I didn't want to be an actor

Chapter 814 Sammo Hung

The Cheng family team can be said to be a product of the times.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Hong Kong Kung Fu movies became popular. At the same time, traditional drama and martial arts began to decline. In order to make a living, many people who studied drama and martial arts joined the crew and became martial artists.

The so-called "wuxing" is a bit similar to what we call a stuntman today. In the early days of the Hong Kong film industry, martial artists who came from the martial arts industry and later participated in filming were called "dragon and tiger martial artists". Later, this title gradually became "wuxing".

Among them are a pair of brothers who studied under Peking Opera artist Yu Zhanyuan, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.

With the solid foundation laid in the drama troupe, the two quickly gained a foothold in the film and television industry, and gradually became official actors from stand-ins.

After accumulating some experience and connections, Sammo Hung took the lead in establishing his own martial arts team, the Hung Clan.

Not long after, Jackie Chan also set up his own studio and founded the first generation of Jackie Chan Stunt Team with Wang Yao, Xie Jianwen and others.

Such a martial arts team is more like a gang: several like-minded friends get together to fight, relying on their martial arts, courage and friendship.

In 1977, Sammo Hung pioneered the kung fu comedy with his directorial debut "The Monk Sande and Chun Mi Liu".

Jackie Chan also took up the director's baton in the late 70s and released his masterpiece "Young Master" in 1980.

The two of them belonged to Golden Harvest and had a good relationship, which also allowed the Hung Clan and the Cheng Clan to continue to grow and become the most important martial arts teams in Hong Kong.

But as time went by, the two began to compete with each other in addition to their cooperation to see who is "No. 1 in Hong Kong".

Jia Shifeng from the Cheng family team once said: "At that time, we were competing to see who would live and who would die. When the Cheng family team did a dangerous move, the Hong family team would immediately do another more dangerous move!"

It is said that when the Cheng family was filming, there was usually a van parked at the entrance of the set, and if someone got into an accident, they would be immediately carried into the van and sent to the hospital.

There are even seven beds in the hospital reserved specifically for the Cheng family team, because their people are sent in almost every day.

Recalling that period, Jia Shifeng was quite emotional: "At that time, movies were all about toughness, and they were all for the audience to see. There was a scene with a simple kick in the face, because we had to shoot a close-up. The first person who came up, 'cooed', fainted after one kick. The second person who came up, 'cooed', fainted again. In the end, seven people in a row were all kicked unconscious."

Another member, Lai Shengguang, said: "Before, when I did a big and dangerous move, I would probably think in my mind whether I could return home tonight."

Why are people willing to fight for their lives?
In addition to friendship, another point is treatment!

At that time, the salary and benefits of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team were the best among all the martial arts teams. In addition, Jackie Chan often paid for clothes and meals for his brothers out of his own pocket, without any "boss" airs.

——At that time, the average daily salary of a martial artist was only 100 to 200 yuan, which was almost the same as a month's salary for an office worker. Those who were slightly famous could earn 1000 or 2000 yuan a day.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. With the rapid development of the Hong Kong film industry, this original small group team model began to shake.

Although friendship is priceless, the bond between brothers was also affected in the face of real money - in the early 1990s, some people began to spend a lot of money to poach members of the Cheng family team to serve as technical instructors.

Compared to the salary earned at the risk of one's life in the Cheng family team, being a martial arts instructor outside can easily earn several times the income, which makes many people want to leave the Cheng family team.

The conflict broke out during Jackie Chan's filming of "Project Eagle" in 1992.

After the filming of "Operation Condor Heroes" was completed, Jackie Chan took the initiative to disband the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. In addition, the Hung Clan and other teams had also disbanded not long ago. That period of time belonging to the Hong Kong martial arts team has come to an end.

A few years later, due to the need for filming, Jackie Chan formed a new team, and many newcomers joined Jackie Chan's company, including several martial arts instructors for "Westward Journey"...

Wu Gang is one of them.

Oh, Wu Gang is the action actor that Jackie Chan used as an example when he participated in "A Date with Lu Yu" before - the kind who fell three times and landed on his face...

Later, Wu Gang became the martial arts instructor of "The Karate Kid" and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Action Design for "Detective Chinatown"!
By the way, there is a saying that goes like this: The Cheng family team only made Jackie Chan famous, but the Hong family team made everyone famous...

Actually, there is some truth to this. Just looking at the stars that came out of the Cheng family team, they are indeed not as good as the Hong family team!

On the one hand, a large part of the Hung Clan was formed by taking over Bruce Lee's men...

Needless to say, Lin Zhengying was involved with Bruce Lee and won a martial arts director award in his early years;

Uncle Wu Ma became famous in the 1960s and was a disciple of Chang Cheh;

Not to mention Eric Tsang, there is even Chin Kar-lok, who has always been used to slander Jackie Chan (saying that all Jackie Chan's moves were done by Chin Kar-lok!), who made his debut in Jackie Chan's "Project A"!

Think about it, is there anyone from the Hong Clan who has not appeared in Jackie Chan’s movies?

Uncle Wu Ma should be the second male lead in "Miracle"...

Once public opinion changed, these people became famous because of Sammo Hung!
But these people are indeed from the Hong Family Class...

On the other hand, Jackie Chan is different from Sammo Hung. Almost everyone knows what ideas Lo Wei used when shaping his image in movies even before he became famous.

Cultivate the second superstar of Bruce Lee's level!
In other words, he is a superstar whose status and weight can support an entire play entirely with his personal image and brand!
No other actors are needed to support the show.

Therefore, since he became famous with "Drunken Master" and "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow", Jackie Chan's image as a superstar has been established. Under such circumstances, he cannot play a supporting role to others. As long as he is in a play, he must be the absolute protagonist. Others are bound to become foils and cannot stand out too much!

Even in the 80s, when Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao co-starred in a series of works such as the Lucky Stars series, Truckers: Impossible, Project A and Dragons Forever, their "superstar" effect had already overshadowed their two brothers.

Take the Japanese posters of these movies for example, it is obvious that they only feature Jackie Chan:
Oh, why mention Sammo Hung?

Because he was there too, playing the role of Guo Xin, who led the remaining troops to guard Qiuci.

After the fall of Beiting, Tubo aggressively captured the four towns of Anxi one by one.

Kucha is the last line of defense!

However, no one from the generals to the soldiers of the Anxi Army surrendered, and they raised the Tang army flag and fought to the death. No one in the Anxi Army survived, and all died for their country.

In the movie, Kucha is the destination - Jackie Chan's character Guo Yuanzheng is pulling a cart of money and is heading to Kucha!
The opening scene is a big drama - the fall of Xizhou!
Xizhou is located in the center of Beiting, Yanqi and Yiwulu. It is connected to Yiwulu in the east and Yanqi in the west. It can protect the four towns of Anxi and provide support in the near future. It can also protect Hexi and contain the eastward invasion of Tubo in the far future.

After the fall of Beiting, ten years later, the Tang Dynasty only had two cities, Xizhou and Qiuci...

Now Xizhou is gone, and only the isolated city of Qiuci remains!

(End of this chapter)