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Half a Loaf of Kung Fu


dMG

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starschwar

So - is it possible that Jackie's record-breaking number of takes for Dragon Lord was actually an excuse to prolong his exile from Hong Kong?  Prolonging the shoot to safeguard himself from the reach of local Triads?  It was my understanding that Jimmy had done - whatever he did - to get them off Jackie's back while he was filming Big Brawl and Cannonball Run.  If the matter had yet to be resolved - that makes much more sense, if so.

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Cognoscente

The thought had crossed my mind. It seems like Jackie's desire to make ambitious films meant that Triads couldn't benefit off him with the get rich quick scheme that they could with other actors, although Chu Yen-Ping's comments in that French-subtitled interview suggest that Jackie had more leeway than other stars...

"The two films with Jackie Chan have been real nightmares. He only gave me 5 days of shooting. I had to make him the main role of the film. In general, Jackie Chan shoots a feature film in 6 months. His film Operation Condor was made in a year. However, he only gave me 5 days for Island of Fire. For a film, he allowed others to spend a year and imposed on me 5 days to finish!"

"For Island of Fire, the first confrontation scene between Jackie Chan and Andy Lau was filmed simultaneously by 6 cameras. After the cut of the 1st take, Jackie refused to redo it, so quickly moved onto the next shot of the fight. That day, I did 270 fight shots between Jackie and Andy! He revealed to me that it can take him three days to have the perfect shot at Golden Harvest. I had to complete 270 shots in one day because Jackie was only available for 5 days."

"Under the threat of the mafia, Jackie Chan and I had to accept this project. The members of the triads ordered me to make this film in 5 days with Jackie Chan in the title role. We have to step up! Unbearable pressure! An express shooting in 5 days! In the very caricatural final scene, Jackie, a close-up frame, is killed to end the shooting. And that's it! The chase scenes at the airport were provided by his stunt doubles. Afterwards, I had to spend 17 hours refining the last sequence. I faked it to reinforce Jackie Chan's screen presence."

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Cognoscente

More articles from issues of Saturday Weekly...

April 18, 1981 (vol. 4 #16)

1640293573_s-l1600(8).jpg.dea1a3e88052e79c1a727a6cdf4cd24e.jpg


February 9, 1980 (vol. 3 #6)

986842087_s-l1600(12).jpg.76f3caccd74658388b9506a5d9648050.jpg

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On 6/15/2021 at 7:49 AM, Cognoscente said:

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"

s-l1600.jpg

To add to this, Willie Chan shut down his own film company on April 2, 1979.

Source: https://hongkong-corp.com/co/summit-film-productions-limited

HKMDB page: https://www.hkmdb.com/db/companies/view.mhtml?id=1050&display_set=eng (Willie produced every film)

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On 5/24/2021 at 8:10 AM, Killer Meteor said:

thanks! This confirms my theory that Spiritual Kung Fu was made in reaction to Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.

Jackie signing autographs during the making of Spiritual Kung Fu.

 

FWKQk6IaMAAo1UK.jpg

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Killer Meteor
On 5/23/2021 at 10:54 AM, Cognoscente said:


Filming dates...

New Fist of Fury:                            March - April 1976
Shaolin Wooden Men:                      June - July 1976
The Killer Meteors:                       Sep '76 - Jan '77
Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin:   Nov '76 - Jul '77
To Kill with Intrigue:                     Dec '76 - Mar '77
Magnificent Bodyguards:                 Jul 5 - 20 '77
Half a Loaf of Kung Fu:                Aug '77 - Apr '78
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow:      Nov '77 - Jan '78
Spiritual Kung Fu:                         Apr '78 - Jun '78
Drunken Master:                          Apr '78 - Sep '78
Dragon Fist:                                   Jul '78 - Aug '78
Fearless Hyena:                            Oct' 78 - Dec '78

 

This makes me wonder if Half a Loaf was put on hold so Jackie could go to Seasonal, rather than Lo Wei vaulting the finished movie.

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