CCTV program once commented on director Hu Jinquan: he is a film giant who cross-edited sunlight and sword light, a famous author of Chinese Ming Dynasty history, and a generation of masters who used poetry and Zen to express the world of Chinese martial arts.
Hu Jinquan's films are not much, there are only a dozen works in his directorial career, but they are classics, and the eunuchs and inn scenes he created who can do martial arts have become the standard of martial arts films.
Time back to 1966, the year he filmed "The Drunken Man" and Zhang Che's "One-Armed Knife", which is known as the two pioneering works of Hong Kong's new martial arts and led the trend of an era.
"The Drunken Man" is director Hu's first martial arts film, and it is also the foundation of the new school of martial arts, today let's talk about the behind-the-scenes story of the film.
01, and Shaw's origins
In 1958, at the suggestion of his brother Li Hanxiang, Hu Jinquan signed an actor and screenwriter with Shaw, and at first he was ready to work in Washington, but Shaw's third brother Shao Renming told him that if he signed an actor and screenwriter, he could have the opportunity to become a director later.
Director Hu is running to be a director, but Shao Renmei values his identity as an actor, after all, the films starring Hu Jinquan are relatively high-grossing.
In the intervening years, in addition to being an actor, he also participated in the work of assistant director, acting as a hand in the hands of his brother Li Hanxiang, such as "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai".
In 1964, Li Hanxiang directed "Yutang Spring", but lost it to Hu Jinquan halfway, and this film is considered to be his first independent film.
But Director Hu himself disagreed, because he did not like Huang Mei's films, believing that 1965's "Children of the Earth" was his first film.
"Children of the Earth" is an anti-Japanese theme film, which invested a lot in that year, one was to build scenes, the second was to make actor costumes, and the third was that the big stars Lottie and Chen Hou were paid highly.
The film was heavily invested, but failed miserably at the box office, and because of singapore and Malaysia, it was forced to cut a large number of shots, and the original three-hour film was only 114 minutes left.
Perhaps because of the box office failure of "Children of the Earth", Hu Jinquan's later filming of "Ding Yishan" with the same type of subject was stopped by Run Run Shaw and said to him, You make a cheap movie.
Then there was 1966's "The Drunkard", which had very little investment, because many scenes were directly built with Shaw, and the new people were also enabled.
At first, Shaw watched the sample film of "The Drunkard", he was not satisfied, and even moved the idea of burning it, but Zou Wenhuai suggested that it be released in South Korea first, but he did not expect the response to be excellent, and later it was very popular in the entire Asian region.
The popularity of "The Drunken Man" did not make Run Shaw pay attention to Hu Jinquan, so he jumped ship at the invitation of the Taiwan Provincial Federation Film Company and left, and made a more popular movie "Dragon Gate Inn", earning a set for the Federation.
Because Hu Dao had a contract with Shaw before he jumped ship, Shaw forced the federation to give them the new Malaysian copyright of "Dragon Gate Inn" cheaply, which made Shaw earn more than 2 million Hong Kong dollars.
02, the use of newcomer Zheng Peipei
Why "Drunken Man" is known as the foundation of the new school of martial arts, because of his various "new", changed the pattern of Hong Kong martial arts films.
The first is the innovation of movement, the "Huang Feihong" series in the 50s, the fighting rhythm is slow and stiff, and Hu Dao pays attention to the sense of reality and beauty, and with the cooperation of Peking Opera drum music, it is like dancing.
The second is the new editing, Hu director connects many short shot groups together, in the narrow scene of the inn, the whole action seems cheerful, agile and freehand.
The third is to examine the madman, treat the set, serve the Moralization, are meticulous, and strive to be the same as the historical record, it is his seriousness, the film presents a different kind of beauty, and visually very convincing.
In the choice of actors, Shao shi initially wanted to use Yue opera or Peking opera actors, but Hu Dao had different ideas and felt that Zheng Peipei, who had a dance background, was more suitable.
Facts have proved that Hu Dao's eyes are poisonous, and the golden swallow played by Zheng Peipei, dressed in short clothes, holding a double knife, bright eyes and bright teeth, heroic and compelling, a generation of martial arts queens was born, and most of the later female heroine images were born from here.
Zheng Peipei became popular because of "The Drunkard", but she is a grateful person, when Hu Dao arrived in Taiwan, Zheng Peipei once flew with her alone, but Hu Dao persuaded her to come back, because she and Shaw still had a contract.
Later, Shao Was afraid that she would go again, so he transferred her to Japan to learn dance, and filmed Zhang Che's "Golden Swallow" in Japan, sitting firmly on the throne of Shaw's first female heroine.
If Zheng Peipei was not driven back by Hu Dao, I believe that "Heroine" must be her, in 1983, Hu Jinquan and Zheng Peipei, and then cooperated in "The World First", but it has long been a human being.
The number of cooperation between the two is small, but the master-apprentice friendship is very deep, and when Hu Dao lived in the United States in his later years, zheng Peipei took care of him.
03, cameo Cheng Xiaodong, Jackie Chan and Mars
Most of Hong Kong's Dragon and Tiger Martial Artists are mainly from the four major drama schools, namely the Chinese Drama Academy in Yu Zhanyuan, representative figures: Hong Jinbao, Jackie Chan, Yuan Biao, Yuan Kui, Yuan Hua, Yuan Qiu, Yuan Bin, Yuan De, Yuan Wu, etc., known as the Seven Little Blessings.
Pink Chrysanthemum's Spring and Autumn Drama Academy, representative figures: Qian Yuesheng, Lin Zhengying, Dong Wei, Meng Hai, Hui Tianci, etc.
Tang Di's Oriental Drama Academy, representative figures: Cheng Xiaodong, Xu Zhongxin, Mars, Pan Jianjun, etc.
Ma Chengzhi's Chinese Drama Academy, representative figures: Chen Huiyi, Zhong Fa, Curry, etc.
As we all know, Hu Jinquan loves Peking Opera, he is the director of the above schools, and when he is free, he will invite children to dinner.
When working in the film circle, he will also find these children to help, after all, he can earn a little money to supplement the school, and he just needs a group of children in "The Drunkard", so he can see Cheng Xiaodong, Jackie Chan and Mars in the film.
Among them, Cheng Xiaodong played the little monk who was stabbed to death, and his father Cheng Gang was also a Director of Shaw, and Hu Jinquan was a colleague.
Mars and Jackie Chan They play the little beggar next to Yue Hua, Mars is the most recognizable, from small to large basically has not changed much, Jackie Chan is not easy to identify.
Later, Jackie Chan also participated in "Chivalrous Girl", "Zhonglie tu" and other films, of which "Zhonglietu" in Yuanhua, Yuanbiao have a face, Jackie Chan did not have a face, but filmed a lot of roles, such as Wokou, officers and soldiers, civilians, etc., Hu Director once said that at that time Jackie Chan's mouth was very sweet, often shouting in the back: Uncle Hu, Uncle Hu, let me play a few more shots.
Hong Jinbao and Hu Dao have the deepest relationship, "The Drunken Man" has participated in the action design, "Chivalrous Woman" and "Zhonglietu" have also participated in the performance, and later Hu Dao began to shoot the last play "The Yin and Yang King of the Painted Skin", and Hong Jinbao also came to help the scene.
04. Yue Hua and Chen Honglie have passed away
Yue Hua can play the male number one, in fact, Shao Yifu made the decision, Hu Dao's initial choice was Cui Fusheng, Yang Zhiqing, Tang Jing and other people, but Yue Hua has always been very grateful to Hu Dao, and later when Xu Ke filmed "Smiling Proud of the River", let Yue Hua play the role of Lin Zhennan, he chose to refuse.
Director Hu once praised Yue Hua's acting skills very well, and playing a big hero is convincing. Yue Hua can basically grasp any subject matter, and many directors in Shaw like to use him, and he is a rare all-rounder.
After a period of time in the 90s, he couldn't stand the loneliness, joined TVB, and created many classic roles, such as He Feng of "Pearlescent Treasure", Jiang Qiao of "Towel Gangster", zheng Langjun of "Military Grandfather" of "Yihai Haoqing", etc., but unfortunately it is gone in 2018.
One of his favorite characters in "The Drunken Man" is the "Jade-faced Tiger" played by Chen Honglie, who is shaped like the white face in Peking Opera.
Chen Honglie received attention for his "Jade Face Tiger", and then basically inseparable from the villain, and the most well-known role was Lu Songxian's version of Zuo Lengchan of "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu".
At the same time, there are also good performances in dramas such as "Ma Yongzhen", "Bodyguard", "Young Hero Fang Shiyu", "Golden Branch Desire", etc., and he is an old and spicy actor who died in 2009.
In addition to Yue Hua and Chen Honglie, Yang Zhiqing, Li Yunzhong, Hao Luren, Yuan Xiaotian, and Han Yingjie were also gone.
"The Drunken Man" was released for 55 years, and now that I look at it again, I feel the most deeply that the film shows the classical cultural atmosphere, the overall style is very classical and beautiful, and it also reflects the elegance and delicacy of Hu Dao, and misses a generation of martial arts masters. (Author: 11)