Kung Fu Movies

This is arguably Jackie Chan’s best movie and truly exemplary of his unique ability to combine Bruce Lee martial acumen with three stooges-like humor. Director Yuen Woo-Ping really brings out the best in Chan and this film is one of his finest performances, setting the bar for all films to come.

The plot centers on the young and wily Wong Fei-Hung, who is a born hellion. His day culminates in a comedy of errors when he hits on a beautiful young woman, only to be soundly thrashed by her matronly guardian. His shame is compounded when these two are later revealed to be his visiting aunt and cousin, whom he has never met. To top things off, he lays a beat down on a hooligan who is the son of a very influential man in town. His father decides he needs to learn some discipline and to punish him for his behavior, hires a new Master named ‘Beggar So’ to train his son in the martial arts.

Initially Wong resists training with Beggar So but through a series of mishaps relents when he is humiliated by the notorious killer Yan Ti San, known for his “Devil’s Kick”, a swift and deadly kicking style which has never been defeated.

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 to kill Wong’s father. Wong’s father fights with Yan and is critically injured. Wong and Beggar So arrive in the nick of time and Wong uses his new found ‘drunken style’ to outmatch 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 uses to defeat Yan and become the new Drunken Master. Enjoy!