Many Hong Kong actors and martial artists tried to fill the void left after the tragically premature death of Bruce Lee. None succeeded, but at least one of them managed to become an international star, and he did so mainly by building his own screen personality based on his very personal style of films. Jackie Chan began that process in the late 1970s by starring in films that mixed martial arts with physical comedy. One of the first such titles was Drunken Master, a 1978 comedy directed by legendary martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping.
The protagonist, played by Jackie Chan, is Wong Fei-hung (dubbed “Freddy Wong” in some versions of the film), a legendary Chinese martial artist and folk hero who lived in the second half of the 19th century. The plot shows his early days, when he was an irresponsible and mischievous youth whose lack of respect for teachers, local powerful men and his own family got him into all kinds of trouble. His father Wong Kei-Ying (played by Lam Kau, dubbed “Robert Wong”) has had enough and decides to punish him by sending him to be trained by a martial arts master known for his brutal discipline. Wong Fei-hung decides to prevent this by running away from home, but during his flight he ends up with a seemingly harmless old drunk who actually happens to be Beggar So (played by Yuen Siu-Tin, dubbed “Sam Seed”), the dreaded martial arts expert whose speciality is the kung fu technique known as “drunken boxing”. Wong Fei-hung predictably does not like his master’s discipline, so he escapes again, only to stumble into Thunderleg Yen Tie-hsin (played by Hwang Jan Lee, dubbed “Thunderfoot”), a brutal professional assassin whose martial arts skills prove to be superior to Wong’s. Wong is defeated and humiliated and is forced to return to Beggar So to finish his training, which comes at the right time, because Wong’s father happens to be Thunderleg’s target.
Viewers need to have at least some familiarity with 1970s Hong Kong cinema and its brand of martial arts films if they want to properly enjoy Drunken Master; otherwise, the relatively low budget, the lack of a proper plot and character exposition, as well as the lack of music, might leave the wrong impression on the uninitiated. Those who have some familiarity with the subject matter, on the other hand, will enjoy the combination of impressive martial arts choreography, slapstick and near-anarchic silliness. Both Jackie Chan and Yuen Woo-ping’s father Yuen Siu-Tin are impressive characters despite their one-dimensionality or, in Jackie Chan’s case, lack of consistency. Drunken Master turned out to be a great hit in Hong Kong and played a big part in popularising “drunken boxing”, spawning a number of martial arts films trying to repeat its formula. Drunken Master became one of the most popular films in Jackie Chan’s career, and even those accustomed to his later, more polished and sometimes less formulaic action films will be impressed by the skill displayed in his early days.
RATING: 7/10 (++)
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