The better part of twenty-five years ago my friends and I went through a Kung-fu movies phase, largely focussed on the work of Jackie Chan as he was at the height of his Hollywood fame and his films tended to be more generally entertaining and less serious than many in the genre, and it was then I first saw a version of Yuen Woo-ping’s 1978 film, Drunken Master.
Now watching the 2017 Eureka special edition release of the film, I suspect the version I’d seen previously was a somewhat truncated one and, almost certainly, featured some rather poorly translated, if more exploitatively entertaining, dubbing and subtitles, so this time round I opted for the original Cantonese audio and its equivalent English subtitles.
From the start this made the plot and who the characters were make a lot more sense as we first meet, in rural, nonspecifically historical China (albeit with some terrific 1970s hairstyles), a mysterious assassin who’s method of execution seems to be a vicious flying kick which gives him his sobriquet, Thunderleg (Hwang Jang Lee).
We then switch to a Kung-fu training school where we meet our hero, Wong Fei-hung (Jackie Chan) who we follow through a series of episodic scenes where his youth, inexperience and arrogance lead him to trouble, including being disowned and banished by his father who runs the school.
Seemingly this is all based on a traditional Chinese folk hero who did actually exist though the story as a whole is fiction, I guess a little like people think Robin Hood is in England, as Fei-hung (sometimes called Freddie in different westernised translations) then encounters Beggar So (Yuen Sui-tien) who’s character really gives the film its title.
Really though, as you might expect, in depth plot and characters are not really what Drunken Master trades on or what has given the film its formidable reputation.
From the very start pretty much every scene features a fight sequence and they are all spectacular, and generally shot in long takes so we can actually see what is happening (all with the classic Kung-fu movie wood block-like sound effects).
This might sound like it would get tiresome but each is so well constructed that they are all different and range from the genuinely intense and dangerous feeling to those played more for laughs with a classic slapstick style referencing Buster Keaton and The Three Stooges (a Chan speciality) so, while they may feel a little familiar watching them now, back in 1978 they were ground breaking and, arguably, helped develop the more modern style of fight sequence filming and choreography still seen in more mainstream action cinema.
While there are moments where the tonal shifts are a bit jarring to keep the plot moving, once Fei-hung and Beggar So are together the entertainment value switches up another level and, somehow, Chan manages to find humour in some genuinely astonishing feats of physical strength and control.
This all culminates in a final showdown that features an exhibition of the style referenced in the title while also having a strong moral to it, in classic folklore storytelling fashion, and makes for a film that still stands up, within its generic style at least, and features some terrific slapstick humour mixed in with fight scenes that would put any to shame.
Tommy Girard 
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