In the United States, you can not know who the president is, but you can't not know the New Yorker.

Since its inception, the magazine has been popular for its spicy satire and its relevance to society.

So much so that many journalism students who graduated from college are proud to be able to work in The New Yorker after graduation and become full-time employees here.

Pauline Kyle, who is thirty-two years old at Chinese New Year's Eve, has been in the industry for ten years.

She began working for the women's magazine Mercaine after graduating from Harvard, before being fired for writing negative reviews for the film The Sound of Music — which Kyle called "The Sound of Money."

At the same time, she also thinks that another musical film, "Long March Wanbao Mountain", is also bad.

In contrast, she considers the film version of the musical "The Violinist on the Roof" and especially "Cabaret" to be two of the greatest film musicals of all time.

Kyle began working for The New Yorker magazine in 1967, which gave her relatively large space and seemingly minimal editorial intervention, while also establishing her status as a leading critic.

Pauline Kyle herself thinks that her film reviews during this period are interesting because the movies themselves are hugely powerful.

In 1970, Kyle won a George Burke Award for her work as a critic for The New Yorker, which catapulted her reputation as a film critic.

So much so that many film companies were desperate, and even begged her to help write reviews for the movie that had just been released, because they knew that as long as Pauline put pen to paper, it would be difficult for them to make this drama even if they didn't want to be popular.

Unfortunately, Pauline is a stubborn woman who is in awe and sincere about her work and will never allow even the slightest bit of water.

So many movie bigwigs invited her to help write movie reviews failed, and then they loved and hated her.

But at the moment, Pauline is being taught a lesson in the editor-in-chief of The New Yorker.

The editor-in-chief is a serious white old man, and Pauline and the others privately call him "Mike Corleone".

Mike Corleone is the male pig's foot in the Oscar-winning movie "The Godfather", that is, the godfather who likes to turn the ring and pet the cat at any time.

The old man's editor-in-chief also has this hobby, turning the ring, petting the cat, and pretending to be very deep, especially when teaching subordinates.

"Pauline, do you know what you're doing wrong? You haven't written a great movie review for three weeks in a row! Damn, I pay you and you don't work, how is that like? The editor-in-chief held the cat in his arms and shouted angrily at Pauline.

Pauline was not afraid of him and shrugged: "It's not that I don't want to write, the problem is that now the whole of Hollywood, no, the whole of America has no movies worth commenting on!" Yes, the film market is so bad right now, I haven't seen so many bad movies at one time. ”

"Oh God!" The editor-in-chief covered his face, "You are a film critic, no matter whether those movies are bad or not, you have to complete your job, at least use your pen to write a few articles!" Otherwise, what are you doing in that section? Claim notice, whose cat or dog is lost and come to our newspaper to claim it? ”

Pauline pouted, "Okay, I'll try to write a review out, and now you pray to God that there will be a good movie this week." ”

"I'm praying for a fart! If you can't write it, I'll fire you!" Don't laugh, I do what I say! The editor-in-chief roared again.

Pauline couldn't help laughing, I don't know how many times I've been expelled like this. Although the editor-in-chief is serious and likes to pretend to be 13, he is still a good person.

……

"Pauline, would you like to have lunch together?"

Pauline left the editor-in-chief's office and began to pack up the materials on the table.

When the female colleague saw that she was in a bad mood, she took the initiative to invite her.

"No, I still have work to do."

"Did the godfather yell at you again? Don't go to your heart, he always does. ”

"It's okay, I know it's his job, it's mainly me...... Now I have to go see a few movies, and yes, I'm going to write a review as soon as possible! By the way, do you have any recommendations? ”

"I'm afraid I can't help you with this, you know, our aesthetics are too different from yours, and even on the contrary, we think it's a wonderful and good movie, but you think it's garbage, on the contrary, we think it's a garbage movie, but you think it's a good movie."

"Then it's the other way around, what are the garbage movies lately?" Pauline asked with a smile as she lifted her satchel.

The female colleague was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I heard that a Hong Kong movie is going to be released on Fox recently, and many movie bigwigs are not optimistic about it!" Yes, and call it garbage! No, it's garbage within garbage! ”

"Wow, there's such a thing?" Pauline wondered, "Before I Pauline Kyle admits it, any garbage movie could be Po!" ”

"Don't talk about it, I'll go and see first!" Pauline grabbed her handbag and walked away.

"You really don't eat lunch?" A colleague shouted from behind.

Pauline waved her hand back: "My food is the movie!" ”

……

Since "Raptors Across the River" is a pure Hong Kong movie, it is not available in cinemas in the United States, and tickets can only be purchased in Fox-owned theaters.

Pauline managed to take a taxi to find a Fox cinema, paid for it, got out of the car, and looked up to see that the entrance to the cinema was deserted.

"Looks terrible!" Pauline shook her head and said, "I heard that the Chinese boss of Fox spent a lot of money and did enough publicity, but I didn't expect that there were still not many people who came to watch the movie." ”

Pauline has long been accustomed to this kind of "racial discrimination" in the movie.

Hollywood-made films can sell well all over the world and become popular in Europe, Asia and Africa, but African films and Asian films have to depend on luck if they want to gain a foothold here.

Especially Asian movies, now the movies that can be played in the whole of Asia are Hong Kong except for Dongying, and Indian baby Hollywood is not counted, because Bollywood movies have long been infiltrated by Hollywood capital, and white is also beautiful in movies, and many Indian stars are of white blood.

"Miss, do you want to watch a movie? Should the ticket price be half discounted? ”

Pauline was surveying the movie theater when a white ticket seller popped up.

"Uh, so cheap?"

The white ticket seller smiled wryly: "This time I miscalculated!" My companions had warned me not to buy so many tickets like this, but I was fascinated by the tidbits of the show on TV, and oh my God, the first time I thought it was going to be a big hit! But now—"

The white ticket seller stalled his hand and swept around, "You also see that no one appreciates this Hong Kong movie shot by Chinese at all!" ”

Pauline smiled: "Since you choose to do this kind of business, you have to be a little conscious of losing money." took out his wallet, bought one, and said, "I hope this half-price ticket is worth this play." ”

The white ticket seller shrugged: "I can't guarantee this, since you choose a half-price ticket, you must have the consciousness of watching bad movies!" ”

Pauline smiled, stopped talking, and walked towards the cinema with the movie ticket in hand.

……

At the same time—

Many Fox movie theaters are showing this scene.

Except for a few movie theaters where Bruce Lee and others ran roadshows, the attendance rate of other movie theaters was basically less than half, and some large movie theaters had 500 seats, and only 70 or 80 people watched.

When they learned of Fox's strange "attendance", those Hollywood bigwigs were relieved.

"God, I knew this drama was a bad show, look at it, no one watched it!"

"The Chinese boss surnamed Du is finished, spending so much money on publicity, but now the attendance rate is less than half, haha!"

Paramount boss Carlos was even more relieved about this, "Maybe it's really me thinking more!" God, forgive me, I think the boss surnamed Du is too strong, and I think this Hong Kong movie is too good! Yes, God knows how bad it is now! ”

Carlos was in a happy mood, so he invited three or five friends to raise a glass directly at the largest hotel in Hollywood, and named the celebration party - "Dragon Roar", which means that no matter how much the dragon roars, it can't scare them Hollywood bigwigs.

Compared with Carlos and others toasting in celebration, the atmosphere on Fox's side was gloomy and even a little sad.

Ryder, as the president, as well as Mike Sr., the director of the company, and others are all worried, waiting for the word-of-mouth to come out after the premiere.

In Hollywood, the word-of-mouth of a drama is too important.

Although it is said that capital can control the film, the audience only likes to vote with their feet.

Even if you spend a lot of effort on capital, the audience doesn't buy it, it's still a bad movie, on the contrary, if the audience has a good reputation, then even if your drama is not favored by others, the box office will slowly rise.

……

One play, 120 minutes.

Not too long, not too short.

For the people of Fox, life is like a year, only Du Yongxiao, his face does not change, as if he has expected everything.

Ryder and others have to admire this Chinese boss, and in terms of determination, none of them are inferior.

Soon, the movie ended.

Du Yongxiao and Ryder, who were hiding behind the scenes, were silent, waiting to see the audience's reaction.

As the starring Bruce Lee, Luo Lishi and others were also so nervous that they stared at the audience.

"What's going on, so quiet?"

"Isn't it good-looking?"

"It's over!"

Ryder pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat vigorously.

Bruce Lee and Loris glanced at each other, and saw each other's loss and guilt.

This drama is very popular in Asia, is it not suitable for the water and soil, and it will die here?

Just when they are discouraged-——

Suddenly!

"Yay!"

"Great!"

The scene erupted in thunderous applause.

The 300 audience members stood up collectively, clapping and applauding vigorously at the stage and the screen.

"We ...... It worked? ”

Loris looked at Bruce Lee with a puzzled expression.

Bruce Lee looked at Du Yongxiao.

Fox President Ryder also looked at Du Yongxiao.

Du Yongxiao smiled slightly: "What are you still doing in a daze, hurry up and go to the stage to thank the audience!" ”

Look under the stage,

The lights came on, and the applause was like thunder.

……

On the streets of New York –

Pauline Kyle doesn't know how she got out of the cinema.

There were excited audiences everywhere, and they let out the "whistling sound" that only Bruce Lee had in the movie, and several young people imitated Bruce Lee's moves unscrupulously.

"What the hell did I just see?"

"God, is this a kung fu movie? Why is it so exciting? ”

Pauline kept asking herself, at this moment she kept thinking of some wonderful clips of "Raptors Across the River", and deep down she had an urge to hurry up and write a movie review.

"Yes, I can't take it anymore! I'm going to get started now! Pauline was impatient, and went straight to a McDonald's burger joint, and then didn't want anything, just took out her notebook, and wrote frantically on the table.

The movie clips in my mind, accompanied by Bruce Lee's wonderful kung fu figure, turned into paragraphs of text trickling on the manuscript.

When the waiter at McDonald's saw her like this, he wanted to ask her what she needed, but in the end he held back and didn't dare to disturb Pauline, who was working hard.

"The classic scene of the play "Raptors Crossing the River" is the end of the film. The place of the duel at the end is the Colosseum, and historically, the Colosseum was a place where gladiators and animals fought, and it was a place of entertainment for the audience and the aristocracy, who treated the gladiators as animals, locked them in cages, and fought tigers and lions, and at the end of the film, there is a cat watching humans fight, which is a clear contrast in the film. Bruce Lee chose this location to film the duel, which was obviously deliberate. ”

"The duel at the end of the film, Bruce Lee plays the role of Tang Long-—— by the way, why is the protagonist called Tang Long, because the Tang Dynasty is one of China's powerful and glorious dynasties, and the 'dragon' is also China's unique and most representative mythical beast. The duel between him and the character played by Loris is quite a bit of a "master duel, sympathetic to each other". ”

At the end, Loris gradually lost the upper hand due to excessive tension in the duel, until his arms and knees were broken, and Tang Long signaled that he did not need to continue fighting, because his opponent was crippled, and Loris still wanted to stand up and try to continue fighting Tang Long. In fact, he didn't want to continue to fight Tang Long, but begged for death, because he was crippled, and it was just a shame to live like this. ”

In the end, Luo Lishi roared and rushed towards Tang Long, begging Tang Long to kill him, and in the end, Tang Long had no choice but to fulfill him. Then the shot is a close-up of Tang Long's face, that kind of expression, a kind of helplessness. In the end, Tang Long put his clothes over him, to show that people should not die like animals, and also to show a little respect as his opponent. ”

In this way, inside the noisy McDonald's, Pauline Kyle only took ten minutes to write the film review of "Raptors Across the River".

She picked it up and reviewed it carefully, hoping to make some changes, but the writing was so good that she didn't even need to make changes.

"Excuse me, but where is the fax nearby?" Yes, I have important documents to pass on! Pauline asked the waiter for the first time.

The waitress looked at her in surprise and finally told her about the nearest copy shop.

Pauline didn't say a word, just went out with her bag, took a step, and ran frantically towards the copy shop.

Because she knows-——

This play,

It's going to explode!

(End of chapter)