In 1982, a "Shaolin Temple" led to the rise of martial arts films in the mainland, and also made a large number of professional martial arts practitioners embark on the path of actors, such as Yu Chenghui, who was a coach in the Ningxia Martial Arts Team at the time.
When he made his first film "Shaolin Temple", Yu Chenghui was already in his 40s, and he became famous in the film and television circle with the big villain Wang Renze played in the film.
In the following years, Yu Chenghui played many villain roles in succession, Herso in "North and South Shaolin" and Zhang Tuanlian in "Wu Song", which laid the foundation for his image of "the first villain" in the hearts of the audience.
But in fact, Yu Chenghui does not always play the villain, for example, in 1988's "Yellow River Hero", Yu Chenghui's chivalrous character has received countless praise, and he has been called the "last hero" of the 80s martial arts films.
01, the hero of the great, for the country and the people
After the release of "Yellow River Hero" in 1988, more than 450 copies were sold in theaters across the country, creating a record for domestic films at that time, and also achieving one of the most classic chivalrous images in the history of martial arts films - "Yellow River Hero" Ma Yi.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the three kings of Liu, Li and Duan in the Northwest Yellow River Valley fought each other in order to dominate one side, and the people along the coast lived in the depths of the water, and some even hid in the deep mountains and lived.
Ma Yi, a warrior with high sword skills, inadvertently saved Duan Wangye, who was defeated in the battle, so he formed a vendetta with Liu Wangye.
The murderous Prince Liu led his troops to wash Ma Yi's village in blood, and his young daughter was also killed, and the grief-stricken Ma Yi held his daughter's body and wept bitterly, determined to avenge his daughter.
On the other hand, Li Wangye, who was sitting on the profits, was afraid that Ma Yi, who was strong in martial arts, would not be good for him, so he sent people to poison Ma Yi's eyes in wine, but was saved by the jianghu artist Che Tian.
After that, Duan Wangye welcomed the "benefactor" Ma Yi and his entourage Che Tian into the palace, and he found that although Ma Yi was blind in both eyes, his sword skills were still exquisite, and he immediately asked Ma Yi to help him calm the war and return the people to peace.
With the help of his good brother Che Tian, Ma Yi, who had great righteousness, successively eliminated Liu and Li Erwang, but at this time, Wang Ye also revealed his true face, and his real purpose was actually to dominate the world by the hand of Ma Yi, and now he wanted to kill Ma Yi.
As a commercial film, "The Yellow River Hero" not only has a strong entertainment effect, but also has a serious expression of humanistic care.
For example, in the reflection on the war, when Ma Yi told people that Duan Wangye wanted to issue a war book to Liu Wangye to relieve the danger of the people, people did not feel happy, but panicked and angry.
"The house has burned for you, and the people are about to be killed by you, what are you fighting around?"
In the face of the old man's questioning, Ma Yi was speechless in the same place, allowing people to scold him...
In fact, just as people say, the purpose of the war is only to fight for power and profit, completely disregarding the lives of the people, and even Duan Wangye, who has always kept saying that he is for the people, is only using the world as an excuse to realize his ambitions.
At Ma Yi's kendo hall, Ma Yi told those who wanted to learn swordplay: A sword can't save the people, and more people are needed; just like Che Tian added to the side, holding a sword in his hand, but the people are in his heart.
Just as the so-called "hero is great, for the country and the people", "The Hero of the Yellow River" does not float on the surface, but through the expression of Ma Yi's family and national feelings, it has achieved both "martial" and "chivalrous".
02, wear spikes to shoot "ice showdown"
The most profound feeling of the film is that the action scenes are very good, but in order to shoot these fight scenes, the actors did not suffer less during the shooting.
The classic passage of the film opening on the ice fight, in fact, the original script did not have this paragraph, it was Yu Chenghui who felt that the opening was not attractive enough to put forward this idea, director Zhang Xinyan felt that it was not bad, and adopted this suggestion.
The film crew first painstakingly found a glacial lake that met the requirements, and then in order to complete the actor's fight on the ice, they specially made spike shoes to fix the actor's feet to prevent the actor from slipping and falling.
But wearing spikes is actually more inconvenient to move, Yu Chenghui and Ji Chunhua, who plays Liu Wangye, can only twist and turn his upper body, and after shooting, he has back pain and is extremely injured.
In particular, Ji Chunhua, who was sent to the hospital after falling on the ice, had four stitches, and although he paid a heavy price, he presented a wonderful fight that was enough to enter the annals of martial arts films.
In addition, Chun Yu Shanshan, who plays Che Tian, also gritted her teeth in the film, and did not use any stand-ins to complete all the action scenes, including a scene hanging from a tree, and he was hanged for almost a day before he put it down.
It was still very cold, and it was really painful for this fledgling newcomer actor to freeze and cry after filming this scene.
As netizens said, the actors of that era were more pure and simple, they took dedication as a matter of course, and this sincere performance attitude was actually more recognized by the audience.
03, the Yellow River hero died, there is no hero in the world
Under the call of director Zhang Xinyan, "Yellow River Hero" concentrates half of the people and horses of "Shaolin Temple", such as Ji Chunhua, who plays Liu Wangye, Yu Hai, who plays the abbot, and of course, Yu Chenghui, who plays the "Yellow River Hero".
At the beginning of filming, hong Kong Yindu Company, out of market considerations, did not want Yu Chenghui, who had played a villain and was not very famous in "Shaolin Temple", to be the protagonist.
However, director Zhang Xinyan argued on the basis of reason, and finally the company had to compromise, so as to present a chivalrous image with feelings and righteousness, flesh and blood, and also cast the most classic screen image of Yu Chenghui's acting career.
At the age of 12, he began to learn martial arts, and at the age of 24, he won the East China Wushu Competition with a set of "drunken sword" sword skills, and Yu Chenghui in reality did have excellent real kung fu, so he could interpret every move and style in film and television works so really and wonderfully.
In particular, his swordplay was amazing, which amazed Zhang Xinyan, so he wanted to use the film method to record Yu Chenghui's swordplay for future generations to admire.
After "The Hero of the Yellow River", the characters played by Yu Chenghui began to lean more toward decent characters, such as Ip Man in "The Legend of Bruce Lee" and Feng Qingyang in "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes", which were deeply recognized by the audience.
Regrettably, in 2015, 76-year-old Yu Chenghui died of illness, and many people sighed that "there is no hero in the world since then". And "condor" Ji Chunhua is also gone in 2018.
Chun Yu Shanshan, who played Che Tian, was the first time to act in a movie, originally Che Tian was scheduled to be played by Jet Li, but at that time Jet Li was filming other movies, and basically stopped playing supporting roles, and finally had to find someone else.
Coincidentally, when Zhang Xinyan was watching the performance, he found a dancer named Chun Yu Shanshan in the military dance troupe, whose dexterous skills and handsome appearance were very much in line with this role, so he immediately made a decision.
Later, Chun Yu Shanshan also starred in the movie "The Thief of Change" directed by Zhang Xinyan's apprentice, in which she played the role of "Thief Abba" Bao De, so she was once known as "Jet Li's successor".
More than 30 years later, martial arts films have long ceased to be glorious, and the action scenes that once paid attention to one move and one style to see the real kung fu are now mostly completed by special effects and editing, which undoubtedly makes many older generation audiences sigh.
Thanks to the films "Shaolin Temple" and "Yellow River Hero", they have left the most glorious stroke of Chinese martial arts films for the audience! (Author: Pippi Shrimp)