All directors become directors because they have an eye for detail, and this man was no exception. He was a prolific director, who was no slouch when it comes to giving the audience their money's worth. He had been around long enough to know the "Tricks-of-the-trade" and what it took to get the most out of a star. More than any movie he's ever made, he will forever be known for discovering Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, the (2) most widely known martial artist in the history of kung-fu films. He was one of Raymond Chow's right-hand men at Golden Harvest, having made some very interesting and exciting films for Shaw Bros' before everyone started leaving for Golden Harvest in 1970.
He was good friends with director Chang Cheh, having directed numerous scripts, that Chang had written such as The Tender Trap Of Espionage, Black Butterfly, Song Without Words, Call Of The Sea, and Crocodile River. They even had a friendly competition against each other at the box-office. Chang was referred to as the "$1-million Director", since his film (The One-Armed Swordsman) broken records, with its' success. Lo would surpass his friend and became know as the "$3-million Director" -- when The Big Boss broken all records throughout Asia. I believe that it was this friendship, that was used (by Raymond Chow) to try and lure Chang away from Shaw studios, during the early 70’s.
He believed in Jackie when others wanted to just write him off simply as another talented stuntman, who couldn't transcend above taking punches and doing back-flips. Yet, it would be when he loaned Jackie out to Ng See-Yuen of Seasonal Films, did Chan's career begin to really take off. And, though, he constantly argued with Lee (on and off the set), if it weren't for him capturing Lee's movements on film, the world would have never gotten to see just how talented of a martial-artist he really was. Remember, he was one of Golden Harvest's top directors and one of the most trusted.
He was good friends with director Chang Cheh, having directed numerous scripts, that Chang had written such as The Tender Trap Of Espionage, Black Butterfly, Song Without Words, Call Of The Sea, and Crocodile River. They even had a friendly competition against each other at the box-office. Chang was referred to as the "$1-million Director", since his film (The One-Armed Swordsman) broken records, with its' success. Lo would surpass his friend and became know as the "$3-million Director" -- when The Big Boss broken all records throughout Asia. I believe that it was this friendship, that was used (by Raymond Chow) to try and lure Chang away from Shaw studios, during the early 70’s.
He believed in Jackie when others wanted to just write him off simply as another talented stuntman, who couldn't transcend above taking punches and doing back-flips. Yet, it would be when he loaned Jackie out to Ng See-Yuen of Seasonal Films, did Chan's career begin to really take off. And, though, he constantly argued with Lee (on and off the set), if it weren't for him capturing Lee's movements on film, the world would have never gotten to see just how talented of a martial-artist he really was. Remember, he was one of Golden Harvest's top directors and one of the most trusted.
They were a struggling film company in the beginning, it wasn't until after Lee's first film did Golden Harvest become famous. Breaking all previous records for films in Asia, not only did this help Lee's standing, it helped Lo Wei's place as a top director at a major studio. It's very rare for a director (of kung fu films) to gain as much recognition as the leading star, but in him, we found the impossible was very possible, indeed. After his film company went bankrupt, he started producing films, giving us some of the genre's best Independent classics like Big Boss Of Shanghai, Rebellious Reign, Deadly Challenger, Bloody Tattoo, and Blade Of Fury (one of the last films he worked on before his death in 1996).
[ 36 Most Influential ]