1972 was a memorable year for Hong Kong cinema, and Bruce Lee swept Hong Kong as a "king", not only making Jiahe the only film company that could compete with Shaw.
It also broke the box office record in almost all regions of Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, through a "Raptor Across the River", and continued to sublimate the concept of kung fu.
Bruce Lee devoted his life to bringing Chinese Kung Fu to the world and enjoyed a high reputation around the world.
He integrates his own kung fu philosophy well into the movie, no longer limited to the narrow fighting revenge of kung fu movies. This kind of thinking has also inspired generations of people.
"Raptor Across the River" is the last film released by Bruce Lee before his death, and it is also the first film written and directed by Bruce Lee after returning to Hong Kong, followed by "Big Brother Tangshan" and "Jingwumen".
The filming location also set a precedent for Hong Kong cinema, filming the whole process in Europe, and the fights in the play are also shown to the greatest extent possible.
01. Hong Kong cinema has entered the "era of true kung fu"
The film tells the story of Chen Qinghua, played by Miao Kexiu, who took over a restaurant entrusted by his father on his deathbed in Rome, and was repeatedly harassed because he did not agree to sell the restaurant land to a local business group, so he wrote a letter to his uncle who was far away in Hong Kong. Tang Long, played by Bruce Lee, was entrusted by his uncle to travel thousands of miles to Rome to escort him and eventually saved the restaurant.
Bruce Lee's previous Hong Kong kung fu films were more inclined to martial arts, in the case of Shaw Film Company, the director was represented by Zhang Che and Hu Jinquan, and the performances were mostly similar to Wang Yu, Luo Lie, etc., paying attention to the moves at a glance, and mostly telling the story of the jianghu feud faction dispute.
Bruce Lee completely broke the traditional martial arts movie in "Raptor Across the River", not only stating that kung fu should abandon factionalism and emphasize single-minded expression of himself, but also that several "kung fu masters" invited by the villain to deal with Tang Long in the film are real kung fu masters.
1. The Battle of the Sands
Tang Long twice beat the boss of the business group in the back alley of the restaurant, so that the gangsters saw Chinese kung fu and prepared to assassinate Tang Long, but they were chased by Tang Long to the base camp and kicked the chandelier and beat him. In desperation, he found Japanese and European martial artists to deal with Tang Long.
These two martial artists are not ordinary martial arts action actors. One is Hwang In-sik, a Korean Aikido seven-dan and taekwondo six-dan master, known as the "king of left-legged attacks"; the other is Rob Wale (also translated as Rob's Wo), the world professional karate champion.
Because the plot requires them to be easily defeated by Bruce Lee in the film, it is said that Robert Wale agreed to ask for a "fight" with Bruce Lee before participating, asking to defeat himself before he was willing to play a European martial artist who was "killed" by Bruce Lee.
2. Duels in the Colosseum
After defeating the Japanese and European warriors, Tang Long was led to the Colosseum by the group leader He Translator and the restaurant Uncle Wang. Accompanied by the interpreter's arrogant shouts and the mournful cries of a wild cat, Tang Long meets the film's strongest American karate champion.
Chuck Norris, who began learning karate at the age of 16, is one of the few karate nine-dan masters in the American martial arts world, and has been awarded the "Ring Fighter Award" in 1968.
The 8-minute fight, which began with a warm-up, was called the "Battle of the Century" and was named the first of the top ten textbook fights by Black Belt magazine. As a sign of respect, Tang Long draped his clothes and a belt symbolizing honor over him before leaving.
02, not the Raptors but the river
In the 1960s and 1970s, Hong Kong films were dominated by the Shaw Film Company. In 1970, Shaw's Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang and Liang Feng set up their own portals to found Jiahe Film Company, and although they also made films such as "Eight Generals of the Heavenly Dragon", they could not compete with Shaw in the end.
In 1971, Bruce Lee's first work after his return to Hong Kong, "Big Brother Tangshan", was released, breaking the original box office record in Hong Kong; "Jingwumen", which was released in 1972, broke the record again; "Raptors Across the River" broke the Asian box office record. It can be said that his own strength has made Jiahe stand firm.
In 1972, Shaw's top ten films at the Hong Kong box office were exclusively eight, but the partial title was "Raptors Across the River", and the list was "Jingwumen", I believe that Run Run Shaw should have some regrets, after all, Bruce Lee was rejected by him and then switched to Jiahe.
Bruce Lee's first two films were directed by Luo Wei, and after the success of the film, he regarded himself as "Bruce Lee's mentor", coupled with the absolute power of the director on the set, which had a strong conflict with Bruce Lee's film ideas. The contradictions between the two became increasingly fierce, and in this case Bruce Lee chose to direct and act in "Raptors Across the River".
It turns out that Bruce Lee's talent is not limited by Luo Wei, and he plays more vividly. Although the first two movies sold well, it was mainly Bruce Lee's fight that played a role, and in "Raptors Across the River", Bruce Lee not only had wonderful fights, but also showed a witty and humorous side, and the storyline was more complete.
After the release of "Raptors Across the River", it was a huge success, and movie tickets were in short supply, which was difficult to find, and some theaters even needed to send police to maintain order. The film also turned a blind eye to Hollywood, and it is said that the crime rate in the United States has declined since then, and there are fewer and fewer robbery Chinese, because they can all chinese kung fu.
03, since ancient beauty love hero
Miao Kexiu is 12 years younger than Bruce Lee, and as Bruce Lee's "royal actress", she plays the restaurant owner Chen Qinghua in this movie, and her fashionable outfit is eye-catching. This is also the third time he has starred in a Bruce Lee film.
Chen Qinghua in the film was very disgusted when he first met Tang Long, not only could not speak English, but also looked silly. Later, when a hooligan went to the restaurant to make trouble, Tang Long intervened to break the siege, and his neat hands surprised the four seats, which also made Chen Qinghua secretly agree.
Helplessly, Brother Tang Long didn't know whether he was too straight or pretending to be confused. Chen Qinghua invited him to travel, and when he talked, he was concerned about him, in short, he was a big troublemaker, and when he asked him if he was married, he directly chose not to answer, and finally left alone.
Bruce Lee's life can be described as brilliant, whether it is kung fu or film career is enjoyable. He is the founder of Tru-Kōdo and the pioneer of kung fu films, and his profound kung fu philosophy has re-recognized the world Chinese.
Miao Kexiu, 68, has long immigrated to Canada and hosted Chinese program on Toronto Radio, but has not been married so far. Bruce Lee, on the other hand, died young, leaving only an admirable legend. (Author: Sanqiu)