In 1978, independent producer Wu Siyuan put Yuan Heping and Jackie Chan Zhang Luo together to make a movie called "Drunken Fist". This film allows Jackie Chan, who is still in the trough, to find a lighthouse in the fog and thus become an international superstar.
So, in 1978, why Jackie Chan?
First, let's take a look at what kind of gods the creators of Zhang Luo's movie are.
First look at Wu Siyuan.
Wu Siyuan has been a lover of traditional culture since childhood, reading Chinese and foreign books, and has loved literature and art since childhood. In 1958, 14-year-old Wu Siyuan came to Hong Kong with his family, and after completing his studies, he became a teacher in a middle school, with few classes and a lot of money, and his life was quite leisurely. In 1967, Shaw Film held a film directing training class. Wu Siyuan resolutely abandoned teaching and became a field reporter of the Shaw clan after graduating from the class. Compared with being a teacher with more money and less work, the field record is just the opposite, the income is three-quarters less, and it is only 200 yuan per month. With the dream of a movie, Wu Siyuan decided to stick with it.
After several years of experience on the set, Wu Siyuan chose to fly alone, and in 1971, he independently directed the action film "Crazy Killer", beginning his career as a director, producer and producer.
By 1978, Wu Siyuan had directed six or seven action movies, including Kurata Baozhao, Liang Xiaolong, Huang Zhengli, Huang Yuanshen, Liu Zhongliang and other well-known action movie stars. This year, Wu Siyuan was 34 years old, and there was no shortage of experience and capital, so he set his sights on Yuan Heping and Jackie Chan. In this year, he also released another movie through trickery, that is, Zhang Guorong's first screen work "Spring on the Red Chamber", which is a third-level film and zhang Guorong's unforgettable memory.
Let's look at Yuan Heping again.
Yuan Heping is the son of Yuan Xiaotian, a martial artist of Peking Opera, and five or six brothers are well-known directors or martial artists of Hong Kong films. Yuan Xiaotian, who practiced Northern Kung Fu, and in 1937, he and Xue Jue, the red singer of Cantonese opera, left the cloudy Beijing on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War to come to Hong Kong, and two years later stepped into the film industry, engaging in martial arts and stand-ins.
Yuan Heping practiced kung fu from an early age and entered the film industry in 1962 as an actor in "The Legend of the White Snake". In Zhang Che's famous 1967 work "One-Armed Knife", we can find Yuan Heping running a dragon suit with a turban and a large knife.
After several years of running dragon sets, Yuan Heping first served as an action director in 1970, in collaboration with Wu Siyuan's first directorial work, Crazy Killer. In the following years, Yuan wu and the two jointly produced films such as "Hungry Tiger Wild Dragon", "Dangkou Tan" and "Southern Fist and North Leg Fighting Golden Fox". This set the stage for the future cooperation in 1978.
In 1978, Yuan Heping was 33 years old, and after more than a decade of ups and downs in the film industry, he urgently needed a work to make himself famous.
Let's look at Jackie Chan again.
At the age of 7, Jackie Chan was sent by his parents, who worked as a chef in Australia, to the "Chinese Peking Opera Research Institute" opened by Yu Zhanyuan in Hong Kong. Just like the movie "Seven Little Blessings" depicting the apprenticeship experience of Jackie Chan and Hong Jinbao, the brothers and sisters have not been beaten less and have suffered less. According to An interview with Hong Jinbao, he often taught Jackie Chan, who was a little master brother, and Jackie Chan was also afraid of master brother Hong Jinbao. Therefore, Jackie Chan's apprenticeship experience must have a lot of unbearable pain.
In 1971, Jackie Chan entered the film circle after leaving the school and participated in the "Heroine" by Hu Jinquan, a major director of martial arts films. The martial arts instructor of this film, Han Yingjie, is the second son-in-law of Master Jackie Chan, and Han Yingjie is the master brother of the "Seven Little Blessings" who will call the wind and rain in the future. The reason why there are three "big" is because Yu Zhanyuan in order to expand the influence of enrollment, once famous after Yuan Heping led the art to get started, it is an advertising gimmick. Therefore, Yuan Heping is the "big brother" in Jackie Chan's mouth, and Hong Jinbao is the master brother. Jackie Chan has the opportunity to participate in the debut of "Chivalrous Girl", and it is estimated that it will definitely be recommended by Han Yingjie. After that, he played the role of a dragon who was killed in Bruce Lee's 1972 "Jingwumen", and then in 1973's "Dragon Fight" there were several micro-seconds of Bruce Lee grabbing his hair and killing him. Coming out of the mix always has to start from being beaten, and if you want to beat others, you must first learn to be beaten by others.
In addition to being a minions in the works of these martial arts action masters, Jackie Chan in the same period was also good at filming Wind Moon Films, Gong Min Films and Huang Mei's big artist and director Li Hanxiang.
In 1973, Jackie Chan played a bartender who helped prostitutes ventilate messages in Li Hanxiang's wind and moon film "Northland Rouge".
In 1974, Jackie Chan played a street vendor who monitored Pan Jinlian and sent a message to Wu Song in Li Hanxiang's fengyue film "Golden Bottle Double Yan".
At that time, Jackie Chan, who was still a single-eyelid child, could be said to be a twenty-eight-line small dragon set, and it is said that he once begged Gu Long to write a script for him, and as a result, Gu Long deliberately teased him, and only after drinking and eating did he say that his script was for Dillon and Jiang David. The eldest brother Dillon was also kind enough to introduce him to Zhang Che, but Jackie Chan was not a disciple of his own roots after all, and from his appearance to his skills, he could not compare with the good guys under his command, so he ignored him. It is said that At that time, Jackie Chan, who was hopeless and disheartened, once wanted to go to Australia to inherit his father's business as a cook.
However, the first noble man in his life appeared. He is the well-known actor and director Luo Wei, who was the director of Bruce Lee's "Big Brother Tangshan".
In 1974, Bruce Lee died suddenly, leaving a huge kung fu film market to fill. Of course, the follow-up master Luo Wei will not miss this opportunity to follow the trend and imitate Bruce Lee. After there have been various "little dragons" on the market, Jackie Chan and Luo Wei hit it off, and Jackie Chan became Luo Wei's dry son (Li Hanxiang's memoir "Thirty Years from the Beginning" clearly stated that he became Luo Wei's "Qi Zai" (dry son)).
In the following years, Jackie Chan followed Gan Dad to make several films imitating Bruce Lee, such as "New Jingwumen". However, although the post-Bruce Lee era contains opportunities, it is not easy to get ahead, after all, there are too many heroes. Just when the father and son were at a loss for each other, the time came to 1978.
In 1978, at the age of 24
Jackie Chan suddenly turned into double eyelids.
In 1978, Wu Siyuan invited his old partner Yuan Heping, perhaps because Yuan Heping and Jackie Chan had the same friendship, or perhaps luo wei's face, or because jackie chan was no longer the janitor bartender in Li Hanxiang's works at this time, or perhaps there was merit in several unsuccessful box office films starring Jackie Chan, Wu Siyuan also leased Jackie Chan from Luo Wei, and the three of them worked together to shoot the epileptic and fallen "Drunken Fist" and "Snake-shaped Executioner". Since then, the genre of kung fu comedy has been established. But to be fair, the style of kung fu comedy is not the first of Jackie Chan and Yuan Heping. Films such as "The Great Killing of the Four Sides" by Zhang Che's fourth-generation disciples in the mid-to-late 70s already have the form of kung fu comedy, which is the same as Jackie Chan's late habit of using scenes and props to create comedic effects.
In 1979, Jackie Chan returned to Luo Wei Company to independently direct "Laughing Fist Strange Moves" that imitated the previous two styles and achieved a good box office, which was a return of the favor of knowledge, after all, if it were not for Luo Gan's father's invitation, Jackie Chan would already be an Australian cook.
Since then, Jackie Chan has recognized He Guanchang and He Ganda, joined hands with Jiahe Film Company to launch a masterpiece, and became an international superstar.
In 1978, why not someone else?
So, in 1978, is it possible that other heroes and good men began to go to glory? First, let's take a look at Zhang Che's group of disciples who can fight a good battle.
At that time, wang yu, the first generation of disciples who had become popular at home and abroad in the mid-1960s, was 34 years old, the second generation of twins Dillon and Jiang David, who became popular in the early 70s, were only 32 and 31 years old, Chen Guantai, the second generation disciple and the successor of the "Great Saint Splitting Hanging Gate", was 33 years old, Zhang Che's favorite son Fu Sheng was 24 years old, the third generation disciple and authentic Hongquan chuan qi champion was 28 years old, the fourth generation disciple, Luo Mang, the mantis fist heir with perfect muscles, was 22 years old, the fourth generation disciple, taekwondo black belt five dan, leg master Sun Jian was 23 years old...
It can be seen from the above that Zhang Che's disciples of all generations are not old or dying of old age, but they are all in the year of fighting, it is youth, everyone has the natural conditions of red and red, and everyone is a dashing boy full of enthusiasm. More importantly, almost all of them are from authentic martial arts sects, and they are not comparable to Jackie Chan and the "Seven Little Blessings" drama team. So why didn't they come out? The reason: the 1978 Shaw film and Zhang Che have already gone down. Shaw's closed management system and Zhang Che's strong personal feelings made it impossible for them to have contact with the outside world, and even if Wu Siyuan planned to invite someone to discuss the plan, it was impossible to bypass Shao and Zhang Che to communicate privately. Therefore, the disciples of the various generations can only lose touch with the trend of the times, but continue to shoot those old and outdated films in the studio, waiting for the dissolution of shaw films.
Even more unfortunate are Liu Jialiang and his brother Liu Jiahui. After Liu Jialiang left Zhang Che to direct independently in the mid-1970s, he turned to his brother Liu Jiahui. In 1978, the two joined forces to dedicate "Thirty-Six Rooms of the Shaolin Temple", which also caused a sensation in the film industry and made Lau Jiahui famous overseas. In the following years, they collaborated on a series of Shaolin-themed films with hard bridges and hard horses, adhering to the concept of real kung fu action pioneered by Bruce Lee, and giving a solid and fresh form to the film industry. It is worth mentioning that Liu Jiahui in 1978 was only 23 years old, one year younger than Jackie Chan. Although the starting point is higher than Jackie Chan, Liu Jiahui is also a Shaw star after all, and he is destined to lose more possibilities with the complete decline of Shaw movies.
In the mid-1980s, Shaw ended its film operations, most of the stars lost their jobs, let alone became famous internationally, and even Dillon, an old employee who threw his head and spilled his blood for Shaw, was abandoned and did not renew his contract. Most of the heroes and good men either go to the TV series to run the dragon set, or scatter around the world to do martial arts. Jackie Chan, who was neither as handsome as they could fight, took a helicopter and soared into the sky, looking down at the predecessors and peers below. And it should be noted that Jiahe, who holds Jackie Chan, has a deep and complex relationship with Shao, or it is not too much to say that there is a grudge. In this case, how can they turn to the stars of the old enemy system? The best way is to reopen the stove and cultivate his own concubines, and Gui is the son of He Guanchang, the second in command of Jiahe, and at the same time, he can keep up with his skills and open his double eyelids (the matter about Jackie Chan opening his double eyelids is mentioned in Li Hanxiang's memoir "Thirty Years of Detailed Talk from the Beginning"), which is of course the best candidate.
Now that the Shaw stars have passed, is it possible that the Shaw fire was heard in 1978?
Liang Xiaolong, at the age of 30, had practiced solid martial arts skills from an early age and collaborated with Wu Siyuan on "The Little Godfather of Hong Kong" in 1974. He was unlucky to be close to the water tower, and he was banned from Taiwan in 1977 for coming to the mainland for exchanges. At that time, Taiwan was one of the main markets for Hong Kong films, and the market was gone, so no one was looking for Liang Xiaolong to make films. Therefore, Liang Xiaolong in 1978 was absolutely impossible. Even if he later came back from the ban and became popular with "The Great Hero Huo Yuanjia" and "Chen Zhen", it was only limited to TV dramas, and he could only regret that he had no chance with the big screen.
Tan Daoliang, who was 31 years old at the time, contacted taekwondo at the age of 7, and won three consecutive Korean taekwondo championships since the age of 20, absolutely authentic material, and has been popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 70s. In 1975, Jiahe tailored the "Tantric Sacred Hand" for him, and Hong Jinbao, Jackie Chan, Yuan Biao and other brothers ran dragon sets for him. The following year, "Nanquan Bei leg living Yama King" filmed in Taiwan was a kung fu movie classic, creating the prosperity of nan fist and north leg kung fu films. However, not having a stable investor is his main problem, and without a backer and a big tree, he can never continue to live. Tan Daoliang quit the film industry at the beginning of the 80s, and he lost any possibility of becoming popular.
Liu Zhongliang (Taiwan), Kasava (South Korea), Huang Zhengli (South Korea), who are tied with Tan Daoliang as the "King of the Four Thighs", and Hosaki Kurata (Japan), who has been working hard in Hong Kong for a long time, are all foreigners in Hong Kong, and they can only add icing on the cake to do supporting roles, and it is impossible to be a single player, and naturally they cannot be praised like Jackie Chan.
Since the heroes of other factions have no hope of becoming famous, do the other division brothers who are also "Seven Little Blessings" have a chance in 1978?
Hong Jinbao, who was 26 years old at the time, came from a film family and did not suffer less in the drama school of Zhan yuan, and even went back to beat the master after he revealed that he even wanted to go back to beat the master. Hong Jinbao debuted as a child star at the age of 7, and at the age of 14, he served as the martial arts instructor of Hu Jinquan's famous work "The Drunken Man", and in the early 70s, he formed the action team "Hong Jia Ban" at the age of 20, and has since become a pivotal force in the Hong Kong film industry. In 1971, Hong Jinbao began to work with Jiahe as a martial artist in several films, and had a full fight scene in Hu Jinquan's internationally famous "Chivalrous Girl". After years of accumulation, Hong Jinbao was given the opportunity to direct independently in 1977, and began his directing career with "Sande Monk and Gang Mi Liu" and pioneered the kung fu comedy style. Hong Jinbao in 1978 was already a big brother-level figure, he had his own team, the energy to call the wind and rain, and the resources left and right, he naturally did not need anyone's support. Until the mid-1980s, his team was the leader of the Hong Kong action trend, and single-handedly created zombie action, psychic action, urban action, military action and other genre films. Hong Jinbao's characteristics are the management team, which is exactly the opposite of the concept of jackie chan in the family class, so when Jiahe wants to push an international superstar, of course, it is a thinner and handsome Jackie Chan.
Yuan Biao, at the age of 21, was the only one who could possibly compete with Jackie Chan. Yuan Biao, who went out with Jackie Chan, is a well-known "heel king", and his skills may be even better than Jackie Chan. In 1979, he was starred in "Miscellaneous Family Boy" by his brother Hong Jinbaoli, and in the 80s, he successively starred in popular films such as "Loser Boy", Yuan Biao's eccentric, agile and brisk skills were extremely in line with his image temperament, and once became a popular action star. However, after a short period of glory, he did not get more resource support, nor did he have the superior choreography ability of Jackie Chan, and gradually fell behind in the mid-80s, and he could not go international.
Other division brothers such as Yuanhua, Yuande, Yuankui, etc., are more behind the scenes than in front of the curtain, generally going to many companies and teams, making wedding dresses for multiple directors, as for becoming a superstar in front of the curtain, it is difficult to ascend to the sky. The most important thing is that they do not know how to be human like Jackie Chan, and they still need to be backed up to become famous.
Therefore, before 1978, no one could be closer to "Drunken Fist" than Jackie Chan. After 1978, no one can have a more solid backer than Jackie Chan.
After 1978, why did Jackie Chan become popular?
So, in the early 1980s, why did Jackie Chan, who joined Jiahe, go international step by step?
1. Excellent choreographic ability. This ability is an important specialty that distinguishes Jackie Chan from other kung fu actors, and it is also a magic weapon to maximize his own advantages and form a style, many actors can not get more room to play due to the lack of choreography and directing ability, and can only hope to meet good directors and good scripts, such as Zhen Zidan, debuted in the mid-80s, and did not meet "Ip Man" until 20 years later. In the 10 years since entering Jiahe, Jackie Chan has independently directed "Master and Disciple Out of the Horse", "Young Master Dragon", "Plan A" series, "Police Story" series, "Miracle", "Flying Eagle Project" and so on. Self-written and self-directed to maximize Jackie Chan's advantages, and gradually create the image of an all-round powerful movie star.
2. The family class is desperate. In 2006, the Chengjia class announced its dissolution, and this mysterious and remarkable team surfaced one after another, and they were born into death to complete every action, and went to the soup to make a stand-in for the dragon. In the nearly 30 years of cooperation, during which the Chengjia class has been desperately trying to win the head of the family, and finally making Jackie Chan an unmatched star in creative energy and quality, and has also completely established his own action style. It can be said that without the team of this person who suffers after suffering and not dying, there will be no Jackie Chan who is eminent and fascinating before.
3. Cooperate with more good directors. In the 1990s, Jackie Chan reduced his directorial works and cooperated more with other directors, such as Xu Ke's "Double Dragon Society", Chen Musheng's "Who Am I", Hong Jinbao's "A Good Man", Chen Jiashang's "Thunderbolt Fire", Wang Jing's "City Hunter", Tang Jili's "Red Fan District" and so on. Working with these veteran or cutting-edge directors allows for the continuation of creativity, the constant satisfaction of audience tastes, the constant creation of new styles, and always at the forefront of this action film.
4. Jiahe's internationalization strategy. Pushing your own films and stars internationally is the ultimate goal that every studio dreams of. Shaw's films have also made many attempts, but the means are relatively single, only through the international film festival to show, and it is difficult to enter the mainstream theaters in Europe and the United States. Jiahe has a higher vision and a corresponding strategy, they start from the culture of the film, gradually contact the European and American film industry, and carry out film cooperation or distribution cooperation with them, and finally push Jackie Chan film to the international, and then become an international superstar. It can be said that if it is not in Jiahe, Jackie Chan must not be able to become a dragon.
In 1978, this special time. The young man who runs the dragon set in the wind and moon film, and finds opportunities on the way to imitate Bruce Lee, works. This is both the turning point of the development of an action superstar and the beginning of the decline of many action superstars.
Time also, fate also!