During a span of seven years in the 1960s and 1970s, actor Cheng
Pei-pei made twenty-some films that redefined the Chinese martial
arts film, starting with King Hu’s 1966 film “Come
Drink With Me.”
“I did a lot of movies but no one recognizes them (as much
as) “˜Come Drink With Me,'” Cheng said.
“Today I’m still (making movies), I think, because of
King.”
Cheng made “Come Drink” when she was 19, and the
film propelled her into stardom. Last Saturday she appeared in
person for a screening of “Come Drink” along with
another film in which she plays the titular character,
“Golden Swallow.”
“I watched your film in Hong Kong when I was young,”
said a fan in the audience during the Q&A session at the
screening. “For a whole generation of girls in that day in
age, it was incredible to see a woman being a hero like that. It
really changed our thinking of what a woman should be.”
Cheng continues to exemplify a strong woman. She took time off
from starring in films to produce four children, many of whom are
now emerging film stars on their own. In fact, Cheng hopes to make
a sequel to “Come Drink,” which will star her as the
aging heroine with her daughters Marsha and Eugenia Yuan.
“I’m still the Golden Swallow,” Cheng said in
an interview in Melnitz. “King Hu is my teacher so I want to
do something to remember him.”
Cheng also is involved with a possible remake of Zhang
Che’s “Golden Swallow,” which John Woo wants to
direct. Woo was Che’s assistant director, and he later
continued Che’s style of making stories about violent male
bonding and suffering with peripheral female characters.
“Zhang Che always thought that women should be
feminine,” Cheng said. “Personally, I was very upset
about that. He didn’t want me to do a lot of parts, because
he thought it was too strong.”
Cheng is most recently known to mass audiences from Ang
Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” According
to Cheng, she was cast as the villainous Jade Fox early on.
“When Ang Lee wanted to make a martial arts movie, he
wanted to have three generations of martial arts women
together,” Cheng said. “That’s why he has me,
Michelle Yeoh, and the new generation, Zhang Ziyi.”
Cheng actually grew up in Shanghai, studying Chinese dance and
ballet. When she moved to Hong Kong, she joined the dance groups
there who were often cast in martial arts movies for their physical
talents. Cheng signed a contract with the Shaw Bros. film studio in
a system similar to 1930s MGM.
Today she continues to teach dance. Cheng is also a spokesperson
for Celestial Pictures, which purchased the 760-film catalog of the
Shaw Bros., which produced “Come Drink” and
“Golden Swallow.”
If Bruce Lee was the king of the martial arts film (Cheng still
considers him to be the best actor in the genre), then Cheng is
certainly the queen.
Sometimes that is too much for the opposite sex to handle.
“Men don’t like heroic women,” Cheng said.
“That’s why I don’t have a husband
anymore.”