In 1972, the American drama "Kung Fu" produced by Warner Company was launched, which set off a ratings frenzy.
This martial arts drama about a Shaolin monk learning martial arts revenge was the first time that American audiences knew the word kung fu.
But in fact, the original idea of this drama was derived from Hong Kong kung fu superstar Bruce Lee.
In 1970, bruce Lee was inspired to write the script for Kung Fu while lying in bed with a back injury.
Soon after, Bruce Lee was so successful with "Raptors Across the River" that he took the script to warner. However, just before the start of the series, the protagonist changed, and in Hollywood, where racial discrimination was prevalent at that time, the top management did not want an Asian face to appear in the TV series.
Eventually, Bruce Lee's role was replaced by actor David Carradin, who later played Bill in Kill Bill. The protagonist of the original script, the Eastern Shaolin Martial Monk, the plot was also changed to the Journey of the Mixed-Race Shaolin Monk's West (Department).
Although the final drama has departed from Bruce Lee's original intention, and the kung fu scenes shown in it are not unusual, it is enough to shock the Western audience at that time, gain the pursuit of many young people, and even set off a "Shaolin fever" in the United States.
To this day, many Western audiences may not necessarily know about the Shaolin Temple, but most know that Shaolin is synonymous with kung fu.
Twenty years after Kung Fu aired, a young American traveler, Matthew Polly, came to China.
After studying martial arts at the Shaolin Temple in Songshan for two years, he became the first official American disciple of the Shaolin Temple, and then he wrote a memoir of the experience under the title American Shaolin (Chinese"Shaolin is busy)."
As a result, after the book was published, although it popularized the Shaolin Temple to Western audiences, it also caused a lot of controversy. Shaolin denied his academic experience, and even more denied that he was a disciple of abbot Shi Yongxin, after all, his Shaolin was not so beautiful and magical.
Long before Matthew Polly, an American crew went to Songshan to shoot a Shaolin-themed kung fu film.
Coincidentally, the film's English title is American Shaolin.
The film was a rare Sino-US co-production film at that time, although it carried the curiosity of many Westerners for the East, but it greatly amazed the mainland audience at that time, and it was repeatedly broadcast on the movie channel many times, becoming a classic childhood memory of many 80s and 90s viewers.
In this issue of "Forgotten Domestic Genre Films", let's relive this American Shaolin film in the history of mainland cinema.
The Little Monk of Citi
American Shaolin
The film was filmed in 1991 and co-produced by Hong Kong-based Siyuan Pictures and an American film company.
The Changchun Film Studio in China also participated in the filming work, which is a co-production film in overseas markets.
The domestic translation is "Citi Little Monk", and "Citi" is synonymous with the old United States.
Director Lo Yuen Ming is a Hong Kong kung fu film director, born on the Shaw set, and in the 1990s in Hollywood shot a series of B-grade action films, the representative of which is "Supreme X-Men", this "Citi Little Monk" in the United States is released in the form of "Supreme X-Men" sequel videotape, in fact, the two films have nothing to do with each other.
Like the 1972 American drama "Kung Fu", the film also uses foreign actors as the protagonists of the story.
The film's lead actor, Reese Maddy, is a theatrical actor who also comes from an authentic karate black belt and is fascinated by Chinese culture, so he was selected by the director to play the protagonist in "Citi Little Monk", after which he quickly faded out of the film circle.
Actress Ashima, played by mainland actress Zhang Hong, participated in the Shanghai Television Station's "Tomorrow's Star" competition at the age of 17 and attracted the attention of the film and television industry, and was selected by director Jiang Haiyang to star in the film "Nothing", and has since stepped onto the screen. After that, he participated in works such as "Taishan En Vengeance" and "Blue Kite", and also cooperated with martial arts actor Xu Xiangdong in "She is from Taipei".
Also in the supporting role in the film is a familiar face, Korean-American actor Kim Dae-hyun, who is known for his role in the American drama Lost, and this film is his screen debut, when he was only 23 years old, playing a Shaolin disciple Gao Gang in the film.
The film begins with training at a fight club in the United States.
The current American boxing champion Trevor is training to prepare for the upcoming Hong Kong International Sanda Championship.
The director first arranged for the coach to calculate the data through the computer next to him to show Trevor's strength:
There were 29 kicks this round, with an average strength of 325 pounds, 34 punches, an average of 152 pounds...
Before the balabala was finished, the director arranged for a copycat Bruce Lee foreign sparring partner to play.
Only to see the other party imitating Bruce Lee's signature whistle and fighting posture, but he was greeted only by the relentless old fist.
While the screenwriter blackened Bruce Lee for a wave, he also set off the strength of the boxing king.
On the day of the competition, martial arts masters from all over the world gathered together, including the male protagonist Carson.
He was a young martial arts master who studied martial arts for many years with a Chinese boxer, which was his first time in a competition.
The newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, carson all the way through five levels and six generals, reaching the final, about to meet the boxing champion Trevor.
However, Trevor was stronger than Carson could have imagined, and he was defeated after only two rounds.
The game was supposed to end there, but the arrogant Trever actually ripped off Carson's pants.
Not only did he lose the game, but he was also deliberately humiliated.
Looking at the depressed Carson, Master Guan, who taught him boxing, encouraged his apprentice not to be discouraged.
After all, he is not a true Shaolin descendant, and if Carson had learned Shaolin Kung Fu, defeating Trever would not be a dream at all!
Originally, Master Guan had not been able to go to the Shaolin Temple to learn the art, but he had always heard the legend of Shaolin Kung Fu.
This gives Carson a new goal —
He wanted to realize his master's unfulfilled dream and go to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts.
Subsequently, Carson came to China alone, but obviously the foreign screenwriters could not distinguish our geographical location.
Carson actually came to Luoyang, where he met a beautiful girl dressed in ethnic minority clothes, Ashima.
The enthusiastic Ashima took the initiative to take the lost Carson to the Shaolin Temple,
In this way, the two actually rode their bicycles all the way from Luoyang to the foot of Song Mountain.
For entering the temple to learn martial arts, Carson has high expectations.
Unexpectedly, the Shaolin Temple refused Carson's request to enter the temple to learn martial arts, because—
The Shaolin Temple has never accepted foreign disciples.
After all, Carson was young and did not understand the rules, so he mistakenly broke into the scripture hall and was eventually driven out of the mountain gate by the warrior monks.
Disheartened, he had to spend the night at Ashima's house, but learned a Shaolin legend from Ashima's grandfather:
Once, in order to go to the Shaolin Temple to learn art, a person sat at the gate of the temple for a long time and touched the abbot with his sincerity.
Eventually, he was accepted as a disciple and became the most famous monk and master in the history of Shaolin.
The story of Grandpa Ashima gave Carson hope, and from then on he sat dry at the door of the Shaolin Temple every day, no matter the wind or the sun.
Carson sat for seven days and seven nights, and after experiencing the initial boredom, tiredness, and loneliness, he felt that he had become part of the monastery and was filled with strength, and even took out of his arms his new friend, a pigeon.
Although Carson was a foreigner, this perseverance of zazen moved the abbot, Master Sande, and he made an exception to accept Carson as a disciple.
But acceptance does not mean acceptance, let alone acceptance, Carson's long road to learning martial arts has just begun.
For the martial monk disciples who have just entered Shaolin, they have to go through all kinds of manual labor.
Carson is looking forward to learning real Shaolin Kung Fu, but the reality is that he can only do all kinds of rough work every day.
At the same time, as an American youth corrupted by the degenerate culture of capitalism, Carson returned to the dormitory in the temple and did not forget to share some exclusive learning materials with his brothers in order to soothe the empty and lonely hearts of a group of young muscular men.
In addition, Carson, full of rebellious spirits, is dissatisfied with the harsh life in the temple and often incites his classmates to tease the master.
Because he challenged shaolin's inherent rules everywhere, he was denounced by the same door, which triggered a conflict between him and the disciples of the same door.
In addition, over time, Carson became bored and suspicious of these simple apparatus trainings.
As a result, when competing with the same door, because of the strong and competitive, the idol in the temple was accidentally damaged.
Just when Carson thought he would be expelled, the abbot Master Sande once again forgave him.
Subsequently, after a period of manual labor, Carson finally began to learn martial arts.
First practice the iron sand palm, then the plum blossom pile, and then the martial arts routine practice.
Soon after, the Shaolin warrior monks ushered in a monthly day of downhill rest.
Carson, who came down the mountain, met Ashima and was invited to attend the Mid-Autumn Dance organized by Ashima School.
On the day of the dance,
Carson sneaks down the hill with the others and attends a dance party with Ashima's classmates.
As a result, a group of hooligans were bumped into at the dance, so the Shaolin disciples shot again and made a big fuss about the campus dance.
The incident got big, and the school leaders went to the abbot to ask for the guilt and demanded that Carson be expelled from Shaolin.
However, Carson has the aura of the protagonist after all, and Master Sando finally decided to give Carson another chance.
After these two storms, Carson finally understood the rules of Shaolin, as well as discipline, humility and patience.
In rigorous and arduous training, he both improved his fighting skills while also bringing some American pop culture into the monastery.
For example: rugby games, rock music and so on
Winter to spring, Carson has been studying art in the temple for a year.
On this day, the abbot gave him a new task, asking him to bring a painting to a reclusive death monk, Master Yushan.
However, on the way, Carson accidentally dropped the painting into the river in order to save a passerby, and was swept away by the river.
When Carson met Master Yushan in the Longmen Grottoes, he thought that he had failed and violated Master's expectations.
However, Master Yushan pulled out the painting and told him that you had passed the test.
It turns out that sending a painting is not actually a test, the real test is the choice of choice faced in the process of sending a painting.
After completing the spiritual test journey, Carson is about to head to the final test:
Carpenter Lane.
This wooden man alley is not only full of organs, but also has an offensive wooden man created by black technology, so it is regarded as the ultimate assessment.
Only by breaking out of The Wooden Man Lane can you be regarded as a real Shaolin martial monk.
Carson resolutely stepped into the Shaolin Temple to face the Wooden Man Mechanism, and at first was beaten by the Wooden Man without the ability to fight back.
At the crucial moment, Carson remembered his master's teachings:
In Shaolin, anything is possible.
So Carson instantly raised his combat power to full level, completed the opening and hanging, kicked the flying wooden man mechanism, and tore the other wooden people apart.
In the end, under the abbot's relieved gaze, Carson walked out of The Wooden Man Lane and became a real Shaolin warrior monk.
At this time, master Santos told Carson why he had to break the rules and accept himself as a disciple.
It turned out that the Shaolin monk who was lying in front of the Shaolin Temple was the current Master of the Three Virtues.
At this point in the story, the male protagonist Carson has completed all the growth and experience, and is about to usher in the ultimate battle.
At this time, the Shaolin Temple was invited to participate in the global martial arts competition held in Shanghai, and Carson also accompanied the martial arts monks to the competition.
On the train, Carson reunites with Ashima again and wins the heart of the goddess in the blessing of the brothers of the division.
Coming to the scene of the game, Carson's fellow brother Gao Gang confronted the boxing champion Trevor.
Gao Gang studied in Shaolin for many years and was solid in martial arts, and at first he always had the upper hand, beating Trevor to a gradual defeat.
Unexpectedly, Trever was a sinister person, and when he said that the good point had come to an end, he defeated the Shaolin warrior monk with a despicable method.
After that, he once again unleashed his taunting skills, provoking Carson and insulting him as a coward.
At this time, Carson had learned humility after the hard training of Shaolin and was unwilling to shoot.
But master Santos told him:
Although Shaolin cherishes compassion, some people in this world do not know what to do without teaching it!
By implication, give me a beating to death!
Instructed by the abbot, Carson stepped into the ring and accepted Trever's challenge.
Unexpectedly, Trevor repeated the trick, and then used the sneak attack, and then launched a series of critical hits, wanting to fight quickly.
However, at this time, Carson is no longer the rookie he was, and he has to carry Trevor's sneak attack.
After that, he completed the Jedi counterattack with shaolin boxing, beating Trevor to the point where he could not fight back.
But in the end, Carson chose to stop at the point and took the initiative to extend his hand to the other party to show forgiveness.
Carson's behavior was cheered by the audience, and the Master of the Three Virtues showed praise in his eyes:
This is the future of Shaolin, and Shaolin will be proud of Carson!
This concludes the story of the film.
As a co-production film shot nearly 30 years ago, the story of "Citi Little Monk" is actually very old-fashioned, and although the film has a Kung Fu film setting in which Shaolin learns martial arts to defeat old enemies, it is essentially a typical American sports inspirational movie.
The story begins with the main plot of the American boy Carson suffering a failed blow, then getting back up and practicing kung fu, and finally achieving a counterattack, achieving self-growth and transcendence, and most of Hollywood's sports inspirational movies are in this mode.
The rare thing is that the film shows the Zen concept outside of shaolin monk Kung Fu.
Although kung fu is the core of the film, but the victory over the other party is forgiveness and compassion, Carson's path of learning art in Shaolin is not only to learn martial arts, but also to cultivate the mind, this pure oriental philosophical concept, which is quite rare in the American films of that year.
In terms of action design, the film is completely based on the Hong Kong team, so it is quite good in martial arts scenes.
Of course, because this film is aimed at overseas markets after all, it is still inevitable that some Westerners have stereotypes and curiosity about oriental mysterious kung fu, and the characters who are too facial have weakened the interest of the story itself.
The most brain-opening scene in this film is the display of Shaolin Wooden Man Alley.
Inside, all kinds of organs are densely packed, and even the flying robot wooden man has appeared, which can be described as a combination of earth and ocean.
Although it looks a bit thunderous today, it was enough to amaze domestic audiences at the time.