The money-grabbing couple
[Director] Chi Leung \"Jacob\" Cheung
[Starring] Siu Fang-fang, Xu Guanwen, Chen Xiaoxia, Zhang Zhiliang, Deng Yijun, Lei Yuyang
[Category] Comedy
[Drama and Related]
Won the Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Actress at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards Three nominations for lead role.
This comedy directed by Zhang Zhiliang and starring Xu Guanwen and actress Xiao Fangfang is based on the Japanese film "Money Snatchers" and the American film "Behind the Scenes". The story describes a senior TV news anchor who has always been dedicated to his duties, but was considered old-fashioned and outdated by his colleagues. Later, he discovered that he had cancer. In order to protect his family's life, he concealed the truth and continued to work. At that time, he was interviewed by an exclusive His exaggerated way of reporting the news about a gunfight in an amusement park led to a huge increase in ratings and he became a celebrity on the TV station. He even broadcast his terminal illness as a gimmick, but his daughter finally accidentally discovered the truth. However, his wife thought that his illness was just a publicity ploy and helped him continue to "grab money"... The movie laughs with tears, depicts family love, and also criticizes the media's crazy behavior of chasing ratings, but it still can't escape the laughter. Xu Guanwen has always been concerned about society and people's livelihood.
It is the beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, and we will meet you again when the rain falls - Goodbye Xu Guanwen
I woke up very early in the morning. When I got up and opened the window, I found that it was raining outside again. An inexplicable sadness suddenly came to my heart. I don't know why I have always been a little sentimental recently. Is it because I miss my old friend? Maybe!
It seems that all the plans have been ruined, and I can only spend my days bored at home, so I casually opened the disc folder that I had not touched for a long time, and suddenly a familiar name came into view, and this was it. ! It was for this that the starring actor won the 1989 Best Actor Award in a Comedy in Las Vegas, USA, and the 1988 "Chicken and Duck Talk".
Hui Guanwen can be said to be a name that cannot be ignored in Hong Kong comedy films in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a late bloomer and a miracle of Hong Kong films in the 20th century. Comedies starring him in the 1980s broke box office records many times. . Xu Guanwen was born in 1942, originally from Panyu, Guangdong. Graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. When he first entered the society, he encountered many obstacles and finally found a position in a certain school. According to his personal recollection, the students liked his courses very much, probably because of his expressive performance and improvisation during his lectures. , the surrounding teachers complained to the school about "noisy noise disturbing the public". At the same time, his younger brother Xu Guanjie was already a popular singer in Hong Kong. Under Xu Guanjie's strong recommendation, Xu Guanwen entered Hong Kong Television in 1968 to host an inter-school quiz competition program. In 1971, he and his brother Xu Guanjie hosted the talk show "Double Star Announcement", which was very popular and became an instant star. It can be imagined that if Xu Guanwen had not entered the film industry, he might also be a wizard in the television field, but he met the great director Li Hanxiang. After Li Hanxiang failed to run the Taiwanese Film Company, he returned to Hong Kong to seek development. Run Run Shaw recruited him to the company regardless of past suspicions. Director Li was indeed a treasure trove. The first film he returned to Shaw Brothers was "The Warlord" (1972). Although the box office of this film was not as good as that of Bruce Lee in the same year. "Fist of Fury" was also a huge success. The film became one of the three top-grossing Chinese-language films of the year, and won the Most Successful Comedy Film Award for Character Description at the 19th Asian Film Festival. What is commendable about this film is that it discovered Xu Guanwen, who would later be called Hong Kong's number one comedian. Xu Guanwen was already 30 years old when he made his first movie. In the film industry where "you have to become famous early", Xu Guanwen can be regarded as a real late bloomer. Xu Guanwen and Li Hanxiang worked closely together in the following films such as "Yi Le Ye", "Scandal", "Sexy Dogs and Horses", etc. These scam films also had good box office and reputation.
In 1973, Hui Guanwen, who had already developed in acting, intended to develop into a creative filmmaker who wrote, directed and acted. He handed over his favorite script "The Ghost Horse", which he wrote himself, to Run Run Shaw. He wanted to make a joint venture with the company and share the profits equally. Run Run Shaw, who had always been "dictatorial", thought the request was too much and immediately refused on the grounds that the script was too poor. Xu Guanwen had no choice but to find another collaborator, which gave Jiahe a big advantage. Because Xu Guanjie was already a contracted artist with Jiahe and his career was developing, Jiahe's boss Zou Wenhuai agreed to help the Xu brothers establish a film company, so Xu Guanwen switched to Jiahe. He and his brother Xu Guanjie formed the "Xu Brothers Company" to use their unique "Joke Formula" has filmed a series of very popular fashion comedy films. So far, a new comedy era in Hong Kong movies has begun.
In 1974, Xu Guanwen starred in Shaw Brothers' "Sexy Dogs and Horses" just over a month after the film was released. He became the director himself, and he and his younger brother Xu Guanjie *** Starring in the hard-earned comedy film "The Big Brother", which reflects the gambling culture of Hong Kong people, it was released grandly. The jokes weaved in local slang and dialects in the film delighted the audience. The final result was that "The Big Brother" grossed as much as 6.25 million, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, surpassing Bruce Lee's films and the comedy "72 Tenants" directed by Chu Yuan, which was released by Shaw Brothers at the same time. Since then, these films have not only brought comedy unprecedented attention in the history of Hong Kong films, but also contributed to the birth of kung fu comedy. In 1977, "Half a Category" once again broke the Hong Kong box office record, opened up the Japanese market, and promoted the boom of Hong Kong comedy films. His image as a cold-faced comedian has made him one of Hong Kong comedy idols. In 1981, "Modern Bodyguard" set the highest box office record for Chinese and Western films in Hong Kong. After that, he also made a series of masterpieces such as "Genius and Idiot" (1975), "The Pact" (1978), and "Teppanyaki" (1984). Xu Guanwen started the craze of Cantonese fashion comedies in Hong Kong, making Hong Kong comedies the only film genre in Hong Kong that could compete with kung fu films in the 1970s and 1980s.
The early comedies of the Hui brothers, such as "The Two Stars", relied on a large number of Cantonese slang dialogues to create comedy situations, and followed the path of "spit comedy". Starting from "Half a Category", Xu's comedy began to turn to action comedy, digging out a wealth of visual jokes from daily life. Xu Guanwen borrowed the style of American silent film comedy, using chasing slapstick and bizarre actions to make the characters' actions comedic, thus creating a comic effect. In addition, Xu Guanwen pays special attention to the role of mechanical props and is good at using props to create comedy situations. The kitchen fight in "Half a Category" has become a classic scene in the history of Hong Kong movies.
Xi Guanwen's golden age was the 1970s, which was also a period of transformation for Hong Kong comedy. The more obvious one was that comedy films began to become more mature productions, and several representative films were gradually derived. Comedy style, in the following more than ten years, Hui's comedy was the only film genre that could compete with kung fu films at that time, and repeatedly achieved box office miracles. This is closely related to the take-off of Hong Kong's economy in the 1970s and the sense of identity of Hong Kong citizens.
In 1992, the Hong Kong film industry collaborated with stars to film a movie "The Banquet" to relieve floods in East China. There is a very interesting plot in the film. Xu Guanwen and Stephen Chow were fighting over a chicken. In the end, Stephen Chow won, and Xu Guanwen looked bitter. Xu Guanwen was 50 years old that year, and Stephen Chow was 30 years old, the same age as when he acted in "The Warlord". Although some people say that the end of Xu Guanwen's comedy era is due to the sudden rise of Stephen Chow, an upstart comedy, it may be due to the natural law of age that is not forgiving. The end of the era of Xu Guanwen's traditional comedy that was considerate to the general public was the beginning of the era of Stephen Chow's "nonsensical" comedy. The ritual of the replacement of the old with the new seemed to be completed in the joking clips of that film.
In 1993, Xu Guanwen and Xiao Fangfang*** both starred in "The Money Stealing Couple". Although Xu Guanwen's seriousness in the film was full of joking, it was still Xu's acting style and he was still concerned about society and people's livelihood. Humanistic concerns and satirical criticism of social ills. It's just because of the tragic story (although the ending turns from sadness to happiness) that the king of comedy has been restrained from the wanton comedy that he is always good at.
In Hong Kong's comedy industry, Xu Guanwen is known as a great master as he can write, act and direct. His most famous works are all written, directed and acted by himself. Looking at the three aspects of writing, directing and directing, the three strengths must be rated highly. Next, I think, highest marks for acting, then screenwriting, and finally director. "This is the best evaluation of this cold-faced man. This can also be regarded as the final conclusion of this hodgepodge of Sajia!
Another: Xu Guanwen is a commemorative figure in my boyhood. I still feel sorry for him. What can I say? I really can’t find anything good to say. Just guess.