Hello everyone, today is another issue of " Nostalgic Hong Kong Film Memoirs ".
The early 1990s was the hottest era for Hong Kong movies, with films of all types emerging in endlessly.
Police and robbers, action, nonsensical comedies, gambling films, gangsters, prisons, and even all kinds of exploitation films are very popular.
And if there is a director who can combine all the above elements, it is probably only the commercial director Wang Jing.
1993 was Wang Jing's most "prolific" year. He spanned Jiahe and Yongsheng and made 13 movies in one year.
In Wang Jing's own words:
html I filmed Stephen Chow at Shaw Brothers from 16 to 12 o'clock, then drove to Jiahe at 12 o'clock, and filmed Jackie Chan until dawn.
These include: " Once Upon a Time: The Iron Chicken Fights the Centipede ", " The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Slayer: The Demon Cult Leader ", "Playing Back to School: The Dragon Celebrates the Year of the Rooster", "The Seven Princesses of Martial Arts" and other movies, none of them The exception is the star-studded representative of Hong Kong films that are still praised by people.
And in this year, Wang Jing filmed another comedy version of "Prison Storm" " The Supreme Thirty-Six Strategies: Stealing Heaven and Changing the Sun ". The two leading actors in the
film were Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka Fai , who were both at their peak at the time. The supporting cast included Christy Chung, , Chen Baixiang, Ho Ka Kui, Wong Guangliang, Li Wanhua, Guan Haishan and other actors. The lineup can also be said to be quite eye-catching.
What is even more topical is that the film was classified as "iii" when it was released, because there are many bold plots in the film.
In this issue of " Hong Kong Film Nostalgia Column ", we will take you to review this alternative classic -
" The Supreme Thirty-six Strategies of Stealing the Sky and Changing the Day "
the sting 2
Some movies just won't watch no matter how they are replayed. Yes, this movie is one of them.
The 1980s to the mid-1990s were the most popular years for Hong Kong movies. Due to sufficient funds, the market was mature, a large number of star actors were cultivated, creative screenwriters, and large sums of money from Taiwanese film producers created the Hong Kong film industry. The film's most successful years.
In this golden age, there were a large number of market-oriented commercial movies. Although these types of movies have little depth and meaning, they are very creative and gimmicky, and the stories are interesting and relaxed. They can be called the best in commercial entertainment movies.
"The Thirty-six Strategies of the Supreme Being" is one of the representatives. Director Wang Jing showed his nonsensical spoof character and imitated and spoofed various commercial movies, making the 100-minute movie without any dull moments and full of laughter.
As for actors, Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka Fai were both superstars with excellent appearance and acting skills at that time. They were classmates in the TVB artist training class. In 1991, they were forced to star in the movie "火狐岛" (it is said that they were taken by Taiwanese gangsters) "Three Six Strategies" is the second time the two starred together in a movie.
As for actresses, goddess Chung Liti has joined the cast. But in comparison, the second female lead in this film, Li Wanhua, is more outstanding.
This second-tier actress, who often appears in low-budget exploitation films, not only gave a bold performance in this film, but her beauty was also astonishing, and she has been remembered by many movie fans to this day.
In particular, the film introduced the "combat power" setting in the comic "Dragon Ball" for the first time, even three months earlier than the more famous "The Legend of Dragon Slayer: The Demon Cult Leader".
The driving force behind the film is Yongsheng Film Production Company. The bosses behind it are the Xiang brothers, Xiang Huaqiang (Long Wu) and the pseudo-person in charge, Xiang Huasheng. At that time, the Xiang brothers were particularly keen on creating such star-studded movies.
As the screenwriter and director of the film, Wang Jing continues to display his "spirit of borrowing" in the film. The main plot of the film is actually imitated from the classic American film " deceives ". When the film was released in Hong Kong It was translated as "The Number One Scholar".
At the same time, Wang Jing combined the prison theme with his best gambling film, and at the same time continued to play his "shit and piss" character, adding many nasty jokes in the film, which caused the film to be released because of "too many vulgar plots" It is classified as unsuitable for children.
The movie opens with a remake of the plot of " Gambler ". Andy Lau plays Qian Wendi, a master of thousands of arts, who is responsible for the cool and handsome line. Tony Leung plays Chung Chu-hsiung, nicknamed "Killer Hung" (the character's name is a spoof of actress Chung Chu-hong), whose identity He is a prison guard, but he is mainly responsible for the comedy and showmanship.
Goldfinger, played by Liao Qizhi, is Wendi Qian's friend. He pretends to be a helper in the casino and wins the casino's gangster Liu Yaozu in a bet. Also participating in the gambling game are the killer Xiong and the supporting characters played by Chen Baixiang.
Qian Wendi won the bet through gambling, so he was killed and was hunted down by his people, which proved that not everyone can make this kind of money.
The killer came to the bar and stared at the beauty Lily played by Liti Chung. He wanted to use his charm to charm the girl, but he didn't expect that the other party turned out to be Qian Wendi's girlfriend. The killer was teased and taught a lesson, and the two sides formed a grudge. He warned Qian Wen Don't let Dee fall into your own hands.
The actor Qian Wendi set a flag on the spot: The fortune teller said I will never go to jail in my life!
In the next scene, Wendi Qian and his partner Gold Finger were threatened by Liu Yaozu. He threatened the life of his girlfriend Lily and asked Wendi Qian to go to jail to release bonds worth 300 million yuan.
According to Liu Yaozu, the person who stole the bond was his former employee. He was fired because of his dirty hands and feet, so he stole his bond and refused to tell him. But is the truth of the matter really like this?
Later, Qian Wendi was charged with indecent assault on his girlfriend and was brought to court. The funny thing was that the two of them did not forget each other during the trial, which was not like the relationship between the murderer and the victim.
In order to enter the prison smoothly, Qian Wendi attacked the judge in the court: " The defendant Qian Wendi is in contempt of court! He also attacked me with a leather shoe with chewing gum stuck on it! I now sentence him to one month in prison, immediately Execute! 》
Unexpectedly, the judge played by the gambling demon Chen Jincheng was obviously very inflexible and was hit by a leather shoe. Qian Wendi did whatever it took to get into the prison.
After Qian Wendi entered the prison, the killer saw that his enemy had finally fallen into his hands. He thought that Qian Wendi would receive the "collective care" of the prison bosses, but he didn't want Qian Wendi, the protagonist's aura, to survive in the prison cell. As he became more prosperous and impressed other prisoners with his ability to make money, several bosses became Qian Wendi's little fans.
Afterwards, Wendi Qian used his charisma to establish a good relationship with social worker Ms. Zhu, and began to look for the target person. The prisoner Robinson, played by veteran actor Guan Haishan, is the owner of the 300 million yuan bond in Liu Yaozu's mouth. As long as Wendi follows the Goldfinger can be rescued by knowing the whereabouts of the 300 million yuan bond.
In the scene where Wendi Qian enters the cell, the prison bosses in it are all familiar faces, Brother B, Brother B, Smiling Tiger, Brother Ju with perverted face, Big Eyes and Crazy Mark, all the souls of Hong Kong gangster movies are present.
It is worth mentioning that the godfather of Hong Kong comics, Wong Yuk-lang, also made a cameo appearance and even drew his self-portrait in a prison cell.
According to the convention of prison movies, newly imprisoned prisoners will inevitably be bullied and beaten. Fortunately, Wendi Qian has a "unique skill" that conquers all men, making the killer envious.
In order to let Qian Wendi get close to Robinson, the villain Liu Yaozu arranged for a prison thug, Dinosaur, to deliberately break Robinson's legs and create an opportunity for Wendi to find out the whereabouts of the 300 million yuan bond.
But Robinson told Qian Wendi that Liu Yaozu was his son-in-law, who killed his daughter and framed him for going to jail. He had long discovered that Wendi was sent by Liu, because he saw that Wendi was a good person, even if If he couldn't spend it, he wouldn't let Liu Yaozu get it.
Qian Wendi was instigated and agreed to help Robinson deal with Liu Yaozu, and then used money to buy Killer Xiong to deal with Liu Yaozu.
Qian Wendi arranged for him to use a beauty trick to seduce Liu Yaozu's lover Meng Na.
If you want to pursue a girl but feel your writing is not good enough, you can refer to the following love letter:
" Oh! Miss Mona, I have been secretly monitoring you for an hour. Your beauty is like a needle, deeply Inserted into my nerve center, making me tremble and tremble, no!
Look, this is definitely not me. I am just a small man. I only have the face of Richard Gere, Stallone’s body and Chow Yun-fat’s affectionate pair of eyes. Eyes, I am absolutely not worthy of you.
But the killer has never been able to succeed. He suffered from his lack of male prowess, so he asked Wendi Qian to teach him his unique skills, which contributed to the funniest scene in the film.
Wang Jing gave full play to his imagination, such as the classic "up up down down left left right front front back ", Liang Jiahui analyzed that Li Wanhua's "combat power" is all here.
After the initial success of the plan, Qian Wendi used social worker Ms. Zhu to smuggle out of prison. At the same time, the killer also went to Meng Na's house for a date, and using his combat power eyes, he found that this woman's index was very high, with a combat power of 8,300. point.
After Qian Wendi sneaked into Liu Yaozu's home, he found his partner Goldfinger dead in Liu's home, and vowed to avenge him. Unexpectedly, the killer was caught and raped in bed, and a lizard raised in the house bit his little brother. He was tied up and sent to the police. .
But after this incident, Liu Yaozu still did not discover the whereabouts of the bonds, so the killer became a prisoner and entered the court for trial. The gambling demon Judge Chen Jincheng had just said that he would not be hit by a shoe, and he was hit with a shoe again.
Qian Wendi and Killer Xiong were imprisoned in a cell belonging to the dinosaur forces. They fought with the dinosaurs and were beaten up. They staged a replica of "Prison Storm". Fortunately, at the critical moment, the dinosaur people were transferred away and replaced by... Wen Di's people moved in.
The prison instantly became two factions, and Liu Yaozu's right-hand man, Abao, wanted to kill him as a gift.
Later, Robinson deliberately provoked Dinosaur and caused a prison riot. In the chaos, Wendi Qian and Zhong Chuxiong fought with the gangster A Bao.
In this fighting scene, it is obvious that Wang Jing absorbed the laughter of video game cosplay from "City Hunter". Wendi Qian and Zhong Chuxiong learned and used the moves of the game characters to defeat Abao.
Wang Jing also paid tribute to Wei Xiaobao's "wave dragon claw hand" in "The Deer and the Cauldron" directed by himself.
The story reaches its climax when the three use a fire truck to escape from prison, start a final duel with Liu Yaozu, and deceive the killer to lure him into sneaking into Liu's house alone.
Liu Yaozu was having a dance party at home. After the killer hero was taken advantage of, he was discovered by Liu Yaozu.
Qian Wendi lured Liu Yaozu into the toilet and told him that there were two people here, one was unconscious and the other was dead. He then knocked the killer unconscious, then shot and seriously injured Liu Yaozu, and inserted the gun into the unconscious killer with the fingerprints wiped off. In the hands of Xiong, it caused the illusion that the two of them hurt each other.
The film takes a turn. Liu Yaozu mistakenly believed that his lover Meng Na had betrayed him. In anger, he shot and killed Meng Na in public. Unexpectedly, it turned out that Qian Wendi had arranged for his girlfriend Lili to dress up as Meng Na. Sow discord.
Qian Wendi used this set-up to make Liu Yaozu a criminal who committed murder in public and was arrested on the spot, avenging Robinson.
Everyone finally found the bond, which was originally placed in the reptile box where the lizard was kept.
Now that they had gained their wealth and their great revenge, the three of them sneaked back into the prison overnight, and were eventually rehabilitated and released.
The story ends here.
From a drama perspective, "The Thirty-six Strategies of the Supreme Being" is not a very good movie, but it is good enough for being lively and entertaining, with a compact and tense storyline, exciting tricks of deception and wit, and rich plots. Character creation and Wang Jing's shit-peeing comedy jokes are all put together to create a standard Hong Kong comedy.
Of course, Wong Jing’s films will definitely have vulgar and unreliable laughs, but when used in the right place, they can create unlimited laughs. The wizard-like techniques are endless and joyful. This is the film in his peak period. , full of a strong smell of spoof, with some dirty jokes added to the film from time to time.
For example, under Qian Wendi's pressure, Zhong Chuxiong's father revealed that his son was not his biological son, and the two even caused trouble with each other. When Zhong Chuxiong used a smart computer to search for his biological father, Africans, Chaplin, Michael Jackson and other people with different identities and skin colors appeared, confirming his identity as "anyone can have a father".
The cast of the film is also a highlight. The tacit cooperation between Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka Fai allowed the audience to see the profound acting skills of the two actors. The rivalry scenes between them are exciting to watch, whether they are exciting or light-hearted and humorous.
Whether it is the humorous dialogue between Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka Fai, or the battle of wits between them and the gang members, it makes people laugh. In particular, Andy Lau's series of operations when he entered the prison not only demonstrated his various strategies, but also highlighted his wit and humor.
However, Andy Lau's image actually continues the character design in "The Gambling Man". Relatively speaking, the breakthrough is not big. Although Tony Leung Ka Fai is the background buffoon, his role subverts the image in "Prison", and Tony Leung Ka Fai's role is similar to that in "Prison Man". The performance is indeed funnier, and the mean character really steals the show.
Another impressive actor is Li Wanhua, who plays Meng Na in the film. Although Liti Chung was at the peak of her beauty at the time, Meng Na's charming and coquettish image in this film is equally amazing.
In general, "The Thirty-six Strategies of the Supreme Being" is a Hong Kong-style entertainment movie that combines comedy, suspense, and adventure. For viewers who like Hong Kong movies, this movie is definitely worth watching.
