Movies about Legendary Street Heroes

Lives of `legendary street heroes` are now being made into movies. The `real men`s world` boom sparked by the TV series `the Outcast` now seems to spread into large screens. While the gangster comedy boom is dying down, stories about real-life legendary figures have begun to catch on.

`Fist of Chosun,` a story about Sirasoni who ruled the streets in late Chosun years, is now being made in a movie by director Kim Tae-gyun, centering on fictional episodes about young Sirasoni. The production team is now building a big set in China and the shooting is set to begin in late March. The release is scheduled for around Chuseok holidays and actors like Lee Jung-jae and Yang Dong-guen have shown interest in playing the legendary fighter.

`The Wind Fighter,` a move about the life of Korean Japanese Choi Bae-dal (real name Choi Young-ui) who promoted karate throughout the world by beating the world`s fieriest fighters, will be cranked in next month with signer Rain playing the leading role.

`Shin in Myung-dong,` directed by Jung Cho-shin, will tell the story of Shin Sang-sa, who took the helm of Myung-dong street in the 1960s after Kim Doo-han. Actor Kim Sang-jung has joined the movie set to release later this summer.

Director Song Hae-sung will make a movie about the legendary wrestler Yeokdosan (Kim Shin-rak) who lived through the Japanese colonial rule. The Korean-Japanese joint work will be a human story of an anti-hero who struggled to survive in the cold-blooded street world like `Scar Face.` The shooting is set for this summer and actor Seol Gyung-gu is being named the best candidate.

Director Jung of `Shin in Myung-dong` changed the original concept of the movie, which was a gangster comedy, to a drama about a real-life hero when he was asked to direct the film.

˝For the last few years, we have seen enough of gangster comedies, and now the audience seems to grow tired of them. Hero action movies, in contrast, are dramas that have the most-favored elements of action and romance in it. I believe chivalric heroism, fights and men`s world like the TV series `the Outcast` will become a new trend,˝ said Jung.

Comic book writer Bang Hak-ji have been recreating legendary street heroes into popular comic books such as `the Wind Fighter (about Choi Bae-dal),` `the Son of the Wind (Sirasoni) and `the Blood and the Flower (Yeokdosan)`.

˝Put them into two categories between `members of gangs` and `lone fighters,` Kim Doo-han and Sirasoni are more like lone fighters who stuck to the rules of the men`s world. Yeokdosan and Choi Bae-dal were Korean heroes during the time of the Japanese colonial rule. While the society become more unit-based, people have this tendency to look back and miss the old good times of loyalty and simple rules. The boom of street hero movies seems to reflect this tendency,˝ said Bang.

˝The old-fashioned style is back in pop culture, especially in movies. And movies about legendary street figures have a potential of becoming a big hit by luring middle and old-aged men as well as meets the need for and comfort tired men who are looking for fantasy,˝ said movie analyst Sim Young-seop.

Hee-Kyung Kim susanna@donga.com