Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

The movie begins with Shaw Brothers' classic opening sequence "SB" flashing by, followed by the opening sequence from Time Pictures.

In the opening scene of the film, Chow Yun-fat, wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, buys some snacks from a roadside vendor, catches up with the vendor to pay, and then gets into the car driven by Dillon's character, Sung Tze-ho, and they enter the company together.

Many viewers, upon seeing this scene, thought Xu Wenqiang had come to the modern era and began to whistle.

When they saw the office workers calling out "Brother Hao" and "Brother Ma," everyone thought that Chow Yun-fat and Dillon were playing executives of the same company!

The next scene takes a dramatic turn, with five-dollar, fifty-dollar, and one-hundred-dollar bills appearing on a computer monitor, their serial numbers being modified by experts.

About a minute later, a complete counterfeit money production process was clearly displayed in front of the audience.

The scene flashes, and Little Ma is holding a lit counterfeit banknote, lighting a cigarette in his mouth. That arrogant and domineering action is deeply imprinted in the minds of every viewer.

"Holy crap! How can Xu Wenqiang be so handsome?"

"I'll try that someday; lighting a cigarette with a banknote would be really cool..."

"Get lost! Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? Do you think you can compare to Little Ma?"

......

Then, during his last delivery, Song Zihao was betrayed and imprisoned.

Immediately afterwards, Little Ma appeared on the overpass, a match dangling from his mouth, and the newspaper was filled with news of Song Zihao's arrest.

A Mandarin theme song begins, and the classic revenge scene of Maple Forest Pavilion unfolds.

As Chow Yun-fat danced with a dancer, he subtly concealed a pistol in a flowerpot amidst their banter.

The interlude abruptly stopped as the Japanese-style sliding door was pulled open, revealing a dark gun protruding from the doorway.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Zhou Runfa, wielding two guns, displayed an aura of ruthlessness that made the audience dare not even breathe.

The slow-motion footage shows the reactions of those shot, with each person shot down having one to two seconds of screen time.

Just as the audience was immersed in this romanticized revenge, Mark dropped his pistol and turned to leave.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and two or three slow-motion shots of Little Ma being shot in the calf flashed by, causing the air in the entire theater to freeze instantly.

Xu Anhua frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Romance and torment alternate... His manipulation of the audience's emotions is so precise it's almost cruel."

Let's jump to three years later.

After serving his sentence, Song Zihao was released from prison. During a heavy rain, his brothers turned against each other. Song Zihao, who had reformed, became a taxi driver.

During this time, he saw his former brother, Little Ma, limping and humbly wiping cars downstairs in an office building.

Wu Qihua's portrayal of Tan Cheng makes an arrogant entrance. This stark contrast between his two characters delivers a powerful blow to both Song Zihao and the audience.

And then there's that classic line: "Little Horse, that's not what you wrote in your letter to me!"

Heartbroken sighs echoed from the audience. Uncle Ke silently closed his eyes, having already immersed himself in the role of Song Zihao.

Next, the entanglements and conflicts among the four characters—Song Zi-hao, Zhang Guorong (who plays Song Zi-jie), Tan Cheng, and Xiao Ma—quickly build up the emotional intensity of the story.

His emotions reached their peak when Song Zihao put a bandage on Xiao Ma's face in front of the taxi on the mountain.

Little Ma roared out that classic line that has been etched into movies:

"I've waited three years for this opportunity! I want to prove myself, not to show off, but to tell people that I will get back what I've lost!"

The pain and hatred in Zhou Runfa's eyes completely ignited all his suppressed emotions.

At that moment, the entire audience resonated with the emotion, and many male audience members had slightly red eyes, silently wiping away tears from the corners of their eyes.

Liang Puzhi exclaimed, "With its unique storytelling style and realistic plot, I'm afraid I could never make a film like this in my entire life."

The film culminates in a showdown at the pier. When Sung Chi-kit goes to the pier alone, he is confronted with a gun pointed at him, prompting viewers to yell: "Sung Chi-kit, you good-for-nothing!"

When Sung Tze-ho exchanges hostages with Tam Sing's men, and is shot and knocked to the ground while trying to save his brother Sung Tze-kit, the audience is on edge, eager to see if Sung Tze-ho can turn the tide.

When Little Ma made his dazzling entrance to background music, cheers erupted from the audience.

A thrilling gunfight, coupled with two or three explosions and slow-motion sequences, created a unique symphony.

During the duel, when Little Ma angrily berated Sung Tze-kit because Sung Tze-ho was injured,

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out. Little Ma was suddenly shot in the head, and then slowly fell to the ground amidst a hail of bullets.

"Little Ma!" A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the theater.

The theater, which had been filled with joyful dancing and laughter just moments before, fell silent instantly.

The audience was caught off guard by this sudden plot twist, followed by a barrage of curses, making the theater noisy.

"Fuck your mother! Little Ma is dead just like that?"

"Director, get out here! Who gave you permission to film like this?"

"I think all screenwriters are idiots, daring to write something like this!"

"The director's whole house is ruined!"

……

Uncle Shell shook his head in the darkness. In the real world, there are no dignified exits arranged by screenwriters.

Even though people were cursing, they still had to watch the show until they saw Tan Cheng arrogantly trying to turn himself in.

The audience clenched their fists, holding their breath. If the director dared to let Tan Cheng successfully turn himself in, they wouldn't mind having a real-life version of A Better Tomorrow with the creative team.

When Song Zijie shoved the gun in his hand into Song Zihao's hand, two shots rang out, and Tan Cheng slowly fell to the ground.

The audience members, who had been clenching their fists, slowly relaxed their grip.

As the end credits rolled and the song "The Way We Were" played, the lights remained off for a long time, and even the lighting technician seemed to be engrossed in the film.

The lights only came on instantly when the screen went black.

Then, applause erupted like a volcanic eruption until the film's creators took the stage.

The applause and cheers, which were already as explosive as a volcanic eruption, reached their peak in an instant.

"Little Ma—!!!" a young audience member shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking.

"Brother Hao! Well done!"

"Director Li is so insightful!"

After bowing to the audience, the film's creators began the final segment of the premiere: answering audience questions.

One question after another was raised by reporters and the audience.

The film's creators remained calm and composed in dealing with the situation.

In the New Wave directors' area, Xu Ke did not ask any questions, crossed his arms, and glanced at the audience and the main creative staff on stage.

"Emotions. He calculated and manipulated every wave of emotion: anger, sympathy, repression, explosion, grief, and cathartic revenge. The audience wasn't watching a story; they were experiencing an emotional rollercoaster. He filled the formula of commercial genre films with intense emotions."

Xu Anhua nodded, "This intensity doesn't feel cheap. The details—Little Ma's limp, Hao's taxi driver identity—make the pain and humiliation real. This realism gives the revenge weight and allows the audience to completely release their emotions."

Tan Jiaming took off his glasses to wipe them, and said with a wry smile, "We discuss society and analyze human nature, but we forget the power of film—it's about making over a thousand people cry and laugh, feel anger and sorrow together in the dark. He did it, he did it with brotherhood. This lesson was expensive."