"Great Hero" Wang Yu died at the age of 80, and the legendary life came to an end.
Wang Yu, 67 years old and Zhen Zidan insisted on not using a stand-in, joined The First Gang in Taiwan because of his love of fighting and heavy righteousness, a kung fu superstar who is also good and evil, which is a legend in the history of Chinese and even world cinema.
With the million-box office movie "One-Armed Knife", he became the chief martial arts student in Hong Kong in the 60s, and later transformed into a director, and became the founder of kung fu fighting movies.
Outside the play, Wang Yu's life is even more exciting than the movie. Grumpy and aggressive, he often dominates the front page of social news, joins gangs, and involves many bloody cases.
The outside world pays too much attention to his violence and negativity, but ignores the contribution of a realistic version of "Gu Qiuzai" to Chinese kung fu films, and his unique martial arts style, and the far-reaching influence on actors and directors such as Jackie Chan, Chen Kexin, Quentin Tarantino and so on...
01, love to fight: do the circle to be a tyrant, outside the drama into the gang
Shaw gold medal director Zhang Che is notoriously hot-tempered and swearing.
In the face of Wang Yu, who was drinking, fighting, and late on the set, he could only open one eye and close one eye.
Why not? Zhang Che knew that this guy was naturally aggressive, able to play a masculine and fierce charm in kung fu films, and it was also created by his body bones that were not happy.
Before the age of 17, Wang Yu studied at the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education and was already a well-known child wang in Shanghai Beach.
Later, he followed his parents to Hong Kong, hoping to make him a civil engineer, but eventually dropped out of school because of a fight.
However, the young Wang Yu continued to improve in karate, martial arts, grappling, and traditional martial arts, laying a solid foundation for him to break into Hong Kong and Taiwan in the future.
After Shao's debut, Wang Yu and Yue Hua fought twice, Yue Hua was Zheng Peipei's boyfriend at the time, and it was rumored that Zheng Peipei mistakenly occupied his parking space, and Wang Yu was dissatisfied and angry.
Drama is like life, fierce and arrogant, heroic and rebellious, not afraid of power, Wang Yu is more like playing himself in the movie.
"Shaw's company squeezes actors, and filming is becoming more and more like an assembly line to fool people." In 1970, Wang Yu was full of ambition and determined to follow Zou Wenhuai to found Jiahe.
In order to prevent Shao from dragging himself back with the contract, Wang Yu stole a hundred contracts overnight and destroyed them, and afterwards he directly said: The brothers are not worth the price! Get rid of the appearance of a righteous warrior.
However, the fight that really made Wang Yu sensational was the "Apricot Blossom Pavilion Blood Case".
In 1976, Taiwan's Four Seas Gang clashed with Wang Yu, who was eating at xinghua Pavilion, and afterwards Wang Yu immediately took people to take revenge, and finally someone was shot, and some people were injured in the head and internal organs.
Such a thrilling and fiery scene continued to be staged in the later "Heavenly Kitchen Restaurant" and "Court Building", when Wang Yu, as the backbone of the Bamboo Gang, was first cut down and seriously injured and hospitalized, and then organized members to teach the mediator invited by the Four Seas Gang.
Since then, Wang Yu has gradually faded out of the show business circle and sat firmly in the unshakable big brother "handing over the chair".
The big brother of society is very righteous. After seeing Jackie Chan famous for "Drunken Fist", he still had a low salary and was depressed under Luo Wei, and he directly asked Luo Wei to let Jackie Chan go to Jiahe.
Luo Wei was not reconciled, and found social personnel to teach Jackie Chan a lesson, and he also stepped forward to drive away the thugs.
02, the idol of three generations: no stand-in, the strength is crazy
"Hong Kong martial arts movies have three peaks: the Wang Yu era, the Bruce Lee era, and finally the Jackie Chan era."
Wang Yu can be said to be the peak superstar of the first generation of martial arts films. His famous work "One-Armed Knife" sold millions at the box office, completely subverting the tradition of HuangMei's film domination.
The male actor is no longer a tool for talking about love, and the real knife and real gun have entered the actual battle; the audience has abandoned the feminine female Huangmei drama and become obsessed with the masculine violent aesthetic, and has since become uncontrollable.
Wang Yu also lived up to expectations, successively starring in kung fu films such as "Golden Swallow", "One-Armed Knife King", "Dragon and Tiger Fighting", and won the box office championship for four consecutive years.
Many people think that Wang Yu is very legendary, Jiang David, Dillon just entered the Shaw family are just running dragon sets, his face is not handsome out of the sky, there is no family background support, debut but can be the male protagonist.
But don't forget, Zhang Che looks at Wang Yu's strength, his advantage of freely switching between Shanghainese, Cantonese, Chinese, and his dedication to jumping from three floors without a stand-in.
Of course, the most important thing is Wang Yu's temperament, from the cold anger between the eyebrows, eyes, and corners of the mouth, to the fierce atmosphere in the martial arts moves, which perfectly fits the chivalrous image of Gu Long and Jin Yong.
At the age of 67, Chen Kexin invited him to star in "Wuxia", and there was a scene with Zhen Zidan, he sat in a chair and kicked his opponent, resolutely without a stand-in.
"I'm not here to pat the sticker!" The hero is late and his temperament has not changed. In order to achieve the effect, Wang Yu launched a provocation to Zhen Zidan, "Come and cut me".
As a director, Wang Yu also did his best to open up the "One-Armed Knife King" series, leaving behind many classic masterpieces.
In 1970, he directed and starred in Dragon and Tiger Fighting, pioneering a martial arts film in which hand-to-hand combat replaced swords, and his films were later praised by Quentin Tarantino as "the Marvel Universe in martial arts films".
Quentin, a world-renowned director and film critic, is particularly passionate about the aesthetics of violence. In his heart, Wang Yu is one of the greatest and most innovative directors in the history of Chinese martial arts cinema.
After leaving the Shao family, Wang Yu played more of a fierce villain, and the story setting of the gangsters added to the play also coincided with his real gang experience, and he was indeed a rebellious lone wolf!
This complex personality charm has attracted a large wave of avid fans, including hong Kong superstars and directors we know well.
Bruce Lee broke his wrist and deliberately lost to him, Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and other descendants saw him, who is not Bi Gong Bijing; directors Chen Kexin and Xu Ke, all reproduced his classic martial arts elements to show tribute; the knife scars on Jacky Cheung's face were left by the movies that imitated him as a child; Chow Xingchi once had a crush on him.
Wang Yu also recruited women to like, even the great beauty Lin Qingxia took the initiative to call him, borrowed the head of the school car to talk about love, and then entangled with Lin Fengjiao, Cui Tijing, Wang Kaizhen is also frequently on the headlines, sister-brother love, father-daughter love... Rich in love history.
03, classic immortality: one-armed sword king, happy to take revenge
In 2019, Ang Lee stood on the stage and read Wang Yu's award speech.
"Wang Yu laid the standard for martial arts superstars and inspired countless successors, and these films are still being studied all over the world."
Winning the Golden Horse Award for Lifetime Achievement, Wang Yu can be said to be well-deserved. He has made more than 60 kung fu films in his lifetime, and participated in the production of more than 80 films.
There are still a few movies that are worth taking out and watching again—
For example, in "Golden Swallow", Wang Yu incarnated as a white-clad hero Yinpeng in the film, playing a chivalrous guest with a family vendetta and a fierce heart, and when he was ambushed and beaten by the enemy, he drew his sword and flew up in the air, and now he still looks enjoyable.
Or "Black and White Road", continuing the fierce martial arts scene from fist to flesh in "Dragon and Tiger Fighting", while adding the female heroine assist of Miss Hong (played by Shangguan Lingfeng), the plot becomes interesting and vivid.
In "The True Colors of Heroes", Wang Yu is fighting in a restaurant and multiplayer, and if you look closely, you will find that the martial arts moves of each fight are different, and finally the big boss is a fat old lady who fights all over the invincible hand, and it was also very creative at that time.
In 2013, under the questioning of his daughter, Wang Yu tried literary drama for the first time. In "Lost Soul", he put away his domineering aura and won the best actor at the 15th Taipei Film Festival by relying on the role of "Uncle Wang".
No one expected that Wang Yu would quit the film industry due to a stroke after this movie.
The cause of the stroke is also related to Wang Yu's excessive alcoholism. Once he and Gu Long drank together all night, and the next day they went to the hospital to get hanging needles, and the nature of a good man who loves wine is difficult to change, and he is still quite sick in his later years.
In the past few years of stroke, walking requires a wheelchair, eating by nasogastric tube, and now the hero is far away, why not a relief?
Live as a self-contained, rebellious and cool Hong Kong circle gangster, after retiring from the circle into the business world, relying on industrial investment and real estate to earn 300 million mansions, daughter Wang Xinping filial piety and is an all-round artist, although Wang Yu was seriously ill in his later years, his life was wonderful enough.
Wang Yu is irreplaceable in the hearts of movie fans, and the hero has gone all the way. (Author: Yan Xing)