Review of Drunken Master (1978) by Xing W — 01 Nov 2009

Without a single doubt in my mind, I can name this as one of the greatest martial arts classics of all time. If you are not associated with the term, ?martial arts classic? you should know that nit is not exactly synonymous with great film making. I think that some of their cinematic inequities can be overlooked because of the impact that they have had on the film industry, but I don?t think that anything has to be overlooked for this film. Drunken Master tells the story of the mischievous Wong Fei Hung (Chan), who decides one day to commit an act that would shame his father so much, that he would be forced to severely punish Fei Hung. Well, after several methods of discipline do not succeed in quelling Fei Hung?s poor behavior, his father hires Fei Hung?s great uncle, Su Hua Chi, to discipline and boy and simultaneously teaches him a secret kung fu style. Fei Hung is desperately opposed to this, but ultimately ends up in Su Hua Chi?s hands, and begins to learn the basics for Drunken Boxing.

This is one of the films that elevated Chan into stardom in the late 1970s. After the huge success of Yuen Woo Ping?s Snake in Eagle?s Shadow, he decided to collaborate with many of the same actors again to create this film. Some may notice the similarities between the two films, and they would be right to say that Drunken Master is a lot like Woo Ping?s previous film. However, I would argue that Drunken Master has its own flair and style, which has actually made it more famous than its predecessor. There is something about Drunken Boxing that many seem to find attractive; this film even made 33rd place in the top 100 Chinese films of all time by the Hong Kong Film Awards. In terms of basic elements, Drunken Master is fairly well shot; I could see the moves of the fights very well, and these fights were not the stereotypical slow fights of 1970s Hong Kong kung fu movies, these fights were well paced. The choreography for the feature is nothing short of incredible. There are many battles throughout the feature, and every single one of them is well crafted and thoroughly entertaining. Chan is in peak performance as Wong Fei Hung, showing us just how much martial arts prowess the man has. Siu Tien Yuen, who was almost eighty in this film, is also in peak performance; I mean he did some absolutely incredible feats of acrobatics for someone his age. Yuen Woo Ping makes some of the best martial arts comedies in film, and this is a grand showing of that talent. The film is hilarious, and as a comedy the acting, script, and plot were very well developed and assisted the film as both a comedy and an action feature. Perhaps the only low point of the feature is actually the music. It fits the mood, but becomes repetitious as the film goes on. However as I have said, the fights are brilliant, the comedy is funny, and the movie is great fun.

I absolutely love this film. This is easily one of my favorite features of all time, let alone one of my favorite martial arts features. I heartily recommend this to anyone looking for a great time with a movie, and if you love martial arts movies, this is one of the most vital films in the genre. To me, the score that I give it is painfully lower than what I personally would love to give it, but for the sake of objectivity I give Drunken Master 8.0 stars out of 10.