Original Shaolin Temple movie (Jet Li)

[ninjaboy]

in the movie "the shaolin temple" with jet li, i understand master pan qing fu, now in ontario, canada, was an actor/extra...can anyone tell me me which character he was?

thanking you in advance,

neil

[cerebus]

The bad guy with the big mustache.

[GeneChing]

Pan Qingfu was one of the choreographers for Shaolin Temple (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd40021.html). He appears in the film in the background, not as a character per se. If memory serves, you can see him behind the evil general in a scene or two...

[Shaolinlueb]

Originally posted by GeneChing
Pan Qingfu was one of the choreographers for Shaolin Temple (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd40021.html). He appears in the film in the background, not as a character per se. If memory serves, you can see him behind the evil general in a scene or two...

a lot of the fight scenes were done and choreographed by the wushu athletes themselves.

[Phil Redmond]

I watched the Shaolin Temple movie in a theater in NY Chinatown. At the beginning of the movie Shorinji Kempo founder So Doshin and his daughter visited the Shaolin Temple in China. I've ordered the DVD three times but none of them have that historic "pilgrimage' of So Doshin and his daughter. Does anyone know where to get an original with those missing scenes?

[mickey]

Hello,

Are you checking the year of dvd release? The earlier dvd releases may have it. At that time, seeing Shorinji Kempo was one of the highlights of that movie.

Jimbo or jethro may know more definitively.


mickey

EDIT: I had to edit out my last post because according to the earlier thread the intro scene was edited out on the version the guy had.

Apologies,

mickey

[Jimbo]

Hi.
My only copy of Shaolin Temple was an old VHS tape I got when I lived in Taiwan, and that didn't have the Shorinji Kempo intro, either. It was one of the reasons I had bought it, too.

The only time I saw that intro was when the movie was released in a local Vietnamese/Chinese theater back in 1982. I actually liked that intro part better than the movie itself.

[mickey]

Sifu Redmond,

I think this is the dvd that I have the transfer of. Check the cover do you have this one?

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/The-Shaolin-Temple-DVD-2000-/3367027?_refkw=jet+li+shaolin+temple&_pcatid=1&_pcategid=100844&_dmpt=

I remember when I got mine there were still two buildings standing in lower Manhattan.


mickey

[mickey]

Update,

I purchased it.

I know you must be tired of getting burnt. I will let you know if it is the one.


mickey

[TenTigers]

I remember that scene. I saw it at The Rosemary Theater on Bowery and Canal.
(now Mahayana Buddhist Temple)

[mickey]

Greetings,

I saw it at the Rosemary as well. I missed out when it played at The Pagoda Theater because, from the stills, i could not figure out what it was all about. It did not look like kung fu to me. After seeing it, I was even more confused. I still wish they would re edit the final fights to include more of the match between Yu Hai and Yu Cheng Hui.

mickey

[Jimbo]

Before I ever saw Shaolin Temple, I'd read about it in Martial Arts Movies magazine. So when it was released at the old Trieu Thanh Theater, I had some high expectations. Besides the opening intro, the other part I liked was Jet Li's "4 seasons training" scene. I felt the rest of it was so-so.

[Phil Redmond]

I saw it at the Pagoda in NY. I hope someone can find the copy I'm looking for.

[Phil Redmond]

Update,

I purchased it.

I know you must be tired of getting burnt. I will let you know if it is the one.


mickey
Please let me know, and thx.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Since my last post I remembered that I saw it at The Pagoda Theater as well. It played twice there (the second time near Chinese New Year following its first release) before being shown at the Rosemary Theater a few of years later. I caught it the second time at Pagoda and then at Rosemary.

I initially had trouble figuring out whether Shaolin Temple was a Mainland China made movie. It wasn't until I saw a scene where Jet Li had his finger on the sword guard and after seeing him perform the butterfly kick with a full twist (during the first of the four seasons sequence) that I realized that this was a Mainland China movie. The stand outs for me were Yu Hai, Yu Cheng Hui and Ji Chun Hua.

mickey

[mickey]

Greetings

I received the dvd today.

The seller used that image of the movie cover to sell a bootleg of a bootleg. It is atrocious. I am glad I took the risk instead of directing Sifu Redmond to do so.

I will have to look into getting a refund.

mickey

[GeneChing]

I love SCMP (but you probably noticed because I share a lot of their articles here) :cool:



How Jet Li turned the Shaolin Temple into a kung fu cash cow for China (https://www.scmp.com/sport/martial-arts/kung-fu/article/3016095/how-jet-li-turned-shaolin-temple-kung-fu-cash-cow-china)
Paid just 1 yuan per day, the martial arts superstar was stunned to find ‘there were no monks’ when he turned up to shoot 1982 film
‘After the movie came out the Shaolin Temple became very popular. A lot of tourists, a lot of martial arts schools’
Nicolas Atkin
Published: 11:17am, 26 Jun, 2019

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2019/06/26/18efac1e-9723-11e9-b82d-cb52a89d5dff_image_hires_115824.jpg?itok=pbBHWmP0&v=1561521527
The DVD cover for Jet Li’s The Shaolin Temple. Photo: Twitter

The 1982 film The Shaolin Temple famously launched the career of martial arts superstar Jet Li. But perhaps less widely known is that it also essentially created Shaolin kung fu as we know it.
The Shaolin Temple is now a Unesco World Heritage Site and the heart of tourism in Henan province in central China. Scores of martial arts schools lie on a mountain; ticket sales bring in tens of millions of dollars each year; the temple is now a commercial empire operating more than 40 overseas companies; and international media has even dubbed its abbot, Shi Yongxin, “the CEO monk”.
But when a film crew from Hong Kong’s Chung Yuen Motion Picture Company turned up in 1980, they found an abandoned site in disrepair after decades of neglect.
“When I was working in Shaolin there were no monks ... only three monks ... and they had just finished the Cultural Revolution,” Li said in an interview with Kung Fu Magazine in 2001. “Not a lot of people knew about the Shaolin Temple. After the movie came out it became very popular. A lot of tourists, a lot of martial arts schools.”

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2019/06/26/24c4e1f8-94f8-11e9-a6c8-8445313d8ede_1320x770_115824.JPG
Monks practise kung fu at Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan province, in April 2016. Photo: Xinhua

It was the first martial arts film made in China and the first filmed on location at the Shaolin Temple, an ancient Buddhist monastery that is revered as the birthplace of China’s most famous wushu style.
Monks had supposedly practised fighting styles there for 1,500 years based on animal movements and birds – this became known as Shaolin kung fu, a comprehensive cultural and spiritual system, which strengthens the inner self as demanded by Buddhist doctrines.
But all that heritage was wiped out when Communist Red Guards attacked the monastery in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution as part of their campaign against religion. Ancient artefacts were destroyed and the monks who lived there were beaten up and ridiculed.
China had condoned violence against a site that was sacred for Buddhists and martial artists, but just two decades later they allowed the monastery to be used in three films starring Li.
China was looking to boost its weak economy by edging towards business deals with other countries, and partnering with Chung Yuen turned out to be a masterstroke.
Set in the seventh century, Li – then known by his birth name, Li Lian-je – played Jue Yuan, who travels to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts so he can avenge his father’s death at the hands of the evil Wang.
It took two years to film, with production methods fairly primitive given the dilapidated setting. Production on the film was also halted for six months when Li fractured his leg while filming one of his jaw-dropping martial arts fight scenes that would come to help make him a household name and a multimillionaire.
But just as jaw-dropping was his recent revelation in an interview on “A Date With Luyu” that he was paid just 1 yuan per day while shooting the film, making around US$750 in total.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ClFErO2jGI

“Remember, I’m just a normal guy, I’m lucky, learning martial arts. Now I’m lucky making films,” Li said in another interview with Kung Fu Magazine. It’s quite a contrast with the US$350 million fortune he has said he will leave to his wife.
Despite those tough conditions, Li has said that filming the first Shaolin Temple was still like being on holiday.
“The best part about making that film is that we didn’t have to train any more,” he said. “Even though we were waking up at five or six to get to the set, and shooting from eight until sunset, it was nothing. This was relaxing. Didn’t we have to fight all day? Sure, but this was nowhere near as tiring as wushu class. In fact, after we finished the day’s shoot, we’d go out again and play soccer or basketball.”

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2019/06/26/2a23c416-9723-11e9-b82d-cb52a89d5dff_1320x770_115824.jpg
Jet Li’s career took off after his turn in The Shaolin Temple. Photo: Twitter

The monastery’s ancient murals provided a vivid and authentic backdrop that delighted film-goers, 700,000 of whom flocked to cinemas to watch it in Hong Kong upon its winter release.
With interest in the Shaolin Temple’s history reawakened, a transformation was sparked and China had a new tourism cash cow to milk.
The film was so successful, Li Lian-je changed his name to Jet Li because theatre owners thought his birth name was too long.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2019/06/26/56402116-9723-11e9-b82d-cb52a89d5dff_1320x770_115824.jpg
Jet Li’s The Shaolin Temple helped make martial arts mainstream. Photo: Twitter

“I remember when I was young, I really wanted to promote martial arts,” Li said. “In the 1970s I already had travelled to different countries, doing demonstrations. In the 1980s I started by making one movie. My eyes just opened.
“I saw a lot of people watching the movie and they started liking the martial arts. Then I said, why not just continue making movies and through the movies give out more information. I really want the martial arts to help the people.”

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2019/06/26/325ade30-94f8-11e9-a6c8-8445313d8ede_1320x770_115824.JPG
In this 2012 photo, visitors walk past as young monks offer prayers outside the Shaolin Temple. Photo: AP

Two Shaolin Temple sequels followed – Shaolin Temple 2: Kids from Shaolin in 1984 and Shaolin Temple 3: Martial Arts of Shaolin in 1986, for which Li was still paid peanuts. He hated his experience on the sequels, with working conditions poor on the second film – “we lived like peasants” – while he fell out with the director of the third film, La Ka-leung, because of the Hong Kong filmmaker’s treatment of crew members from mainland China.
Li considered quitting the business, so miserable was his experience, but Hong Kong film companies knew they had a star on their hands so they convinced him to keep going with big offers, and a star was born.
As for the Shaolin Temple, there was no stopping that commercial juggernaut.

I think the '2001' issue that they are referring to here was the Shaolin Special that was an actual special - and additional issue on top of our regular issues. That's out of print so I don't have a cover to post here. Or it might have been another article. I'd have to poke around.

[GeneChing]

On the road again. READ Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 35 – Hainan Island and Grandmaster Liu Huai Liang (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1608) by Greg Brundage

http://www.kungfumagazine.com//admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/images/ezine/6244_Silk-35_Lead.jpg

Threads
The-Silk-Road (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68861-The-Silk-Road)
Original-Shaolin-Temple-movie-(Jet-Li) (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?64237-Original-Shaolin-Temple-movie-(Jet-Li))