Two films that should not be forgotten (Wudang) and (Wulin Zhi)

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, due to the emergence of video recorders in Chinese mainland, a product of the era was derived: the video hall. At that time, in a dark and muddy environment, the film works that were completely different from the mainstream films on the mainland at that time attracted the attention of most young people at that time. Whether it is a fashion film or a police film, or a martial arts film, young people see a completely different world from what they usually come into contact with and see. In particular, a very characteristic genre film: martial arts films, give young people a particularly strong sensory stimulation, causing great interest among young people. Under the impact of the great wave of reform and opening up, a mainland-Hong Kong co-production film "Shaolin Temple" turned out to be a whirlwind in Chinese films, in which the martial arts design of real knives and real guns and the pictures with great sensory impact blew a whirlwind in Chinese movies. My father, a forestry worker with nearly 40 years of service, earned only more than 40 yuan a month, but the box office of this film is said to have reached a staggering hundred million yuan. If it is true, it is equivalent to all the Chinese at that time to read it once. Immediately after that, there were successive "North and South Shaolin", "Shaolin Boy", "Shaolin Temple Disciple", "Shaolin LayMan Disciple", "Kapok Robes", etc., a series of Shaolin-related movies, although their influence is no longer the same, it also caused quite a stir. However, these works have one thing in common, that is, they are all co-produced by the mainland and Hong Kong, whether it is shooting, martial arts design, line design, actor performance, etc., they all have a deep imprint of Hong Kong style. This imprint's influence on martial arts films on the mainland extends to the early part of the century. However, in 1983, the two martial arts films "Wudang" and "Wulin Zhi" produced by Changchun Film Studio and Beijing Film Studio completely abandoned the more popular Typhoon in Hong Kong at that time and made martial arts films that belonged entirely to the mainland.

First, from the director, actor, screenwriter, martial arts design and all the main creative personnel, all of them are the mainland's own, especially the actors, such as Li Junfeng, who played Dongfang Xu in "Wulin Zhi", personally formed the Beijing Wushu Team, who was the coach of the Beijing Wushu Team at that time, the real martial arts master; Ge Chunyan, who played Gao Lianzhi, is also a national martial arts athlete and has won the Bagua Palm Championship several times. There are also the main actors Lin Quan and Zhao Changjun in "Wudang", who are also real martial arts far mobilization, especially Zhao Changjun, who lost to Jet Li with a gap of 0.1 points in a national martial arts competition and ranked second. Second, the theme of the film is no longer limited to vendettas and personal grudges, but completely expresses the spirit of Chinese not fearing life and death, daring to resist, uniting as one, rising up to fight back, and being indomitable in the face of foreign invaders, expressing the essence of the nation and the feelings of home and country. In Wulinzhi, the Chinese warriors fight the Russian invaders; in Wudang, they fight the Japanese invaders. Especially in "Wulin Zhi", the cry of "Chinese, stand up" aroused the patriotic enthusiasm and national feelings of many moviegoers. Third, perhaps because of the choice of actors, almost all the main actors are not real film actors, but are selected from the martial arts team. Therefore, their performances appear childish, green, and rough, and can only be compensated by dubbing. In addition, at that time, the mainland had just imported Hong Kong and Taiwan culture, and people were too eager to absorb the wind from across the strait, and the influence of these two films was far less than that of "Shaolin Temple" and so on. However, under such circumstances, the number of viewers of these two movies is also over 100 million, and if they are placed today, they can also hang the martial arts that are now all based on stunts. Mainly, the influence of these two films on the production of mainland martial arts films in the future. The mainland began to produce its own martial arts kung fu movies, such as "Invincible Mandarin Duck Legs", "Divine Servant", "Shadow of the Gorge River", "Black Box Blood", etc., although the latter is not as influential as the former, after all, it has stepped out of the mainland martial arts filmmakers' own exploration. These two films are indispensable and should not be forgotten.

Today, a large number of so-called foreign blockbusters have poured into the Chinese market, but for people my age, they can't accept these stunts piled up, and they still miss the dime movies of the 80s.