Recently, 79-year-old Hong Kong film actor Chen Long passed away. Chen Long is a golden supporting role in Hong Kong films, and he has long collaborated with Bruce Lee in "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" and "Jingwumen". With his impressive looks, he has created many "clowns", and the character who impressed the audience the most is the "Thunder Tiger" image of "Gambler II on the Beach Gambler". It is precisely because of such dedicated supporting roles as him that so many star-studded kung fu superstars have been achieved, and only then have the glory of Hong Kong martial arts films.
"Thunder Tiger" dressed in red. Source/Screenshot of the movie Gambler II on the Beach Gambler
Chen Long, who shines brightly
In the early years, most of the dragon and tiger martial arts masters of Hong Kong films came from the later famous "four major drama schools". Chen Long was born in 1942, he and his younger brother Chen Huiyi were both from the drama class, and later the decline of traditional drama, he and his brother turned to film and television actors.
In 1967, Chen Long starred in his first martial arts movie "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness" and officially debuted. The Chen Long brothers were both "practicing family sons" and had extraordinary shots, so they were appreciated by Han Yingjie, Yu Zhanyuan's son-in-law and Hu Jinquan's royal martial artist, and became a dragon and tiger martial artist. Later, Han Yingjie jumped from Shaw to Jiahe to work as a martial arts instructor for Bruce Lee, who returned to Hong Kong to shoot "Big Brother Tangshan". Han Yingjie recommended chen long to Bruce Lee, who liked him very much, and since then, Chen Long has become Bruce Lee's royal team.
At that time, Bruce Lee participated in several films in Jiahe, "Tangshan Big Brother", "Jingwumen" and "Dragon Fight tiger fight". Hong Kong writer Shen Xicheng once mentioned Chen Long in "Bruce Lee - Immortal Myth": "On the autumn day, my friend sent me a photo of Bruce Lee in black, watching him raise his leg and kick, and his toes fell impartially on the jaw of his opponent's white-clad young man, who was my old friend Ahan (Zhang Yonghan). The tall, tall man standing behind the photo is Bruce Lee's royal martial artist Chen Long (nicknamed Magu). ”
Chen Long played a Japanese samurai in "Jingwumen", when he was still very thin. Source/Screenshot of the movie "Jingwumen"
After Bruce Lee's death, Chen Long mainly followed another action master, Liu Jialiang, and performed "Shen Da" and "Shaolin Thirty Six Rooms". Later, Chen Long joined Hong Jinbao's "HongJia Class". He and Hong Jinbao were once the team of Han Yingjie, and together they became the royal martial arts of Bruce Lee, which can be described as a deep relationship. Hong Jinbao set up his own portal, and Chen Long naturally joined the team of good brothers. Because Chen Long's appearance is round and a bit silly, and he is quite similar to Hong Jinbao, the two are called "Hong Family Double Fat".
From the traditional kung fu films "Sande Monk and Gang Mi Liu" and "Loser Boy" originally directed by Hong Jinbao, to "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" and "Scary People" filmed by "Sanmao" pioneering the spiritual kung fu film, Chen Long has participated. Chen Long belongs to the senior elders in the "Hongjia Class", although the "Hongjia Class" has Yuan Biao, Yuan Hua, Yuan Kui, Yuan Wu, which are the same division disciples, but Chen Long is always ranked high in the genealogy of this group.
In 1982, "People Are Scary" played Mao Mao's Chen Long, the left one. Source/Screenshot from the movie "Scary People"
In the mid-to-late 1980s, Chen Long's younger brother Chen Huiyi was promoted from martial arts instructor to director, and Chen Long naturally began to assist his younger brother. The brothers' cooperation in that year, such as "Black Heart Ghost" and "Ghost Fighting Ghost Golden Taoist", are classic films with the characteristics of Hong Kong films.
His kung fu foundation is very good, but his appearance is not handsome, so he has not been given the opportunity to be the protagonist, fortunately, his face has its own sense of comedy, which is very suitable for supporting roles. He has participated in about 124 films and left many impressive classic roles, including "Thunder Tiger" in "Gamblers II on the Beach", Jet Li's servant in "Fang Shiyu" in 1993, and "Late Master" in "Six FingerEd Piano Demon" in 1994, which is a veritable "golden supporting role" and has made important contributions to the development of Hong Kong cinema.
Chen Long plays Fang Shiyu's servant. Source/Screenshot of the movie "Fang Shiyu"
Chen Long plays a late master. Source/Screenshot of the movie "Six-Fingered Piano Demon"
Clowns of different eras
The film industry is an industry with a particularly high Gini coefficient, with big stars standing under the spotlight and absorbing most of the attention, with few supporting roles and low pay. But the safflower also needs green leaves, and even the stars of the cattle must have someone to play in order to fully shine.
Clowns like Chen Long are indispensable green leaves.
Since the 1970s, Hong Kong kung fu movies have been the focus of world pop culture, and Hong Kong movies have started with kung fu movies. At that time, the protagonists of the movies were stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Hong Jinbao, and at the same time, many of the clowns were also from the Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts, and their representative figures were Chen Long, Yutou Yun, Liu Qiusheng, etc.
Jiahe Film Company's gold medal green leaf fish head cloud, formerly known as Liu Yun, came from a poor background. The children of poor families had long been in charge, and at that time in Hong Kong, eating was a problem, so Yutouyun, like other poor children, chose to be a dragon and tiger martial artist. Later, The Fish Head Cloud was discovered by the director because of the unique shape of the cockfighting eye, and let him play the clown. Since the end of the 1970s, he has shot nearly 100 films, representative works such as tolerance in "Master and Disciple Out of The Horse", the land police in "Plan A", and the building security in "Ghost Hunting".
Fish head cloud. Source/Network
The clown he plays is witty and humorous, and the role of the little character is three points. Since his debut, he has starred in more than 200 works, and then the Hong Kong film and television circle declined, and Yutouyun retreated into the background and became the old master of dragon and tiger martial arts. Fishhead Cloud, who has been in the industry for 51 years, won the Professionalism Award at the 38th Academy Awards.
Liu Qiusheng is a powerful actor under Hong Jinbao, is a very prestigious martial artist in Hong's class, in the 80s and 90s, Hong Jinbao basically had his presence in every movie, the main works are "Anti-Fighting Heavenly Garden", "Summer Lucky Star", "Strange Tricks five lucky stars" and so on. His nickname in the play was "Curry", and later, he was promoted to martial arts instructor.
Liu Qiusheng
In the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, the demand for clowns increased significantly, and the sources of clowns also became diverse. For example, eight or two gold, which is known as the first ugly star in Hong Kong. Badijin, formerly known as Ye Jingsheng, was a former worker and businessman, and has participated in nearly 150 films since his debut in the 90s, representative works include diners who boasted of "eating pee cow pills and getting a hundred points every time" in "God Eater", deaf five in "King of a Thousand Kings 2000", Wu Liu hand in "Luck a Dragon", and "The Best" in "The King of Comedy" - actually crawling out of the ears and nostrils. The "ugly" face, the mushroom hairstyle, and the exaggerated acting skills are absolutely perfect, and no one can imitate them.
Eight or two gold
Lee Shau Kee, the villainous professional of Hong Kong movies, has a scarred face and fierce eyes that make his bully image natural. Before entering the film and television industry, he was a real underworld leader, and was later discovered by Liang Xiaolong and worked as a dragon and tiger martial artist at ATV. He played "Kigo" in many films such as "The King of Comedy", "Death Gold", "Jianghu Emergency" and so on, and as a result, "Kigo" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. His bully image can make a good comedic effect of contrast, remember the intoxicating dance of Kigo in "God Eater"? It's become a popular meme.
Lee Shau Kee in "God Eater". Source/Network
Clowns are a scarce resource, and they must have a unique appearance, but also a sense of joy, and they also need a certain acting skill. Clowns in traditional comedies require high acting skills. The art company can't package the acting skills of the clown, and the film and television schools can't train it, and almost need to rely on the actor's personal life experience accumulation and comprehension ability.
Haroldir King, Lee Shau Kee and other clowns can be said to be the true performance, coupled with excellent comedic talent, so that their control of the role is very appropriate. Such clowns can be encountered but not sought, and directors have to let some actors with good image temperament play ugly, such as Yuan Qiongdan, Li Jianren, Karen Mok and so on.
Yuan Qiongdan, who played sister Pomegranate in "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", first debuted as a beautiful woman. Although the appearance is good, it has been tepid. In 1991, when Chen Jiashang was preparing For Stephen Chow's film "Truant Weilong", he invited Yuan Qiongdan to play a strange and spicy female teacher. Since then, the drama has continued to play the ugly woman, and the films he has participated in include "Death Judge", "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", "Nine Pin Sesame Officer", "Great Inner Secret Agent Zero Zero Hair", "God Eater" and so on. The ugly woman she plays is very distinctive, such as a blood basin with a big mouth and a wolf like a tiger. Among them, her most classic movie clown should be the magnificent pomegranate sister, no one can surpass.
Yuan Qiongdan before and after the ugly. Source/Network
The role "Like a Flower", which often appears in Stephen Chow's films, is played by Li Jianren, who is the same table as Stephen Chow in middle school. His father, Li Youtang, worked in Jiahe Film, and at that time he would often go to his father, go on and off the set, and enter the entertainment circle by mistake. In 1992, Li Jianren starred in his first film "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", and his "like a flower" is memorable. Since then, "ruhua" has become an exclusive term for Li Jianren, and in the next 20 years, Li Jianren has repeatedly performed "ruhua" more than 60 times.
In fact, Li Jianren is 183cm tall, handsome, when starring in "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", Zhou Xingchi let him shave his eyebrows, keep stubble, dig his nostrils, look back and smile, Li Jianren has never seen himself so ugly, so angry that he cried in the hotel for two hours, and even wanted to fight with Zhou Xingchi. Can't stand Zhou Xingchi soft grinding hard bubbles, inviting guests, sending red envelopes, what tricks are used, Li Jianren played "Su Qi'er's aunt's sister" with a hard scalp.
Lee Kin-jen before and after playing ugly. Source/Network
There is also Wu Junru, she was originally born in a beauty pageant, but at that time, there were many beautiful people in the Hong Kong film industry, and it was too difficult to compete. She began to take the path of a comedian star, all kinds of funny, ugly. Coinciding with the popularity of Hong Kong comedy films in those years, she also ushered in the first spring of her career.
At the beginning of the 21st century, with the impact of the financial turmoil on hong Kong's economy, the Hong Kong film industry has been turbulent, and the transformation failure of the old director and the exhaustion of Jiang Lang's talents, as well as the successor of the Hong Kong film industry, have made the Hong Kong film industry become sluggish. The decline of Hong Kong movies has made the clowns very few, and what we can say now is that the royal clown sauce explosion (Ho Man Fai) in Chow Sing Chi's movies, Gong Yazhen (Chen Kaishi), zhang Mei'e, the head of the "Four Beauties of the Wilderness", and a few others.
These clowns may not play big roles in the movie, just small roles that have appeared for a few minutes, but each small character has made them come to life and left a very deep impression on people.
Sauce explosion in Shaolin Soccer. Source/Network
Why every Hong Kong film needs a "harlequin"
If there are two genres of film in Hong Kong that have always dominated and gained fame, one is kung fu films and the other is undoubtedly comedy. After the 1980s, Hong Kong films no longer pursued a pure, single comedy style, but went to diversification, and different types of films incorporated elements of comedy spirit, such as Jackie Chan films, which combined kung fu and comedy into one.
Due to the need for visual effects, comedy movies will always ugly some characters as a foil for the protagonist to increase laughter and strengthen comedic effects. The most typical is the pomegranate sister in "Tang Bohu Dots Autumn Fragrance", her ugliness can just set off the beauty of Qiu Xiang, Zhu Zhishan played by Chen Baixiang, his obscenity and lust just set off Tang Bohu's seriousness and dedication.
Qiu Xiang and Pomegranate Sister. Source/Screenshot of the movie "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang"
There is a difference between a harlequin and a supporting role, and a clown may be a supporting role, but a supporting role is not necessarily a clown. The existence of the supporting role is very subtle, without him, the protagonist can support the whole play, but it will be slightly thin; with him, the whole play is more plump. The protagonist plays the development of the main story line, and the supporting role bears the responsibility of the ups and downs of the storyline, so the supporting roles are actually more vivid, especially the gold medal supporting roles like Wu Mengda, Lin Xue, and Lin Jiadong, the most important thing in their acting is the grasp of the "degree", which can not rob the protagonist's play, and absolutely cannot be without a sense of existence.
Such a golden supporting role is very rare. Lin Zhengying was once the male number three of "Mr. Zombie", a proper supporting role, but he did not grasp the good degree, and interpreted the supporting role as the protagonist of the movie, and now most people also think that he is the protagonist, so that the male number one Xu Guanying was later indignant.
Zhou Xingchi and golden supporting actor Wu Mengda. Source/Screenshot of the movie "Nine Pin Sesame Officer"
The golden supporting role must play an important role in enriching the plot and connecting the story, otherwise the supporting role will become a passerby.
Harlequins generally don't have to worry about the "degree". Their appearance time is limited, mainly to set off the positive image of the protagonist. But their acting skills are also very demanding, in addition to the difficulty of the performance itself, there is a big difficulty, that is, the psychological barrier of the actors themselves. Objectively speaking, people will have a bit of "idol baggage", if there is a better choice, few people are willing to clown.
Clowns who can penetrate the hearts of the people can generally be called licorice actors. Licorice actors refer to those old drama bones who have been playing supporting roles for many years, they have many years of performance experience, and their acting skills have been widely recognized and affirmed by the audience.
Licorice actors and the general supporting role is not the same, in traditional Chinese medicine, licorice is mostly a medicine (Chinese medicine is also known as medicine introduction), the role is to guide the drug directly to the lesion site, and has the function of reconciling various Chinese medicines, so many traditional prescriptions are used with licorice. The function of licorice actors in the performance, just like the efficacy of licorice in traditional Chinese medicine, has the role of setting off, reconciling and guiding. On the surface, it may seem dispensable, but it is indispensable. The barber in Kung Fu is bursting, and the little played by Stephen Chow extorts money, he says that he is not afraid, and then calls everyone in the walled city, leaving the bluffing little in an extremely embarrassing situation. Later, through his bath, he washed half of the water to show the charter wife's door.
The sauce in "Kung Fu" is explosive. Source/Screenshot of the movie Kung Fu
epilogue
The reason why the Hong Kong films of the 1980s and 1990s make us reminisce to this day is because they have many licorice green leaves that have paid silently on the screen, they have entered the drama naturally, the city is full of atmosphere, and they are close to life and not pretentious. They make the viewer remember the role they played, and their names are unknown. With the passage of time, they have faded off the screen, or passed away, leaving only the classic scenes. As viewers, when we look back on old films, every familiar shot can make us feel a breath of life.