If we want to select the movie with the strongest lineup in Chinese film history, it is estimated that many viewers will nominate this movie.
In 1991, more than 200 celebrities from the Hong Kong entertainment industry participated in a public welfare disaster relief film. The preparation time for the
movie was less than a month, and the entire filming process was completed in only eight days.
almost mobilized the strongest team in the Hong Kong film industry in the 1990s in front of and behind the scenes. Many superstars came to play small roles. Many big-name actors could not even get a line in the film and could only serve as human backgrounds mixed in the crowd. plate.
Even the four most popular kings of Hong Kong at that time came to guest appearances, and this film is the only movie so far in which the four kings have appeared in the same frame.
As long as you are a fan of Hong Kong movies, you must have heard of this pinnacle work in the history of Hong Kong movies, "The Banquet of the Rich".
It has now been more than thirty years since this movie was released.
For a long time, there was only one source of this movie in poor quality.
Fortunately, there is finally a digital high-definition restored version. This issue's "Nostalgia Film Archeology" column uses this movie to take everyone back to the golden years of Hong Kong films in high-definition quality.
"The Banquet of the Rich"
the banquet
"The Banquet of the Rich" is as its name suggests. The whole movie is indeed a "party of rich stars" with a stunning lineup.
The movie opens with Andy Lau and Mo Shunyun partnering as hosts.
announced in front of the camera that the original intention of filming the video was to "raise money for disaster relief."
In May 1991, floods occurred in East China, with Jiangsu and Anhui provinces the most severely affected.
This is the first large-scale "large natural disaster" in the history of New China that directly appeals to the international community for assistance.
At that time, the British Hong Kong government allocated NT$50 million to provide relief to the disaster-stricken areas in East China, and an upsurge in donations was immediately launched across Hong Kong to aid flood relief in East China. At the same time, Hong Kong's entertainment industry is also actively taking action, first preparing to film the movie "The Banquet of the Rich".
later held a star-studded "Selfless Extravaganza" concert at Happy Valley Racecourse to raise funds for the victims of the disaster.
According to reports that year, in just ten days, the total amount of funds raised for disaster relief in Hong Kong reached .47 billion.
The opening subtitles of the movie stated that the original script of the film belongs to " South China Film Workers Federation ".
The 1991 movie "The Banquet" is actually a "remake".
The film is adapted from the 1959 Cantonese black-and-white film of the same name.
old version of the movie brings together Wu Chufan, Zhang Ying, Zhang Huoyou, Xia Meng and many other popular stars in the Cantonese film era.
The story tells that in order to show off his wealth to his competitors, the upstart Feng Suiren, played by Wu Chufan, plans to hold a dinner for the absurd reason of congratulating the old father of the Feng family for "growing a beard".
took his old father who had lived a poor life back home. During the preparations for the dinner, scenes of farce unfolded, showing the warmth and coldness of human relationships and the life of all living beings in the world.
The original intention of filming this movie was also to "raise money".
In 1949, a group of Hong Kong filmmakers established the South China Film Workers Federation in order to improve the working environment and film quality of the industry. After the "South China Film Federation" was established, it made four free films to raise funds. "The Banquet of the Rich" is the most famous one among them.
The 1991 version of "Wealthy Night Banquet" follows the story framework of the old version, while moving the background to the 1990s.
The protagonist Zeng Xiaozhi, played by Eric Tsang , is a greedy and stingy real estate businessman and an upstart with a huge fortune.
Thanks to his good speculation and smooth tongue, Zeng Xiaozhi thrived in the shopping mall and now has accumulated tens of millions of dollars.
But he was still not satisfied. He told all the lies in order to buy real estate, and there was no bottom line in making money.
Jacky Cheung plays Jacky Cheung, a project agent who wants to help Zeng Xiaozhi complete a commercial project to acquire land.
In order to make this big deal, Xueyou could only try his best to flatter Zeng Xiaozhi.
At this time, the street vendor selling stinky tofu was Huang Zhan, the gold medal soundtrack master in the Hong Kong film industry.
The passers-by running by were actor David Wu and Hong Kong's famous voice actor Tam Bing-man.
Broker Xueyou took Zeng Xiaozhi into the tea restaurant with the purpose of signing a property purchase contract with the old owners of the four buildings. The trouble is, Zeng Xiaozhi has a competitor in the real estate industry, the equally wealthy businessman Hong Dabao .
The two are rivals in the shopping mall, and Hong Dabao is also eyeing this land.
In order to promote this project, agent Xueyou had to persuade Zeng Xiaozhi and Hong Dabao separately, and finally brought the two together to agree to share the profits equally and jointly build the hotel.
Unexpectedly, Zeng Xiaozhi and Hong Dabao are both stingy and stingy.
Agent Xueyou failed to draw water from the bamboo basket and left the tea restaurant in frustration.
Zeng Xiaozhi negotiated a business deal, and he was so proud that he rehearsed the English version of the Cantonese opera "The Princess of the House" at home.
The accompaniment was the famous "Beyond" band at the time. The two famous Cantonese opera actresses who rehearsed with Zeng Xiaozhi were Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau. The female reporter in charge of filming was the actress Gu Meihua.
Just when Zeng Xiaozhi was immersed in the dramatic art of combining Chinese and Western.
Agent Xueyou came to the door again and told Zeng Xiaozhi that he had a big deal to discuss with him.
It is rumored that Prince Alibaba of Kuwait will come to Hong Kong. The other party is running to rebuild his home after the Gulf War. He has a huge development plan in his hand. If Zeng Xiaozhi can sign this contract, he is definitely expected to become the richest man in Hong Kong.
Zeng Xiaozhi was really tempted after hearing this, but it was not easy to negotiate this business.
In order to get in touch with the prince, Zeng Xiaozhi decided to do what he wanted, and finally found out that Prince Alibaba was famous for his filial piety.
's agent Jacky You took the opportunity to give advice and suggested that Zeng Xiaozhi should also establish a filial son persona for himself.
held a grand banquet for his father to celebrate his birthday, and then invited the prince to the banquet to get closer.
But a new problem appeared again.
Zeng Xiaozhi was not only not a filial son, but also had no contact with his father for more than ten years.
Zeng Xiaozhi finally persuaded his wife played by Zheng Yuling , and the couple returned to the housing estate where his father and sister lived.
When they rushed downstairs, there happened to be three people playing football together nearby.
The short man among them is the famous all-rounder Teddy Robin in the Hong Kong film industry.
The man on the left is a common supporting character in zombie movies Floor Nanguang.
The actor in the middle is called Yin Zhiqiang . He was originally a professional football player.
was once known as "Asia's No. 1 Center" in the 1970s. He represented the Hong Kong team in the Asian Cup. After retiring, he became an actor.
Zeng Xiaozhi saw three people playing football in an estate and boasted to his wife that he was also good at playing football when he was a child.
In reality, Eric Tsang once worked as a professional football player and was selected for the Hong Kong youth football team and participated in the 1973 AFC Youth Championship held in Iran.
Zeng Xiaozhi and his wife deceived his father back into the mansion where he lived.
Unexpectedly, assistant Awei brought a new question.
It turns out that according to Zeng Xiaozhi's request, in order to let Prince Alibaba know that he was a filial son, Awei contacted the media in advance and published several news articles about Zeng Xiaozhi's filial piety to his father. In the report, he boasted that not only did Zeng come from a famous family, but he was also a man who had served overseas. A gentleman studying abroad likes Western fencing the most.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see through it at a glance.
Uncle Zeng is just an ordinary and simple old father. How does he look like a wealthy gentleman from the upper class?
Zeng Xiaozhi had a headache over this. At this time, his assistant Awei came up with another solution for him.
It is better to spend money to hire some etiquette teachers to train Uncle Zeng in advance to prepare for the wealthy night banquet in a few days.
Ah Wei first found his cousin, a professional gigolo played by Simon Yam.
However, under Awei's introduction, the other party's identity instantly became higher and higher, and he became the dean of " Academy of Advanced Manners for Beautiful Boys ".
Under the training of this "Duck King" teacher, Uncle Zeng was forced to learn how to make guests happy, and actively carried out training for this purpose.
After all the hard work, Uncle Zeng was already exhausted mentally and physically.
But he thought it was his son's filial piety, so he never complained or complained.
Even when her daughter Azhi came to visit, she took the initiative to cover up for her son and daughter-in-law.
Time came to the day of the wealthy night banquet.
The guests have not arrived yet. Seeing that the time for the banquet was getting closer and closer, Zeng Xiaozhi couldn't help but start to worry in his heart. After Zeng Xiaozhi drank the wine absentmindedly, he fell asleep on the sofa.
The night banquet of the wealthy family in the dream was held, and many celebrity guests came to congratulate them, including:
Anita Mui, Michelle Yeh, Chen You, Zhang Sijia, Gong Li , director Chu Yuan and John Woo .
Zeng Xiaozhi was waiting for Prince Alibaba, played by Alan Tam. What Zeng Xiaozhi didn't expect was that the prince's grandfather was actually named Ah Xing, who was the all-powerful Xing Ye in 1991.
After Zeng Xiaozhi woke up from his daydream, his assistant Awei suddenly came to report.
The celebrity guests originally invited by the Zeng family were actually intercepted by Hong Dabao and invited to the Hong family's banquet.
Seeing that Hong Dabao had invited all his guests to his home, Zeng Xiaozhi had no choice but to propose to organize a wealthy dinner party with Hong Dabao in order to successfully complete the business. However, the two families had to share the profits equally from the signed contract.
finally solved the guest's problem, but unexpectedly it started to get worse.
When Zeng’s wife learned that the contract had been divided up by the Hong family, she immediately offered to take part of it. However, Zeng Xiaozhi, who was greedy for money, refused, and the couple began to quarrel.
During the quarrel, Uncle Zeng heard it. My sister Azhi was very disappointed, so she decided to take her father home.
It happened that Hong Dabao found someone to play his father and wanted to cut off his father, which made Zeng Xiaozhi suffer from enemies from all sides.
At the critical moment, it was Uncle Zeng who came on the scene to smooth things over for his son.
Zeng Xiaozhizhi, who had a conscience, decided to make up for his debt to his father. He took the initiative to admit his mistake to his father and prayed for the forgiveness of his father and sister.
Zeng, who had reformed and gained forgiveness from his family, decided to hold a banquet for the neighbors where he grew up.
Although the people living here are not wealthy and upper class, it is more like a grand banquet for family reunion.
A former martial arts movie star, now a gangster movie tycoon Ti Lung is responsible for passing on the food.
Liming , one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was singing in the kitchen while washing vegetables.
Chef father Ng Mang-tat saw that his son Liming was not doing his job, so he personally went to work cooking for the neighbors.
The images of the two people in the movie all came from the movie "The Lucky Star" they were filming at the time.
Zeng Xiaozhi ran into his childhood friend Leslie Cheung at a banquet, and his younger brother was Aaron Kwok.
Dong Piao and Shun Dianxia, who traveled back in time from the "Wealth and Power" series, brought their two daughters, Li Lizhen and Guan Peilin. But at the dinner table, the family still couldn't forget the Mark Six Lottery.
Sitting at the next two tables were the members of the Hong Kong Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts Team. Present were Liang Jiaren, Cheng Xiaodong, Yuan Heping, Mars, Li Yongqiang, Liang Xiaoxiong and Li Haisheng, as well as the soy sauce "Brother Crow" Zhang Yaoyang nearby.
The guest feeding the dog nearby is Chen Baixiang. Sitting next to him is "Deadly Scissor Kicks" Huang Bingyao, who is also one of the screenwriters of this movie.
At this time, Zeng Xiaozhi’s wife Mimi also arrived in a taxi. The taxi driver was the famous Hong Kong musician Lu Guanting.
Uncle Zeng took the initiative to reconcile his son and his daughter-in-law, and the family had a happy meal.
Ye Canwen brought Li Xiangqin, a famous actress from the Cantonese film era, over to say hello.
Agent Jacky Yau, who was busy with his career and neglected his family, finally waited for his wife Wang Zuxian.
Because the neighbors were making too much noise, two patrolling police officers were called in.
The male police officer is the professional police superintendent Chen Xinjian in the Hong Kong movie, and the female police officer is the 1982 Miss Hong Kong champion Liang Yunrui .
When Gong Li came to serve the dishes, among the guests sitting at Xing Ye's table were Anita Mui and the famous Hong Kong villain actor Long Fang.
The most exciting scene at this banquet was the scene between two generations of comedy kings, Xu Guanwen and Stephen Chow. Director
specially arranged a scene in which Stephen Chow and Xu Guanwen sandwiched a piece of chicken at the same time.
Mr. Star said it was a chicken head, but Xu Guanwen thought it was a chicken butt.
The two of them argued at the dinner table, which was like a handover ceremony between two comedy masters from different generations.
The movie finally came to an end with everyone toasting and celebrating.
can be said to be a standard family reunion with a happy ending.
From today's perspective, "The Banquet" may not be a good movie in terms of film quality alone.
Even many plots are like farce, but none of this prevents this film from becoming an insurmountable classic.
The success of the film does not come from a certain creator of the film, but is attributed to the Hong Kong film industry in the 1980s and 1990s.
is an unprecedentedly prosperous and highly united modern entertainment empire. Otherwise, it would be difficult to mobilize half of Hong Kong's entertainment industry to create such a luxurious masterpiece in just a few days.
"The Banquet" broke many records for Hong Kong films at the time:
The entire film was shot within eight days, and the crew spent less than one million yuan.
Although there are countless big directors and big stars participating, what is commendable is that they all acted as friends without any compensation, and they had no complaints about the number of lines in the scenes.
There have been rumors on the Internet that the film was shot in just four days. In fact, according to director Gao Zhisen's recollection, the overall filming period of the film was about ten days. However, because many celebrities had to participate in a fund-raising performance, the crew stopped filming in the middle. for two days.
There are four named directors in the entire movie, but the main shooting work was done by Gao Zhisen and Tsui Hark.
In order to gain time, the former was mainly responsible for shooting the daytime scenes, while the latter mainly shot the night scenes. The two of them filmed for about four days each.
director Zhang Tongguo is mainly responsible for actor coordination, while another director Zhang Jianting is mainly responsible for filming the final scene of the food stall banquet at the end.
The film is adapted from the black-and-white Cantonese film of the same name. The old version mainly satirized the absurdity of upper-class society organizing banquets. However, under the adaptation of screenwriter Huang Bingyao, although the outline of the story is still that Zeng Xiaozhi and Hong Dabao use a wealthy banquet to "fight" for business, but But it strengthened the relationship between father and son.
After learning that his son was just using him, the great-father still managed to smooth things over for his son at a critical moment. Zeng Xiaozhi also woke up at the end and understood that he had lacked care for his father before, making the audience think about the value of family love while laughing.
As a comedy movie, "The Banquet" has a clear creative appeal. The movie does not have a villain in the strict sense, whether it is the money-grubbing and snobbish Zeng couple, or the wage earners Ah Wei and He who work hard to cope with all the boss's unreasonable demands for their career. Jacky Friends are all interpreted vividly and unforgettably.
Due to the extremely limited production time of the entire film, there were many "improvisational" parts in the filming process.
At that time, many stars rushed to the set at short notice to star in the film, so the director needed to modify the script on the set and add characters and plot elements temporarily.
For example, the scene in the movie "The Banquet in Eric Tsang's Dream" was the improvisation of director Gao Zhisen.
was suddenly notified by phone from the organizing committee when filming, and learned that Anita Mui, Xu Guanwen and Ye Cuiwen were coming to the set. After receiving the news, director Gao Zhisen had to immediately create a plot for their appearance.
It cannot be completely separated from the core of the story, but it must also be tailored to it within the framework of the script.
So he made up the absurd plot about Zeng Xiaozhi dreaming of seeing Anita Mui.
Another example is Andy Lau and Mo Shunyun's announcement at the beginning of the film. This is also because after the filming of the movie was completed and before it was released, the production company had already started to make copies of the film. Andy Lau and Mo Shunyun happened to be back in Hong Kong at that time. After learning about this, they felt that they could not be absent no matter what. , and offered to reshoot the film to allow them to participate in the movie.
director Gao Zhisen suddenly came up with the idea and asked the two to be the announcers at the beginning of the film to explain the reason for the filming.
The design of the comedy plot in the film, although not high-end, brings the nonsensical spirit of Hong Kong comedy to the extreme, making it extremely mischievous. Most of the guest stars appear in the film with images that are most impressive to the audience. Use the way of "acting in true colors" to laugh at yourself and make jokes.
For example, Simon Yam became popular because of his appearance in the "Gigolo" series, so he continued to return to "his job" in this film.
Xu Guanwen often plays the image of a stingy philistine boss in movies, so when he sees Zeng Xiaozhi in the movie, he will say that he is very similar to himself. The reason is that the other person has his own "villain character" back then.
In 1991, Stephen Chow had just become famous with "", so he continued to play with special functions in movies.
The 30-year-old Stephen Chow transformed from "Star Boy" almost overnight to "Star Master" in the film, which even Alan Tam, the king of the singing world, had to address as "Master Star". From then on, the name "Master Star" was resounding throughout the Hong Kong film industry. .
In the words of director Gao Zhisen, "The significance of the movie lies in the motivation for shooting ."
Once the filming plan was announced, all the workers in the entertainment industry in front of and behind the scenes responded, and they all wanted to do their best to contribute to the disaster in the mainland. .
Therefore, the charm of this movie has actually surpassed ordinary movies. The audience enjoys the feeling of "counting stars" in the movie, and is also happy to see the stars come together to make fun of each other. As for the story of the movie, it has become secondary element.
In the more than thirty years since then, Hong Kong movies have turned from prosperity to decline. Although there are still some movies with big names gathered, such as the 2021 anti-epidemic fundraising movie "Always Love in Quarantine", their influence can no longer be compared with that of back then. .
