Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

Some scenes in the movie "A Better Tomorrow" were filmed in Taiwan. Li Jiangbo planned to film the Hong Kong scenes first, and put the scenes of Sung Tze-ho being surrounded by the police, Sung Tze-ho in prison, and Siu Ma avenging Sung Tze-ho later.

The main reason is that I don't have any connections to apply for a Taiwan visa myself, so I need to go through Li Hanxiang to do it.

Although Li Hanxiang wasn't very happy in Taiwan, he still had connections.

Today's filming included scenes featuring Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung, and others.

This scene is about an assassin sent by Song Zihao's boss to demand an explanation from Song Zihao's father, but accidentally stabs Song Zihao's father to death.

Song Zihao's father is played by Tien Feng, a veteran actor from Shaw Brothers who also directed films. However, the films he directed were generally not very famous.

Camera on, everyone to your positions.

This scene took less than an hour to film; with veteran actors in charge, the filming was quick.

The film, starring Cherie Chung, Leslie Cheung, and an extra playing a killer, was quite remarkable under the guidance of veteran actor Tian Feng.

Right after filming, Leslie Cheung came to Li Jiangbo.

"Director Li, I..."

Li Jiangbo looked down at the plan in his hand. "What is it? Why are you hesitating?"

Leslie Cheung hesitated whether to tell Li Jiangbo about her affair, since it wasn't exactly honorable.

Suddenly, an excuse came to him, and he said, "Director Li, could I make this film like I did with 'Happy Ghost'?"

Li Jiangbo looked up at Leslie Cheung, then lowered his head again. "Are you trying to exchange songs for acting fees?"

Leslie Cheung nodded, looking at Li Jiangbo with a hopeful expression.

"I remember the last time I sent you 'The Wind Continues to Blow' was in July, right? You haven't released any songs in the last two or three months. Polydor's efficiency is terrible!"

Leslie Cheung smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say for a moment.

He's in an awkward position at Polydor right now; his album "Lover's Arrow," released in September, flopped.

This was his third flop album, and Polydor executives were ready to give up on him and move him to RTV.

But Leslie Cheung wasn't content with just acting; he was a singer, not a professional actor.

He originally wanted to add "The Wind Continues to Blow" by Li Jiangbo to "Lover's Arrow", but unfortunately, by then, all the songs for the album had already been selected.

Helpless, he could only wait and see how the market reacted to the album. If things went well, he would release another album with "The Wind Continues to Blow" as the title track.

Unfortunately, Polydor's management no longer wanted to give him a chance.

Seeing Zhang Guorong's embarrassment, Li Jiangbo asked, "Ah Rong, do you prefer acting or singing?"

Leslie Cheung blurted out, "Sing!"

Li Jiangbo asked, "Were you uncomfortable staying at Baoliduo?"

Leslie Cheung nodded heavily, his face full of exhaustion and resentment. "They're about to give up on me and want me to act at RTV, but I don't want that."

"Hmm! I understand, but I don't have any plans to start my own record company yet. How about you try working at Capital Artists?"

Upon hearing this, Leslie Cheung lowered his head, his eyes losing their usual sparkle, and turned to get back to his work.

His contract with Polydor was for five years, expiring in 82. If he were to go to Polydor's arch-rival, Huaxing, who knows how high a penalty Polydor would demand for breach of contract.

Li Jiangbo looked at Leslie Cheung's desolate figure and sighed helplessly.

There's nothing he can do to help Leslie Cheung right now. His film company is just starting out, and he needs to make another movie to solidify the influence of the previous one.

If it were next year, he could definitely help this brother who would be recognized by future generations.

Suddenly, he had an idea. He slapped his forehead, took out the script from his pocket, and started writing a song on the back.

The song he wrote is "The Way We Were," originally an interlude from the movie "A Better Tomorrow," composed by Joseph Koo and with lyrics by James Wong.

Now it's his, saving him the trouble of finding someone else to compose the music and write the lyrics.

Ten minutes later, Li Jiangbo found Zhang Guorong.

"Hey!"

Leslie Cheung took the paper from Li Jiangbo with a puzzled look, and when he looked down, he realized it was a song called "The Past".

The paper read:

A soft laugh is bringing me warmth.

You inject me with a powerful surge of happiness.

Softly say that the long road is almost over.

Finally, a bright and sunny day arrived.

Cheers erupted as people jumped up

Like the rising sun shooting out golden arrows

I'll help you relive your past smiles.

A soft call, and we all looked up at the sky.

Finally, the beautiful blue sky is presented to you.

Holding you, the warmth of those days resurfaces.

The innocent dreams of childhood remain untainted in my heart.

......

Seeing this, Leslie Cheung's eyes filled with tears, and she hugged Li Jiangbo tightly.

Before she could even say thank you, Li Jiangbo interrupted her, "You're welcome. This is the theme song for our movie. Remember to sing it well."

Leslie Cheung nodded vigorously, "No problem."

Before he could say anything more, Li Jiangbo was told by the crew that someone was looking for him.

Before long, Li Jiangbo met the person who had come to see him; it turned out to be Li Hanxiang.

After chatting for a while, Li Jiangbo learned from Li Hanxiang that the crew's visas would be issued in two days.

Now that his visa was about to be approved, Li Jiangbo planned to film in Hong Kong for one more day before heading to Taiwan to film.

Two more days have passed.

After filming the scene where Song Zihao and Song Zijie fight in the rain, Li Jiangbo decided to go to Taiwan to film.

This is very challenging, as one of the prison scenes had to be filmed in a prison in Taiwan.

However, Li Jiangbo believes that money can make the devil turn the millstone.

At 11:00 a.m., the plane came to a smooth stop at Taipei Songshan Airport.

Li Jiangbo asked the assistant director, Ya Xiong, to lead the crew to the hotel to rest first, while he contacted Li Hanxiang's Taiwanese friends.

Speaking of Li Hanxiang's friends in Taiwan, one of them is Hu Jinquan, who became Li Hanxiang's sworn brother.

This person is very famous in the film and television industry, especially in Taiwan.

Li Jiangbo met Hu Jinquan at 2 PM at Hu Jinquan's Jinquan Film Company.

Li Jiangbo originally thought it would take more effort, but to his surprise, he only mentioned his filming requirements to Hu Jinquan.

Hu Jinquan arranged for two police cars and several police uniforms to be photographed that afternoon with just one phone call, which shows how powerful Hu Jinquan is in Taiwan!

Before leaving, Li Jiangbo asked Hu Jinquan to help him find a hotel with a Japanese-style layout, and also requested permission to film in a prison.

When Li Jiangbo arrived at Zhulin Road, it was only a little after four o'clock in the afternoon.

The crew members were already waiting there early on, including several police cars that Hu Jinquan had borrowed from the local police station, as well as several police officers maintaining order.

Li Jiangbo told Chen Xunqi to give the police officers who came to maintain order a small tip, since they couldn't let them work for nothing all afternoon.

As darkness fell, Li Jiangbo discussed the camera angles with Chen Xunqi and Ya Xiong before ordering the filming to begin.

In this scene, Song Zihao and Tan Cheng are surrounded by the police. In order to protect Tan Cheng, Song Zihao takes the initiative to turn himself in, allowing Tan Cheng to escape.

Although the film shows more than a dozen police cars arresting criminals at night, there are only two police cars. Li Jiangbo simply had a taxi ride on top of the rest, since it was dark and they couldn't see clearly anyway.

After another day of filming Chow Yun-fat's scenes on the streets of Taiwan, it was finally time for Chow Yun-fat to show off.

The filming location was arranged by King Hu, at the Japanese-style pub in Fenglin Pavilion.

Li Jiangbo had the crew start rehearsing their blocking, hoping to get it right in one take.

An hour later, the fixed photography session ended, and Li Jiangbo turned around, ran to the car, put on his gear, and went to the shooting location.

When Li Jiangbo appeared before them like a robot, everyone cast curious glances at him.

Only Lan Naicai, upon seeing Li Jiangbo's full gear, exclaimed in disbelief, "A Steadicam and a camera!"