When you think of kung fu movies, many people will immediately think of those classic Hong Kong kung fu movies in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Jet Li , Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen starring movies.
Everyone will also think of some classic Kung Fu films co-produced by Hong Kong and the Mainland, such as " Shaolin Temple", " kapok robes", " Yellow River Hero", " Span Shanghai 1937" "and so on.
Is there a classic Kung Fu movie shot purely in mainland China? Of course there is, that is " martial arts ".
The film "Wulin Zhi" is the first completely independent martial arts film in the history of mainland film. According to the "Chinese Film Yearbook", the film set a box office record of 426 million movie viewers that year.
It can be said that this martial arts movie caused a sensation that year, and it is the same as "Shaolin Temple". It was rated 6.9 points on Douban, which is higher than the score of "Kapok".
The most successful aspect of "The Legend of Martial Arts" is that it created a Kung Fu movie genre model-the ring master film. Later movies " huo yuanjia" and " yeman" series of films are all This number of routes.
is like " Ip Man 2 ", the character arrangement and plot direction are almost exactly the same as "Wulin Zhi".
"Ip Man" stills
And "Wulin Zhi" is full of strong patriotic feelings,It makes people passionate.
The master of martial arts novels Jin Yong liked it very much after watching "The Legend of Martial Arts", and later invited the director of the film, Zhang Huaxun to participate in the filming of ": The Encounter and Enmity of the Book and Sword ".
Unfortunately, Zhang Huaxun, due to pressure from different quarters, did not dare to touch the subject of martial arts anymore. Although Jin Yong called three times to invite him, Zhang Huaxun refused.
Director Zhang Huaxun insists not to learn the style of Hong Kong and Taiwan Kung Fu movies
In 1980, the famous director Zhang Huaxun (his son Zhang Yang is also a famous director) filmed China's first martial arts film " mysterious Buddha" starring Liu Xiaoqing . As a result, nearly three hundred copies were issued, with a high attendance rate. Although the action design of this movie looks very bad today.
Zhang Huaxun realized that Chinese audiences love Chinese martial arts. Zhang Huaxun was deeply moved by the fire of "Shaolin Temple" in 1982. He decided to shoot "Wulin Chi".
In order to film "Wulin Chronicles", Zhang Huaxun successively interviewed dozens of martial artists, martial arts coaches and athletes, participated in the national martial arts competition three times, went to Cangzhou, Hengshui, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin and other places to live in-depth, solicited extensive requests opinion.
Through combing the patriotic deeds of martial artists such as Huo Yuanjia and Wang Zipingwu in modern history, the main creators have determined that the theme of the film is to reflect the social life of modern China by concentrating on the struggle and destiny of the martial arts scholars, and to show the Chinese people’s reaction. The spirit of the emperor's struggle.
In the process of preparing for the filming, the film crew was faced with the choice of whether the film should be made into an art film or a successful husband's film. Some actors advocate learning Hong Kong and Taiwan kung fu movies, and whoever is good at kung fu and playing well will give more shots. Zhang Huaxun did not adopt such an opinion.
Zhang Huaxun believes that in the early 1980s, Hong Kong and Taiwan Kung Fu films emphasized entertainment and lacked seriousness. He believes that if you want to shoot martial arts themes, you must not copy the way of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
has a strong performance lineup, and all the leading actors are martial arts experts
The audience who has watched "Wulin Zhi" can feel that the martial arts action in the film is simple and unpretentious, but the fist and the flesh, every move is quite kung fu.
Facts Above, the main actors of "Wulin Zhi" were mostly domestic martial arts masters at that time. And the director emphasized that in addition to good kung fu, temperament must also meet the role requirements when choosing actors.
Li Junfeng, born in 1938, is a martial arts master.
In 1974, Li Junfeng and Wu Bin and others formed Beijing martial arts team, which won more than 100 gold medals in various martial arts competitions.
It can be seen that Li Junfeng had a great reputation in the martial arts world at that time, and the "Kung Fu Emperor" Jet Li was Li Junfeng's proud disciple.
Li Junfeng was Li Junfeng's disciple
Li Junfeng was still in the movie "Bahrain Thieves" "" Thirteen Sisters , "Span 6span" and "Xia Nv Fighting Violence", and served as martial arts design and martial arts director. He is 83 years old this year, and his body is still healthy.
The actor who plays Dongfang Xu’s wife Gao Lianzhi, Her name is Ge Chunyan. Born in Beijing in 1959. "Wuying class" athlete, Chinese martial arts seventh stage.
Ge Chunyan and Jet Li were the first batch of Beijing martial arts team athletes, and she was also a student of Li Junfeng at the time. She was a Baguazhang. fifth-generation student, Chen-style Taijiquan nineteenth generation heir, Hunyuan Taijiquan second-generation heir.
Ge Chunyan only started to learn martial arts at the age of 13. A bit late,But she trains very hard. Three years later, she became the main player of the Beijing team and participated in the national martial arts competition. In the 1984 National Wushu Competition, she won five gold medals alone. Baguazhang has won the national martial arts competition championship for five consecutive times.
Ge Chunyan was only 24 years old when she was filming "Wulin Zhi". She has not been in a relationship yet, but she has to play the role of wife and mother. Therefore, during rehearsal, neither the husband-wife relationship nor the mother-daughter relationship can be released.
Director Zhang Huaxun asked the little actor who played Dongfang Yurong to eat and live with her to cultivate feelings. Later, the acting became better and better.
After the filming of "The Legend of Wu Lin", Ge Chunyan became famous in one fell swoop, and acted as the heroine in " king five " and "Chinese martial arts". In 1994, she settled in Singapore.
Ge Chunyan at the Singapore Martial Arts Center
He Dahai in the film is the owner of the Shenzhou Martial Arts Center. He is rugged and heroic, and he likes to be aggressive. Played by Li Deyu is a famous Chinese mantis boxing master, the pioneer of China's first generation Sanda coach, China Criminal Police Academy Sanda instructor.
At that time, Li Dezhu was a director of the Shenyang Wushu Association. Zhang Huaxun found him while watching the exercises on the stadium during the National Wushu Conference in Xi'an.
Li Deyu has also participated in the movie "Honoring the Sword" and the TV series "The Legend of Muyu Stone" (Martial Art Design), and has enjoyed a dominant position in the martial arts industry for 30 to 40 years.
In December 2018, Li Deyu passed away at the age of 76.
The god palm Li in "Wulin History" is a legendary figure. On the surface, he is a quagmire doctor, but in fact he is a martial arts scholar who has experienced vicissitudes of life.
Although there are not many appearances of God Palm Lee, he left a deep impression on the audience. The actor is a Peking opera martial artist Zhang Yunxi ,Teacher Zhang was 64 years old at the time.
At that time, Zhang Huaxun was invited to participate in a symposium of martial arts workers in the capital. Zhang Yunxi talked about the indissoluble bond between Beijing opera martial arts and traditional martial arts, and performed impromptu performances.
Zhang Huaxun was attracted by Zhang Yunxi's explanation, and thought to himself: "Isn't this the God Palm Li we're looking for?" In this way, Zhang Yunxi played the God Palm Li.
Ahiti, who plays the Russian strongman, is actually a football coach and does not know martial arts. However, Zhang Huaxun took into account that he has an athlete's physical foundation and suitable temperament and image, so he chose him to play the Russian strongman.
Ge You 's father Ge Cunzhuang often plays the villain in movies. In "The Legend of Martial Arts", his role as Liang Shouren is so bad that he is so bad that he is an old drama.
The martial arts action adopts traditional actual combat skills and real kung fu, abandoning the fancy
The action design is a major feature of "Wulin Zhi", the film all adopts traditional actual combat skills and real kung fu, and many contemporary Hong Kong martial arts films The virtual tricks here are completely different. Some experts believe that so far no film can surpass this film in terms of the combination of combat reality and action beauty.
The martial arts instructor of this film- Men Huifeng , is an international martial arts referee, Chinese martial arts ninth dan. He is the founder of Dongyue Taiji School and was named the first of the "Top Ten Wushu Professors" by Chinese Wushu Association , and enjoys a high reputation in the martial arts world.
Anyone who has really fought knows that those beautifully-named "routines" learned in martial arts are basically not used in actual combat. Instead, those little inconspicuous "hands" can be used skillfully. The last one and a half can be of great use.
In order to highlight the serious theme of modern martial artists resisting the great powers and raising the prestige of our country,The action design in "Wulin Zhi" is based on simplicity, practicality, calmness and skill. Especially the all-round display of Baguazhang is very professional and serious, which amazes the audience .
Chinese boxing has a family tradition. Therefore, the film designed the scenes of Dongfang Xu's family and Shenzhang Li Xuewu, and showed the basic essentials of Baguazhang from walking, piercing, and practicing palms to martial arts. A more complete impression.
Another martial artist, "He Dahai", the creative team used boxing techniques such as slashing, kicking, and turning to portray his heroic, brave and strong personality.
For Hercules Dadlov, in addition to showing that he can box, the director Zhang Huaxun also asked him to do some Chinese martial arts, French kicks, and karate to reveal his knowledgeable, arrogant and violent. Contemptuous personality. In a scene of his boxing practice, the audience can see it.
In the main scenes one by one arena's combat characteristics, this film focuses on Baguazhang, and highlights the word "ruthless".
Zhang Huaxun understands that boxing competes with Chinese martial arts. There is no routine at all. It is basically a confrontation. So he asked for the punches to be in place, to hit hard, to remove the ostentatious things, and to show the "ruthless" typeface.
At the same time, the moves must be clear, and the level of the attack must be clear, and you can't play randomly. Like Dongfang Xu's final counter-attack, it is divided into small paragraphs such as Jeet Kun, Ji Keng, and Mianmen, using the method of ants to chew bones to deal with this "behemoth".
finally walked Jiugong step , shuttle pendulum buckle, in response to the previous exercises, use the Bagua palm to hit the strongman under the ring and win.
The audience who has watched the video will remember,At that time, the director filmed Dongfang Xu's gossip palm movements when he knocked down the Hercules from four different directions, highlighting Dongfang Xu's superb skill and awe-inspiring spirit, which left a deep impression on the audience.
This kind of solid and professional martial arts has made audiences and experts who are accustomed to Hong Kong's fancy kung fu routines shine. It is no wonder that Jin Yong has greatly appreciated it.
"Ip Man" plot "plagiarism" "Wulin Zhi"?
"Wulin Zhi" set the precedent of a martial arts genre, that is, Chinese martial artists abandon internal fighting and fight foreign strong men and evil forces for the sake of national integrity. This model was followed by many later movies, such as Jet Li's "Fearless" and Donnie Yen's "Ip Man" series.
The most obvious is "Ip Man". The story of "Ip Man" moved from Tianjin in "Wulin Zhi" to Foshan, Guangdong. When the film first started, , north leg defeated , south fist became south The punch defeated the north leg, Ye Wen replaced Dongfang Xu, the northern boxer Sha Danyuan who came to kick the stadium replaced He Dahai, and the Japanese military museum Miura replaced the Russian Hercules...
So even some viewers said, "Ip Man" The story creativity and plot arrangement of "Wulin Zhi" are copied from "Wulin Zhi".
In the author's opinion, plagiarism is hard to talk about, at most it is just borrowing or imitating. After all, this type of film, everyone finally thinks, it seems that it can only be shot like this. There is no other better routine.
However, the old society atmosphere and martial arts state shown in "Wulin History" is very flavorful and makes people feel like they are on the scene. This is unmatched by many Hong Kong martial arts films.
In addition to "Wulin History", in the 1980s, there were also many pure mainland martial arts films such as "Shaolin Temple Disciple", "Wudang", "Broad Sword King Wu", "Xia Nv Thirteen Sisters", but they are enjoyable, influential and artistic. The charm is not as good as "Wulin Zhi".
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