Articles - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:57 - 1 Comment

The Lo Wei Years

After the success Jackie had with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master, he was reluctant to return to Lo Wei. Ok, reluctant may be an understatement. He pretty much begged his friend and mentor Willie Chan to get him loaned out again. Being under contract as he was, he knew he had to honour the agreement he had made with Lo Wei and make one more film, but he did not want to be put into the kinds of film that Lo Wei wanted him to make. The past films had not allowed him any freedom to create his own style in the way working with Seasonal had.
Willie thought that it might not be a problem to talk Lo Wei into letting Jackie direct. But by the time Jackie and crew arrived with Lo Wei in Korea , where Jackie’s next film would be made, Lo Wei’s foolish pride had reared its head again. Jackie overheard Lo Wei as he told Willie in no uncertain terms that he was going to be back in charge of Jackie and his next film. Upon hearing this, Jackie returned to his hotel, packed his bags and left, leaving word with one of his stuntmen that he was fine but finished with Lo Wei. He found himself in a boarding house in Korea, not sure of anything other than his need to move forward in his career goals, not go back to being what Lo Wei thought was right for him. He wanted a say in his films. He wanted control.

Who should arrive at the door of this boarding house but Lo Wei’s wife who begged with Jackie not to go and to try to give him another chance. Meanwhile Lo Wei must have realised that he had to do something “drastic� to get Jackie back. After all, his last two films were huge hits. The public would eagerly look forward to his next film. Lo wanted a piece of that box office. Whether he came to his senses on his own or with help from Willie, when Jackie returned, he was welcomed back as the director of Fearless Hyena. (Jackie also acted as screenwriter and fight choreographer) Eric Tsang, who had previously worked with Sammo Hung as an assistant director and editor for two of his films worked as Jackie’s assistant director. He told Hong Kong Cinema: “I went to help Jackie Chan who was doing The Fearless Hyena. I worked as Assistant Director on that film. Then, I met Lo Wei. At first he was very angry with me, because he thought I told Jackie Chan to go to Golden Harvest.� (more on Jackie going to Golden Harvest later!)

Jackie stars as Shing Lung (a play on Jackie’s stage name, Sing Lung), a young man who lives with, and is being trained in Kung Fu by his grandfather, played by James Tien. Tien was a regular in many of Jackie’s Lo Wei films. Other familiar faces include Hui Lou Chen from To Kill With Intrigue as Unicorn. Also, Dean Shek, who was most memorable in the two Seasonal Films Jackie had just finished, has a very funny cameo here as a coffin seller.

The film begins with a confrontation between the evil Yen Ting Hua, played by Yen Shi-kwan (aka Yam Sai-kwoon) and Chien Huan Li. Yen demands to know where a man named Chen is hiding. He claims he will spare Chien’s life and reward him if he tells him. But of course, the man is faithful to his clan and would rather die than betray Chen. Which is exactly what happens, of course.

The movie switches gears to a more light hearted scene as Shing Lung is being scolded by Grandpa for getting in trouble already, despite the fact that they have just moved to this new town. Grandpa makes Lung practice his training while he stands over him, bamboo rod at the ready to correct his stances.

by Lisa Clemens.

For the rest of the interview please see SCREEN POWER VOL. 7, ISSUE 3