Drunken Master

Name: Drunken Master
Genre: Action, Comedy
Released: December 19, 1980
Duration: 111 min
Rating: 68
Cast: Chiu-Jun Lee, Dean Shek, Han Chen Wang, Hsia Hsu, Jackie Chan

1980

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Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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Drunken Master

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Movie Details & Credits

Eureka Entertainment | Release Date: December 19, 1980 | PG-13

Starring: Chiu-Jun Lee, Dean Shek, Han Chen Wang, Hsia Hsu, Jackie Chan, Jang-Lee Hwang, Kau Lam, Linda Lin, Siu-Tin Yuen, Tien Lung Chen

Summary: Wong Fei-Hung (Jackie Chan) is a mischievous, yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents, his frustrated father has him disciplined by Beggar So (Siu-Tin Yuen), a Master of drunken martial arts.

Director: Woo-ping Yuen

Genre(s): Action, Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 111 min

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Critic Reviews

Joey O'Bryan

Pure entertainment, and a true chop-socky classic. Read full review

Christopher Machell

Funny, exciting, and a little too long, Drunken Master is as charming as it is unbalanced, but its martial arts choreography remains unmatched. Read full review

David Germain

The film sets the tone for the slapstick martial-arts style that Chan would hone over the years. [01 Apr 2002]

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

It's an undisguised star vehicle for the likeable Chan and his incredible acrobatic skills, and even viewers who couldn't care less about which fighting style the combatants are using will enjoy watching him be put through his paces. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The idea of having a couple of drinks prior to fighting add an off-beat touch to the disciplined art of kung-fu. The storyline as can be expected is practically nil but the humour is universal enough. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

As rambling as a Keystone Kops comedy (which it resembles in many ways), it's slapstick to the max, and thus likely to be a bit tedious except to dedicated martial arts fans. [20 Dec 1993, p.F5]

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User Reviews

Kai82

Sep 19, 2021

It has the humor, good martial arts, stunts and lovable characters you associate with an old Jackie Chan movie. Sadly he does not make those anymore. His newer movies end at the DVD / Blu-Ray bargain bin in my country and are mostly ignored while the older ones are considered classics andIt has the humor, good martial arts, stunts and lovable characters you associate with an old Jackie Chan movie. Sadly he does not make those anymore. His newer movies end at the DVD / Blu-Ray bargain bin in my country and are mostly ignored while the older ones are considered classics and must sees. He has a loyal fan base here in Germany especially in my age group. Back to the review: It is a martial arts comedy which should not surprise anyone ;-). This Drunken Master movie was a huge success and helped Jackie Chan's career a lot while also spawning sequels that makes this a successful franchise. The story follows Wong Fei-Hung who is student in his father's Wong Fei-ying martial arts school. He is however a troublemaker and a bit of a misfit that gets himself in trouble if not to better said hilarious situations. His last prank however was too much even for his father and he will teach him manners by sending him to his friend Beggar So (So Chan) who is famous for crippling his students with his harsh training (They call him bonebreaker ;-). This is the set up for the enjoyable story. It is charming, humorous and entertaining. You are well entertained and get what you expect in a satisfying way. Before I continue with the characters here is a short history lesson. The characters are based on real life. (Beggar) So Chan and Wong Fei-Ying were members of the legendary “Ten Tigers of Canton” and Wong Fei-Hung while also being a master martial artist became a legend as physician. All of those are legends in Chinese history and many tales of them were told. Maybe the fame and legends are comparable to the Wild West gunslingers in the USA (Maybe a bad example by me but should give you perspective). Back to the cast. Jackie Chan plays Wong Fei-Hung. You get what you expect from Jackie Chan and he does an amazing performance. Yuen Siu-Tin as Beggar So is amazing too. He sometimes steals the show and enhances this movie. Hwang Jang-Lee as “Thunderleg” Yen Tie Hsin is an amazing antagonist and menacing foe. The side characters are memorable to with Lam Kau, Linda Lin and Tong Jing to name a few. Per genre standard we got a really good cast that delivered a great performance. The martial arts is well done and has good choreography. I should not need to mention this in a Jackie Chan movie but the martial arts is well mix with humor and hilariousness scenes or aspects. Some hate this but then again why then even watch a Jackie Chan movie? The humor works well and we got real black humor scenes too. Overall this is a great and entertaining Jackie Chan movie. Maybe I am bit to much nostalgic to give a fair representation So lets conclude it is a must see for Jackie Chan fans and lovers of martial arts movies with humor.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Broyax

Jun 23, 2023

L’un des meilleurs films de Kung Fu des années 70 mais également une belle référence en la matière ! et s’il se trouve qu’il s’agit aussi d’une comédie digne d’un dessin animé dont les ficelles sont grosses comme des amarres, eh bien soit ! c’est en effet le cas…

Et Jackie Chan ne se priveL’un des meilleurs films de Kung Fu des années 70 mais également une belle référence en la matière ! et s’il se trouve qu’il s’agit aussi d’une comédie digne d’un dessin animé dont les ficelles sont grosses comme des amarres, eh bien soit ! c’est en effet le cas…

Et Jackie Chan ne se prive pas de cabotiner tout en exécutant des prouesses à l’écran, accompagné de toute une distribution de comédiens qui sont tous tombés dans le chaudron magique des arts martiaux lorsqu’ils étaient gamins…

L’humour est parfois scatologique et très (trop ?) enfantin, infantile même, mais d’autres gags se révèlent néanmoins fort efficaces, car outre les bêtises de Jackie, l’acteur (Yuen Siu-Tien) qui joue le vieux sadique est tout simplement impayable.

Si les bruitages font sourire d’indulgence, ils participent à cette ambiance particulière des films de baston de cette époque ; ce qui ne fait pas sourire mais nous rend béats d’admiration par contre, c’est l’excellente mise en scène de Yuen Woo-Ping, connu pour ses épatantes chorégraphies et sa rigueur des plans, du cadre et du montage : quel magnifique spectacle !… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

clem666

Jun 7, 2021

The intro is fantastic even if the names of the credits almost totally hide the fight behind. Story is interesting if you manage to turn off your brain from time to time just to enjoy amazing battle choregraphies, because at some point this movie is all about watching Jackie Chan wanderingThe intro is fantastic even if the names of the credits almost totally hide the fight behind. Story is interesting if you manage to turn off your brain from time to time just to enjoy amazing battle choregraphies, because at some point this movie is all about watching Jackie Chan wandering and getting into trouble as fast as you could shout 'action!' and learning to get drunk. He also tries to be funny, and sometimes succeeds, but often fails. Some characters are just cliché. The pace is really weird as the fluidity varies a lot throughout the movie. It can seem really jerky at times. And the ending is rather very slow to reach.

In what concerns soundtrack and sound effects well, it is really disappointing. Battles contain really cheap sound effects and no music at all. Because we only have music during chase scenes or -supposed- funny ones. Some scenes are honestly dumb. Some others are just crazy like the one with the man fighting with his head only. I guess it is another generation. How can you have such haircuts otherwise anyway?

'Drunken Master' is perfect for you if you just want to see Chan's amazing performances, impressive moves and work. Just don't expect much from it and especially not from the ending (no spoil) which appears to be particularly unrewarding.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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