Jui kuen (1978)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Woo-ping Yuen

Writers:

Hsiao Lung (writer)
See-Yuen Ng (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 1978 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Comedy | Action

Plot:

An undisciplined boy must learn Drunken Fist Kung Fu in order to stop an assassin.

Plot Keywords:

Master | Kung Fu | Fight | Slapstick | Revenge

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Wong Fei-Hung (as Jacky Chan)
Siu Tien Yuen	...	Su Hua Chi / Sam Seed
Jang Lee Hwang	...	Thunderleg
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tien Lung Chen	...	Bully
Ching Chiang
Ging Man Fung	...	Mr. Li
Hsia Hsu	...	King of Bamboo
Chiao Lin
Linda Lin	...	Fei-hung's aunt
Ying Li
Dean Shek	...	Professor Kai-Hsien
Fu Tsan Shih
Kien Shih
Han Chen Wang
Casanova Wong
Pan Pan Yeung
Brandy Yuen
Shun-Yee Yuen	...	Chen Kuo-Wei

Also Known As:

Drunken Master (International: English title) (video title) (UK) (USA)
Challenge (India: English title)
Drunken Fist (Hong Kong: Mandarin title) (literal title)
Drunken Monkey in the Tiger's Eyes (Hong Kong: English title)
Eagle Claw, Snake Fist, Cat's Paw, Part 2
The Drunken Master (Philippines: English title)
Zui quan (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence and language.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | South Korea:12 | UK:12 (video rating) (2007) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | West Germany:16 (heavily cut) | UK:X (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) | USA:R (original rating)

Company:

Seasonal Film Corporation

Trivia:

For many of the more athletic sequences, the 66-year-old Siu Tien Yuen was doubled by his sons, Cheung-Yan Yuen and director Woo-ping Yuen.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After Won Fei Hung is beaten by Thunderleg and offered Beggar Su some wine, he drops the bowl, and Su catches it. If you slow-mo the DVD, for a split second you can see that the bowl goes past Su's foot, which is coming up to catch it. The film then cuts to a shot where the bowl is on Su's foot.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Dancing Master (1979)

Just mountains of fun...

Considered a classic of the kung fu genre, Jackie Chan's Drunken Master is everything I thought a kung fu movie would be: poor acting, worse humour (it's hilarious still ala Neil Hamburger) and superhuman fighting. It just gels so well together that I don't know why I have missed seeing this movie for so long.

The longer the film runs, the more ridiculous it gets yet it doesn't lose sight of the fact that it is to entertain and provide a spectacle. The Matrix boasted great fight scenes but even with their expensive technology, they couldn't beat this little killer from twenty odd years ago.

Essential viewing.