The accuracy of Painted Faces (1988) - Yuen Ting (Ng Ming-Choi)'s life story

[AxeGang]

I remember in Painted Faces (Sammo Hung, 1988) - the film that advertises itself to be a biographical film of Sammo and Jackie's life (and Yuen Biao's, but he's barely mentioned ) - the biggest brother runs away and, after Sammo is made biggest brother, comes back shortly after (but not reinstated in his authoritative position, obviously).

In Jackie's bio, he mentions how Biggest Brother Yuen Ting ran away, and that's when Second Biggest Brother Yuen Lung (Sammo) became Biggest Brother (before Yuen Biao joined the school). I don't recall him mentioning Yuen Ting again in the book. However, Yuen Ting makes a cameo in My Beloved Bodyguard (Sammo Hung, 2016), and he showed up to the Seven Little Fortunes reunion in 2017. Did Yuen Ting come back?

Is Painted Faces accurate in this depiction of Yuen Ting's life?

[Asmo]

I think it's just one of those things, where he left the physical school but either stayed in touch with his younger brothers and/or got in touch with them later on and maybe helped them out finding stunt work? They popped up in a lot of the same films of that era, so it's likely they crossed paths again.

I'll do some research though.

[Killer Meteor]

I always assumed from Jackie's "autobiography" that the student disapeared for good...not that he became a prolific actor and King Hu's choreographer in the late 70s!

[Omni Dragon]

Welcome to the forum @AxeGang.

[AxeGang]

17 hours ago, Omni Dragon said:

Welcome to the forum @AxeGang.

Hi, thank you!

On 2/14/2021 at 12:55 PM, Asmo said:

I think it's just one of those things, where he left the physical school but either stayed in touch with his younger brothers and/or got in touch with them later on and maybe helped them out finding stunt work? They popped up in a lot of the same films of that era, so it's likely they crossed paths again.

I'll do some research though.

I assumed this was the case, but the movie got me wondering if maybe there was more that Jackie didn't mention. I'll be curious to hear if you find anything! I'll be doing some research, too.