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

2 month 29 day.

The midnight screening of "Chasing Girls" was still held at the Jade Cinema on Nathan Road in Kowloon, and Wong Jing arrived at the cinema entrance early.

Today is the release of his first directorial film, and he has already notified his relatives and friends to come and watch the movie.

About half an hour later, the main cast and crew of the film came to Wang Jing's side.

Among them are: Shek Tin, Rosamund Kwan, Poon Wing-tsz, and Tsang Chi-wai.

Wang Jing's imitation of Li Jiangbo's film promotion also had some effect.

An hour before the movie started, a long line of people had already formed at the Jade Theatre to get their tickets checked.

Wang Jing's mouth stretched from ear to ear as he looked at the bustling crowd at the entrance.

He laughed as he asked Rosamund Kwan, "Jia Hui, is Director Li coming today?"

Rosamund Kwan was a little annoyed because her attempt to raid his base last time had failed, so she pretended to be nonchalant and said, "I don't know! He seems to be quite busy lately."

Wang Jing nodded. "Yes! Director Li has been busy with the promotion and distribution of his new film lately. But I called him, and he promised to come back."

Pan Yingzi, standing to the side, was particularly interested in the Director Li they were discussing. "Director Wang, who is this Director Li...?"

"Oh! You mean Director Li? That's our boss, Li Jiangbo! He directed last year's box office champion, 'Happy Ghost'."

Pan Yingzi looked puzzled. How long had it been since she last performed? How did Li Jiangbo suddenly appear out of nowhere?

She looked at Wang Jing in surprise, "Your boss made 'Happy Ghost'?"

Rosamund Kwan, arm in arm with Poon Ying-tzu, said with a beaming smile, "Sister Poon, let me tell you, our boss is amazing! His very first feature film became the highest-grossing film of the year, and he even started a newspaper!"

"Wow, that's amazing!"

Rosamund Kwan nodded emphatically, "He wrote and directed 'Happy Ghost,' and he also wrote 'Chasing Girls'!"

The two then quietly discussed Li Jiangbo. Pan Yingzi learned from Guan Zhilin that Li Jiangbo was still in the business of collecting glass and was also crushing the Hong Kong triads.

Pan Yingzi became more and more interested in Li Jiangbo as she listened. Since her divorce last year, she had continued to work in order to make a living.

She started acting at Shaw Brothers at the age of fourteen and spent ten years on the Shaw Brothers set, experiencing both great fame and a period of quiet retirement. Now, back in the industry, she realizes there's no place for her anymore. If she can cultivate a good relationship with Li Jiangbo, at least she can support herself in the future.

Time flew by, and after Wang Jing greeted all the guests, Li Jiangbo made his grand entrance as the last guest to appear.

As soon as the two met, Wang Jing took Li Jiangbo's hand and thanked him repeatedly.

"Director Li! Thank you for letting me direct this film, thank you!"

Li Jiangbo said with a smile, "Oh! Looks like the attendance is quite high tonight!"

Wang Jing chuckled, "Hmm! I feel like the attendance rate will be around 80% today."

"That's great! The company can make a lot more money!"

Upon hearing about making money, Wang Jing couldn't hide his smile. He pulled Li Jiangbo to meet the film's main cast and crew, introducing them to Li Jiangbo as follows:

"This is Zeng Zhiwei, one of the lead actors; this is Shi Tian, ​​one of the lead actors; and the last one is Pan Yingzi, also one of the lead actors."

Li Jiangbo shook hands with everyone, until he shook Pan Yingzi's small hand. Pan Yingzi smiled and said, "I didn't expect Director Li to be so young. I hope to work with Director Li more often in the future."

Li Jiangbo smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "Of course, I'm a big fan of Miss Pan. I watched every single episode of Miss Pan's 'The Empress'."

Pan Yingzi blinked her big eyes at Li Jiangbo and asked in surprise, "Really? I thought nobody in Hong Kong knew me anymore."

"Miss Pan's words are too serious."

After chatting for a while, Wang Jing invited everyone inside to watch the movie.

As soon as Li Jiangbo entered the theater, he found it was almost full. Among the audience were many familiar faces, such as Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, Xu Anhua and other New Wave directors, Chen Bosen, the editor-in-chief of the film bi-weekly, and reporters from various newspapers.

Li Jiangbo's seat was in the first row, with the film's main creators.

After Li Jiangbo sat down, he noticed that Rosamund Kwan was to his left and Pan Yingzi was to his right.

He was very satisfied with Wang Jing's arrangement; it was like having two women on his left and right. Although he couldn't eat them, they were pleasing to the eye.

It was midnight.

The theater lights went out on time, leaving only the brightly lit screen in front of us.

After the classic opening credits from Shaw Brothers and the opening credits from Time Pictures, the movie officially begins.

The story begins in Chinatown, USA. The film first introduces Robert, played by Dean Shek, as a womanizer who frequently hooks up with Black women in Chinatown. At thirty years old, he is still unmarried, which infuriates his mother, who gives him an ultimatum: he must return to Hong Kong and marry a Chinese girl.

The story begins with Shi Tian sporting an afro and fooling around with various Black and White women. The conversation between Robert and his mother at home also vividly reflects the Chinese family's emphasis on marriage and having children.

The audience burst out laughing at this point.

"This loser's mom is exactly like my mom; we both pressured me to get married."

"Yeah! My mom is even worse. She's always urging me to go on blind dates. I've had enough."

......

Hearing the whispers of the audience around him, Wang Jing sighed inwardly: "Director Li's script is really good! It has captured the audience's curiosity so quickly."

The film continues, and when Tsang Chi-wai, with his long hair, plays Robert's cousin, Zhang Da-ge, he's dressed in a suit picking Robert up at the airport. The contrast between the two, one tall and one short, completely amused the audience.

Li Jiangbo nodded in satisfaction as he listened to the laughter around him.

This film is also the first in the "Chasing Girls" series. As a director for the first time, Wang Jing is very skilled at making this kind of film.

Actually, this movie is about picking up girls, and it also includes various dances and songs, which are similar to the recently released "Modern Country Bumpkin".

Tsang Chi-wai and Shek Tin's performances fully showcased contemporary Hong Kong youth's rejection of blind dates and their various yearnings for love. It also reflects that this era is one where looks and physique matter.

When Pan Yingzi, who plays Lin Xiaoxia, appeared on screen, the audience exclaimed how beautiful and pretty she was.

When Robert met Lin Xiaoxia, he was completely captivated. He used his womanizing skills to win her over. However, Lin Xiaoxia was a big star with a bad temper and many boyfriends, which caused Robert a lot of distress.

Later, Robert passed on his dating skills to his cousin Zhang Dage, who then used Robert's techniques to find his sweetheart.

Rosamund Kwan plays Deng Ahua, a waitress who also falls in love with Robert at first sight.

When Robert saw that Deng Ahua was beautiful, his lustful heart was stirred again, and he began to secretly date Ahua.

Lin Xiaoxia saw this and stormed off in anger. Robert immediately turned hostile and hurt Ahua's self-esteem with his words.

Robert kept explaining his remorse, and Lin Xiaoxia reluctantly agreed to go on another date with him.

When Ahua got home, she cried to her father, who worked as a toilet cleaner, and he immediately shared three secrets with her.

The specific actions involved going to Robert's aunt's house to improve their relationship, picking up Robert's mother to come to Hong Kong, and creating another misunderstanding between Robert and Lin Xiaoxia during their date at the Grand Hotel.

Finally, she pretended to be pitiful in the rain and lied to Robert, saying that she was going to marry the buck-toothed man in order to elicit Robert's pity.

After much deliberation, Robert rejected Lin Xiaoxia and chose Ahua instead.

The audience spent a happy hour and a half of the evening laughing, with small laughs every five minutes and big laughs every ten minutes.

After the film ended, the audience lined up to leave. Li Jiangbo and the film's creators also walked out of the theater with everyone else.

As soon as they left the theater, Li Jiangbo said to Wang Jing, "Brother Jing, it looks like the movie is doing really well!"

Wang Jing nodded with a smile, "Indeed, now we just have to see how well it performs at the box office after its official release tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that even if this film can't surpass Golden Harvest's 'Young Master,' it will be just as good as that film."