Drunken Master (1978) ***/*****
Here it is, the movie that signaled the arrival of the biggest Klown-Fu superstar of all time. A movie that was very clearly designed as a showcase for Jackie's inherently lovable clown like persona and physical skills.
Wong Fei-Hung is a mischievous, yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents, his frustrated father has him disciplined by a master of drunken martial arts.
For those wanting to witness prime Jackie Chan and his birth into the superstar he eventually became, this movie is unmissable and establishes the formula he would use to amazing success for a nearly 30 year stretch. During which he would gradually morph into a global superstar.
There's not a lot I can shed light on here or add to the overall discourse regarding this seminal film which heralded a new resource to exploit and rip-off. For a little while at least. Jackiesploitation would be the new new trend. Although one that failed to leave a lasting impact. Though if you are curious about Jackiesploitation, Gold Ninja Video has compilation available (At least as of 9/17/2024) of 10 movies in 480p spread across 3 blu-ray discs. There's also Fearless Hyena II that is available from 88 Films.
Anyway, basically this movie is the culmination of everything Jackie had been working towards and an encore performance from the key players from "Snake in the Eagles Shadow" , once again featuring Simon Yuen, in his signature role, as Jackie's mentor.
We also have a return performance by Dean Shek as the incompetent teaching assistant who is usually on the receiving end of Jackie's clowning.
Dean Shek is comedy gold, dude is just perfection as a befuddled foil for Jackie Chan.
Then of course there is the ultimate 70's bad guy, Hwang Jeong-Ri once again playing the role fairly straight forward. He's a bad guy, who just happens to live in the slightly farcical world of Jackie Chan movie characters. Of course, he might be a little ticked about his hair style. I know I would be. He went from looking bad-ass to looking like he was the slightly inebriated guy at the local Disco Club that claims to know Kung-Fu.
Okay, so that last line was probably uncalled for, but I will not apologize for it. His fashion choices were extremely distracting and I kept expecting him to bust a move while grooving to Donna Summers or something.
The fights were all amazing and just jaw dropping to watch, they alone are enough to recommend this movie.
My favorite bit performance in the movie though has to go to Linda Lin crane as Jackie Chan's aunt. She was absolutely perfect in her few precious minutes she had on screen. She laid the smackdown on Jackie and proves she was not to be taken lightly. A formidable force to be reckoned with.
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| No, seriously, don't mess with her. |
There's only one real drawback to the movie is that's it's quite obvious when they substitute a double for Simon Yuen. The wig for whatever reason doesn't really seem to fit the doubles and is distracting at times. His doubles were his sons Yuen Wo-Ping (The Director of the movie) and Cheung-Yan Yuen. It also results in slight changes in physique from scene to scene. Editing wise, it's done nearly seamlessly with only the wig giving the game away.
But that's a minor complaint, and shouldn't keep anyone from giving this extremely enjoyable film a spin.
Cast
Jackie Chan ... Wong Fei-hung (Freddy)
Simon Yuen Siu-Tin ... Beggar So (Sam Seed)
Hwang Jeong-Ri ... Thunderleg Yen Tieh-hsin (Thunderfoot)
Lam Kau ... Wong Kei-ying (Robert Wong)
Linda Lin Ying ... Fei-hung's aunt
Dean Shek Tin ... Kai Hsin
Chiang Kam ... Da Kuai-dai
Max Lee Chiu-Chun ... Kei-ying's student
Yuen Shun-Yi ... Chen Kuo-wei (Charlie Wei)
Fung Ging-Man ... Li Wan-hao
Tino Wong Cheung ... Jerry Li
San Kuai ... Iron Head Rat
Hsu Hsia ... King of Sticks Hsu Ching-tien
Jackie Chan will Return in Spiritual Kung Fu
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