Grandsons and Wacky Movies

                                                                          

Yesterday, I went to visit the grandsons. All three are interested in some form of martial arts, especially Muay Thai and Aikido. They like to practice on me as I mentioned in my last post. But this time when I stopped by to visit, they decided to have me watch a movie with them.

                                                                       

The 1978 movie Legend of the Drunken Master stars Jackie Chan, as Freddie Wong, Lam Kau as Freddie’s father, Siu Tien Yuen as So Hi (drunken teacher), Jang Lee Hwang as Thunder leg, and Linda Lin as Freddie’s aunt.

The Plot

The movie was dubbed in English and so we endured the non-matching movement of lips and speech, but this actually added to the wackiness of the movie. The movie starts with a spoiled brat Freddie Wong (Jackie Chan) who not only makes fun of his teacher, but later at an open market, flirts and grabs a young girl.
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Luckily her mother is nearby and kicks Freddie’s butt all over the place. Later at the market, Freddie picks a fight with a bully who has stolen a jade necklace from a poor merchant.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

When Freddie finally returns home, he is shocked to learn that the woman who kicked his ass was his aunt and the girl, his cousin. Plus the father of the bully shows up and wants to kill Freddie. Everyone is angry and Freddie’s father decides to send him to a master of Kung Fu to learn how to fight and maybe…just maybe, grow up.

                                                                        

The Master

So Hi (Siu Tien Yuen) is a master of martial arts, but he is also a drunk. He has Freddie doing all kinds of martial art routines, which in the long run, are painful and demoralizing. Freddie runs away and comes in contact with a hit man called Thunder Leg (Jang Lee Hwang).  Freddie, who is still acting like a smacked ass, gets beaten and disgraced by Thunder Leg.  He goes back to So Hi and begins to learn in earnest all the moves of Zui Quan, better known as Drunken Boxing.  So Hi eventually teaches the moves of the Eight Drunken Immortals to Freddie and then takes him home.

                                                                       

The Hired Hit

Remember the bully who was beaten up? Well his father and Freddie’s father have been arguing over a plot of land that is a cemetery, but sits over a cache of coal. Freddie’s father wants to protect the cemetery and as revenge the bully’s father hires Thunder Leg to kill Mr. Wong. Thunder Leg and Mr. Wong fight, but the older man is knocked to the ground. Freddie comes on the scene just in the nick of time and using what he learned from the master, defeats Thunder Leg.

I love Jackie Chan, but I’ve only see his more recent films, until now. My grandsons have introduced me to some strange T.V. shows and movies in the past (a list that is too long to go into here), but I’ll have to say that this one was great, even though Jackie and Siu Tien Yuen played drunks throughout the movie. If you get the chance, you can find this on Comcast on demand. I highly suggest you do.