This article will address the topic of Drunken Master, which has become increasingly relevant in today's society. From different perspectives and contexts, Drunken Master has become a point of interest for leaders, researchers, academics and the general public. Throughout history, Drunken Master has been the subject of discussion and debate, fueling conversations and questions that have led to significant advances in various areas. In this sense, it is essential to delve deeper into the analysis of Drunken Master, considering its current impact and the possible future implications that it allows us to glimpse. Thus, this article will seek to offer a comprehensive and updated vision of Drunken Master, with the purpose of promoting greater understanding and reflection on this topic that is so relevant in contemporary society.
Drunken Master | |||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 醉拳 | ||||||
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Directed by | Yuen Woo-ping | ||||||
Written by |
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Produced by | Ng See-yuen | ||||||
Starring | |||||||
Cinematography | Chang Hui | ||||||
Edited by | Pan Hsiung | ||||||
Music by | Chow Fu-liang | ||||||
Distributed by | Seasonal Film Corporation | ||||||
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes | ||||||
Country | Hong Kong | ||||||
Language | Cantonese | ||||||
Box office | US$16.5 million (est.) |
Drunken Master and also known as Drunken Master The Beginning Chinese: 醉拳; lit. 'Drunken Fist and Jui Kuen' is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping. The film features much of the same crew as Yuen's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow released earlier the same year, including lead actors Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang-lee; although narratively unrelated, Drunken Master bears similarities to Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in its story and style.
Drunken Master was a large success at the Hong Kong box office, earning two and a half times the revenue of the already-successful Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. It is considered an early milestone of the kung fu comedy genre that established Jackie Chan as one of Asia's most popular actors, and popularised the Zui Quan ("drunken fist") infused with a unique animal-fighting style. In 2017, it was ranked number 3 on GamesRadar's list of 50 greatest kung fu movies of all time. It spawned an official sequel, Drunken Master II (1994), and several spin-offs. It had a significant cultural impact, inspiring numerous later films, music, manga, anime and video games.
Wong Fei-hung (sometimes dubbed as "Freddie Wong") is a young and mischievous son, who runs into a series of troubles. Firstly, he teaches an overbearing assistant martial arts teacher a lesson, and later makes advances on a woman to impress his friends. He is consequently thrashed by her older female guardian. His is 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 turns out to be 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, Wong stops at a restaurant and tries to trick a fellow patron into offering him a free meal. As Wong 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 (who is known in some versions of the film as Sam Seed, So-Hi or Su Hua-chi), the Drunken Master. Beggar So forces Wong into his brutal and rigorous training programme, but he flees again to avoid the torturous training and runs into the notorious killer Yim Tit-sam (known in some versions as Thunderfoot or Thunderleg) by accident.
Yim 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 xian that the fighting style references. 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, Yim Tit-sam is contracted by a business rival to kill Wong's father. Wong's father fights with Yim and is defeated and injured by him. Wong and Beggar So arrive on time and Wong continues the fight with Yim. Beggar So promises not to interfere in the fight. Wong employs the new skills he has learned and outmatches Yim's kicking style. Yim then resorts to his secret technique, the Devil's Shadowless Hand, which is too fast for Wong 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 Miss Ho, which he uses to overcome the Shadowless Hand and finally defeats Yim.
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.
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.
According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Chan nearly lost an eye after his brow ridge was injured.
The theme song of Drunken Master is based on a Chinese folk song, "Under the General's Orders". Since Drunken Master, the theme song has been popularly associated with the folk hero Wong Fei-hung, who Jackie Chan plays in the film. It was later used in the 1983 film Winners and Sinners, starring Sammo Hung; it was played in a market scene whilst the Five Lucky Stars are watching two men demonstrating the beneficial effects of their medicines and their martial arts stances, in reference to Wong Fei-hung. "Under the General's Orders" later become the main theme song for the Once Upon a Time in China series starring Jet Li, who also plays Wong Fei-hung.
At the Hong Kong box office, Drunken Master earned an impressive HK$6,763,793 (US$1,445,255). It was the second most popular film in Hong Kong in 1978 behind the Hui brothers' The Contract and third on the all-time list.
In Japan, where it released on 21 July 1979, it became one of the year's top ten highest-grossing films, earning ¥1.9 billion (US$8.7 million). In South Korea, it was the highest-grossing film of 1979, with 898,561 box admissions in Seoul City, equivalent to an estimated ₩1,347,842,000 (US$2,784,800). The film also broke records in Malaysia and Singapore.
In Germany, where it was released as Sie nannten ihn Knochenbrecher ("They Called Him Bone Breaker") on 25 July 1980, it was the 41st highest-grossing film of the year, selling 584,312 tickets, equivalent to an estimated €1,460,780 (US$2,063,606). In Spain, the film sold 823,203 tickets, equivalent to an estimated €1,070,164 (US$1,489,989).
Combined, the film grossed an estimated total of approximately US$16,483,650 (equivalent to $77,000,000 in 2023) in East Asia and Europe.
As with several successful Hong Kong action films, a number of 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:
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.
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2010) |
The average admission fee in 1979 was 1,000 won for national films and 1,500 won for imports. (In 1982, the average increased to 2,000 won, or US$3.)
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The 1978 "Drunk Monkey in a Tiger's Eye" made him an instant star. His shoulder-length hair was copied by both males and females all over Asia.