With its wonderful fight scenes and witty and humorous storyline, action comedies have been welcomed by many audiences.
On the big screen of action comedy, many skilled stars are loved by the majority of movie fans. And those comedians with outstanding acting skills have also won a lot of praise and applause for their excellent performances.
Today we want to talk about an action comedian who has embarked on the peak of his career in the trend of action comedy, he is an old partner of Jackie Chan and Hong Jinbao in the era of kung fu comedy, and after transforming from an actor to a producer, he has also achieved the peak of Xu Ke's career. He is Shi Tian.
From literary films to kung fu films, Jackie Chan and Hong Jinbao are the best comedian partners
Shi Tian's original name was Liu Weicheng, and in his early years, he was also a regular guest on the Shaw film screen. In the early 1970s, with literary and artistic works such as "Youth Love", "Which Is Not Sentimental", and "Fanghua Voidness", Shi Tian won the attention of many directors. However, because there is no such appearance as Qin Xianglin and Qin Han, Shi Tian's acting career has not been able to go further.
Shi Tian in his youth ↓↓↓↓
In the early 1970s, with the advent of Bruce Lee, a boom in kung fu films swept through the Hong Kong film scene. At this time, Shi Tian, in order to seek a breakthrough, also began to transform into a kung fu film screen.
In 1973, director Wei Haifeng filmed the kung fu film "Guangdong Little Tiger" for jackie Chan, a newcomer in the film industry at that time, and Shi Tian also participated in the filming of the film as the second male.
It is worth mentioning that this "Guangdong Little Tiger" is the first work of Jackie Chan to appear as a male protagonist, and it is also the first cooperation between Shi Tian and Jackie Chan. In the film, Jackie Chan's decent fighting performance did not get too high praise, and Shi Tian's witty and humorous performance won the love of many audiences.
I wanted to transform into a kung fu film, but I inadvertently opened the door to comedy. After "Guangdong Little Tiger", Shi Tian began to receive the attention of many comedy directors. In Xu Guanwen's "Ghost Horse Double Star" and Jiang David's "Strange People and Strange Things", Shi Tian also had many wonderful performances.
In the mid-1970s, kung fu comedies began to rise on the screen of Hong Kong films. And Hong Jinbao also put up the banner of "Hong Jia Ban" in this upsurge. In 1977, Hong Jinbao filmed his debut film "Sande Monk and Gang Mi Liu" as a director. In this work, Shi Tian not only participated in the performance of the film, but also assisted Hong Jinbao in completing the shooting as an assistant director.
After "The Monk of The Three Virtues and the Six Ofe Rice", Shi Tian began to be frequently active in the kung fu comedy of "Hong Jia Ban". In works such as "Face Ignorance", "Mr. Zan and Finding Qianhua", "Stinky Boy", "Tiger Field Chicken", "Salted Fish Turning Over", "Fighting Single Knife And Death Gun", Shi Tian has excellent performances.
Of course, compared with Hong Jinbao, the cooperation between Shi Tian and Jackie Chan is obviously more classic. In 1978, Yuan Heping filmed two works for Jackie Chan, "Drunken Fist" and "Snake-like Executioner". Jackie Chan and Shi Tian, a combination of one can play and one funny screen, have also been loved by many fans.
In the subsequent works such as "Laughing Fist Strange Moves", "Fist Essence", "One And a Half Moves to Break into the Rivers and Lakes", "Dragon Leaping tiger leap" and other works, Jackie Chan and Shi Tian have become a pair of inseparable "golden partners". On the kung fu comedy screen in the late 70s, wherever Jackie Chan appeared, it must be indispensable to Shi Tian, the gold medal male supporting actor.
From actor to producer, achieve Xu Ke and help Yang Dechang
In 1980, Shi Tian, together with Mai Jia and Huang Baiming, founded "New Art City Pictures", and after that, he also transformed from an actor to a producer, and won many directors, Xu Ke was one of them.
In 1979, Xu Ke directed his debut film "Butterfly Change". Although the film received a good reputation after its release, its box office results were dismal. Subsequently, Xu Ke directed two works, "Hell Without Doors" and "First Type Danger", but the successive cold at the box office also made Xu Ke, whose directing career was just starting, fall into a trough.
In 1981, Xu Ke entered the "New Art City" under the introduction of Wu Yusen. This year, Shi Tian served as the supervising producer for Xu Ke's "Ghost Horse Zhi DuoXing" and solved the problems of funds and preparation for the film. "Ghost Horse Wisdom Star" received rave reviews after its release, with this film, Xu Ke won the honor of best director at the 18th Golden Horse Awards, and his name of "ghost talent" also resounded throughout the Chinese film industry at this time.
On the screen of Hong Kong films, Shi Tian and Xu Ke can be described as mutual achievements. Shi Tian has achieved the peak of Xu Ke's directorial career, and Xu Ke has also helped Shi Tian complete the transformation of the screen.
In 1986, Xu Ke and Wu Yusen jointly planned the movie "Hero's True Colors 2", in which Xu Ke designed the role of "Dragon Four" for Shi Tian. With his outstanding performance in "Heroes 2", Shi Tian got rid of the shackles of his early comedy image. After watching "Hero Nature 2", many fans can't help but sigh: it turns out that Shi Tian can also be so handsome!
Shi Tian in Heroes 2
In addition to Xu Ke, Yang Dechang, a famous director in Taiwan, also received help from Shi Tian at the beginning of his career. In 1983, director Yang Dechang filmed his debut film "A Day on the Beach", and the producer who solved the problem of funding and preparation for the film was Shi Tian.
In this "A Day on the Beach", director Yang Dechang tried many avant-garde shooting techniques and shooting techniques. It is precisely because of the success of the work that there are later classic works such as "Independent Times" and "Yiyi".
Directed by Yang Dechang
In the early 90s, with the increasing competition in the box office market, and the impact of pirated DVDs on the film market. "New Art City" went out of production in 1991, and Shi Tian also faded out of the Hong Kong film screen after starring in "Uncle Cai's Sweep of a Thousand Troops".
In 2016, when Hong Jinbao filmed "My Secret Agent Grandpa", he specially invited Shi Tian to make a cameo. And the appearance of this old drama bone has also aroused many fans' memories of the glorious era of Hong Kong films.