Wonkette Movie Night: Drunken Master
I can teach you to fart!
Drunken Master is not about Pete Hegseth. He would be more along the lines of Master of Being Drunken, or Master of Crushing Own Nuts With Skateboard, I mean look at this slick move. Jackie Chan’s got nothing on him.
The movie Drunken Master, also titled Drunken Master The Beginning, stars a young Jacky Chan, born Chan Kong-sang. He gained his nickname “Little Jack” working in construction while attending Dickson College in Australia after another builder named Jack helped teach him the trade. Jacky changed to Jackie in the 1980s just as his career as an action star brought him to the attention of American audiences.
Drunken Master was preceded in 1978 by Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow, also directed by Yuen Woo-ping and starring Chan and Yuen Siu-tien. Both are excellent examples of Kung-Fu comedies but Drunken Master stands out with its humor and ridiculous English dub that made the movie even funnier. I recommend checking Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow as a great second feature to tonight’s movie if you are craving more Kung-Fu fun.
Drunken boxing or drunken fist ( 醉拳 ) is a Chinese martial arts style where an intoxicated person is mimicked. Its history traces to Buddhism and the mythology of the Eight Immortals who were alternatively called the Eight Drunken Immortals because of their excessive fondness for wine. Hey maybe it’s Jeannine Pirro that is actually the Drunken Master.
Drunken Master stars Chan as mischievous student forced to train under the tough teacher Beggar So. The real man that character was based on was named So Chan (Beggar was his nickname), a folk hero and martial artist during the Qing dynasty. Beggar Chan was renowned for his drunken boxing. He has been portrayed by at least 19 different actors in television and film. But Yuen Siu-Tin has generally been considered the best of them all, reprising this role in three more films before his death in 1979.
This film helped make Jackie Chan the huge star he would become, known for performing intense action sequences and a hilarious slapstick take on martial arts. Chan did his own stunts. He continued to make films and became hugely successful in Asia and Europe. Helping him break through to American audiences was Rumble In The Bronx, but his biggest Hollywood hit came when he costarred with Chris Tucker in Rush Hour in 1998. Some of the popularity of that film could be attributed to the chemistry between Tucker and Chan. But as with any film that Chan appeared in, his creative stunts and comedic chops made you want to see what else he was going to do.
This is a fascinating video talking about the history of his stunt work, including interview clips with Chan.
Drunken Master stars Jackie (Jacky) Chan, Yuen Siu-Tin, Hwang Jang-lee, Dean Shek, Lam Kau, Fung King-man, and Linda Lin. Directed by Yuen Woo-ping.
Drunken Master is available for free with ads on The Roku Channel and Tubi. Free on YouTube.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.
The animated short is Kung-Fu Crab by Kim Newman and Ringling College of Art & Design.
Next week we start April with Smoke Signals, available for free with ads on Pluto TV and YouTube. $3.99 in the usual places.
April’s schedule:
I am getting started early on my popcorn!
Just butter and salt.
I do not have any trivia tonight. There was not much on IMDb and after doing No Kings and working on my photos i didn't have time to go digging any elsewhere.
Jackie Chan has sustained numerous fractures—often cited as dozens, or even near 200 in marketing hyperbole—throughout his career due to performing his own stunts, joking that he has broken bones from his "head to toes".