Drunken Master
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Movie Reviews of Drunken Master
Movie Review: go but it is rated pg 13
Summary: 5 Stars
this is one of the best movies but its rated pg 13 not r i own this movie and
it says pg 13
Movie Review: Excellent purchase
Summary: 5 Stars
arrived in a month, which is normal for me. And the dvd was in excellent conditions.Movie Review: "I'm drunk with inner strength!"
Summary: 4 Stars
There's any number of reason to like international film star Jackie Chan...his superior athletic ability, infectious sense of humor, personable charm, but I think the one element that endears him to me is his willingness to put himself in the position of serious physical harm in order to entertain the audience. Sure there are attempts to minimize the risks to some degree (meticulous planning and repetitive practicing), and given Chan's incredible physical prowess he's less likely to suffer harm than say I would trying to do half the things he does, but despite these factors, there is still the notion that with many of his stunts, particularly in his later films, he's always about a hair away from killing himself. Anyway, directed by Woo-ping Yuen, who would later choreograph action scenes for the Matix and Kill Bill films, Drunken Master (1978) aka Jui kuen stars Jackie Chan (listed in the credits as Jacky) and Siu Tien Yuen (the director's father).
The film begins as an assassin named Thunderleg, Master of the Devil's Kick, searching out his most recent target in that of The Champion of the Four Door Fist (not all, but a lot of the characters have titles like this). He finds him, a battle ensues, and one is left standing. We then cut to a scene featuring students practicing martial arts in a school. It's here we meet one of the pupils named Wong Fei-Hung (Chan), whose father actually runs the school. Wong appears fairly adept (after showing up one of the teachers), but lacks the discipline and humility to achieve beyond his current skills, which becomes obvious to his father after a series of incidents involving a local bully, among others. This leads Wong's father to request another to assume training of Wong in that of an older man who's rumored to be incredibly difficult and completely sadistic. Wong decides to run away, but ends up meeting his new teacher (Siu Tien Yuen), a master of the 8 Drunken Gods fighting styles, after an altercation at a restaurant. Wong begins his training with his new master, but soon runs off, as it's too difficult. This sets up a chance meeting between Thunderleg and Wong were Wong gets the thrashing of a lifetime and ends up returning to the Drunken Master, realizing his own skills are pitiful. This leads into a lengthy set of training sequences eventually leading to the Master teaching Wong the secret fighting tactics of the 8 Drunken Gods. As Wong's training is completed, we find out a contract has been taken out on his father, one to be fulfilled by Thunderleg, so now Wong must put his training to the test in the fight of his life (or death).
I think I should mention, as a number of reviewers have brought it up, something about the partial English dubbing within the film. The copy I received a little while ago has a little sticker on the back of the DVD case stating something in the way of `English substituted in some areas where original dialog track lost'. The effect is that when you're watching the film with the original Cantonese audio track, using English subtitles, there are scenes where the characters switch from Cantonese to really goofy sounding voices speaking English. This happens about three or four times, and it is a little annoying as it tended to draw me out of the film. I would have preferred that, if some of the original audio were lost, a re-recording in the same language as the original dialog...but whatever...now on to the film. The movie is crammed with excellent wall-to-wall fight scenes. There are momentary lapses devoted to working on the plot, but these quickly pass resulting in more fight sequences. I think my favorite sequence, besides the lengthy one at the end, featured Siu Tien Yuen in the restaurant, smacking assailants with a dishrag. Not only was it really funny, but almost hypnotic as he twirled that towel around before rat tailing someone in the face (in case you're not familiar, `rat tailing' means taking a wet towel, twisting it up, and snapping it at poor individual). Can anyone tell me what was up with that teacher Chan's character beats up on near the beginning? The guy had this mole on his face, one that had this set of really long hairs emanating from it, and the guy could often be seen playing with the hair, twirling it with his fingers...it was pretty disgusting. And what was the deal with that waiter from the restaurant? Was that the biggest set of buckteeth you've ever seen? I suppose these were some of what made up the comedic element of this film, but they weren't all that funny. What was funny was the scene where Chan's character is trying to learn the drunken fighting style of the lone woman god, doing so in a mocking fashion as he thought it was too effeminate. Another concept I found really funny was the whole notion of fighting styles based of being intoxicated, and the fact Wong's teacher was drunk throughout most of the film. The choreography in the fighting scenes is really spectacular as Chan not only displays that psuedo comic fighting style he's famous for, but also a lot of serious chop socky. Don't expect to see Chan doing any large scale, over the top stunts like leaping off building, as seen in his later films, but do expect lots of close up, smacky smacky action (he also takes the beating like no one I've ever seen).
The picture on this DVD is very good (some cropping), presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, enhanced for 16 X 9 TVs. The monaural audio is decent, but certainly nothing to brag about. Special features include a commentary track including Hong Kong film expert Ric Meyers and Jeff Yang, a co-author of Chan's autobiography. Also included are trailers for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Time and Tide (2000).
Cookieman108
Movie Review: One of the Best
Summary: 4 Stars
Drunken Master 1978
Cast: Jackie Chan, Simon Yuen Siu Tin, Hwang Jang Lee, Dean Shek Tien
Director: Yuen Woo Ping
Writer: Hsiao Lung
This picture directed by the famed fighting choreographer Yuen Woo Ping is one of the best kung fu comedy today. It includes Jackie Chan and one of my personal hero's in the old school martial arts Simon Yuen Siu Tin. He Is the original master in these movies for example Blind fist of Bruce. One of my favorite movies by the Bruce lee clones. This is one of Yuen first directing jobs before he was commissioned bye American fat heads to try to liven up there garbage with his flawless fight choreography skills.
This Jackie' take on the Canton born Chinese hero Wong Fei Hong. Movies before this about legendary Wong Fei Hong who was a master in the Hung Gar Boxing were very traditional in terms of keeping the already legendary persona of traditional film. Cantonese entertainment depicted him sense the turn of the century. Jet Li did wonder rendition of Wong in film produce by Tsui Hark called Ounce Upon a time in China. After seeing the success of this film Jackie decided to make Drunken Master 2 to show he was the best at there depiction of Wong. This is the original and you can almost feel it. However there is only and difference he plays it for laughs. This is probable the first films which depicted Wong Fei Hong like a misfit who doesn't fit in. Beware this version is cut however as stated in the commentary this is a version brought straight from Hong Kong? (Or it could be that the tryed to Americanize it)Bastards. So to see the films in its whole entirety you will have to go else were. To next reason why you should by this is the commentary, which by itself stands alone. There's Ric Meyers, the author Great Martial Arts Movies from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan, and Jeff Yang the co-author of I am Jackie Chan My Life in Action. I'm actually a big fan Ric Meyers and value his opinions and views.
Movie Review: Classic Chan, Classic DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
Quite possibly the most important Kung-Fu comedy of all time, Drunken Master sealed Jackie Chan's super-stardom in history forever. In the film, it's quite obvious that he had much more freedom and control over the creative aspects, mainly in the character he played (a very different version of the much revered Chinese hero Wong Fei-Hung) and the Kung-Fu choreography itself. With him and director Yuen Woo Ping being very young at the time, they really let the creative juices flow.The DVD itself is quite impressive. The picture is incredibly clear and sharp, by far the greatest version of the film available in North America. Columbia Tri-Star must've recognized the overall value of the film, and thus decided to leave it uncut. The extras are pretty decent as well, although they're no where near as good as those available in the European HK Legends series DVDs.
Now onto an aspect that many people have found rather bothersome. The DVD comes with both Cantonese and English soundtracks, with a list of subtitles as far as the eye can see. The English dubbing is actually rather charming, with the camp level just good enough to appreciate. Fei-Hung and Sam Seed are both memorable characters in the film, and thank God that the dubbing didn't ruin the atmosphere. The Cantonese track on the other hand, is quite poor. The music and voices have a scratchy quality to them. But the worse part is that the track is incomplete. For about a total of 15 minutes of the movie, the Cantonese track is cut-in by the English track. Most probably due to the poor conservation of HK films, Columbia Tri-Star has tried their best to gives us a complete experience.
All in all, this DVD version of Drunken Master is worth owning. The positives heavily outweigh the negatives here, and if you're a Kung-Fu fan, let alone Jackie Chan fan, then it should be your duty to own this DVD.