In 1982, a "Shaolin Temple" turned out to be a novel and quickly swept the north and south of the river.
In the history of mainland cinema, there are few kung fu films like "Shaolin Temple" that can truly be called phenomenal.
A theory that the film was often mentioned later was that in the case of the average price of movie tickets at that time, the national box office was roughly counted as high as 160 million yuan, and if it was converted into a movie ticket price of 30 yuan today, the box office would reach a staggering number of 50 billion yuan.
Not only that, as the first mainland kung fu film to be released in Hong Kong, the film created a super high record of 16.16 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong, breaking the record of the highest grossing in the history of Hong Kong kung fu films.
Later, it was introduced to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, and caused a huge sensation every time it was screened. It set a box office record of 4 billion yen in Japan and was released in South Korea the following year, setting a box office record of 5.1 billion won.
In addition to its box office success, "Shaolin Temple" also led to the craze for kung fu films and co-productions in the 1980s, so much so that major film studios at that time began to shoot martial arts kung fu films. Those who have the ability will cooperate with the Hong Kong and Taiwan production teams, and those who do not have it will grope for themselves.
Under the influence of "Shaolin Temple", martial arts films were the most popular genres on the mainland screen throughout the early and mid-1980s. And at that time, it was highly recommended to use martial arts athletes with real kung fu to star in movies, unlike now relying on stand-ins and slow motion, the domestic kung fu films of that year paid attention to everything to play really!
The success of "Shaolin Temple" led to the Shaolin film fever at that time, director Zhang Xinyan and the original team began to shoot "Shaolin Kid", followed by Shaw Company also began to shoot a "North and South Shaolin", Hong Kong director Xu Xiaoming found Yu Rongguang, Xu Xiangdong to shoot "Kapok Robes", at the same time there were "Shaolin Folk Disciples", "Shaolin Boy Gong" and other movies.
Seeing the proliferation of Shaolin themes, Changying Film Studio, which was one of the oldest film studios in China at the time, decided to take a different path and set its sights on Wudang, which is as famous as Shaolin, and changed to a kung fu film "Wudang".
The film's main actors are also martial arts masters, and Wudang, as the birthplace of Neijiaquan, can also be called Taishan Beidou in the traditional martial arts community, coupled with the kung fu boom driven by "Shaolin Temple", so after the film was released that year, the response was even worse.
According to the "Chinese Film Yearbook", "Wudang" has been viewed by 540 million people.
However, although it is also the highest-grossing kung fu film in the 1980s, compared with "Shaolin Temple", which is still remembered by many audiences, "Wudang" has been forgotten in the history of mainland films, and now few people mention this film again.
In this issue of "Forgotten Domestic Genre Films", I will take you to revisit this movie -
Wudang
The Undaunted Wudang
The film was released in June 1983 and was directed by Sun Sha, the veteran director of the long film studio.
Sun Sha was a representative of domestic genre films in the 1980s, and his works have a variety of themes and styles, "Wudang" is his second film, in addition to "White Mist Street Murder" and "The Last Imperial Princess" and other works.
The success of "Wudang" is inseparable from the credit of screenwriter Xie Wenli, this name may not be familiar to the audience today, but in the mainland film industry in the 1980s, Xie Wenli's screenwriter was definitely a box office guarantee, and he has created "Dart King", "Black Box Blood", "Xia Jiang Doubtful Shadow", "Sea Lion Death Squad", "Ranger Black Butterfly" and other blockbuster martial arts thrillers.
In terms of actors, influenced by "Shaolin Temple", this film also uses martial arts athletes with real kung fu to star in the movie.
The male protagonist, Zhao Changjun, is a famous martial artist whose status in the martial arts world is quite high. He has won the individual all-around championship of domestic and international martial arts competitions 10 times, and is the only "ten consecutive championships" in the Chinese martial arts world, with an astonishing number of gold medals, which has not been broken so far, and is nicknamed "Changsheng General".
Zhao Changjun was born in the Shaanxi Wushu Team, as early as the 1970s, he emerged in the martial arts world, and Jet Li from the Beijing Wushu Team was known as the double wall of the martial arts world. Today's action superstar Zhen Zidan, when he was young, he used to learn martial arts from Zhao Changjun for a whole year.
Changying Studio filmed "Wudang", its purpose is to deliberately compete with Hong Kong filmmakers, so Zhang Xinyan used Jet Li, and Changying found Zhao Changjun with the same name, coincidentally, Zhao Changjun had also received an invitation from the "Shaolin Temple" crew before, wanting him to audition for male Number One Jueyuan, but at that time Zhao Changjun felt that it was not suitable for acting, so he refused the director's invitation.
The heroine of this film, Lin Quan, is also a martial arts master, who has won the national women's long boxing championship and the runner-up of the Southern Fist for many times, because of her solid martial arts skills and youthful and beautiful appearance, she was selected by director Sun Sha to play the heroine Chen Xuejiao in "Wudang", when Lin Quan was only 19 years old.
In addition, the actor who plays the commander of Nanshan Dao in the film is Ma Zhenbang, the coach of the Martial Arts Team of Shaanxi Province and the teacher of Zhao Changjun, who also served as the martial arts instructor of the film.
Many viewers are still impressed by the plot of the film in which the chief of the South Mountain Road practices the Bagua palm in the deep mountain forest, rubs a huge stone ball with both palms, secretly transports internal skills, throws the stone ball to a large tree, and smashes the landslide.
Tell the story again.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt and incompetent, and foreign powers were eyeing the tiger.
In Jiangcheng, Zhongzhou, there were five Oriental samurai swinging in the ring, and the momentum was overwhelming, threatening to defeat the Chinese martial forest.
Chen Wei, the head of the local Wudang Zhenzong, was not accustomed to the arrogance of the Orientals, so he disregarded his personal safety and went to the stage to fight.
However, although Chen Wei tried to defeat the arrogance of Theoyang martial arts and defeated his opponent, he did not expect to be caught in the other party's treacherous scheme and was assassinated by the gangsters after the competition.
Chen Wei's eldest disciple, Wu Yunlong, who was highly skilled in martial arts, and Lei Huacai, the second disciple, vowed to avenge their master and went to Zhongzhou with Chen Wei's only daughter, Chen Xuejiao.
On this day, a wandering martial artist Sima Jian came up in the ring, he was extraordinary in martial arts, and gradually gained the upper hand in the battle with the Eastern Warrior Ape Nine, but the Dongyang people did not talk about martial virtue, and after seeing the defeat, they actually relied on many people and rushed up.
Just when Sima Jian was in trouble, Wu Yunlong jumped into the ring and engaged in a vicious fight with the Japanese samurai, but the Toyo samurai Sangei Long secretly hid a hidden weapon in his hand and took the opportunity to sneak up and stab Wu Yunlong to death.
Sima Jian and Chen Xuejiao, grief-stricken, transported Wu Yunlong's body back to their hometown, Wu Yunlong's sister Wu Jingjing was devastated, and Chen Xuejiao was also seriously ill from the loss of her lover.
After Sima Jian accompanied Chen Xuejiao back to his hometown, the two learned in the process of getting along that Sima Jian's father and Chen Wei were actually brothers in Jieyi, so Chen Xuejiao and Sima Jian both had a golden lock left by their fathers.
However, at this time, Chen Wei's second disciple, Lei Huacai, took the opportunity to stir up the relationship between Sima Jian and the Wudang sectmen, threatening that Sima Jian colluded with the Japanese and killed his master and brother, causing Wu Jingjing to disagree with Chen Xuejiao and form a grudge with Sima Jian.
Sima Jian could not explain clearly, was besieged by Chen Xuejiao and others, and could only keep his hands everywhere, but Sima Jian recognized Lei Huacaicai's accomplice of the Japanese samurai in the Zhongzhou Ring, but he was suffering from not having the opportunity to tell the truth.
In order to find out the ins and outs of the matter, Chen Xuejiao decided to go to Wudang Mountain and ask her uncle and uncle to preside over justice. Before Chen Xuejiao left, she was attacked by a group of "killers".
Lei Huacai was instructed to get rid of all hidden dangers, so he found a group of killers to get rid of Chen Xuejiao and Sima Jian. Fortunately, Sima Jian secretly protected along the road, which enabled Chen Xuejiao, who was in danger of being secretly calculated, to escape from danger several times.
After a fierce battle, Sima Jian and Chen Xuejiao grabbed a living mouth, and from the mouth of this "killer", Chen Xuejiao knew the ins and outs of the matter. It turned out that Lei Huacai was a traitor who colluded with the Japanese and killed Chen Wei and Wu Yunlong successively.
Chen Xuejiao went through all kinds of hardships to come to Wudang Mountain, met the shibo Nanshan Daochang, and got the Nanshan Daoist to teach the martial arts mastery - the Nine Palaces Divine Palm.
Under the guidance of the Nanshan Daoist, Chen Xuejiao studied diligently and practiced hard, and her kung fu made great progress.
During the period of Wudang's study, Chen Xuejiao learned from the mouth of the governor of Nanshan Province that the Chen family and the Sima family were family friends, and Sima Jian's father and Chen Wei had also betrothed dolls for their children, but because Sima Jian and Chen Wei had died one after another, the marriage was shelved.
Chen Xuejiao, who has achieved success in her studies, returns to the Zhongzhou ring and competes with the Toyo samurai. At this time, Chen Xuejiao's martial arts were perfect, and she easily defeated her opponent, but the Oriental samurai once again did not talk about martial virtues, and once again rushed forward.
At the critical moment, Sima Jian in the ring stepped on the stage and fought hand in hand with Chen Xuejiao, and Wu Yunlong's sister Wu Jingjing also came to help, and the three of them launched a big scuffle with the Oriental samurai.
Lei Huacai took advantage of the chaos to fly out a dark dart to hit Chen Xuejiao, in order to save Chen Xuejiao, Sima Jian was injured and fell to the ground, and Lei Huacai was eventually killed by eating the evil fruit.
At the end of the story, a vendetta ends.
Chen Xuejiao and Wu Jingjing escorted the seriously injured Sima Jian back to their hometown, and the picture was frozen in the distant back of a group of people.
This "Wudang" was released in the second year after the release of "Shaolin Temple", and the original intention of the film was to compete with "Shaolin Temple".
Interestingly, in the traditional martial arts world, there is a saying of "Northern Shaolin, Southern Wudang", but in reality, it is the southern filmmakers represented by the Hong Kong team who shoot "Shaolin Temple", while "Wudang" is filmed by the northern filmmakers represented by the Long Film Studio.
However, the artistic creation concepts of mainland filmmakers and Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers are completely different.
"Shaolin Temple" is biased towards the kung fu boy comedy of the 70s in Hong Kong and Taiwan, although there is also the main plot of practicing revenge, but there are many comedy jokes in the film, the love scenes of the male and female protagonists are also very fashionable in that year, and the overall story style is biased towards entertainment.
But "Wudang" is more serious, the film adopts the most commonly used folk legends of "martial arts masters fight, resist the invaders of the great powers" routine, the theme of the whole story from simple revenge to the level of the righteousness of the country, the 1984 film "Wulin Zhi" is probably also influenced by this film.
There is no distinction between these two creative intentions themselves, but it has to be admitted that "Wudang" is inferior to "Shaolin Temple" in terms of overall production and film excitement. The reason behind this was that mainland filmmakers lacked experience in making martial arts films at that time.
Before "Wudang", the mainland had almost zero experience shooting martial arts kung fu films.
Although in 1980, there was a thrilling film with martial arts elements such as "The Mysterious Buddha", there was almost no design for the martial arts scenes, and the success of "Shaolin Temple" allowed mainland audiences to see that Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers could actually make martial arts films like this.
Therefore, for the "Wudang" crew at that time, in the absence of a Hong Kong and Taiwan film team to join, completely dominated by mainland filmmakers, the process of shooting "Wudang" was almost crossing the river by feeling the stones, so the shooting process not only consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, but also this kind of exploration was not very mature.
Lead actor Zhao Changjun once recalled in an interview: Because the team had no experience at that time, it was true when shooting at that time, and the other party could not stand it when punching it, and some bones were broken, but because of the lack of experience in filming, many real kung fu were not reflected.
Therefore, although the actions in "Wudang" are all performed by the practitioners and are also real kung fu, the visual impact presented in the movie is far from enough. The overall martial arts design relies more on traditional martial arts routine exercises, which are more realistic, but they cannot have both the rhythm and beauty of the movements.
In addition, the whole film, whether it is the shooting method or the picture editing, is relatively simple, the plot is relatively simple, the whole story is basically at a glance, so it is the classic degree of the film is not as good as "Shaolin Temple", and now it can only be occasionally seen in the Six Princesses Channel.
It is a pity that Zhao Changjun, the actor who plays the male protagonist in the film, has not been able to become popular in the film industry like Jet Li.
"Wudang" made him a hit in the mainland film industry, and then participated in the filming of film and television dramas such as "New Fang Shiyu" series, "Big Knife King V" and "Legend of the Sea Lantern", and in the early 90s, Zhao Changjun was invited by Hong Jinbao to shoot the movie "A Knife in the City" to play the villain Yuan Shikai, who was his last known role, and then faded out of the film circle and chose to return to the martial arts circle.