Member Cognoscente Posted May 30, 2021 Member Share Posted May 30, 2021 Back to what I said before about Wang Yu's phone calls to Jackie, the December '79 issue of Golden Movie News contains some concerning text about the two men. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted May 30, 2021 Member Share Posted May 30, 2021 Wang Yu threatening Jackie? What was that about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 30, 2021 Member Share Posted May 30, 2021 During the initial making of FH II and TYM, Jackie got so scared in HK that he ran off (or flew off rather) to Australia. Wang Yu called him for many days until Jackie returned. It's difficult to reconcile the magazine article with Jeff Yang's attempt to depict Wang Yu as some sort of saviour, especially since it was Lo Wei (and not Wang Yu) who co-produced Dragon Lord despite the film being primarily shot in Taiwan. Thanks to the above shot, I will never look at the below shot in the same way again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted May 30, 2021 Member Share Posted May 30, 2021 Woah! I suppose Wang Yu was acting on behalf of Golden Harvest? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 30, 2021 Member Share Posted May 30, 2021 It sounds like it. There's another connection between Wang Yu and Raymond Chow. Taiwan's United Bamboo Gang helped Taiwan's National Security Bureau in the assassination of an Asian-American journalist. In Chang Cheh's memoir, it was mentioned that Raymond used to work for the NSB. On a Chinese blog, I found out that part of the settlement with Lo Wei involved him owning half of the world's copyrights to Dragon Lord: http://suling213.blogspot.com/2010/05/306.html 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 I found an interesting magazine* article called Lo Wei takes court action against Jacky Chan. April 3, 1979 was when Jackie signed Lo Wei's second contract...with Jimmy Wang Yu as a witness (something that wasn't mentioned in Jeff Yang's book). The contract referred to there being seven films that he had to do for Lo, three of which are by Golden Harvest (hence why Lo's company is credited on Dragon Lord). Fearless Hyena 2 was referred to as Fist of Charm. Where it says July 1980 should read July 1979. In November '79, Jackie spent a fortnight with his parents in Australia before flying off to America. * Saturday Weekly. March 7, 1981. It can be found on eBay as "Jackie Chan - RARE 1981#10 Malaysia Magazine" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 Sounds a lot less dramatic then the tales of Triads trying to cut off Wang Yu's head. Makes me wonder if Jackie was just being immature and mad with power and neglected his commitments. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 Jackie was lucky that he didn't end up like Conan Lee. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 I wonder how Seasonal felt that they made Jackie a star but never got to work with him again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 Probably nowhere near as heartbroken as when Conan broke his contract since Ng regarded him as the son he never had (according to Roy Horan), but you think that Ng would have bonded more with Jackie since they did two films together and Jackie was responsible for increasing Seasonal's standing in the HK film community. Contrary to Jeff Yang's book, Jackie's early hits were not quite the smash hits in HK. Jackie was always second to Michael Hui. The Private Eyes (1976) grossed a whopping 8.5 million whereas Drunken Master only grossed 6.7 million. The Contract (1978) grossed 7.1 million whereas Fearless Hyena grossed 5.4 million. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 HK box office doesn't take into account the international markets though. Drunken Master sold worldwide, the Hui films presumbly did not. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 15, 2021 Member Share Posted June 15, 2021 Golden Harvest should have replaced Stanley Fung with Michael Hui for Winners and Sinners because then they could have increased his global profile. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 25, 2021 Member Share Posted June 25, 2021 It would have been nice if Jackie did an AC for this movie, even if it was a subtitled commentary. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted July 12, 2021 Member Share Posted July 12, 2021 On 5/24/2021 at 8:09 AM, Killer Meteor said: Killer Meteors' release date on HKMDB is August 1976, which predates those shooting dates. Do you have a more accurate release date? I've recently found a page from the July '81 issue of Martial Arts Movies where even they didn't have a release date. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted July 12, 2021 Member Share Posted July 12, 2021 11million for Young Master...finally! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted July 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted July 12, 2021 On 5/24/2021 at 5:10 PM, Killer Meteor said: thanks! This confirms my theory that Spiritual Kung Fu was made in reaction to Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. Jackie/Jeff Yang said as much in 'I am Jackie Chan'. It's been years since I've read it but the general gist of it was Lo Wei didn't think SITES was funny and Spiritual Kung Fu would have 'real' comedy. On 6/15/2021 at 6:48 PM, Cognoscente said: Probably nowhere near as heartbroken as when Conan broke his contract since Ng regarded him as the son he never had (according to Roy Horan), but you think that Ng would have bonded more with Jackie since they did two films together and Jackie was responsible for increasing Seasonal's standing in the HK film community. Yep. According to Roy Horan, Ng even gave Conan a (stage) name using the name he would have given to a son of his own. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted July 12, 2021 Member Share Posted July 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Asmo said: Jackie/Jeff Yang said as much in 'I am Jackie Chan'. It's been years since I've read it but the general gist of it was Lo Wei didn't think SITES was funny and Spiritual Kung Fu would have 'real' comedy. I'm reminded of an interview that Wong Jing did for the 2003 HK DVD release of City Hunter. He thought that Jackie previously hadn't done a film that was consistently funny. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted July 12, 2021 Member Share Posted July 12, 2021 12 hours ago, Asmo said: Jackie/Jeff Yang said as much in 'I am Jackie Chan'. It's been years since I've read it but the general gist of it was Lo Wei didn't think SITES was funny and Spiritual Kung Fu would have 'real' comedy. Unless the autobio has been updated, the copy I have says that Jackie made Half a Loaf, Lo didn't like it and responded with Spiritual Kung Fu, and THEN Jackie makes SITES 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted July 13, 2021 Moderator Share Posted July 13, 2021 8 hours ago, Killer Meteor said: Unless the autobio has been updated, the copy I have says that Jackie made Half a Loaf, Lo didn't like it and responded with Spiritual Kung Fu, and THEN Jackie makes SITES Ahh. It probably hasn't been. My memory was playing tricks on me there. Thanks for the correction! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted September 3, 2021 Member Share Posted September 3, 2021 On 6/15/2021 at 9:08 AM, Killer Meteor said: Sounds a lot less dramatic then the tales of Triads trying to cut off Wang Yu's head. Makes me wonder if Jackie was just being immature and mad with power and neglected his commitments. Excuse me?😂 Can you elaborate on this whole beheading story please? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted September 7, 2021 Member Share Posted September 7, 2021 On 9/3/2021 at 11:43 PM, Josh Baker said: Excuse me?😂 Can you elaborate on this whole beheading story please? It's somewhere in Jackie's autobiograhpy I think. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 29, 2022 Member Share Posted May 29, 2022 On 9/3/2021 at 11:43 PM, Josh Baker said: Excuse me?😂 Can you elaborate on this whole beheading story please? The below is my post on the Bruce Lee Lives forum... Recently, I was browsing Usenet to see if any material on alt.asian-movies predated the inclusion in the 1998 book. To my surprise, there were two topics which had specific info that predated the book by 2 years ("Jackie Chan and the Triad") and 3 years ("The CHANFILE"). In the latter topic, Jay Fong posted the following (on March 6 in 1995)... I had a discussion with someone a while ago who seemed to know a lot of the background behind Jackie Chan. I will include some of the emails below for your reading pleasure: "My information came from Donnie Yen and Mandy Chan, who were trying to break into the entertainment business in HK in the early 80's. Jackie stayed in Taiwan to make movies (notably "Dragon Lord"), because Lo Wai, his "godfather" had words out that if he ever found Jackie in HK, he would chop him up to pieces. Lo Wai was a high-level official of the Sun Yi On Triad - he was not kidding. At one point, Wang Yu volunteered to settle the feud for Jackie and went to HK to meet with Lo Wai, only finding himself cornered by a dozen of Sun Yi On hitmen armed with "watermelon knives". Wang Yu was unbelievably lucky that an English sergeant happened to have cruised around that area and ran into the scene. All the people concerned ended up being arrested. The next day, the HK newspaper mildly mentioned that "...the director Lo Wai and actor Wang Yu have been summoned to the police station for questioning..." It was Raymond Chow who eventually settled the matter with Lo Wai and "bought up" Jackie. That is why Jackie can never make any movies outside of the Golden Harvest umbrage. And despite all the money others claimed he has made, Jackie will not be able to retire as long as he is still marketable. Regards, Tak." https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bruceleelivestributeforum/jackie-chan-speaking-about-bowling-with-bruce-lee-t3112.html#p29036 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted May 30, 2022 Member Share Posted May 30, 2022 14 hours ago, Cognoscente said: The below is my post on the Bruce Lee Lives forum... Recently, I was browsing Usenet to see if any material on alt.asian-movies predated the inclusion in the 1998 book. To my surprise, there were two topics which had specific info that predated the book by 2 years ("Jackie Chan and the Triad") and 3 years ("The CHANFILE"). In the latter topic, Jay Fong posted the following (on March 6 in 1995)... I had a discussion with someone a while ago who seemed to know a lot of the background behind Jackie Chan. I will include some of the emails below for your reading pleasure: "My information came from Donnie Yen and Mandy Chan, who were trying to break into the entertainment business in HK in the early 80's. Jackie stayed in Taiwan to make movies (notably "Dragon Lord"), because Lo Wai, his "godfather" had words out that if he ever found Jackie in HK, he would chop him up to pieces. Lo Wai was a high-level official of the Sun Yi On Triad - he was not kidding. At one point, Wang Yu volunteered to settle the feud for Jackie and went to HK to meet with Lo Wai, only finding himself cornered by a dozen of Sun Yi On hitmen armed with "watermelon knives". Wang Yu was unbelievably lucky that an English sergeant happened to have cruised around that area and ran into the scene. All the people concerned ended up being arrested. The next day, the HK newspaper mildly mentioned that "...the director Lo Wai and actor Wang Yu have been summoned to the police station for questioning..." It was Raymond Chow who eventually settled the matter with Lo Wai and "bought up" Jackie. That is why Jackie can never make any movies outside of the Golden Harvest umbrage. And despite all the money others claimed he has made, Jackie will not be able to retire as long as he is still marketable. Regards, Tak." https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bruceleelivestributeforum/jackie-chan-speaking-about-bowling-with-bruce-lee-t3112.html#p29036 Jeez, that's the second time I know of of Wang Yu almost dying at the hands of the Triads if this story is to be true. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted May 30, 2022 Member Share Posted May 30, 2022 On 5/23/2021 at 6:51 AM, Cognoscente said: The below Japanese page details the chronicles of the film's production in a way that makes Jeff Yang look bad. https://kungfutube.info/6003 While it is true that it took a long time to be released in Hong Kong, it would appear that the release was put on hold due to lack of funds, and extra footage was filmed to cash in on the success of SITES. The telling indication is that there is at least one scene in the film where Jackie has a bruise under his right eye which is similar to what he had in Drunken Master and Dragon Fist, as noted below. https://kungfutube.info/5189#dra-face Also, while the official story is that it premiered in 1980, a Korean newspaper confirmed that the movie was already released in South Korea on November 11, 1978. If Lo Wei really hated the movie, he would have destroyed the footage. Anyway, the movie was then released in Taiwan on January 1979. Seriously, that Japanese webmaster is the Kung Fu movie equivalent to Abraham Zapruder. ] Given what we know about Jackie's behaviour at Golden Harvest, I bet he overspent on throwaway gags and multiple takes, and that was what really got Lo Wei mad. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 30, 2022 Member Share Posted May 30, 2022 Makes sense. It's possible that the finale had to be reshot because Jackie and Chen got so caught up with the parody aspect that it didn't deliver for martial arts fans (sort of like when Hollywood does piss-take versions of MA movies). Since Jackie was flopping with each movie, you would think that Lo would have loaned him out sooner. When the time came to do SKF and DF, Lo could have tightened Jackie's reins by hiring a choreographer like Chan Siu-Pang or Gam Ming. By the time that Jackie did Dragon Lord, Golden Harvest should really have kept Jackie under check by having Sammo hover over him like a hawk. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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