Drunken Master: Jui Kuen (Literal translation Drunken Fist). Hong Kong 1978. Dir Yuen Woo-ping. With Jackie Chan, Simon Yuen Sui-tien, Hwang Jang Lee, Dean Shek Tien. 111 mins. In Cantonese with English subtitles.
The ground breaking martial art films that broke Jackie Chan as a superstar…
It’s easy to forget what a breath of fresh air these two movies were to Hong Kong martial arts movies. After Bruce Lee’s untimely death too many imitated the ‘Little Dragons’ formulaic plot, looks and even name. Humourless, revenge driven flicks that failed to inspire audiences. Martial art films were losing favour fast. And it took a man originally billed as ‘the next Bruce Lee’ and even worked with the same director, Lo Wei, to turn it around. Jackie Chan.
In fact Wei and Chan’s first film together was New Fist Of Fury in 1976, a remake come sequel to Bruce’s second film with much of the original cast. Jackie was contracted to Wei’s production company and was going to be turned into a star. Only it didn’t happen. Nor did it happen with subsequent movies like Shaolin Wooden Men, To Kill With Intrigue and Snake And Crane Arts of Shaolin. Not only was Jackie still unsuccessful, he didn’t even like the films he was making. His only joy had been Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu (1978). An experimental film made with young director Chen Chi Hua that mixed brilliant fight scenes with slapstick comedy, parodying other martial art films of the time. Wei was so unimpressed the film wasn’t released until a couple of years later. But Chan was beginning to find his particular niche.
By this time Wei despaired of ever making Chan a star as much as Chan himself did of ever becoming one. He agreed to lone Chan to Ng See-Yuen’s Seasonal Films for the duration of two movies. ‘N.G.’ struck gold in his first move, teaming Chan with director Yuen Woo-ping. Woo-ping, who would later gain international fame for his work on The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, had been a pupil of the same Chinese opera school as Chan some years before hand. They both understood the need for showmanship in fight scenes, of thrilling the audience with something they had never seen before. Between Chan and the fight choreography of Woo-ping and Hsu Hsia they did just that.
In Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow Jackie plays Chien Fu, a sort of Cinderella. An orphan at a school only entrusted with cleaning, never allowed to learn any of the kung fu techniques himself he’s bulled by one of the masters. After saving the life of Pai Chang-tien (played by Woo-ping’s late father, Simon Yuen), a forgotten master of the Snake’s Fist style, Chien gets taken under his wing to learn under him. As long as he never uses the style in public. Of course he does, bringing him to the attention of Shangkuan I-yun (Hwang Jang lee). Shangkuan wants to prove just how superior his deadly claw technique is by irradiating every exponent of the Snake’s Fist style. Which he’s pretty much done, save Chien’s new master Pai. To defeat him, Chien must create his own style, combining Pai’s with ‘the cat’s claws’ to comic effect.
Capitalising on Snake’s success, Drunken Master quickly followed. This time Chan played the young Wong Fei-hong. As a twist on the legend and popular subject in Hong Kong movies, Fei-hong isn’t the upstanding and trustworthy folk hero he would become. Rather a mischievous upstart close to disgracing the family name. (Not unlike Jet Li’s character in Fong Sai Yuk.) In need of a great deal of humility he is sent to Beggar Su (played by Simon Yuen) to learn the ‘Eight Drunken Gods’ technique. Fei-hong tries to escape, but returns humiliated by Yen Tieh-hsin (Hwang Jang Lee), ready to learn in earnest. But when Yen is contracted to kill Fei-hong’s father Wong Chi-ying, he must find his own combination of the style to gain an advantage.
Both films not only have the same cast, but almost identical plots. The difference being that in Drunken Master Chan already has a good knowledge of kung fu, so therefore the film itself becomes almost a non-stop martial arts fest. A strategy that paid off, since it not only equalled Snake’s returns, but greatly exceeded them.
Much of their success comes not only from the imaginative fighting styles, stances that mimic animals or intoxication, but the relationship created between Simon Yuen as master ad Jackie Chan the pupil. In both films Yuen puts Chan through some real arduous training sequences, utilising everyday objects around them. Often harsh, it eventually gives way to a believable tenderness between the characters, rather like a father and son. Undoubtedly influenced by Rocky, and the relationship between the characters played by Sylvester Stallone and Burgess Meredith, it would become a template for many martial arts movies to come. Who could forget the ‘Wax on wax off’ sequence from The Karate Kid? (Even if that was Rocky’s original director John G. Avildsen reclaiming his intellectual property.)
In both films the humour is very broad and can be pretty hard to take, especially if you’re not used to it. But the fight scenes are a lot of fun, and after the years of humourless uninspired drivel that had come before in martial arts movies it was greatly welcomed. The wheel had started to turn. There began to be a greater move towards freedom in Hong Kong movies, of going around if not beyond audiences expectations. Though it didn’t pay off till the ‘new wave’ of directors like Tsui Hark, John Woo and Ching Siu-tung really began to become successful in the mid-80s, a new dawn was approaching.
Chan was a star, soon the biggest in Asia. After the year or so it took him to break free of his contract with Lo Wei to a contract with Golden Harvest that allowed him to create the films he wanted to when he wanted to. (Keep in mind that few actors in Hong Kong produce as few as one or two movies a year. Ten or more is far nearer the standard.) With hindsight Jackie greatest flaw is that he himself feels too much pressure to pander to how his audience, too much pressure to play the character we expect him to play when he is capable of far more.
These films are history in the making, and of course soon many more followed in their wake. Essential viewing, particularly for real fans of martial arts, Jackie Chan or Hong Kong movies. You might also want to check out Half A Loaf of Kung Fu if you get a chance.
DVD details
Distributor: Hong Kong Legends (UK)
Early entries from the Hong Kong Legends label, these are well remastered and restored. Sadly both films do not show at their original 2.35:1 ratio except for opening titles, instead running at 1.85:1. (Though Drunken Master includes a deleted scene in it's original ratio.) Viewers familiar with more recent releases from the label may be disappointed with the amount of extras.
