In early 1960, Haiyan Film Studio, a feature film branch of the Shanghai Film Studio, launched a light comedy film "Today I Rest". This movie tells the story of ma Tianmin, a grassroots policeman, on the day of rest, there is no earth-shattering, all parents are short, but full of jokes, hilarious.
Movie posters
However, after such a movie was released nationwide, it not only became an "educational film" for the grass-roots police across the country, the male protagonist "Ma Tianmin" has become synonymous with excellent policemen, and the people will blurt out a sentence "What is difficult, don't be afraid, find the old horse!" ”
What exactly is this light comedy film about that would have such a big impact across the country? Xiaobian will give the old fans who have seen the movie and the young fans who have not seen the movie today to talk about this "Today I Rest".
Movie stills
"Today I Rest" tells the story of Yao Meizhen, the lover of the police station chief, who introduces a postman Liu Ping to the policeman Ma Tianmin, and instructs Ma Tianmin to meet on the rest day. As a result, on the way to the appointment, Ma Tianmin first helped an old farmer save the piglet that fell in the river, and then sent a child with an acute illness to the hospital, so he made mistakes again and again.
Zhong Xinghuo as Ma Tianmin
Finally, by the time Ma Tianmin found the home of the blind date, it was already dusk. Liu Ping thought he was insincere and had a very cold attitude towards him. But what people did not expect was that Liu Ping's father was the owner of the falling piglet that Ma Tianmin helped to rescue that day. Liu Ping knew the reason for the default and had a good feeling for Ma Tianmin.
From the perspective of the story summary alone, this film is very simple, and even simply incompatible with the film circle at that time. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the era of anti-special films, "Yangcheng Dark Sentinel", "Secret Drawings", and "Railway Guard" were all among the leaders, and the box office word of mouth blossomed.
The common feature of these films is that the protagonist has a special skill, and the storyline has ups and downs. However, Ma Tianmin in "Today I Rest" is a very ordinary little policeman, and the story is too simple to be true, what kind of opportunity did it take to create such a movie? And how did this movie become popular?
Still
At the end of 1959, in order to pay tribute to the police, Shanghai Haiyan Film Studio prepared to shoot a film with ordinary police officers as the protagonist and reflecting the work and life of grass-roots policemen. The name of the protagonist of the movie is Ma Tianmin, which means "serving the people every day". The starting point is simple, but it is not easy to form a shooting team.
Compared with other public security movies at that time, this kind of film that reflects the work and life of ordinary police officers has neither a gripping suspense plot nor a wonderful fight scene. How can you make it sound and colorful? This problem was handed over to director Lu Ren.
Lu Ren
Lu Ren has directed a number of light comedy films full of the atmosphere of the times, among which "Li Shuangshuang", starring Zhang Ruifang, won four awards such as "Best Feature Film" at the Second Hundred Flowers Film Awards, becoming a classic in the history of Chinese cinema.
Stills from the movie "Li Shuangshuang"
Screenwriters are crucial if they want to make a movie stand out. There was a screenwriter in haiyan factory, and everyone said that there was no script that could not be done, and it was right to look for him. Director Lu Ren also went to find a screenwriter who has a very good set of problems to deal with - Li Tianji.
Li Tianji
Li Tianji is a famous screenwriter and film actor. "Spring in a Small Town" and "Feng Murder Hua Ji" are all from The Hand of Li Tianji. After some communication, Li Tianji quickly had an idea. Because the movie is about the experience of a warm-hearted and helpful policeman on his day of rest, Li Tianji decided to name the movie "Today I Rest".
In order to write the script of "Today I Rest", Li Tianji almost ran all over the police stations in Shanghai, and many police officers were mixed together, in order to collect more materials. After that, Li Tianji cleverly condensed several wonderful plots into one day, vividly and interestingly portraying the image of Ma Tianmin, a capable, kind, but slightly clumsy people's policeman on emotional issues.
The lead actor is usually the key to carrying the box office and word of mouth of a film and television work, and the protagonist of this small-cost small-scale production and even the storyline is "small", at least he has to choose a "big" role to carry the whole film, right?
Zhongxinghuo
However, the director not only did not choose a famous role to support the scene, but chose a "ten thousand years supporting role" Zhong Xinghuo to star. Why? Please pay attention to the headline number of "Hubei Satellite TV Big Reveal", and continue to decrypt it for you tomorrow!