Golden Harvest has been able to dominate the Hong Kong film scene for so many years is because Golden Harvest pursues the outsourcing system, that is, the producer plays the leading role. They can independently produce movies and participate in movie dividends without being restricted by investors. Jiahe also supports these filmmakers to set up a film company to be responsible for production, while Jiahe is responsible for distribution, including Bruce Lee’s Concord Film Company, Jackie Chan’s Weihe Film, Yuan Heping’s Heping Pictures, and the Xu Brothers’ Xu Family Films.
Among the many satellite companies, Sammo Hung’s Baohe Film Production Company has produced the most blockbuster films, and it was brilliant. However, Sammo Hung has also experienced two failures in his career as a director. However, these two films are now "magic films" in the eyes of the audience, quite classics. Before that, we might as well take a brief look at Sammo Hung's career as a director.
In the late 1970s, Sammo Hung transformed into a director as a dragon and tiger martial artist. "The Three Virtues Monk and the Six" is the first kung fu film written and directed by him. Later, he used "Mr. Zan and Looking for Money" and "Miscellaneous Boys" to consolidate his kung fu comedy. Influence, in 1980 Zou Wenhuai supported him to establish Baohe Film Production Company.
Baohe is a classic when he shoots. The entrepreneurial work "Ghost Fighting Ghost" combines kung fu martial arts and ghost movies to become the originator of psychic action movies. This type of psychic kung fu comedy continues in the later stage.
In 1984, Sammo Hung supervised and produced two classics, "The Brave Double Cannon" and "The Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers". The front part brings together gangsters, action, and comedy elements. It is a model of Hong Kong comedy, with a box office of more than 20 million, and the latter is also The series of classic genres, Baohe's reputation has been established from this
. By 1985, Baohe's films reached a peak. "Fortune Stars", "Summer Lucky Stars", "Dragon Heart" and "Mr. Zombie" were all from Hong Jiaban. Handwriting, the box office is selling well.
The box office of "Fortune Stars" has reached more than 30 million, and it won the annual box office championship and broke the Hong Kong movie box office record. "Mr. Zombie" ranked fifth with a box office of 2009 million. It was unexpected that the zombie film derived from Sammo Hung's psychic action film was so popular. The era of zombie films has arrived, and Lin Zhengying has become the spokesperson of the Taoist leader through a series of films.
In 1986, Baohe produced the star-studded "Rich Train". With its status and influence, Sammo Hung almost all the actors in Hong Kong stopped working and came to make guest appearances in this film. The lineup was quite luxurious, and it defeated the "Best" filmed on the same day. "Partner 4" became the box office champion of the Lunar New Year. What is interesting is that Sammo Hung can also win over rival New Arts City's Mai Jia to appear in "Best Fortune" this year, and the box office also won more than 23 million.
However, the box office competition at this stage also showed unprecedented fierce competition. Sammo Hung strived to make a breakthrough. In 1987, he produced "Eastern Condor" with nearly the backbone of the Hong Jin class and an all-star lineup. The multinational shooting and numerous stars made the film investment also The tide has risen. Although it won the box office of 21.6 million that year, it is not a big hit compared to the huge investment. This is also a major "failure" in Sammo Hung's directorial career.
In 1988, Baohe teamed up with Jackie Chan's Weihe Film Company. Produced "Flying Dragon Warrior" with a box office revenue of 33.57 million. But the rest of "The Detective Father and Son Soldier", "Treasure Hunting by the Dragon", and "Fateful Mandarin Duck" had less than 10 million box office, and only "The Last Eunuch in China" recovered the cost. This situation also caused a contradiction between Baohe and Jiahe. Sammo Hung switched to "Baoxiang" (another film production company of Sammo Hung) to start the show, but the results could not be the same as Baohe. The filming of "Scorpion" was completed in 1992. After "Warrior", Baohe also moved to discontinue production.
Sammo Hung was not reconciled at this time, but Stephen Chow's nonsensical comedy in the early 1990s also made its way to the stage. Wang Jing and Chow Yun-fat also became gambling films, and martial arts films were also all the rage at this stage. Can Sammo Hung's comedy open up the situation? Obviously, the audience has shown fatigue, and Sammo Hung is inevitably involved in this trend of following the trend. In 1993, at the invitation of Luo Wei, Sammo Hung directed the martial arts movie "One Sword Allure"
. In order to make this film, Sammo Hung recruited Zhang Tan who had written the screenwriters of "New Dragon Inn", "Once Upon a Time 2" and "Once Upon a Time 3" Participating in the production, the actors also include Ti Lung, Zhao Changjun, Sammo Hung, Zou Zhaolong, Yang Lijing as stars, as well as the joining of Zhilin, Yang Fan, and Liu Xun. It is not careless, but it is helpless when the martial arts film broke out in 1993, Jet Li was the handle. The film’s final box office was less than 2 million. It can be said that there is no return, I am afraid that even Hong JinBao himself didn't expect to lose so thoroughly. In 1995, Baoxiang graduated, Sammo Hung mainly appeared in Hong Kong films as an actor.
"Eastern Condor" and "One Sword Allure" are two defeats in Sammo Hung's directorial career, and now the two films are rated 7.5 and 7.8 respectively, which are regarded as excellent works, and even regarded as masterpieces by many Hong Kong film fans. They are all buried classics.
Indeed, the box office losses of the two movies can only be said to have not caught up with the good times. If they are released now, they will definitely be a big hit. Although the story of "Eastern Condor" is simple, the action scenes are absolutely unambiguous. Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lin Zhengying, Zhou Billy, Yasaki Kurata, Yuan Heping, Yuan Kui, Qian Jiale, Di Wei, Gao Fei, Yuan Hua, etc. almost cover the time. In the first-line star game, the actors are really fought, and they gave a wonderful fighting feast.
"One Sword Allure" is also a street away from many current martial arts films. It tells history in the way of martial arts, full of family and country feelings, with tragic lines and soundtracks, and writes heroic spirit. The movements are also quite vigorous, with Zhang Che's violent aesthetics, which is endlessly memorable.
Many viewers have watched these two movies several times. If you missed these two classics, you must check it out
