Drunken Master

We’re going to have a smash-hit over the course of the next couple of months, which is something I have never done before. This time we’re going to look at one of the best martial arts actors of all time, Jackie Chan. He’s the perfect successor to Bruce Lee, who has done all of his stunts and has broken practically every bone and has survived. Let’s jump right in with the 1978 breakout film, “Drunken Master.”

Amongst the “Rush Hour” trilogy and “The Spy Next Door” of his more recent career, it’s easy to forget that Jackie Chan was once the rightful descendant to cinema’s greatest martial artist, Bruce Lee.” Christopher Machell said in his review, “Eureka’s new release of the 1978 Drunken Master, one of Chan’s earliest and best pictures, is a sure-fire reminder of his status as cinema’s prince of kung fu. Where Lee’s classic films were semi-serious affairs, typically combining crime, intrigue and philosophy, Chan’s modus operandi has always been comedy, with Drunken Master more slapstick than fist of fury.”

Chan plays the biographical 19^th Century martial artist Wong Fei-Hung, who in the film is a prankster to his kung fu master and showing off to his friends. Machell said, “On paper, there’s little to like about the feckless Fei-Hung, but Chan invests a typically guileless charm to the role, making his Fei-Hung almost sympathetic as he ducks out of huge restaurant bills, cuts corners in his training and generally acts the clown.” After humiliating the son of a rich noble, Fei-Hung’s father sends him to train with the infamous kung fu master Beggar So, played by Siu Tin Yuen, whose rough reputation slightly leads his heavy drinking. Machell mentioned, “After a fracas in a restaurant, the drunken beggar reveals himself, Yoda-style, as the Master So, who promises to train Fei-Hung for a year.” Meanwhile, the scary contract killer Yim Tit-sam, played by Jang Lee Hwang, is hired by an enemy of Fei-Hung’s father to get rid of him. However, given Fei-Hung’s prankster ability – and a humiliating early fight with Tit-sam – it’s unlikely whether he’ll ever be able to become a true kung fu master. Machell said, “Despite the high-stakes, Drunken Master is in no hurry to get to its destination, the plot languorously winding through a series of loosely connected vignettes. At nearly two hours, the film’s charm wears thin in parts, and Chan’s gurning is only funny for so long.”

Machell continued, “But the film’s longueurs are easily forgivable when set next to such captivating martial arts choreography.” “Drunken Master” was directed by Yuen Woo-Ping – who would later choreograph “The Matrix’s” fight scenes – so it’s undeniable that the action here is good, but the unmatched dance movement of Chan and his co-stars is just mind-blowing. Even Beggar So jokes that Fei-Hung’s kung fu is more like dancing than fighting, but when the steps are this beautiful, who’s to complain? The final kung fu fight is as complex and long as you would think.

Machell complimented, “As Fei-Hung fights Yim Tit-sam with the styles of the eight drunken gods, it’s a comedy-action bit that is easily as thrilling and stylish as if it were played straight. It’s true that some of the film’s comedy is a little broad, and the film’s laconic plot is baggy compared to the pacey intrigue of your typical Bruce Lee flick, but there’s no denying Chan’s charm as a performer, nor the beauty of the astonishing skill captured by Woo-Ping’s camera.” Funny, exciting, and little lengthy, “Drunken Master” is as likable as it is disturbed, but its martial arts choreography is still one of the best.

If you haven’t seen this film and you’re a Jackie Chan fan, then you should see it. If you got into Jackie Chan during the 90s and early 2000s, like I did, then you should definitely see his older movies, starting with this one. That way, you can see how he was like. This is one of the greatest films ever made and you need to see it.

Much later on, they made a sequel to this movie. If you want to know how that one is, stay tuned next week to find out in “Jackie Chan Month.”