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Was Hwang Jang Lee blacklisted?


Killer Meteor

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Killer Meteor

Somewhere at the back of my mind, I recall reading that Hwang Jang Lee was blacklisted for a time in Hong Kong, due to him hurting Jackie Chan whilst Snake In The Eagle's Shadow.

Sounds nonsense, as Wei Pei would say, but is there any truth at all? He did seem to go back to Korea around 82/83.

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I never heard anything like that. He injured Jackie by knocking out a tooth (or tooth cap) in "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow", and then they went on to work together on "Drunken Master". After those two films, Hwang went on to appear in loads of HK films for SNITES/DM producer Ng See Yuen, including "Ninja in the Dragons Den" and "Raging Thunder".

I think what's more likely is he spent more time in Korea and less in HK as the trend for modern day films overtook kung fu movies. Hwang can be seen in "Innocent Interloper", "Where's Officer Tuba" ,"Angel"and "Magnificent Warriors" in the mid-late 80's. If the guy worked for Cinema City, D&B and Shaws after his two Jackie Chan films, I think it's safe to say he wasn't blacklisted.

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I think Shaw brothers might have tried with no luck, to black list him after he breached his contract, he was directing a movie which starred himself, Kuo Chue and Wong Yue, (footage was shot ,stll were in southern screen) he a a very bad argument with Mona Fong and the production suits, I think he wanted more money, he stormed out of the studio and went back to Korea that was in 83 I think, Roy Horan told me Hwang was not responsible for kicking out Jackie's Teeth, they are good friends according to a good many pepole, Richard Cheung production manager on Snake and Drunken, said Jackie loved working with Hwang as there timing was near perfect.

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KUNG FU BOB
I think Shaw brothers might have tried with no luck, to black list him after he breached his contract, he was directing a movie which starred himself, Kuo Chue and Wong Yue, (footage was shot ,stll were in southern screen) he a a very bad argument with Mona Fong and the production suits, I think he wanted more money, he stormed out of the studio and went back to Korea that was in 83 I think, Roy Horan told me Hwang was not responsible for kicking out Jackie's Teeth, they are good friends according to a good many pepole, Richard Cheung production manager on Snake and Drunken, said Jackie loved working with Hwang as there timing was near perfect.

Great info people!

I've heard the story about Hwang kicking the caps off of JC's front teeth so many times- plus seeing the obvious gap in his teeth during the final battle of SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW- that I always assumed that this story was true. Very interesting!

Oh man, I would've loved to see Hwang Jang-Lee fighting Kuo Chui and Young Wang Yu! :nerd: How glorious would that have been? :smile:

Shapes, do you know which issue those stills were in? I'd love to find those and take a peek.

BTW, any Hwang Jang-Lee fans reading this should check out this thread:

http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13344

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IRoy Horan told me Hwang was not responsible for kicking out Jackie's Teeth

Thanks for putting that rumour-turned-"fact" to bed. Interesting stuff!

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Shaolivevil
Is there anyone who worked for Shaw who didn't have a beef with Mona Fong?

The same has been said about Sir Run Run Shaw many times over. Mona Fong was quite the shrewd businesswoman from what I recall reading about her, which is probably why he married her! Like minds, right?! :tongue:

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Killer Meteor
When we met up with Mike Leeder in Hong Kong, he discussed the tale of the teeth.

What a great anecdote!

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Killer Meteor
Is there anyone who worked for Shaw who didn't have a beef with Mona Fong?

Apparently she and Chang Cheh were both keen to fill the movies with shirtless men and absolutely NO WOMEN!!!

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silver hermit

i in no way condone violence to women but didn't hwang bitchslap mona fong?

or was that just hk tabloid rumors it wouldn't be the first time. anyone ever get mona's side of that story?

didn't they leave the teeth kick in the film?? i could have swore its in there

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KUNG FU BOB
When we met up with Mike Leeder in Hong Kong, he discussed the tale of the teeth.

T, that's a very cool clip! Thanks for sharing that.

Ah, but the plot thickens... As I just watched a clip from the HJL documentary where Hwang Sifu himself says that Roy Horan was his friend and student. Seems odd that Roy would tell the story wrong. But I guess it's like a 35 year old game of telephone spoken in three languages! :smile: I can see how we'd get varying accounts of the event. However, Big Mike was talking to JC and HJL about it and they confirmed it. So I'd have to take Roy's version as second hand obviously! Plus, wasn't this the film (SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW for those not paying attention/ reading too far back in this thread)where Roy's arm was broken and he had to perform his fight using only one arm? That would make me think that he was not on set the whole time, and perhaps his memory is clouded by the conditions... ie the scorching hot sun and pain killers he must have been taking for his arm.

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Killer Meteor
i in no way condone violence to women but didn't hwang bitchslap mona fong?

or was that just hk tabloid rumors it wouldn't be the first time. anyone ever get mona's side of that story?

didn't they leave the teeth kick in the film?? i could have swore its in there

Jackie is missing his front teeth in the closing shots, though wern't they capped years before for Lo Wei?

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KUNG FU BOB
Jackie is missing his front teeth in the closing shots, though wern't they capped years before for Lo Wei?

I think that's right. I'm guessing that HJL probably broke the caps off- not knocked out JC's actual teeth- which would explain everybody's different accounts.

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In I Am Jackie Chan Jackie writes "Hwang Jang Lee is a tremendous kicker... as I found out when he kicked out one of my teeth (accidentally) while we were making Snake in Eagle's Shadow."

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Jackie is missing his front teeth in the closing shots, though wern't they capped years before for Lo Wei?

I thought they were too (along with the eyelid surgery). But is it any better to think that Hwang knocked the caps out rather than the original teeth? Well... maybe, lol but I would imagine that Jackie was plenty pissed and may indeed have tried to get Hwang blacklisted (especially since he did nearly the same thing to him in Drunken Master) but if he did, it was obviously unsuccessful.

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Reel Power Stunts

"I am Jackie Chan" is a great read, but it's the work of a ghost writer, whose writing was based on hours of interviews with JC and his own research. I wouldn't take everthing in that book as being necessarily "from the horse's mouth". I spotted small details in the book that no HKer, let alone Chan would have written.

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Killer Meteor
"I am Jackie Chan" is a great read, but it's the work of a ghost writer, whose writing was based on hours of interviews with JC and his own research. I wouldn't take everthing in that book as being necessarily "from the horse's mouth". I spotted small details in the book that no HKer, let alone Chan would have written.

It's full of glaring errors, such as stating Jackie is in Come Drink With Me, claiming Sammo was a Japanese villian in A Touch of Zen, attributing the line "no match for my bells" from Magnificent Bodyguards to Jackie when its actually spoken by one of the villians, claiming Maggie Cheung injured her head on the chute in Police Story 2 when it's obvious from the film it's from those metal bars...

...Sorry, got distracted!

I don't think Hwang was in any Golden Harvest films prior to Millionaires's Express - not saying they didn't want him, but he seemed to work for everyone else at the time. Seems Sammo liked to use Lee Hoi Sang a lot at the time, and Jackie used Whang In Sik.

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It's full of glaring errors, such as stating Jackie is in Come Drink With Me, claiming Sammo was a Japanese villian in A Touch of Zen, attributing the line "no match for my bells" from Magnificent Bodyguards to Jackie when its actually spoken by one of the villians, claiming Maggie Cheung injured her head on the chute in Police Story 2 when it's obvious from the film it's from those metal bars...

...Sorry, got distracted!

I don't think Hwang was in any Golden Harvest films prior to Millionaires's Express - not saying they didn't want him, but he seemed to work for everyone else at the time. Seems Sammo liked to use Lee Hoi Sang a lot at the time, and Jackie used Whang In Sik.

I swear I saw a vid also stating Jackie was in Come drink with me (one of the little kids in the inn...

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Killer Meteor
Was it not Mars (Cheung Wing-Fat)?

Mars is definetly in Come Drink With Me, and returns as a different character in Golden Swallow.

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Killer Meteor
Hwang was in Tower of Death, a GH film from 1981....

I knew I forgot something...was that a co-production with Seasonal?

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was that a co-production with Seasonal?

Well is was directed by Ng See Yuen, with the likes of Yuen Woo-ping and Roy Horan involved. Feels in many ways like a Seasonal Film.

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