Who do you guys think was the most underuse or underappreciated Shaw Star?

[ching li]

I strongly feel that Yeung Jing Jing underuse and in a way Lily Li was underappreciated.

Yeung Jing Jing fighting skills were more than on point and to me she was a better fighter than hui ying hung, but yet she didn't get the meaty roles hui ying hung did. She would get the role of an extra sort to speak or get killed early on in the movie. Her only big roles came in Treasure Hunters and Holy Flame of the Martial World. We saw what she could do, so why which I will never understand, didn't she get to do more at Shaw Bros?

Now Lily Li did get a lot of roles, but none was really memorable and didn't showcase her well. She was also a good onscreen fighter, but with Shaw Bros, I felt they teased us with her skills. She started in the late 60's with bit parts, in the 70's I feel she was overshadowed big time by Ching li (my fav) and by the time the 80's rolled around, it seems hui ying hung took over as shaw's leading actress. Ok guys, these are my thoughts, so let's have fun with this thread:bigsmile:

[MarsHarmony]

I agree about Yeung Jing Jing, she is amazing, and her under use is a mystery to me ( I do like Hui Ying Hung too, but Jing Jing does seem the more skilled of the two). Lily Li is a wonderful actress with great versatility, "Mrs. Lin" in Fake Ghost Catchers to "Mother Yang" in Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, and a great job in 1974's "Friends", no action for her, but lots of good scenes. My favorite has always been Shih Szu, she has such a great "look", such a deadly expression, during action scenes. She seemed to get plenty to do at Shaw though.

[ching li]

I forget about Shih Szu, she was something kinda fierce. Too bad she retired early

[KyFi]

Chi Kuan Chun should have been the main star in a lot more movies, instead of just an ensemble player. He had everything---fine, intelligent actor, real kung fu, good looking/good physique, great bad-ass screen presence.

[Blood Sword]

Sun Chien....

[Chinatown Kid]

Sun Chien....

I'll agree with that, would have loved for Shaw to have showcased his lethal legs alot more....

[peringaten]

Hell yeah - Yeung Jing Jing for sure. I feel the same about Wong Mei Mei - she had kicks for sure, showcased in the Lo Mar flicks a bit, and she pops up here & there otherwise, but those skills were always muted, cut short or wasted.

Guess I'd have to say Yuen Wah, he always popped up in Shaw flicks and really outside of Coward Bastard (phenomenal skills), a bit of Kid With Tats & apparently To Kill A Mastermind (still not seen this - perhaps foolishly refuse to give up hope for the remaster though), never got to properly show off those skills; especially not in them Chor Yuen flicks...

[Guest Markgway]

Agree with many of the choices given...

[shapes]

all the actors in 5 superfighters

[ching li]

all the actors in 5 superfighters

For sure. That simple fact that movie didn't have the let's say Shaw Bros treatment, says a lot. It looked more like an independent effort.

[vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

I agree with the Sun Chien choice. Hwang Jang Lee should have been in a lot more Shaw films I thought. Venoms films especially. Chuang Chiao is an actor I personally always liked, despite the fact he's not that great with the choreographed fighting, sometimes he pulled it off well. He just a very good good guy actor. Fang Mien. Fan Mei Sheng should've had a few more Blackwhirlwind type roles.

[MarsHarmony]

Thats a really great point about Chen Kuan Tai, he could have starred in many more films. Sun Chien is good choice too. More Black Whirlwind, great idea, with Fang Mei Sheng could have been a fun few episodes with his character, and Chen Kuan Tai could play his part from "Water Margin" "AMAB" and Wang Chung as "the Rash one", a side adventure before or during those main stories. I also wish Meng Fei had made a few more films with Shaw, he and Fu Sheng would have been an awesome duo.

[vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

A fewe side stories interspersing the whole Water Margin series focusing on those characters like Wang Chungs, the Fearless One, and Black Whirlwind would have been great.

[Tosh]

Chi Kuan Chun should have been the main star in a lot more movies, instead of just an ensemble player. He had everything---fine, intelligent actor, real kung fu, good looking/good physique, great bad-ass screen presence.

Funny he always took a backseat to Fu Sheng but was always the elder brother with superior Kung Fu skills, seems he dipped out of Shaws for the greener indy grass.

[MarsHarmony]

With all due respect, I agree Tosh, that Chen Kuan Tai was underused, but I don't believe it was Fu Sheng that he "took a back seat" to, it was Ti Lung and David Chiang, and even Chi Kuan Chun, they got a lot of parts that Chen Kuan Tai could have played.

[ching li]

Chen Kuan Tai was one of Shaw's big players, so he was definitely not underuse or are we talking about Chi kuan chun? Their names are identical so it is easy to get them confused. Chi Kuan Chun, I agree with, but I think he might have preferred doing the indy thing, he seemed more suited for indy roles than Shaw Bros.

I am surprised that Meng Fei didn't sign with Shaw Bros, he had the looks of a Shaw Bros. actor. Maybe the independent companies, paid their actors more.

[Sentswordsman]

Wilson Tong Wai-Shing

[venoms5]

Kuan Feng:

The master of the alliance in 5 ELEMENT NINJAS

The main villain in MONKEY KUNG FU and FIGHTING FOOL

One of the main villains in 10 TIGERS OF KWANG TUNG

The blind man in FLAG OF IRON

[BaronK]

Chi Kuan Chun was under contract to CC(Chang's Film Co in Taiwan) not SB. When CC left Taiwan, that was the end of the connection during that era. They would hook up again non SB with Shanghai 13.

[MarsHarmony]

Chi Kuan Chun was under contract to CC(Chang's Film Co in Taiwan) not SB. When CC left Taiwan, that was the end of the connection during that era. They would hook up again non SB with Shanghai 13.

Thank you for putting that in such a clear concise way, that Chi Kuan Chun was under Chang's Film Co. contract, it finally makes sense.

These are from the shawbrosreloaded site.

[KyFi]

Chi Kuan Chun was under contract to CC(Chang's Film Co in Taiwan) not SB. When CC left Taiwan, that was the end of the connection during that era. They would hook up again non SB with Shanghai 13.

Ahh....Ok. That would explain why he was wasn't in a lot more Shaw movies.

[mshengxiaolong]

Wilson Tong Wai-Shing

YES! Wilson Tong was a bad a$$ for sure.his best role for me was Dirty Kung Fu.

[mshengxiaolong]

I think that Tong Yen San who underappreciated to,He always die in those movies.

[Blood Sword]

I have to disagree of Chi Kuan Chun thing,sorry:angel:.

In Shaws he appeared he got always quite visible roles (and deserved that of course).Might be Fu Sheng got noticed more but I would not say CKC was overshadowed by him.

Only Shaw movie I recall now where CKC was clearly in background is terrific Disciples of Shaolin but it did fit very well into storyline.

[Cognoscente]

On 1/24/2010 at 11:10 AM, ching li said:

Yeung Jing Jing's fighting skills were more than on point and to me she was a better fighter than Hui Ying Hung, but yet she didn't get the meaty roles Hui Ying Hung did. She would get the role of an extra sort to speak or get killed early on in the movie. Her only big roles came in Treasure Hunters and Holy Flame of the Martial World. We saw what she could do, so why which I will never understand, didn't she get to do more at Shaw Bros?

Wong Jing felt the same way. The problem was that Hui was always going to be the favourite in Lau Kar-Leung's eyes whereas Lily Li was Lau Kar-Wing's favourite. Even with Lo Lieh directing Clan of the White Lotus, Lau Kar-Leung deliberately didn't give Yeung as much to do as Hui. It's ironic because Yeung only worked at the studio because she had previously worked with Lau's brothers on Green Hat Guy (1979) for their own company.

After they stopped working for Shaw, Wong would cast Yeung whenever he could (most notably on God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai). In the '90s, she was the number one stuntwoman in HK. It's a testament to who she is that Michelle Yeoh played a character based on her for a 1996 Ann Hui film (Ah Kam).

There was a 1996 South China Morning Post article about her ("Rolling with life's cruel punches" by Winnie Chung) which had provided insight as to why Yeung was underused. When she entered the industry, she didn't speak much Cantonese. She also said: "Shaw had its own cinema chain then and did not promote any one actor. And because I knew how to fight, they were always thinking - if there is fighting, get Ching-Ching. There weren't many chances for me to brush up on my acting skills."

She wanted to be an actress but her next mentor after Lau Kar-Leung, Ching Siu-Tung, encouraged her to be a stuntwoman. Even in 1996, she still yearned to be a leading lady.
 

On 1/24/2010 at 11:10 AM, ching li said:

Now Lily Li did get a lot of roles, but none was really memorable and didn't showcase her well. She was also a good onscreen fighter, but with Shaw Bros, I felt they teased us with her skills. She started in the late 60's with bit parts, in the 70's I feel she was overshadowed big time by Ching Li (my fav) and by the time the 80's rolled around, it seems Hui Ying Hung took over as Shaw's leading actress. Ok guys, these are my thoughts, so let's have fun with this thread.

Lily was no longer contracted to the studio after 1978, so she only continued to work there as a freelancer. This affected how she was utilized. It was one of the reasons why Wong Jing collaborated with Lau Kar-Wing so much in the '80s. They both bonded over their shared feeling of Lily being underused. Jing wrote roles for her in Carry On Wise Guy* and The Fake Ghost Snatchers, both of which Lau had directed. In fact, Lau liked Lily so much that he cast her in Those Merry Souls after he left Shaw Brothers.

* In this movie, Eric Tsang does an impersonation of Bruce Lee. Jing had Eric do it again in The Romancing Star II.