Drunken Master (1978)

 "Fart for the stick king..."th century

Today's film is brought to you, appropriately, with four pints of Bishop's Finger. Perhaps it should have been Chinese wine. 

By this point I've seen a few kung fu films, and this is my second Jackie Chan film after Snake in Eagle's Shadow last week. This film is, on reflection, my favourite. Better than any Bruce Lee film I've seen (follow the tags), or indeed The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

I've praised Jackie Chan before, and  shall praise him again, His martial arts skills are awe-inspiring even to a layman such as myself, yet his physical comedy skills ae extraordinary, beyond anyone else in the sound era and comparable to Buster Keaton.

Chan plays Wong Fei-Hung, a folk hero and historical figure, a mischievous kind of late 19th century Robin Hood archetype, while the wonderful Siu-Rin Yuen plays Beggar So, who apparently appears as a Yoda figure in a number of mainly '70s and '80s kung fu films. The film is, despite being a comedy (and rather a good one), a serious kung fu fulm as far as the various styles are concerned, although it perpetuates the myth that the drunken style lierally involves the consumption of significant quantities of booze. This is false; only blogging it does.

i enjoyed this film hugely, both as a comedy and a kung fu film. I'm also beginning to recognise individual actors, and Siu-Rin Yuen is magnificent. This is an unmissable masterpiece of the genre.