I wasn’t born
when this movie was made back in 1978, but this is one of the films that helped
shape Jackie Chan into the comedic action star we’ve come to know him as. Plus,
it's just a fun movie to watch.
This movie
introduced some extremely memorable characters, with the bad guy being so
strong that it was nearly impossible to beat him. The action and cinematography
were done differently than in foreign films, with no need to change the camera
angles during the fights—just a single camera focus. Add to that the story,
which was written in a simple fashion to appeal to a wide range of audiences.
Another thing to
watch in this movie is the fight choreography, which is top-notch.
Seen as one of the best martial arts movies, this film follows the tale of Chinese folklore hero Wong Fei-hung. Here, we discover how he learned drunken boxing. In this movie, Fei-hung is portrayed as a spoiled brat—always cheating people, getting into fights, and trying to get a one-up on everyone.
Fei-hung gets
into another scuffle and beats up a hooligan who is the son of an influential
man. This angers the father, who decides to punish him by sending for a martial
arts trainer called Beggar So.
Beggar So is
known for being a tough trainer, having crippled numerous students during
training. Fei-hung decides to run away to avoid Beggar So. His escape would
have worked if he hadn’t run into Beggar So on his path.
So is as brutal
as they come and trains Fei-hung hard. Meanwhile, on the other side of town,
Fei-hung's father is facing trouble, as someone is trying to kill him.
This movie was a
financial success and a critical one, too. It wasn’t until years later, in
1994, that Jackie Chan did a follow-up to this movie called The Legend of
Drunken Master.
This movie is a keeper,
and it is something you can watch again and again. It maintains a nice pace
through its almost two-hour runtime, and seeing a young Jackie Chan pull off
all the fluid martial arts moves and jumps we've come to know him for is a real
treat. Now the make-up in this movie could have been done better, but you must
try to ignore it to enjoy the movie.
If you haven’t
seen this movie recently, I advise you to watch it to get a feel for a young
Jackie Chan doing what he does best: entertaining.
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