This film made me into a proper fan of Chan. What a wonderfully choreographed film.
The fights took months and months to perfect, and you can tell. Some of the action literally took my breath away.
The film's comedy borders on the Shakespearean, with mistaken identity, circumstance, and chance encounters blending to form the backbone of a superbly conceived storyline.
The sole criticism I have of the movie, is that you don't realise it is a comedy until about half an hour into it. Up to that point, it takes itself a tad too seriously, and even tries to strum the heart strings with a weepy scene where Chan thanks his Master for looking after him since he was found as a street orphan in childhood. When you get past all that, however, you're looking at possibly the greatest action film of all time.
The classical fighting style in Chan's movies took a back seat after this, with the advent of movies like Project A and Police Story. Chan returned to this style with Young Master in Love (Dragon Lord) a couple of years later, but that was more of a sports movie than a kung-fu fest.
In 1994, Jackie released Legend of Drunken Master, which followed in the same vain as Drunken Master (1979), and in many ways was superior. It's just such a shame that, "Jackie don't make 'em like he used to....."
The fights took months and months to perfect, and you can tell. Some of the action literally took my breath away.
The film's comedy borders on the Shakespearean, with mistaken identity, circumstance, and chance encounters blending to form the backbone of a superbly conceived storyline.
The sole criticism I have of the movie, is that you don't realise it is a comedy until about half an hour into it. Up to that point, it takes itself a tad too seriously, and even tries to strum the heart strings with a weepy scene where Chan thanks his Master for looking after him since he was found as a street orphan in childhood. When you get past all that, however, you're looking at possibly the greatest action film of all time.
The classical fighting style in Chan's movies took a back seat after this, with the advent of movies like Project A and Police Story. Chan returned to this style with Young Master in Love (Dragon Lord) a couple of years later, but that was more of a sports movie than a kung-fu fest.
In 1994, Jackie released Legend of Drunken Master, which followed in the same vain as Drunken Master (1979), and in many ways was superior. It's just such a shame that, "Jackie don't make 'em like he used to....."