In the 70s, action movies were popular, and many action actors sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, vying to make a name for themselves.
Among them, the most famous are Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and others. Each of them has a different style of movement and is extremely appreciative.
But even though they have shown extraordinary skills on the screen, in reality, many people often question their kung fu, thinking that they are all showy and do not have the ability to fight.
Throughout, though, that kind of doubt never came to another kung fu superstar.
He is Chen Guantai!
A kung fu superstar who came out of the actual combat competition, a kung fu superstar who was appreciated by the great director Zhang Che with his real kung fu and became Zhang Che's royal actor.
His life began in the 40s, when danger and opportunity coexisted, poverty and luck went hand in hand, and his story slowly began with a baby's cry.
1.
Hong Kong, 1945. The Chen couple, who emigrated from Guangzhou, gave birth to their first son here, named Chen Guantai.
It is said that the southerners are in the north, and the northerners are in the south, and people with this characteristic are usually talents. Chen Guantai is precisely the life of the south and the north, and his later achievements seem to verify this view.
Of course, that's just for later!
Although Chen Guantai's background does not have any visions and uniqueness, his name has the flavor of a martial arts person.
And this is not accidental, just because Chen Guantai's grandfather and Geng Dehai have been close friends for many years.
When it comes to Geng Dehai, most people may have dark eyes and don't know who he is! But friends who have heard it by chance, or who have checked the information, will definitely give a thumbs up with both hands and say a sentence when they hear this name: "A real hero, a real grandmaster!"
Geng Dehai was taught five-way monkey boxing by Shaanxi boxer Kou Si since he was a child. At the age of 17, Geng Dehai had already become a dart master and ran darts outside the gate for 3 years. At the age of 21, Geng Dehai was favored by Li Hongzhang's brother Li Hanzhang and served as Li Hanzhang's personal bodyguard. At the age of 22, Geng Dehai joined the Beijing Wanshun Dart Bureau as a dart master, and often ran all the way from Beijing to Shaanxi.
Later, after the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, Geng Dehai entered the army again and became the national arts instructor of the Northeast Army. Later, he served as an instructor in Feng Yuxiang's army. After Feng Yuxiang's army disappeared, Geng Dehai went to Guangzhou with the vice principal of the Whampoa Military Academy. In Guangzhou, Geng Dehai was invited by the Hong Kong Jingwu Sports Association to go to Hong Kong to serve as a teacher of the Hong Kong Jingwu Sports Association. Later, the People's National Art Society was established, and began to develop the original Daishen Splitting Gate.
And it is precisely because Chen Guantai's grandfather and Geng Dehai are close friends, so Chen Guantai has been soaking in the Great Sage Splitting Hanging Door since he was a child, and he has been learning the five-way monkey boxing in a good way.
Later, because of his age and seniority, Chen Guantai worshiped under Geng Dehai's apprentice Chen Xiuzhong, and successfully became a disciple of the Great Sage Splitting Hanging Gate, and also became Geng Dehai's apprentice.
And because of the reason that he has been practicing martial arts since childhood, Chen Guantai was very keen on sports after being admitted to middle school. In particular, the football sports of throwing javelins and running large distances won Chen Guantai's liking.
Because of his outstanding performance in these two sports, Chen Guantai was promoted to an athlete by his teacher when he was in middle school.
However, it is difficult for a strong and extremely active young man to calm down and study with peace of mind.
Chen Guantai is like this! All he thinks about is how to brave the rivers and lakes, like the older generation, go south and north, and be a chivalrous hero, hoeing the strong and helping the weak.
Therefore, when Chen Guantai graduated from middle school, he no longer had the heart to study.
So, he gave up the opportunity to go to college and chose to enter the society.
But at that time, times were different. To borrow a classic line: The world is full of airplanes and cannons, and the streets are full of cars and computers, how can kung fu still be used?
Not to mention being a hero!
Therefore, Chen Guantai, who has no kung fu, only to find out that the reality is actually different from what he imagined after entering the society.
Now that times have changed, take a step back!
With this in mind, Chen Guantai found his first job, which was a firefighter.
However, not long after Chen Guantai first became a firefighter, the appearance of a newspaper made him instantly feel the opportunity to show his talents.
2.
At the end of 1967, the Hong Kong Wireless Company published an enrollment notice in the newspaper.
The revelation reads: The martial arts skills training training group of the wireless actor training class is now open to recruit students, and people from all walks of life who practice martial arts and are physically fit are welcome to sign up.
After this enrollment revelation was released, it aroused the interest of many practitioners. After all, at that time, except for the famous martial arts masters, most martial arts practitioners were engaged in the hard work of carrying bags on the dock, and practiced useless kung fu.
Therefore, this enrollment revelation undoubtedly gives these people hope to show their talents. Among them is Chen Guantai.
After seeing the enrollment information in the newspaper, he didn't hesitate, so he gave up his job as a firefighter and ran to register.
And there were several other people who signed up at the same time with him, they were: Dillon, Bai Biao, Han Shengyi, Kaohsiung and others.
After some training in the wireless martial arts skills training class, Chen Guantai and several others graduated. And at this time, a big event happened on the rivers and lakes.
It turned out that Singapore posted heroes everywhere, claiming to hold a large-scale Southeast Asian national arts competition in Singapore. This matter has attracted the attention of martial arts people from all walks of life, and all sects and factions want to take advantage of this opportunity to make a name for themselves and national arts in one fell swoop.
Chen Guantai wants to do the same.
So, he volunteered to his master Chen Xiuzhong to represent the Great Sage and go to Singapore to participate in the Southeast Asian Guoshu Competition.
The master readily agreed. In order to cope with the various boxers encountered in the competition, especially the Muay Thai boxers in Southeast Asia who are famous for their fierceness and fierceness, Chen Guantai specially went to Thailand to train for three months before the start of the competition, adapted to the confrontation with Muay Thai, and became familiar with some of the fierce moves of Muay Thai.
After all the preparations were made, the competition officially began.
In 1969, the Singapore Southeast Asian Guoshu Competition officially kicked off. Chen Guantai signed up on behalf of the Great Sage Splitting Hanging Door. Participating in this competition with Chen Guantai is also the "Double Flower Red Stick" Chen Huimin.
Chen Huimin won two fights and two wins in this match with Western boxing. And Chen Guantai won five battles and five victories with the five-way monkey fist of the Great Sage splitting the door. In these five fights, Chen Guantai met many national boxers, including Muay Thai, which allowed him to prepare in advance.
With the results of these five results, Chen Guantai and Dasheng became famous in one fell swoop.
Years later, when Chen Guantai recalled this dazzling past again, he said that he was able to defeat his opponents one after another, in addition to his solid martial arts foundation, his fists were hard enough.
While Chen Guantai became famous with the Southeast Asian national martial arts competition, he also received the attention of a big director.
This director is Liu Jialiang.
Liu Jialiang is a master of martial arts. In the films he directed, every move is a traditional martial art with a provenance, a sect, and a recognizable identity. And Chen Guantai, who has just shined in the Southeast Asian national martial arts competition with traditional martial arts, naturally won Liu Jialiang's appreciation and love.
Therefore, when Chen Guantai returned from playing in Singapore, Liu Jialiang immediately approached him and invited him to join his team.
So, Chen Guantai followed Liu Jialiang's team and cooperated with Zhang Che in the movie "Dead Corner".
This was the first time Chen Guantai really came into contact with film.
After that, Chen Guantai participated in the production of several other films of Zhang Che one after another, and was successfully promoted to martial arts instructor.
It is said that it is gold, so one day it will shine.
During the period of being behind the scenes, Chen Guantai's skills and temperament made Zhang Che extremely appreciative. He likes such a tough and masculine actor.
So, in 1972, when Zhang Che was about to start filming the movie "Ma Yongzhen", he immediately found Chen Guantai and asked him to play the role of "Ma Yongzhen".
As Zhang Che expected, after the film was released, the role of "Ma Yongzhen" played by Chen Guantai won the love of countless audiences with his masculine and tough image and sharp and fierce skills. And Chen Guantai himself became popular overnight and became a kung fu superstar in the Hong Kong film industry.
In the following years, Chen Guantai became one of Zhang Che's queen actors and starred in many classic films.
After 1976, Chen Guantai left Shaw Brothers and founded Daisheng Pictures on his own.
After becoming a movie boss from an actor, the first thing Chen Guantai thought of was to serve as a director and direct a film independently.
So, in the same year, Chen Guantai personally directed and starred in the movie "Young Huang Feihong: Iron Monkey".
Although Chen Guantai, who was a first-time director, put a lot of effort into this film, the response was not enthusiastic, so that his film company also suffered a heavy blow.
At this time, Liu Jialiang called Chen Guantai and invited him to star in the movie "Hong Xiguan" that he would start filming, so Chen Guantai gave up the film company and starred in this movie as an actor again.
However, the first defeat did not discourage Chen Guantai. In 1990, he founded a second film company named Weikai, and successfully produced and produced a number of films that received good reviews.
Later, Chen Guantai, because of his age, gradually reduced the filming of action scenes, and began to be active on the screen as a bigwig of various identities.
Nowadays, on the short video platform, Chen Guantai can often be seen. Sometimes, he sits with friends over tea and chats, and sometimes, he also practices Tai Chi with his peers to exchange health practices with each other.
Perhaps because of his perennial martial arts training, Chen Guantai's appearance always looks much younger than his peers.