Follow me, don't have to pay the "overnight party"!
The 1970s and 1980s were the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, with Shaw films occupying half of the Hong Kong market. And Shaw's director Zhang Che undoubtedly exists like a "god", and the action films he directed are full of male hormones and chivalrous flavors, which are "iron-blooded films" that cannot be copied. At that time in Hong Kong, it was Zhang Che and Hu Jinquan, two legendary directors, who provoked the beams of kung fu films, worthy of the two major standard-bearers of the "New Martial Arts Century".
Zhang Che
As we all know, Zhang Che had many disciples in his lifetime, and each one of them had unique characteristics, including many people with high martial arts. The most representatives are Wang Yu, Luo Lie, Chen Guantai, Fu Sheng, Jiang David, etc., it is precisely because of their hard work that they have created the heyday of Hong Kong kung fu films. The glory of "Hollywood of the East" is brilliant because of them.
Today, let's talk about Guo Chai, a disciple of Zhang Che's old predecessor, who not only performs well, but also impresses him as a martial artist, and has a bit of the demeanor of a mentor Zhang Che...
Guo Chai
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Veteran movie fans who like action movies must know that martial arts stars can be roughly divided into two types: one is "actual combat type" and the other is "performance type".
The so-called "real-combat" stars, even if they have never been famous, they are still relying on years of hard training. This kind of star fighting has the actual combat kung fu of hard bridge and hard horse, which is more comfortable and shows style in action movies.
Net diagram
Compared with the "practical type" and "performance type" star, the stars are very different. Although they are gorgeous on the screen, they can't seem to see any flaws in one move and one style, but they are the so-called "flower racks". This kind of star, fans and friends also chose a better term for it - "juggler".
When it comes to Guo Chasing, action fans after the 60s, 70s and 80s will certainly not be strangers, but if they are after 90 and 00, they should not be too impressed. After all, except for a few movies, he spends most of his time in supporting roles or dragon suit roles.
Born in Taiwan in 1951, Guo Chai (formerly known as Chen Julu, stage name Guo Jianfeng) has worked as a local "singer and boy opera class" actor, mainly good at acrobatic performances, and also learned the martial arts of the Northern School, with agile hands and clean movements.
Judging from Guo Chai's early experience, it can be seen that he is a powerful star who integrates "actual combat type" and "performance type", and is definitely not one of the "flower fist embroidery legs".
Guo Chai is one of the thousands of "dreamers". In 1974, at the age of 23, he took the attitude of trying it out and signed up for the crew of the movie "Eight-Nation Alliance" filmed by Taiwan's "Longbow Pictures", hoping to become a "martial artist". Coincidentally, the director of the movie "Eight-Nation Alliance" is Zhang Che, known as "Bo Le".
Guo Chai in his youth
The word "martial" sounds mighty and domineering on the surface, but in fact it is to act as a "stand-in" for the lead actor. Take the least, but do the most tiring and dangerous work, if there is a difference in the shooting process, there is even a possibility of losing your life.
In many of the works directed by Zhang Che in his lifetime, actors are strongly required to be agile in action and wonderful and exciting in the fight scenes. Compared with today's kung fu films that focus on "emotional drama", Zhang Che's early kung fu films accounted for the vast majority of playing dramas. When exaggerated, there is not even an emotional drama.
Movie poster for The Eight-Nation Alliance
Maxima is often present, but Bole is not often there!
With a deep martial arts foundation and acting talent, coupled with Guo Chai, who worked the set and worked hard, he was quickly wise and discerning by Zhang Che. Since then, he has successively become Zhang Che's proud protégés together with Jiang Sheng, Luo Mang, Lu Feng, etc., who are also extraordinary, and several of the shi brothers have formed a deep friendship since then.
Zhang Che and his proud protégés
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Since then, under the reuse of Zhang Che, Guo Chai has followed up with action movies such as "Marco Polo" and "Red Child".
In the film "Marco Polo", Guo Chai played an "anti-Yuan" warrior, with superb martial arts and outstanding acting skills, showing the style of a "big hero" to the fullest.
Marco Polo movie poster
Guo Chai, who was reused by his mentor, signed a contract with "Longbow Pictures" and became a professional martial arts actor. However, the good times did not last long, and as the "longbow" was unsustainable in Taiwan, Zhang Che had to reconsider returning to Hong Kong, where the momentum was booming.
As a result, Zhang Che brought back to Hong Kong the disciples who had been cultivated in Taiwan, including Guo Chai and Jiang Sheng.
As we all know, the early Hong Kong films almost all spoke Cantonese, and for this wave of artists from Taiwan, if you want to survive, learning the local language is the key! But if you want to learn cantonese "rap", how can it be so simple?
Photo
In this way, most of the disciples who followed Zhang Che chose to understand the return journey, and there were very few left.
Just as the so-called "big waves and sand panning, natural selection", what can stay is not necessarily gold, but Guo Chai, who has a personality of not accepting defeat since childhood, completed this difficult counterattack journey.
In 1978, under the direction of Zhang Che, Guo Chai, Lu Feng, Jiang Sheng, Sun Jian, Luo Mang and other five people formed a "five poison lineup", co-starring in the action film "Five Poisons", in which Guo Chai played the old fourth "He Yuanxin" who was proficient in gecko gong. The brothers are all highly skilled in martial arts, and the martial arts design is exemplary.
Photo of "Five Poisons"
After the film was released, Guo Chai and several brothers from Taiwan became popular overnight and became the signature of Shaw's martial arts stars.
Five Poisons movie poster
In the subsequent "Crippled" film, Guo Chai played chen shun, who was deposed by the villain played by Chen Guantai, and the "Five Poisons Alliance" joined forces again to perform the bloody story of the disabled brotherhood of deep righteousness and righteousness, and finally happy to take revenge.
Movie poster for "Broken"
At that time, the reason why Hong Kong action movies were classic, from the perspective of the actors' own martial arts skills and physical fitness, was already a big highlight, and the bulging muscles were definitely not practiced in a day. On the other hand, today's small fresh meat, although playing the gimmick of kung fu films, is polite and weak.
At the star-studded Shaw Film Company, the "Five Poisons Alliance" of Guo Chai and others has not been able to produce any works since then except for the two films "Five Poisons" and "Mutilation".
In the early 1980s, with the emergence of film genres such as ghosts and comedies, kung fu films were no longer "thriving". Zhang Che, who has been in the film industry for many years, has long seen this. So he gathered together a few of his proud protégés who had been brought from Taiwan and suggested that they leave Shaw to find another way out.
After listening to the advice of his mentor, Guo Chai, Lu Feng and others returned to Taiwan and established the "Qi Tian Film Company" and began to make their own films ambitiously.
In 1982, the first kung fu film "Ninjutsu", which the brothers worked hard to create, was released, but it suffered a box office fiasco and lost everything. This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to a new company. What followed was a terrible break in the capital chain, and even if many parties asked for help, no investor was willing to try it.
Ninjutsu movie poster
Shortly thereafter, the young "Qi Tian" finally couldn't resist, and the brothers also fell apart. Just like Jiang Sheng, he stayed in Taiwan for development because of his wife's retention, and then because of his wife's departure, he died prematurely due to excessive alcoholism, which made people strangled. (For details, see Binge's previous work ""Hitting the Star" Jiang Sheng: Died Young When He Became Popular, At least after 80)
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After the dissolution of the hard-working "Qi Tian", Guo Chai had almost nothing at this time. In order to make a living, he had to consider returning to his mentor's side to shoot.
Back in Hong Kong, for many reasons, Guo Chai has long ceased to be among the "red stars", fortunately, he has suffered a lot since he was a child, and understands the truth that only by "starting from the beginning can we be reborn in Nirvana".
As a result, Guo Chai, who fell from the first line to the third line, no matter how much the film was paid, the role was good, and sometimes even if it was a dragon set, he also did it carefully and meticulously. But even so, reality still beat him into the abyss, after all, the Shaw movie at this time has long lost its former style.
In 1983, Guo Chai, who was depressed in Shaw's depression, turned to TVB after some deep thinking, trying to seek a new breakthrough.
As the old saying goes, "A skinny camel is bigger than a horse!" "As early as the popularity accumulated in the field of kung fu films, he met many well-known directors after arriving at TVB, including the famous martial arts commander Cheng Xiaodong. With years of martial arts and on-set experience, under the recommendation of many directors and friends, Guo Chai began to learn martial arts instruction, which also laid a solid foundation for him to become a "gold medal martial arts finger" in the future.
In 1987, in the ghost film "Ghost of Qiannu", which was supervised by Xu Ke, the martial arts director was jointly performed by Cheng Xiaodong and Guo Chai, with which they won the "Nomination for Best Action Design at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards". Although he was not able to hold the trophy in his arms in the end, it also made Guo Chai see hope in the martial arts.
Since then, Guo Chai has become more determined about the "road of martial arts", and through unremitting efforts, he has gradually become a martial arts instructor who can direct independently. For example, such as "Guangdong Ten Tigers and The Last Five Tigers", "The Third Episode of the Legend of the Eagle Hero", "The Green Blood Sword", "The Eagle Hero" and other films, the action design is from Guo Chai's hand.
Today, "King of Force" is hard to see, this violent action movie that is classified as a "three-level film" has gained the attention of countless action fans at that time! What few people know is that the action director of the film is not only Guo Chai, but also plays a poor prisoner Ah Guang who is "enforced the family law" by the Northern Cang Heavenly King Ah Hai in the film.
Photo of "King of Force"
When it comes to "Across the Seas", I believe that everyone only has a thunderous reputation for the great director Wu Yusen, but few people know that the martial arts director of the film is also the lonely and nameless Guo Chai.
After cooperating with Guo Chai in "Across the Seas", Wu Yusen immediately looked at him with admiration, so he had the wonderful "Hot Hand Detective" after that, in addition to serving as a martial arts instructor, Guo Chai also had a "drama addiction" in the film, playing a ruthless "one-eyed killer" mad dog, punching Zhou Runfa and kicking Liang Chaowei, but he was very moralistic and never hurt innocent.
Photo of "Hot Hand Detective"
He is also the master brother of the wonderful "street battle" with Liu Jiahui in "Citi Shaolin", although he once vowed not to set foot in the Lin Temple for half a step, he had no choice but to break his oath in order to save people.
Along the way, Guo Chai realized the transformation from "Wuxing" to "Red Star", and then created his own film company, but due to market reasons, he did not want to fail, he continued to return to the original point to work hard, and then successfully counterattacked into a big-name martial artist, whose experience is enough to write an inspirational novel.
In the subsequent commercial blockbusters "007 Tomorrow's Empire" and "Wolf Covenant", Guo Chai is already a well-known martial artist with international fame, and his fame and status are not the same.
In addition, the martial arts designs of "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch" and "Absolute Double Pride" are also from Guo Chai's hand, and the martial finger skills can be seen.
In terms of TV dramas, Guo Chai, who is in TVB, has also participated in the action design of many classic martial arts dramas, including Huang Rihua's version of "Tianlong Babu", which is praised by netizens as the most classic.
It is no exaggeration to say that in kung fu film and television works, if there is no elaborate design of martial arts instructors such as Guo Chai, how can the audience enjoy the thrilling fighting pictures frame by frame?
Zhang Che once commented on Guo Chai: "Among several disciples, Guo Chai learned martial arts the fastest, was easy to use, and practiced diligently."
Judging from Guo Chai's artistic experience, it is in response to the old saying: "Without a cold bone, where can you get plum blossoms?" ”
According to reports, Guo Chai, who has dedicated most of his life to the film industry, and his son Chen Yesheng, who was a former Traffic Police Officer in Hong Kong, have now died honorably in the line of duty. Even if he bears the pain of losing his son, he still fights in the martial arts industry and continues to contribute film and television works to everyone.
Carefully calculated, Guo Chai's predecessor is now 59 years old, in the entertainment industry, but rarely appears in the media, usually also reclusive, is a very low-key filmmaker. As a fan, I hope he is in good health and happy in his family.
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