Okay, kung fu fans! Who can name all of Master Yu Jim-yuen's "Little Fortunes" in this photo from The Birth of Yue Fei (1962)? I'll start off with the easy ones: Sammo Hung (standing in the middle, looking a bit bewildered) and Mang Hoi (top row, far right). Which one is Jackie Chan? I'm tempted to say the scowling fellow in the top row, far left. But I have a hunch he might be one of the little shrimplings.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Master Yu's China Drama Academy, the training ground of a generation of stuntmen, fight choreographers, and action stars who revolutionized martial-arts movies. Try imagining Hong Kong cinema without Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, and you'll realize the depth of their influence. And those two big shots are just the tip of the iceberg. Die-hard fans will have their own personal favorites, whether it's Yuen Biao or Yuen Wah.
Next month the Hong Kong Film Archive is presenting a small retrospective to celebrate the early films of Master Yu's students. It will include two other films from the early 1960s featuring the "Little Fortunes" when they were kids.
For a fun read, check out these reminiscences of the "Seven Little Fortunes", which appeared in translation all summer long at HKSAR Film No Top 10 Box Office.
And finally, here are two clips: the first is from Seven Little Valiant Fighters (1962), which will be shown in the Hong Kong Film Archive's retrospective, and the second is from Dragons Forever (1988), featuring Sammo, Jackie, and Yuen Biao in a hilarious three-way scuffle.
0 comments:
Post a Comment