film screenwriters in the last century can also be seen from this.
If Luo Wei is the leader of Jackie Chan, then Yuan Heping is undoubtedly Jackie Chan's mentor in film, and the kung fu comedy film style he pioneered got rid of the rules and regulations of kung fu movies during the Bruce Lee period and walked out of a new road.
The martial arts routines and actions painstakingly designed by Yuan Heping are the most exciting parts of the movie.
Among them, the most commendable is the various methods and props used by Su Qi'er in the process of training Huang Feihong.
Practice balance on the water tank, put on a rope with bamboo and put it on your wrist to practice hand strength, hang upside down and cup and spoon water to practice abs, pinch walnuts to practice finger strength...
These methods may not be scientific from the current professional point of view, but they are very comedic in the movie.
The boxing techniques that Su Qi'er taught Huang Feihong were exactly a set of Drunken Eight Immortal Fists, which were the more famous fists in the southern martial arts.
But according to Jackie Chan, those martial arts moves were choreographed by him and Yuan Heping.
The film devotes a lot of space to showing this kind of boxing, which is divided into eight styles according to the image characteristics of the eight immortals, and each style also has a small poem.
The action is still based on the routine of the hard bridge and hard horse, and during the fight, we can hear Huang Feihong's own bgm "General Order", which is said to be used for the first time.
Later, Huang Xia re-arranged the lyrics on this basis and wrote "Boys Should Be Self-Reliant", which became the classic theme song of Xu Ke's version of "Huang Feihong".
Yuan Heping's action design has always been good at using well-choreographed action scenes to promote the story and show the character of the characters.
In the final battle of "Drunken Fist", because Huang Qiying was attacked by the murderer Yan Tiexin, who was bought by the enemy, Huang Feihong stepped forward to save his father.
He tried everything he could, but he failed to gain the upper hand, and finally created his own "He Xiangu" style, which actually received miraculous results, leaving Yan Tiexin at a loss, and finally lost the battle.
This kind of chaotic fist killing of the teacher's father shows Yuan Heping's humor and wisdom, and also points out the way forward for Jackie Chan: to get rid of Bruce Lee's serious style of comedy kung fu films, you have to shoot like this!
Jackie Chan, who was just in his early twenties at the time, although honest and generous, was not stupid, and he could see that this was a perfect opportunity for him to really turn over, so he cherished it and worked harder at the same time.
For example, Huang Zhengli, who was played as a villain during filming, accidentally kicked off his front teeth and gargled his mouth; kicked the corner of his eye, and also sewed two stitches on it.
It is said that his double eyelids, which were done under the advice of the doctor and the persuasion of Wu Siyuan, during the surgery of the corner of the eye, were also "blessed by misfortune", and their appearance has improved since then!
Huang Feihong's growth experience is an allusion to our lives.
From the beginning of the naughty and lazy personality of the lack of patience and self-control of the forced learning, to the encounter with the real master after being hanged, dignity has also been trampled, since then began to introspect and take the initiative to learn, and finally achieved success.
The display of this growth process is very enthusiastic! Very inspirational! Brilliant! The audience can see themselves and find resonance, and everyone likes "Drunken Fist", which is why.
The success of this film also highlights Yuan Heping's talent as a director, and people in the circle call him "Yuan Baye", which is also deserved.
At the same time, the movie also allowed Jackie Chan to completely turn over and gain a foothold in the film circle, and he slowly matured, no longer a "weak chicken" who was not popular, and began to have the ability to control a movie, and slowly got out of Luo Wei's control.
Although Luo Wei did his best to turn Jackie Chan into his own cash cow, the helpless and fledgling Jackie Chan could not stop it at all, and after shooting several movies for Luo Wei, Jackie Chan finally switched to Jiahe with Chen Ziqiang.
After becoming the signature of Jiahe, the era belonging to Jackie Chan was officially opened, and a generation of superstars rose up.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Bloody Dan Heart
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