The death of Hong Kong films began with him.
Recently, "Anti-Corruption Storm 5" starring Gu Tianle and Zhang Zhilin was released.
As the final chapter of the "Anti-Corruption" series, it has attracted countless fans to watch, and it is good enough at the box office (as of press time, the box office has exceeded 300 million).
Figure | Derived from the Anti-Corruption Storm 5 poster
But word of mouth, as always, is difficult to be satisfied.
Many people just go with their feelings, to the "Hong Kong film era" in their memories.
And the result is often another round of sighs, sighs, and even disappointment.
People once again lament that "Hong Kong films are dead" and once again miss Hong Kong films.
Throughout the Hong Kong films in recent years, most of them have been labeled as "selling feelings" and "plot clichés".
I don't blame people for being too harsh, only that the former Hong Kong films were too classic.
The middle and late period of the last century was the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. "The True Colors of Heroes", "Across the Seas", "Police Stories", "Ghost of a Lady", "Farewell to the Overlord"... A classic Hong Kong film, I don't know how many people's youth has accompanied.
Figure | "The True Colors of Heroes", "Across the Seas", "Police Story", "Ghost of a Lady", "Farewell to the Overlord"
In the past 20 years, the "Hollywood of the East", which was once famous around the world, has slowly declined in the sighs of people day after day.
Of course, this is not without traces.
Long before the sound of "Hong Kong films are dead", there was a kind of film that had long since died.
This kind of movie is called "gambling film".
As we all know, the Hong Kong films of the last century have three magic weapons: one is a kung fu film represented by Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, one is a zombie film with Lin Zhengying as the core, and the other is a gambling film.
Zhou Runfa's god of gambling, Andy Lau's gambler, Chow Xingchi's gambling saint... Each one is a classic image that cannot be bypassed in the history of cinema.
Figure | From left to right, they are the God of Gamblers, the Gamblers, and the Gamblers
From 1989's "God of Gamblers", the gambling film topped the Hong Kong annual box office list for the first time, to the 1999 "Gambler vs. Las Vegas", the gambling film last entered the Hong Kong annual box office list, just 10 years.
In the past 10 years, it has basically included all the ups and downs of gambling films, and has also witnessed the turning and transformation of an era.
Figure | "God of Gamblers" in 1989 opened the "gambling film era" of Hong Kong films.
The rise of anything is inseparable from the help of the times.
Gambling is no exception.
In the 1970s, Hong Kong's industry and commerce developed rapidly, which on the one hand promoted economic development and further widened the gap between rich and poor in Hong Kong.
Figure | Kowloon Walled City, then Hong Kong's largest slum and the most densely populated place in the world, was demolished in 1993.
Prior to this, although many Hong Kong people lived in poverty, their hearts were still relatively peaceful, and most of them were at peace with themselves and contempt for gambling.
However, with the rise of stock speculation, lottery, horse racing and other activities, watching some people around them get rich overnight, many people can't hold their breath.
More and more people at the bottom began to hope for "sudden wealth", and gambling became their most irresistible temptation.
At that time, on some streets in downtown Hong Kong, mahjong hall signs could be seen almost everywhere.
Figure | As the essence of the country, mahjong was originally a cultural entertainment activity invented by the ancients, but in the inheritance of history, it was tied to the "thief ship" of gambling by posterity. Today, when someone uses mahjong as a gambling device, the culprit is not mahjong.
Of course, Hong Kong filmmakers will not ignore this, and gambling films have come into being.
The early gambling films were still mainly based on exposing gambling deception and criticizing gambling, which belonged to the "quit gambling" films.
For example, 1972's "Auspicious Gambling House", as the pioneering work of gambling films, it continues the warning tradition of Hong Kong films in the 1950s and 1960s, and the box office is not bad, but most people just try to be fresh and do not care much about the connotation.
In 1974, a line in Xu Guanwen's "Ghost Horse Double Star" directed by Xu Guanwen, "The cattle in the New Territories are also diligent, and they are not seen to develop", undoubtedly speaking the voice of many people at that time.
In 1976, a "Gambler's Great Deception" laid the foundation for all future gambling films.
Classic tricks such as listening to dice to recognize points, super memory, card changes, etc., have been continuously reproduced by later gambling films.
However, this kind of realistic gambling film, in the face of impetuous social atmosphere, quickly lost its attention.
Figure | In 1976, Cheng Gang's "The Great Deception of the Gambling King" was the first gambling film set in modern society, in which the gambling techniques and thousand skills were set to lay the foundation for all subsequent gambling films, so it was called "the origin of gambling films".
In the next 10 years, gambling films were basically in a state of small fights.
Instead, TVB's two gambling TV series "King of a Thousand Kings" and "Thousand Kings Heroes" launched in the 1980s filled this gap to a certain extent.
Figure | In 1980, Wang Tianlin's "King of a Thousand Kings", produced by Wang Tianlin and written by Wang Jing, received a hot rating, which became popular with Ren Dahua and made Xie Xian the "fourth brother" from then on.
Figure | In 1981, TVB launched the "Thousand Kings Heroes Society" while the iron was hot, and invited Zhou Runfa to play the second male number, and Wang Tianlin also deliberately pulled a handful of Du Qifeng and took him out by hand. This drama is also the first time that Andy Lau and Leung Ka-fai appeared on the TV screen in their lives, when they were still just a little transparent.
Until 1989, a fat man named Wang Jing stood up.
That year, Wang Jing made two gambling films: "Supreme Supreme" and "God of Gamblers". The former is more like a gangster film, and the latter has achieved the pinnacle of Hong Kong gambling films.
In "God of Gamblers", Wang Jing skillfully integrated the most popular kung fu, comedy, action, gangster and other elements of the time, which ignited people's enthusiasm for watching movies at once and led an era of Hong Kong cinema.
Big backs, black trench coats, chocolates... No matter how many years have passed, Zhou Runfa's "god of gamblers" image has always been surpassed.
Figure | In 1989, "God of Gamblers" was released and became the Hong Kong box office champion that year. The main cast includes Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau, Wang Zuxian, Zhang Min, which can be called Wang Bang.
In addition to entertainment, the film also has a certain reflection and excavation on human nature.
Wang Jing once summed up Gao Jin's tragedy this way: "He finally defeated everyone, but everything he could lose was also lost. ”
With the popularity of "God of Gamblers", the gambling film finally ushered in its explosive period.
In the 1990 Hong Kong box office rankings, the first and second runners-up were "Gamblers" and "Gamblers".
The former was the "nonsense pioneer" Liu Zhenwei after seeing the success of "God of Gamblers", while the hot iron followed the trend of the work, but also pulled zhou Xingchi, who was still playing a supporting role at the time, did not expect to make "Star Boy" become "Star Master";
The latter is that after Wang Jing watched the fire of "Gamble Saint", he quickly snatched the red Zhou Xingchi over, formed a "double male protagonist" with Andy Lau, and specially arranged a plot at the end of the film that "the gambling saint and the gambler call the gambling god as a teacher".
Wang Jing probably wanted to prove that she was the "father of gambling films".
Figure | To some extent, the gambling film has made Zhou Xingchi, or rather, Wang Jing has made Zhou Xingchi. In that era, nearly 200 million box offices in the gambling film market came from Chow Yun Fat, Chow Sing Chi and Andy Lau, and 100 million of them came from Chow Sing Chi.
After that, there were many uneven imitations on the market.
"Gambler", "Gambler King", "Gambler Zun", "Gambling Demon", "Gambling Fire"... But all the words related to "gambling" are basically used over and over again.
But in terms of box office performance, they are far from Wang Jing's works.
It is no exaggeration to say that Wang Jing is indeed the person who has made the most successful gambling films.
For example, 1994's "God of Gamblers 2", although the film is still essentially a self-repetition of past gambling films, it does not hinder people's enthusiasm for watching movies, and it also makes it break the historical record in one fell swoop, becoming the first Hong Kong film to break through the 50 million box office.
Begonia, played by Qiu Shuzhen, is still talked about after many years.
But this is almost the last glory of the gambling film.
Figure | In 1994's "God of Gamblers 2", the film did not have much breakthrough in nature, but the plot of Qiu Shuzhen biting the card has become a classic picture in the hearts of countless audiences.
As mentioned earlier, the rise of gambling films is the trend of the times.
In the same way, the decline of gambling films is also the result of the transformation of the times.
The reason why Wang Jing's gambling film can be fired is fundamentally to win in "entertainment".
Whether it is Chow Yun-fat, Chow Sing-chi, or Andy Lau, in Wang Jing's films, the image of gamblers is infinitely elevated and even deified.
In an era when "everyone wants to get rich overnight by gambling", this is of course a shrewd approach.
Even if there is no shortage of accusations in the industry, Wang Jing still makes a lot of money.
Figure | At that time, Hong Kong was still ranked among the "Four Asian Tigers", the economy soared, and Hong Kong people were generally confident and optimistic. Wang Jing's "heroic" gambling film just catered to the social atmosphere in Hong Kong at that time.
People in that exciting and humorous gambling universe, people get emotional release and carnival.
But what about after that? After the noise, there was nothing.
Gambling, after all, is a thing that is harmful and has no benefit.
From the moment professional gamblers were deified, the decline of gambling films was already doomed.
Figure | "The Legend of a Bad Gamble", directed by Mai Zishan and starring Wu Zhenyu and Guan Xiumei, has long exposed the essence of gambling. It's more of a failure than getting rich overnight.
Especially after the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Hong Kong's economy fell sharply and the stock market was sluggish.
Almost every once in a while, people owe huge debts for stock speculation, horse betting, and gambling balls, and finally jump off the building to commit suicide...
All kinds of tragedies are stifling.
The road of "heroism" can no longer be taken.
As a result, the gambling film ushered in a "stage of introspection" and once again returned to "reality".
Even Wang Jing has given up the successful gambling film routine in the past and taken the realistic route.
From "God of Gamblers 3" to "Gamblers 3", gamblers no longer have special functions, no longer have magical gambling techniques, and each one of them will end up with only a desolate end...
Figure | Released in 2000, "Gamble Saint 3" can be called a tragedy for all the staff. Shu Qi's bitter child was insulted, Wang Jing's role of Luo Sihai died tragically in the toilet, Xu Shaoxiong's role of Ah Ji was forced to jump off the building, and Zhang Jiahui's protagonist nameless was blind...
For gambling films, it's like a reincarnation. The path that the predecessors had walked, Wang Jing, they later walked back.
As a result, there has been no change - realistic gambling films, can not stir up half a splash, the box office is dismal.
The difference is that people in the past, are not concerned, so do not want to see;
Later people, on the other hand, have already experienced it, so they don't have to look at it.
In 1999, the immortal Wang Jing found Zhou Xingchi again, wanting to recreate the myth of gambling films.
But in the end, Zhou Xingchi only stayed in the crew for 6 days, and he really couldn't stand the shoddy script, and he whisked his sleeves away, and the two never had any contact since.
This movie, called King of a Thousand Kings 2000, is the last pure gambling film.
Figure | When filming "King of a Thousand Kings 2000", Wang Jing did not hesitate to invite Stephen Chow with a daily remuneration of more than 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars. After the two sides broke up unhappily, Wang Jing once complained that Zhou Xingchi was "not suitable for cooperation with others."
In the final analysis, gambling films are a spring dream created by Hong Kong movies for people at that time.
After waking up from the dream, wherever there are gambling gods and gamblers, they are all just gambling ghosts.
When people are sober, the gambling film will naturally come to the time to leave.
Even since 2014, Wang Jing has brought in Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau and others, and has launched the "Macau Storm" trilogy at a rate of one film a year, but he is unable to return to heaven.
Three movies, the box office is higher than one, but the reputation is worse than one.
One comment said: "'Macau Storm' is full of the smell of overnight meals. ”
The last shred of people's feelings for gambling films has finally been squeezed dry.
Figure | The "Macau Storm" trilogy failed to save the gambling film, but instead consumed all people's expectations. Wang Jing, who once created the myth of gambling films and won the popularity of Zhou Xingchi, has also been pulled out again and again and repeatedly ridiculed.
When people are still complaining that "Hong Kong films are dead", gambling films have long been dead.
This is a necessity.
On the one hand, it is society's perception of gambling that has returned from fanaticism to sanity.
Gambling is actually an instinctive human desire. Gambling is also human nature.
Since the beginning of human civilization, there has been a history of gambling.
The Xia Dynasty had "six chess pieces"; in 3000 BC, India had already played dice; ancient Greeks fought cocks, ancient Romans fought beasts...
There are also behaviors such as "lottery", "casting lots", "guessing ding shells" and so on, which are essentially no different from gambling, all of which are lucky.
Good luck, you win, naturally physically and mentally happy; bad luck, you lose, then disobey again...
Figure | "Gamble Saint"
In fact, in ancient times when the means of production were scarce, survival itself was a gamble.
Finding water, picking fruit, hunting animals, migrating tribes... Each is a gamble to lose your life if you are not careful.
Therefore, the preference for gambling is actually engraved in the genes of human beings long ago - those who dare not gamble cannot live; those who are too risky will die early.
The path of human civilization is actually an art of gambling.
Fortunately, in the long evolution of civilization, we have long since moved away from the life-fighting environment and relied more on labor, technology and cooperation.
So today, gambling has changed from an instinct to survive to a human desire.
The gambler gets a sense of refreshment, a thrill, and a ruin from it.
This is also why another name for the world casino city of Las Vegas is called "City of the Dead".
The reason why the former Hong Kong gambling film was popular was precisely because it catered to the enthusiasm of the people at that time.
But with the turmoil of the times and the economic downturn, more and more tragedies have made people see the reality - hoping to get rich overnight can only be a dream at most.
Therefore, whether it is Wang Jing's "heroic" gambling film or a warning film mocking "sick gamblers", it has not been able to get more attention.
What is reflected behind this is actually the change in people's attitudes and values in life.
On the other hand, since the return of Hong Kong, the vast mainland market has attracted countless Hong Kong artists and directors to the mainland, including the four kings, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan and so on.
A large number of talents have flowed out, the older generation of artists have aged, and the new people cannot afford to pick up the beams, and the decline of Hong Kong movies has become inevitable.
图12|Alain the Garsmeur ©
With the stable development of society, people who live and work in peace and contentment are more confident and more willing to be down-to-earth.
Hong Kong-made gambling films, which once witnessed the peak period of Hong Kong films, have long come to an end.
The myths of sudden wealth that were born during the period of economic transformation have also been gradually forgotten.
For the film and television industry, there may be some lamentations; but for society, this is undoubtedly a positive signal.
Because what can really promote social development is never the so-called god of gambling and the saint of gambling, but every ordinary and down-to-earth ordinary person.
Give a thumbs up, for this era, but also for every ordinary person who is down-to-earth and hardworking.
Figure | Dong Shuzi ©
Resources:
1. Phoenix Network "Gambling Film Storm"
2. National Humanistic History "Strange Power Chaos God or Entertainment Farce: In those years, the gambling films played by Fa Ge were not so simple"
3. Tencent's "History of Hong Kong Gambling Films, Thirty Years of Ups and Downs"
4. Hong Kong Box Office Ranking (1969~2019)
5. Know the #香港赌片的前世今生 #
6. China Film Directors Association "The Decline of Gambling Films is Ultimately Caused by Social Progress"
7. Zhu Lei's "History of Gambling"