At the beginning of 1981, Hong Kong Zhongyuan Film Company went to the mainland to shoot Shaolin Temple. At that time, the film was strongly supported by the mainland, and it was able to audition professional Wushu champions from the national Wushu team to appear in the film, including Jet Li, a five-time national Wushu champion, Yu Chenghui, a drunken sword master, Yu Hai, a mantis boxing master, Ji Chunhua, and many other masters.

The massive Shaolin Temple was released two years later. Needless to say, the movie was crowded at that time, which successfully started the martial arts craze in the mainland, and major studios rushed to shoot martial arts films and kung fu films, so that a special movie star, Shadow and Martial Stars, was born at that time.

As the name implies, these actors are not only screen stars, but also martial arts experts with many years of martial arts accomplishment. Among them, the most representative is Jet Li, who won the popularity of Shaolin Temple. At the same time, there are Zhao Changjun, Xu Xiangdong, Fan Dongyu, Wang Qun, Qiu Jianguo and so on. They all have extraordinary skills and made a splash on the mainland screen.

In the previous review series of kung fu films in the 1981s, Fan Yingjun has reviewed the classic masterpieces of these martial arts actors respectively. In this issue, we will talk about Yu Chenghui, a movie and martial arts star in the 1981s, who is called "blade master with two hands".

He became famous for playing the role of Wang Renze, the villain in Shaolin Temple. At that time, he was the coach of Ningxia Wushu Team and a master swordsman. With a set of drunken swords, he won the title of Wushu champion many times. During his long-term martial arts practice, he realized and completed the idea of "mantis going through the forest" with two hands and created mantis swordsmanship.

After Shaolin Temple, the producer Yindu Film and the actors in the film signed many years' contracts to shoot the same type of martial arts films in the mainland, so Yu Chenghui and Jet Li continued to cooperate in two films, Shaolin Kid and North and South Shaolin.

In 1987, Zhang Xinyan, the director of Shaolin Temple, conceived a martial arts film and decided to let Yu Chenghui, who had been playing a supporting role as a villain, play the leading role. At that time, Yu Chenghui was 48 years old, and the investors didn't agree to let him star, fearing that the box office would not be good, but Zhang Xinyan pushed through the crowd and wanted to record his swordsmanship with a movie.

After the film was released, it was a great success, with 451 copies issued, ranking first in the domestic box office in 1988.

In this issue of "Forgotten Domestic Genre Films", let's revisit a classic martial arts film of 37 years ago-

Heroes of the Yellow River

The film was released in 1988, and was jointly shot by Zhongyuan Film and Xiying Factory.

after Shaolin Temple, director Zhang Xinyan directed Shaolin Kid, and two Shaolin films were sold in succession, which led to a large number of follow-up works at that time, and various Shaolin martial arts films were mixed, which led to the decline of Shaolin martial arts films after only four or five years.

Feeling that the popularity of Shaolin theme has declined, Zhang Xinyan decided to bring forth the old and bring forth the new, and started shooting "Heroes of the Yellow River".

Another director of the film is Zhang Zien, an old director of the West Film Factory. His work has a rich resume. In 1986, he wrote and directed the legendary costume movie "God Whip" adapted from Feng Jicai's novel, which was a great success. For young audiences, he is familiar with a series of costume dramas shot by Zhang Zien, such as Prime Minister Liu Luoguo, Kangxi's Private Visit in incognito, The Bride in the Wrong Sedan, and so on. These dramas have long been childhood dramas in the hearts of a generation of audiences.

The behind-the-scenes cast of the film is almost the original cast of Shaolin Temple. Apart from starring Yu Chenghui, there are also martial arts masters such as Ji Chunhua, Yu Hai and Sun Jiankui, the vulture, and Xiong Xinxin, the ghost feet who starred in South and North Shaolin, all of whom have appeared in the film.

As for Chunyu Shanshan, one of the leading actors, she was originally a dancer and was the successor of Jet Li appointed by director Zhang Xinyan. Che Tianjiao, a Jianghu artist in The Yellow River Warrior, was originally intended to be played by Jet Li, but at this time, Jet Li has been popular all over the country because of Shaolin Temple, and there are constant film contracts, so he has no time to play. As a last resort, Zhang Xinyan had to choose another leading role.

Just then, Jet Li and his ex-wife Huang Qiuyan went to Shenzhen to develop, founded a martial arts culture company, and organized a martial arts group performance called "Soul of Shenzhou". Chunyu Shanshan is one of the actors in this song and dance performance. With his handsome appearance and solid dance skills, he was selected by director Zhang Xinyan to star in the film "The Yellow River Warrior" and immediately became famous and entered the film and television circle.

to tell the story, the film took place in the troubled times when the captaincy was divided in the late Tang dynasty.

At that time, the imperial court was in a daze, and it was unable to govern the local buffer regions. However, in the northwest Yellow River valley, there were three forces entrenched here, namely Duan Wang, Liu Wang and Li Wang. The three kings attacked each other and tried to destroy the other two forces and dominate the world, resulting in years of local wars and poor people.

This winter, Duan Wangfu was captured by the hostile Liu Wang Dajun, and Duan Wang Dajun was defeated, so he abandoned the house and fled. Liu Wang led his troops to chase after him, and both sides fought all the way to the frozen Yellow River. Duan Wang, who was covered in injuries, was dying soon. At the critical moment, he was actually saved by a mysterious fencing master.

This expert holds a sword in both hands, and his swordsmanship is profound. He fought with Liu Wang and repelled Liu Wang with his clever swordsmanship. Duan Wang, who was saved, thanked the expert who helped him with his sword, and asked the name of the Great Xia, so he took it for his own use. However, the Great Xia is always cold, and the other party puts on a hat, turns around, mounts a horse and leaves smartly.

This great swordsman is the hero Ma Yi. He practiced swordsmanship hard since childhood, so he practiced swordsmanship in the mountains for many years, and now he has made a success. I was about to go home to visit my wife and children who had been separated for a long time. I didn't expect the road to be rough, so I came out with a sword to help, but he didn't want to get involved in these political killings, so he left alone after saving people.

The scene of Ma Yi's saving lives with his sword was seen by Li Wang, who was watching the fire from the other side of the bank, from which he suddenly felt evil. On the other hand, Liu Wang was defeated by Ma Yi, which made his heart determined to retaliate viciously, so he led his troops to bloodbath Ma Yi's hometown, and Ma Yi's wife and daughter were also killed by Liu Wang's sword, thus forming a blood feud.

Although Ma Yi is good at fencing, he has limited manpower and can't save the lives of his wife and daughter. Since the tragic death of his family, Ma Yi has been drinking all day to drown her sorrows, living in pain and sorrow, and lingering in the wine shops in the market.

Today, Ma Yi was drinking to drown her sorrows, but she accidentally ran into Che Tian, a Jianghu artist who plays flower drums for a living. Seeing that Ma Yi was skilled in martial arts, he tried every means to please him, and used Ma Yi's "drunken sword" to set up a show, where he went, he was applauded by the audience, and the two gradually became partners in the Jianghu.

But the two of them walked in the downtown area with such a high profile, which naturally attracted the attention of their enemies.

Li Wang, an ambitious man, coveted Ma Yi's martial arts, but failed to persuade others, so he secretly designed it and mixed poison into the wine to cripple Ma Yi's eyes. Ma Yi mistook his poisoning for that Chetian had tampered with the drinks, lost his mind blindly, and chased Chetian to the beach of the Yellow River.

Ma Yi fell into a coma because of poison, and finally fell into the rolling Yellow River. Thanks to the desperate rescue of Che Tian, the two turned their enemies into friends. Just then, Duan Wang, who had been saved by Ma Yi, sent troops to welcome Ma Yi into the house, and Che Tian went with him as a guest.

Duan Wang was surprised to see that Ma Yi was blind, but Ma Yi said that although he couldn't see now, it didn't affect his swordsmanship at all, so he hung candles all over Che Tian's body, closed the doors and windows in the room, and hit the candles on Che Tian's body with his sword in the dark. Only then did Duan Wang believe that Ma Yi was blind but his swordsmanship was still amazing.

Duan Wang wanted to attract Ma Yi, so he treated Ma Yi as a "benefactor", rewarded many gold and silver handmaids, and entrusted them with the important task of becoming his personal bodyguard. Later, Duan Wang took Ma Yi to the temple to offer sacrifices, but was assassinated by an assassin. Fortunately, Ma Yi shot and eventually killed several assassins.

The assassin confessed at the instigation of Liu Wang. Ma Yi felt the kindness of Duan Wang, and his wife and daughter died at the hands of Liu Wang, so he decided to get rid of Liu Wang. Later, I decided to take Chetian with me to submit the gauntlet at the gate of Liuwang, and the two sides of new and old hatred agreed to fight to the death.

Liu Wang was narrow-minded. He didn't want to let Ma Yi go, so he decided to take the opportunity to get rid of Ma Yi, who was blind, and started fighting in the city. Fortunately, Chetian carried firecrackers with him, and only by creating chaos was he able to successfully escape from the city. After several bloody battles between the two sides, Liu Wang finally died under Ma Yi.

Duan Wang was short of a political enemy, so he gave Ma Yi a kendo hall, and Ma Yi decided to recruit his disciples and teach him swordsmanship. On the opening day of the Kendo Hall, a cross-eyed young man was unconvinced by Ma Yi, a blind fencing master, so he went to the stage to compete and was finally convinced by Ma Yi, who became a famous local fencing master.

One day, when Ma Yi was out, a group of masked robbers besieged a young woman. Ma Yi remembered the tragedy of his wife and daughter being killed, so he was angry and helped, and finally saved the woman and took her back to the Kendo Hall for temporary residence. The woman was impressed by Ma Yi's integrity and sincerity, so she told her identity, which turned out to be the truth of Li Wang's daughter, and they gradually developed a good impression.

After that, Ma Yi decided to escort Zhenzhen back to the buffer region where Li Wang was located. When Duan Wang learned of this, he said that he wanted Ma Yi to take the opportunity to escort Li Wang's daughter, repair relations with Li Wang, and restore peace on both sides of the Yellow River. Ma Yi deeply felt Duan Dayi, so he agreed.

However, when Ma Yi and his team came to the gate of Li Wang, Li Wang opened the sedan chair and found that there was only a female body inside, which showed that the clothes were really like. Li Wang thought that Duan Wang had killed his daughter, so he blamed Ma Yi and ordered his men to chase Ma Yi, and the two sides started fighting.

Ma Yi fought back and fought with Li Wang, but because Li Wang's accusation was fatal, Ma Yi killed Li Wang to protect himself. Unexpectedly, he was just rushed to see this scene. It turns out that all this is a conspiracy of Duan Wang, who is black and cruel!

on the surface, Duan Wang pretends to be concerned about the country and the people, but in fact, he is ambitious and wants to unify the two sides of the Yellow River. He knew that Ma Yi was loyal, so he deliberately pretended to be righteous to attract Ma Yi and let him use it for himself. Later, he used a fake corpse to pretend to be true, thus angering Li Wang, and finally got rid of Li Wang with the help of Ma Yizhi, so that he could dominate the world.

When Ma Yi saw the sincerity of his arrival, he felt guilty and gave up his resistance, and was finally caught by Duan Wang's troops. Duan Wang took the opportunity to turn his face, and pushed all the charges to Ma Yi and Che Tian, and also handed them over to Zhen Zhen for treatment with hypocrisy. Unexpectedly, I really witnessed Ma Yi's rescue, convinced that he could not do it, so I let them go.

Unexpectedly, Duan Wang was unwilling to let Ma Yi go. At the critical moment, Zhen Zhen was shot dead by Duan Wang in order to cover Ma Yi's escape, and Che Tian also died in the breakout. Ma Yi, who fled, came to Miu Fat Monastery, a nearby city. He was rescued by the abbot of the temple, escaped Duan Wang's pursuit, and cured his eyes.

when Duan Wang saw that his worries had been removed, he tore off his disguise and prepared to rule the world. Ma Yi didn't allow the traitor to succeed, so he mobilized his disciples and ambushed him when he went to the temple to make a vow, trapping him in the temple.

The two sides fought a melee, and finally Ma Yi and Duan Wang fought a decisive battle on the bank of the Yellow River. Between life and death, Ma Yi killed Duan Wang with a sword. At this point, Ma Yi's wish was fulfilled, so he wanted to convert to Buddhism, but the master told him:

"There are many killings in the world, and swordsmen need peace."

From then on, Ma Yi rode alone with a sword, and went away to the Jianghu to do chivalrous deeds, so he became the hero of the Yellow River.

The original name of this film was Blind Man, but it was changed to Heroes of the Yellow River in the middle of shooting because it was too similar to the Japanese series of Zuotou City. The whole film was shot in the northwest Yellow River valley. Because of the strong support of the West Film Factory, there was a rare costume war scene in the film at that time, and the opening scene of the confrontation between the two armies was quite shocking in that era without special effects.

As a martial arts film, the film, like the Knights in Shuangqi Town, has a strong western color. The director placed the story in the Gobi desert of the Yellow River in the northwest. The long yellow sand land in the northwest plateau can bring the film a grand momentum, and also add a sad and heavy artistic conception to the background of the vendetta and conspiracy in the film.

Different from the Kung Fu boy comedy like Shaolin Temple, the overall story atmosphere and pattern of The Yellow River Heroes are bigger and more serious. The plot of the film is no longer a simple revenge to learn martial arts, but incorporates the great interests of family and country, saving the country and the people, killing the rich and helping the poor, and bullying the good, so that the film has an educational and entertaining ideological content in addition to the martial arts action elements of swords and swords.

This can be seen from the ending song. The lyrics are impassioned, sad and angry, and full of feelings of home and country:

Going back to the countryside, the people groan,

Looking at the earth, wandering souls.

scorched earth is hard to look at, and smoke rises on both sides of the river.

One cavity is full of blood, and three feet of Longquan hates injustice.

How many bitter things there are in the world, when can we have peace!

In addition to its ideological content and production level, The Yellow River Warrior's success is also due to its wonderful martial arts scenes and action design. Different from Zhang Xinyan's previous works, the martial arts scene in this film highlights the actual combat effect and the style of traditional martial arts. Although it is difficult and ingenious, it is more simple and down-to-earth.

It is Yu Chenghui's unique swordsmanship that dominates all this. He is both the starring role and the swordsmanship director of this film, so his elegant and chic magic swordsmanship can be perfectly displayed in the film. As for the role, the image of Ma Yi, the protagonist, is almost tailored for Yu Chenghui. His modeling with a long sword and a hat and his resolute and cold face are very consistent with the image of a ranger in that novel.

In the following decades, Yu Chenghui participated in the creation and starred in many martial arts film and television dramas, and most of them appeared as peerless masters. In the legendary swordsman, the wind was clear, Huang Laoxie in The Condor Heroes and Fu Qingzhu in Seven Swords Down the Tianshan Mountains became veritable martial arts masters.

On July 4th, 2115, Yu Chenghui's predecessor passed away at the age of 76. Now, although the old man has driven the crane to the west, the classic martial arts images he left on the screen are still fresh in people's minds. I wish you a good journey with your sword, and see you again in the Jianghu.