During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qiu Litao's fourth film "Operation Moscow" this year was released.
With the fame of Andy Lau, Huang Xuan and Zhang Hanyu, the box office of this movie is not bad, with a box office of 470 million in half a month of release, avoiding the tragedy of Qiu Litao's four consecutive attacks.
The box office was saved, but the reputation was difficult to say.
The rhythm of the movie jumps, the narrative is chaotic, Huang Xuan's acting skills are also too strong, of course, the most important thing is -
It has little to do with the Sino-Russian train robbery.
The movie just borrowed the incident as the beginning, and after only 15 minutes of simple retrospective, it immediately switched scenes, and then it was reduced to a police and bandit chase battle of Liu, Huang and Zhang.
In a sense, if you enter the theater 15 minutes late, Operation Moscow is a purely original commercial crime film, and has nothing to do with the horrific heist in reality.
In fact, works about the Sino-Russian train robbery have long been adapted for film and television, such as Xia Yu's TV series of the same name "Operation Moscow" in 2018.
And the movie, the most classic, is also the most fierce.
There is no better than Lu Liangwei's version -
"The Great Robbery of the Sino-Russian Train"
"The Great Robbery of the Sino-Russian Train" was released in 1995 and was jointly produced by Hong Kong Jiahe Film and Emei Film Studio.
At that time, Hong Kong had not yet returned, so it was a Sino-foreign co-production film, starring Lu Liangwei, Ma Shuliang, Zhou Jie, Zhou Hong, Lu Fen, and the director was the younger brother of the "Mak brothers", Mak Donald.
As soon as the name of the Mai brothers appeared, the tone of the movie can be imagined.
This movie can be described as a big hit in the video hall that year.
Whenever it is quiet at night, its hot plot, fierce movements, and unspeakable obscure plots will always shatter the ignorant dreams of some teenagers, and become a shadow that lingers in the mind for a long time.
The film has also been broadcast on CCTV six sets many times, but the official version released in Hong Kong is 92 minutes, while the mainland version is 83 minutes, a full deletion of 9 minutes, and almost all major video websites and download platforms are 83 minutes at present.
In order to find the original version, I spent the morning, my eyes were almost blind, and finally found the moderator composite version in a Cantonese film forum.
The total duration is 88 minutes, which is probably the longest version found on the Internet.
To this end, I also spent a huge amount of 10 yuan to buy, just to see the "true face" of countless childhood shadows in those years.
(ignoring my pleading tone)
After reading it, I can only say one sentence:
Sure enough, it's a childhood shadow series, it's hard enough!
The movie opens with "Xiang Chong" played by Lu Liangwei.
He was a people's policeman, disguised as an ordinary businessman, and boarded the K3 train from Beijing to Russia.
The train takes six days and six nights to reach Russia.
There were people on the car who were full of smoke, including pot-bellied dumpers, girls who ran away from their families, and a couple of Hong Kong businessmen who did not take a plane for romance and accompanied their girlfriend on the train.
Along the way, he saw all kinds of "fallen masters", and he was also reprimanded in person for the dirty behavior of some profiteers.
At night, as the train entered Mongolia, a handsome young man "Li Qiang" was sneaky, and in the process of chatting with the girl, he also took time to tie strange knots with curtains.
Xiang Chong, who got up at night, noticed this phenomenon and untied the curtain knot one by one with curiosity.
While Xiang Chong was alive on one side, on the other side, a group of masked men began a robbery plan.
They kidnapped the conductor and locked him in the house to make dumplings, and the rest of the people broke into the box according to the curtain knot to rob -
It turns out that Li Qiang is stepping on the plate, which box has money, just tie a knot in the curtain at the door, and the robbers will definitely not return empty-handed when they come.
The robbers are fierce and have a clear division of labor, even the passengers probably know where the money is hidden, and those who cannot find the money will immediately carry out violent means.
The men's fight, the woman's wheel, is simply purgatory on earth.
The passengers were invariably violated, with no money and no money, and Xiang Chong was thrown off the train in the fight with the gangsters...
After going around in circles, Xiang Chong arrived in Russia by private car, and then immediately assembled the public security team.
Despite international restrictions, they cannot reveal their identities, let alone carry firearms, and can only rely on their own little investigation.
Xiang Chong set his sights on the owner of the Four Seas Hotel, "Big Brother", he is a Chinese, in Russia, the "Four Seas Hotel" founded by one hand is Chinese exclusive gathering place.
Xiang Chong meets Big Brother at a bar, and the two come and go, and the two reach an agreement, and Big Brother promises to help Xiang Chong.
Unexpectedly, as soon as there was an eyebrow here, the Four Seas Hotel was robbed by the same group of people in the train robbery.
There were countless deaths and injuries, wailing all over the field, and the corpses were hanging on the stairs so stunned....
Later, the group of robbers knew that their whereabouts were exposed and wanted to escape from Russia, so they turned to Big Brother for help in obtaining fake passports.
Following the clues, Xiang Chong and his group came to the casino to ambush, and the two sides had a fire fight, and the eldest brother unfortunately died.
At the end of the movie, under the joint encirclement of Chinese public security and Russian police, the robbers were blocked at the railway station and the whole army was destroyed, and Xiang Chong also successfully completed the task and returned to China with the criminals.
From the main plot line, the story of this film is not very exciting, it is nothing more than four confrontations with robbers, and they are all based on coincidences without any foundation.
Although it can portray the ferocity of the robbers, it is really unconvincing to repeatedly rob the head of the police three times, and there is a kind of "craftsmanship" unique to mainland films of that era, no wonder it is a co-production movie.
Of course, in addition to the main line, McDonaldger has mixed in a lot of emotional lines, which makes this hard-hitting story have a touch of special interest.
For example, Xiang Chong's secret love with the Russian female police officer "Natasha" who wanted to refuse to return Ying, Xiang Chong repeatedly flattered Natasha in order to get intelligence and Russian police support, using the most typical way of that era - sending flowers.
And Russian women eat this set the most, although they know what Xiang Chong wants, they still have a good impression of Xiang Chong, and even forcibly kiss Xiang Chong many times.
The arrogance of Western women and the restrained of Eastern men, this sense of contrast is very "cool" of contemporary sweet pet dramas.
On the other side, the girl "Qiaoqiang", who had a conflict with her family, fell in love with the young robber, that is, "Li Qiang", who was responsible for stepping on the plate at the beginning.
Qiao went to study in Russia alone, had no relatives in a foreign country, and her loneliness was infinitely magnified, until Li Qiang's appearance broke her desperate situation.
Girlish feelings are always poetry, and Qingqiao thought that she had met true love, but she never thought that the man she held every night was actually a vicious bandit, until Li Qiang was taken away at the last moment, she still couldn't believe this fact.
Students in a foreign country fall in love with bandits, and this plot is simply too painful literature.
In addition, Madonald also added a lot of critical plots to the film.
The Chinese robbers on the train robbed Chinese, and after arriving in Russia, Chinese businessmen also viciously competed with each other, and even burned the hotel because of the robbery of customers.
And the protagonist Xiang Chong is a person with a very national pride, whenever there is an infighting, he is not only the first to stop it, but also judges and educates him ideologically, like a new Chinese person.
Of course, the biggest feature of this movie is still from Madonald's "scale".
The movie is full of a lot of violent depictions, straightforward and unavoidable, the murderous faces of the robbers, and the frightened passengers abound.
The footage of the fat businessman in the Four Seas Hotel being slashed several times by robbers, slashed the chest and then sealed with tape is still a shadow of some people's childhood.
There is red, of course there is X color.
And the role of assuming another element almost all fell on "Lin Nan" played by Zhou Hong.
She is a former actress who went to Russia to find the gold lord to support, and after the robbery, she was the first to be discovered by the robbers and was taken turns.
The amount of exercise of 5 or 6 people, coupled with the blood on the side of the legs and the terrified expressions of the characters, you can imagine the shock of this bridge in those years.
What's even more outrageous is that McDonaldger also added a very advanced obscure plot to the movie.
The last robber who came into contact with Lin Nan was quite demanding about the affair, and liked to talk while talking, asking her over and over again in her ear:
"Are you happy?"
Then, Lin Nan seemed to fall into the "Stockholm syndrome" and had a different affection for this man.
And in the robbery of the Four Seas Hotel, Lin Nan met this robber again, and some unspeakable things happened, and he still asked Lin Nan over and over again in his ear:
"Are you happy?"
This time, Lin Nan did not resist, but acquiesced to his behavior.
What's more ironic is that at the end of the movie, the robber pointed a gun at Lin Nan, but Lin Nan was unmoved, questioning him like a couple:
"You used this gun to make me happy, can you bear to kill me with this gun?"
The female star went to Russia to ask for support, and on the way, she was first taken turns to exercise, and then forced twice by the same person, and finally she fell in love with the robber.
This plot, even today, is shocking enough.
In contrast, the 88-minute version and the 83-minute version were not cut in the violent scenes, and the 5 minutes were almost all deleted on female characters except for the titles of Jiahe and Meiya Pictures.
For example, in the beginning, the female star Lin Nan's bath has several positive shots, and the violated paragraphs have been reduced to only a few seconds, and after arriving in Russia, the Russian dancers in the bar where they met Big Brother were also darked + deleted.
In short, missing these 5 minutes is no problem for the plot.
But the two violent symbols do not satisfy Madonald, and there is a more "strange" character in the movie, even if there are no bloody scenes, but the same childhood shadow of countless people.
If you look back at this movie with today's eyes, you will find it very interesting, many familiar people.
For example, playing the big brother of the Four Seas Hotel is actually Zhang Shuangli, the "godfather of the trend" today.
Although he is now old, he is unique by his unique taste in dressing, but he was only 42 years old when he played the old and spicy gangster boss, and he really had a crazy and intimidating temperament and was a little strange.
There is also "Li Qiang", who plays the robber youth, too.
If you don't look closely, you don't dare to admit that this is actually played by Zhou Jie.
At that time, he had not yet filmed "Huan Zhu Gege", tender enough to pinch out water, although it was green, but under the lens of the Hong Kong director, it was really a little unruly and romantic.
However, the most impressive thing is that Rufen has to be said.
Yes, it is the "Agni Grandma" in "Nine Pins Sesame Officer".
The character's first appearance was "stunning".
Although it is not very polite, the fleshy Lu Fen plays the role of a male robber, and there is a sense of fierceness that surpasses that of men, feeling as terrifying as a tiger wearing human skin.
Rufen's character is called "Second Sister", the leader of the robber action team, and all operations are completed under her/his lead charge, and the force value is full.
If this alone, this is just a successful anti-string, and Madonald gives the character an interest that goes beyond the symbol.
After each charge, seeing that the general trend has been decided, the second sister will take off her leather jacket and trousers, put on a shiny evening dress and high heels, and wear heavy makeup to tease the eldest brother.
Just now, he was still fierce and vicious, and his face changed into a gentle and considerate secretary.
This is a character with ambiguous genders, and after watching the movie, you don't even know if it's a man or a woman, only that she/he has a friendship for his big brother that surpasses his peers.
Wandering between men and women, between companions and lovers.
Although the role of the second sister is not deeply portrayed, the imagination he/she carries is enough to enter the child's sleepless dreams every night and scare a river of spring water.
Of course, beyond the movie itself, its greatest value is to truly express that era.
"The Great Robbery of the Sino-Russian Train" was released in 1995, just two years after the real events of 93, and the film was shot in the mainland, ensuring great realism from the scene to the plot.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the economy collapsed, this steel beast is strong and strong, and the whole country lacks nothing but steel.
With Gorbachev's visit to China, many Chinese smelled business opportunities, and as long as they transported their belongings to Russia, they could multiply several times and make a steady profit.
A lighter for 8 Mao can be sold for $ 2 in Russia, and someone has exchanged canned socks for an airplane.
The K3 train became the Silk Road to wealth, but in the eyes of the robbers, it was also a fat pork with a belly full of fat.
People almost put their entire families on the train, stuffed all the valuable belongings into their luggage, and as the train drove into the three-way zone, a magical transaction scene began-
The train was still moving slowly, Chinese the windows were drawn, and the Russians chased behind them, holding thick wads of banknotes in exchange for cotton clothes for cold weather and daily necessities everywhere.
Banknotes are thrown into the carriage like waste paper, and the worn cotton jacket causes looting.
At the transit station, young Russians bartered and exchanged silverware for radios.
And women without capital use their bodies to exchange leather jackets at a time.
This scene is full of chaos and magic, all the equations of value are broken, and people's desires are infinitely expanded, which is why countless Chinese even if they know that the journey is dangerous, still get on the bus.
Although the movie does not dig deep for "Fallen Master", it is shocking enough to truly present the wonders of that year.
In comparison, it is much better than the situation in "Operation Moscow" where even the seller or the buyer of the Chinese is unknown.
- End of full text.