Drunken Master

Drunken Master
Original Hong Kong movie poster
Traditional	醉拳
Simplified	醉拳
Mandarin	Zuì Quán
Cantonese	Zeoi3 Kyun4
Directed by	Yuen Woo-ping
Produced by	Ng See-yuen
Written by	Lung Hsiao Ng See-yuen Yuen Woo-ping
Starring	Jackie Chan Yuen Siu-tien Hwang Jang Lee
Music by	Chow Fu-liang
Cinematography	Chang Hui
Editing by	Pan Hsiung
Distributed by	Seasonal Film Corporation
Release date(s)	5 October 1978 (1978-10-05)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese

Drunken Master, also known as Drunk Monkey In The Tiger's Eye, is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang Lee. The film was a success at the Hong Kong box office, earning two and a half times the amount of Chan's previous film, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, which was also considered a successful film.^[1][2] It is an early example of the comedic kung fu style for which Jackie Chan became famous. The film popularised the Zui Quan (醉拳, "drunken fist") fighting movement.

Background

The film's protagonist Wong Fei-hung was a Chinese martial artist, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and a revolutionary who lived towards the end of the Qing Dynasty. He became a Chinese folk hero and the subject of several Hong Kong television programmes and films. Beggar So, who plays a supporting role in the film, is also another character from Chinese folklore and one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. The Beggar So character is often cast as an associate of Wong Fei-hung or Wong's uncle.

Plot

The plot centers on a young and mischievous Wong Fei-hung (sometimes dubbed as "Freddie Wong"). Wong runs into a series of troubles. Firstly, he teaches an overbearing assistant martial arts teacher a lesson. Next, he makes advances on a woman to impress his friends, and is soundly thrashed by her older female guardian as a result; his shame is compounded when these two are later revealed to be his visiting aunt and cousin, whom he had not met before. Lastly, he beats up a hooligan who is the son of an influential man in town. His father decides to punish him for his behavior by making him train harder in martial arts.

Wong's father arranges for Beggar So to train his son in martial arts. Beggar So has a reputation for crippling his students during training so Wong flees from home in an attempt to escape his punishment. Penniless, he stops at a restaurant and tries to con a fellow patron into offering him a free meal. As he was about to leave after his meal, he discovers that the man is actually the owner of the restaurant. He fights with the owner's lackeys in an attempt to escape. An old drunkard nearby is drawn into the fight and helps him escape. The drunkard turns out to be Beggar So, the Drunken Master. (Beggar So is known in some versions of the film as Sam Seed, So Hi or Su Hua-chi)

Beggar So forces Wong into his brutal and rigorous training programme. Wong flees again to avoid the torturous training and runs into the notorious killer Yan Ti San (known in some versions as Thunderfoot or Thunderleg) by accident. Yan is known for his "Devil's Kick", a swift and deadly kicking style which has never been defeated. Wong provokes and challenges him to a fight and is soundly defeated and humiliated. He makes his way back to Beggar So and decides to commit himself to the Drunken Master's training program.

The training resumes and soon Wong learns Beggar So's secret style of martial arts, a form of Drunken Boxing called "The Eight Drunken Immortals", named after the eight mythological figures that the fighting style emulates. Wong masters seven of the eight styles with the exception of Drunken Miss Ho's as he feels that her style of fighting is too feminine.

Meanwhile, Yan Ti San is contracted by a business rival to kill Wong's father. Wong's father fights with Yan and is defeated and injured by him. Wong and Beggar So arrive on the scene on time and Wong continues the fight with Yan. Beggar So promises not to interfere in the fight. Wong employs the new skill he learnt and outmatches Yan's kicking style. Yan then resorts to his secret technique, the Devil's Shadowless Hand, which Wong is unable to defeat. Wong confesses that he did not master the last style so Beggar So tells him to combine the seven styles and create his own version of the last style. Wong follows the instruction and discovers his own unique style of Drunken Boxing, which he eventually uses to defeat Yan and become the new Drunken Master.

Cast

• Jackie Chan as Wong Fei-hung / Freddy
• Yuen Siu-tien (or Simon Yuen) as Beggar Su Hua Chi / Sam Seed
• Hwang Jang Lee as Thunderleg
• Lam Kau as Wong Kei-ying
• Fung Ging Man as Mr Li
• Hsu Hsia as King of Bamboo
• Linda Lin as Freddie Wong's aunt
• Dean Shek as Professor Kai-hsien
• Yuen Shun-yi as Chen Ko-wai
• Tong Jing as Wong Fei-hung's cousin

Fight scenes and martial arts

A number of notable fights are featured in the film, almost all of them with strong elements of comedy - from the game of Keep Away with Wong Kei-ying's cocky, but incompetent, assistant kung fu instructor, to the novel "head-fu" fighting style used by one of his opponents. The film features the Hung Ga system of fighting, which was historically practiced by Wong Fei-hung and his father Wong Kei-ying, both of whom are major characters in the film. The animal styles of Snake, Crane, and Tiger performed in the film are derived wholly from the Hung Ga system and bear only a tangential relationship to the Fujian White Crane, Lama Pai (Tibetan White Crane), Black Tiger, and Snake systems of kung fu. Monkey style kung fu, popular in Southern Chinese martial arts performances, is also shown briefly.

Numerous systems of kung fu include "Drunken Boxing" forms (e.g. Choi Lei Fut and Drunken Monkey), and the Taoist Eight Immortals are popular staples of Chinese culture and art. However, the "Eight Drunken Immortals" forms depicted in this film are likely the creation of director and choreographer Yuen Woo-ping and based on routines found in other systems.

The primary villain in Drunken Master is played by Hwang Jang Lee, a Korean martial artist specialising in Taekwondo and known for his high-flying kicks, which are prominently displayed in the film. The systems of "Devil's Kick" and "Devil's Shadowless Hands" employed by Thunderleg are entirely fictitious.

Box office

Drunken Master earned an impressive HK $6,763,793 at the Hong Kong box office.^[1]

Sequels and spinoffs

• Drunken Master was a semi-sequel to the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, which featured the same cast and director.
• Drunken Master II (1994) did star Jackie Chan, and is often considered a sequel. The US release of the film in 2000 was entitled The Legend Of Drunken Master.
• In 1979 Yuen Siu-tien reprised the role of Beggar So in the film Dance of the Drunk Mantis, which is entitled Drunken Master Part 2 (not to be confused with Drunken Master II noted above) in some releases. The film, which was again directed by his son, Yuen Woo-ping, does not feature Jackie Chan, focusing instead on the drunken beggar character rather than on Wong Fei-hung. It is therefore generally considered to be a spinoff rather than a true sequel.
• Yuen played this same role again in the films Story of Drunken Master and World of the Drunken Master.
• In 2010 Yuen Woo-ping returned to directing with True Legend which could be called prequel to Drunken Master as it explains why Beggar Su (played by Vincent Zhao) turns to drinking.

Imitators

As with many successful Hong Kong action films, several films were released in the wake of Drunken Master (and its sequel) that could be considered to trade on the fame of the original films. These had less in common with the original films than the spinoffs starring Yuen Siu Tien. They include:

• The Drunken Fighter (1978)
• Drunken Swordsman (aka Drunken Dragon Strikes Back) (1979)
• The Shaolin Drunken Monk (starring Gordon Liu) (1982)
• Drunken Tai Chi (directed by Yuen Woo-ping and starring Donnie Yen) (1984)
• Revenge of the Drunken Master (1984)
• Drunken Master III (aka Drunken Master Killer) - starring Andy Lau (1994)
• The Little Drunken Masters (1995)

It should be noted that not all films that feature the Zui Quan "Drunken Fist" style (or variations on it) can be considered as imitators of the Drunken Master films. Films such as Drunken Monkey (2002) may feature a drunken style of kung fu, and in the case of The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), the same principal star, but they have a fundamentally different plot and sufficiently different title to separate them from Drunken Master.

DVD versions

Drunken Master DVD cover

• On April 24, 2000, Hong Kong Legends released a DVD in the UK. The image is cropped from 2:35:1 to 1:78:1 and has the Mandarin soundtrack with dubtitles. However, it has a number of additional features including a deleted scene and an interview with producer Ng See-yuen.
• On April 2, 2002, Columbia Pictures released a DVD in the US. Despite a 2:35:1 image and the inclusion of the original Cantonese track, the audio is incomplete in some sections (reverting to the English dub) and contains dubtitles. There's an audio commentary by Ric Meyers and Jeff Yang.
• On March 18, 2004, HKVideo released a "Wong Fei Hung" DVD boxset in France containing this film (French title: "Le maître chinois") and two others. It contains a full 2:35:1 image and the Cantonese soundtrack. However, it contains slightly poorer image quality and no English subtitles.
• On April 30, 2004, Mei Ah Entertainment released a remastered DVD in Hong Kong (pictured right). It contains a 2:35:1 image, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 track, original Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track and Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track. Subtitles include Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and English. The missing Cantonese for the opening has been re-dubbed in Cantonese and the other missing Cantonese scenes as extended footage in Mandarin due to trouble of re-dubbing with new voice actors. Many short lines missing Cantonese had been removed. Special features include Extended footage, accessed during the film by selecting the wine jug icon when it appears on the right top corner, Mastering the Drunken Master, a 35 second music video with clips of Jackie Chan practicing the 8 Drunken Gods from the film, film synopsis and cast & crew.

PanMedia released a bootleg DVD that contains the complete Cantonese track.

Influence on popular culture

• In the Dragon Ball series, when the first tournament is held, Master Roshi is disguised as "Jackie Chun" and he tries to use a Drunken Fist technique on Goku. Akira Toriyama said that Drunken Master was one of his major inspirations for the Dragon Ball series.
• The Drunken Master was the title of a PC Engine fighting game released in 1987.
• In the Neo Geo video game Double Dragon the character Cheng-Fu and some of his movements are based on Wong Fei Hung, you can even see his master Su Hua Chi in some parts of the game.
• In the PlayStation video game Gex 2: Enter the Gecko in the level "Mao Tse Tongue" a poster on a wall says "Drunken Gecko I & II".
• The PlayStation game Jackie Chan Stuntmaster includes a bonus level in which he wears his traditional Drunken Master dress and drinks wine while fighting. He even gives the Drunken Punch as his charge punch throughout the game.
• In the Namco Tekken game series the character Lei Wulong copies Chan's Drunken Master fighting styles throughout the game play.
• In popular PC online game Guild Wars, there is a stance-skill called "Drunken Master" which temporarily increases movement and attack speed. This effect is doubled if character is drunk.
• In the games Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive 4 the moves of character Brad Wong are based on Zui Quan (Drunken Fist)
• In the PlayStation 2 video game Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance a character named Bo' Rai Cho used a drunken master fighting style in the game called "Drunken Fist".
• In the Xbox and computer game Jade Empire, the follower "Henpecked Hou" is a past-master of Drunken Boxing. The player can use this style when this follower is active, by picking up the jugs of wine that appear.
• In The King of Fighters series, the character Chin Gentsai was modeled after Su Hua Chi.
• In the Virtua Fighter series, the character Shun Di is a practitioner of Zui Quan.
• In the online game Rumble Fighter, there is a scroll called Drunken Master, in addition to a Zui Quan scroll, changing the user's punches and kicks to imitate a different form of Drunken Boxing, as well as the spinning ram (Crazy Corkscrew Opening Wine Bottle) and changing the user's throw (Stirring the Bottle).
• In the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, a kung-fu artist named Rock Lee has a special ability to go into a fighting style called "Drunken Fist." While in this mode the player attacks quicker and more aggressively with moves similar to that of Zui Quan.
• The PlayStation game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style featured Drunken Style fighting by one of its characters, ODB (Ol Dirty Bastard).
• The Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition optional rulebook Sword and Fist featured a prestige class called the Drunken Master. Characters of this class gained tactical advantage through weaving and staggering while inebriated, making his motions difficult to counter in a fight.
• A remix of the Nine Inch Nails song Wish samples a portion of the movie's score for the track.
• The Korean rap group Drunken Tiger uses lines from the film (specifically lines said by Yan Ti San after his first fight with Wong Fei Hung) in the rap track "Street Fighter".
• Jamaican musicians Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, and The Revolutionaries recorded a reggae song called Drunken Master which was released in 1981 by Island on an album called Sly and Robbie Present Taxi.
• In the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 game Dead Island the character Logan a Throwing Dagger, One Handed Weapon, and Martial Arts specialist has an ability under his third "Skill Tree" Called "Drunken Master" you can put 3 points into this ability, earning 1 point every time Logan gains a level through experience points. The "Drunken Master" ability allows Logans Damage to increase by 20%, 40% or 60% while intoxicated depending on how many skill points you put into that ability.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "HKMDb entry". Drunken Master (1978). http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5923&display_set=eng. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
2. ^ "HKMDb entry". Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978). http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5863&display_set=eng. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 

External links

	Hong Kong portal
	Film portal

• Drunken Master at the Internet Movie Database
• Drunken Master at AllRovi
• Hong Kong Fanatics: Jackie Chan