3 Capsule Reviews of Kung Fu films from 1973

Chinese Kung Fu and Acupuncture (1973) - 
Chinese Title: 中國針灸
Translation: Chinese Acupuncture

Starring: Chen Ming, Shao Pei-Yu, Tsao Chien, Sun Yueh, Yu Sung-Chao, Lan Yun, Chiang Ching-Feng
Director: Sun Sheng-Yuen
Action Director: Chan Long, Lin Feng-Sheng

Taiwanese basher told as a story about the greatness of acupuncture from a modern-day practitioner to a gwailo reporter. A bunch of Japanese priates led by a karate expert named Haishan (Lan Yun, of Heroine Susan and Enter the Panther) show up at a Chinese coastal village to rape the women and kill the menfolk. They are assisted by their interpreter, Ng Tuk (Sun Yueh, Lightning of Bruce Lee), whose family resides in that same village. Some of the pirates are killed by a local girl named Pak Yu-Mei (the lovely Shao Pei-Yu), who is suffering from some disease, but goes into undercranked kung fu overdrive whenever she jams a pair of acupuncture needles into her neck.

After the first scuffle with the pirates, the villagers get another acupuncturist, Chao Hung-Wu (Chen Ming, of the awful Kung Fu Rebels), to teach kung fu to the local militia. Chao gets in a fight with Haishan and is almost beaten to death. He is healed by a Taoist priest (Tsao Chien, of Infernal Street and The Hero of Chiu Chow), whose acupuncture treatment improves his kung fu. In his next fight with Haishan, he holds his own, and the Japanese pirate is defeated by Pak Yu-Mei's acupuncture skills. Ng Tuk takes the injured Haishan back to Japan and presents him to his master, the karate grandmaster Wuchuanhou (Yu Sung-Chao, who also was in Lightning of Bruce Lee). Wuchuanhou goes to China and beats the hell ou of Hung-Wu, but gets beaten by the Taoist priest when he tries to steal the guy's acupuncture manual. So, he gets a powerful katana expert (Lu Biao) to go to China and fight the heroes. And then that expert's brother (Wei Yi-Ping) gets involved in the fracas, too.

The action was staged by Chan Long (My Life is on the Line) and Lin Feng-Sheng (Stormy Sun/Super Man-Chu) and it's pretty good, surprisingly. I was skeptical at first because the first brawl had a lot of punches and kicks that were obviously not connecting and looked bad, even by early 70s standards. It gets better as the film progresses, though. There is a fair amount of undercranking, which is completely unnecessary and even laughable, especially the first time that Shao Pei-Yu sticks herself with acupuncture needles. This film is interesting in that acupuncture is used to heal, paralyze one's enemies (a lá Kiss of the Dragon) and jump-start one's kung fu. Lead actor Chen Ming is actually adept at screen fighting, so much so that I'm surprised he did so little in the genre. Chan Long shows up in the first melee and shows off some great moves, too. Too bad he doesn't fight after that. The final fight does drag on as many of these movies are wont to do. Chinese Kung Fu and Acupúncture is very much a cheapo-basher flick, but there are some good fights in it.


Lightning of Bruce Lee (1973)
Chinese Title: 勢不兩立
Translation: Unequal Power Stand

Starring: Lei Jun, Chin Kang, Chiang Fan, Liu Lili, Si Sin-Dai, Sun Yueh, Yu Sung-Chao
Director: Chung Gwok-Hang
Action Director: n/a

Despite the title--which is the original English title and not what the US distributors tacked on later--this is not an actual Brucesploitation film, but just a generic basher. The movie begins with two men (Lei Jun, who worked a lot with Jimmy Wang Yu, and Chin Kang, of The Snake Girl Drops In) mourning the death of their master. Chin Kang is a bit more ambitious and wants money and fame, much to the chagrin of his senior martial brother. The two scuffle and Chin makes a break for it. Some time later, Lei Jun arrives in a town to visit his girlfriend, Chin Chin (Chiang fan), whose father has recently died. The local loan shark/pimp (Sun Yueh, of The Pedicab Driver) is trying to force Chin Chin into prostitution to pay off a loan for her father's medical bills. The pimp in turn works for a crime boss, played by Duel with Samurai's Yu Sung-Chao. We later learn that Chin Kang is also working for him. Lei Jun steals some opium from some other thugs to pay off Chin Chin's loan, but the bad guys won't let him off that easily...

The fighting is pretty much constant, especially in the last 25 minutes or so. Lei Jun looks like he has training, but his skills are limited and he looks soft boned performing his moves. He throws up his hands whenever he kicks, making him look like he's going to fall over. Much better is Chin Kang as his brother, who packs a bit more power in his punches and kicks. The final fight between the two men and Yu Sung-Chao goes on for a very long time, for people who like endless basher movie finales. The best fighter in the cast is Pan Chang-Ming, who plays Sun Yueh's main enforcer. Pan Chang-Ming is mainly known as a C-list fight choreographer, working on lesser Angela Mao films like Duel with the Devils and Proud Horse in Flying Sand. His kicks trump those of all the other cast members and his punches are a lot crisper, too. Too bad he wasn't the main villain.


Superior Youngster (1973)
aka: Karado, the Hong Kong Cat; Karado, the Hand of Death; Super Kung Fu Kid 
Chinese Title: 小霸王
Translation: Little Overlord

Starring: Nick Cheung Lik, Bolo Yeung Sze, James Nam Seok-Hoon, Fong Yau, San Kuai, Mars, Tong Tin-Hei, Lee Tin-Ying
Director: Joseph Kong
Action Director: Wong Chi-Ming, Pao Jia

Pre-Enter the Dragon basher with a very similar cast to Tough Guy, which I liked a lot. There's Nick Cheung Lik, Fong Yau, San Kuan, Anna Ho, plus a bevy of stuntmen who went on to bigger things: Alan Chui, Tony Ching Siu-Tung, Yuen Biao, Yuen Bun, Billy Chan, and Mars. I was very impressed with Nick Cheung Lik and I need to watch more of his films.

Cheung Lik plays Ah Lung, a super-talented kung fu fighter who has an overdeveloped sense of justice, not unlike Alexander Fu Sheng's character in New Shaolin Boxers. After getting in a bunch of fights at home, he and his mother take a boat down the river to a village where his brother, Man Ho (James Nan), is  supposed to be staying. He finds out that his brother works for the local crime boss, Tiger (Bolo Yeung). Man Ho offers to get him a job with Tiger--who we learn is associated with the one of the local warlords--but Ah Lung turns him down. Some of the Warlords officers (Fong Yau and San Kuai) show up and it's basically non-stop fighting from there on out.

The action was staged by Wong Chi-Ming and Pao Jia. The latter had no real credit besides this. Wong Chi-Ming did stuntwork in close to 200 films during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was also a member of Yuen Bun's Stunt Team, contributing to the action in films like City War and Blood Stained Tradewind, in addition to some late-period Shaw films. Cheung Lik steals the show with his fast kicks and nunchaku skills. The final fight between him and Bolo Yeung on a ship goes on forever, with the two throwing down with fisticuffs, nunchaku, knives, bamboo poles and even anchors. In fact, the last 17 minutes can be characterized as extended fight at a quarry->prolonged fight on the beach->protracted fight on a ship. The film is worth it to watch Cheung Lik kick so much butt, even if the acting and dubbing are often laughably bad. That said, it isn't a film for newbies. 

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)

 

Starring: Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade, Chad Power, Victor Wong, Charles Napier, Crystle Lightning, Patrick Kilpatrick, Don Shanks, Sheldon Peters Wolfchild
Director: Shin Sang-ok (as Simon Sheen)
Action Director: Lam Man-Cheung, Liu Han-Ching

 

I was ten years old when 3 Ninjas came out, although I don’t think I caught it until I was 11. I watched a few times at different friends’ houses, although by that time, I was already corrupted by the works of Jeff Speakman, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. When Professor Toru Tanaka showed up in that movie, I was thinking of him killed people with single blows in The Perfect Weapon and wondering how those young upstarts could beat him without taking a hit. But the fact of the matter is, if you were into martial arts as a kid and had parents who actually enforced the Ratings System in your house, then stuff like TMNT and 3 Ninjas is what you had before Jackie Chan came along.

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up was the second sequel, even though it was filmed almost back-to-back with the first one. I’m not sure what the rights/distribution issues were, but the film’s release in the States was delayed by three years, coming out to little fanfare in 1995 (although I still remember seeing trailers for it on TV). The “real” second sequel, 3 Ninjas Kick Back, ended up coming out first. That film actually had new actors to play Rocky and Tum Tum, so it would definitely odd to watch that movie, see the new cast, and then see Knuckle Up and see the original cast members.

The movie starts out with Grandpa (Victor Wong, of Big Trouble in Little China and Year of the Dragon) and the three titular characters heading out to the countryside for some R&R. On their way to their cabin, they witness a fight between some Native American protestors and the Standard Evil Capitalist, Jack (Charles Napier, of Dinocroc and Rambo: First Blood, Part 2), over the latter dumping something into a landfill on their lands. The next day, the boys are getting some pizza when a young Native American girl (Crystle Lightning) shows up to harass some redneck goons working for Jack about her dad. Their leader, J.J. (Patrick Kilpatrick, of Showdown and Death Warrant), tries to manhandle her in front of everyone, but Colt (Max Elliott Slade) and Tum Tum (Chad Power) step up to plate and beat the goons up something fierce.

Although Grandpa admonishes them for fighting in public, they resolve to help the girl, Jo. Jo’s father, Charlie (Don Shanks, of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Meyers and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary), has disappeared and she’s sure that Jack has kidnapped him. The boys hide out in the bed of J.J.’s pick-up truck, who unwittingly takes them to Jack’s landfill, where they’re hiding Jack. The boys return to town and start preparing for a ninja raid on the landfill. One big fight scene later, Jack has been rescued and he reveals that he has disk with proof that Jack is contaminating the landfill with non-EPA-approved chemical waste.  However, on the day of the public hearing with an EPA analyst, Jack hires a bunch of mercenaries and a biker gang to kidnap Jo and force Jack into not presenting the disk. Only the 3 Ninjas can save the day.

Does 3 Ninjas have a story? Yes, with topical issues like environmental pollution and Native American land rights. You’d expect a kids’ movie like this to try to address something on the level that children could get. It certainly beats the thrice-damned “Believe in Yourself” theme that most kids’ movies try to present. Is there anything resembling character development? No, not really. Colt and Rocky (Michael Treanor) are almost interchangeable, with the only difference between them being that Colt visibly has a crush on Jo. Tum Tum sticks out because of all the running gags about the bottomless pit that is the child’s stomach. And being a kids’ film (as opposed to a family film), there are lots of dumb one-liners and goofy sound effects that would entertain the under-10 crowd.

There is a lot of action, staged by Taiwanese legend Lam Man-Cheung (billed by his Mandarin name, Lin Wan-Chang). Lam is best known for the Kung Fu Kids films and I assume he was hired on account of his involvement in that series, that was popular in many parts of the world (in addition to its native Taiwan). The action here falls somewhere between your typical Hollywood martial arts movie and his work in Taiwan. It’s a far cry from the superlative Kung Fu Kids VI, but it certainly has more energy than your average Don “the Dragon” Wilson opus. If I have a complaint about the action, it’s that the 3 Ninjas never go “complete ninja” in the movie. No hoods, masks, shuriken or katana. The most we get are a pair of make-shift nunchaku and some tetsubishi made of barbed wire. I also saw references to Enter the Dragon; Operation Condor; and Project A in the fights.

Children and martial arts fans can expect a respectable number of fights, which are played for laughs, but are filled with genuine skill. The first fight at the pizza parlor mainly focuses on Colt and Tum Tum. The second big fight occurs at the landfill, where the 3 Ninjas fight against Jack’s goons on and around a trash compactor conveyor belt. It certainly has the feel of a Jackie Chan fight—choreographer Lam had worked with JC himself on Fantasy Mission Force and Island of Fire. This features more work from Rocky, who fights with the nunchaku at one point.

The third fight is more of all-out brawl between our heroes and Jack’s goons at the Indian Reservation. This is notable because Grandpa shows up to fight, too. Victor was 65 at the time and as far as I know, he never had any actual martial arts knowledge. He’s doubled the entire time—any move her performs is with his back to the camera. Veteran Hollywood stuntman Al Goto, who has amassed almost 300 credits as a stuntman and/or stunt coordinator, is Victor’s stunt double. The finale runs about ten minutes long, with the three kids fighting an endless army of mercenaries at an Old West ghost town. Although the scene is pure martial arts, there are some comic moments, like a gag involving a juke box and Rocky and Tum Tum fighting to the tune of Mariachi music and tango music.

Michael Treanor, who plays Rocky, was a black belt in both Taekwondo and karate by the time he made this, so he has the skills for this and gets more than a good showcase for them. Treanor retired from acting shortly after this film. According to an MTV article dated 2013, Michael remained active in the martial arts, but was working in the financial sector in Washington D.C. as of the writing of the article. Max Elliot Slade, who plays Colt, trained in Gosuku-Ryu karate, which is a composite of Shotokan and Goju-Ryu karate. He arguably gets the best showcase throughout the entire movie. He retired after a small role in Apollo 13 and got a degree in Anthropology and was teaching Yoga in Southern California at one point. Much like Chen Chung-Jung in the Kung Fu Kids movies, Tum Tum in mainly a comic foil and not the character you expect actual martial arts from. Chad Power also stopped acting in the mid-90s, going on to play football in college and become an assistant high school football coach.

As nostalgia functions on a 30-year loop, it is time for 3 Ninjas to be remade. Now that you can get away with a lot more in a PG-13 film than ever before, you can have some great fight action without all those unnecessary Boing! sound effects to keep the MPAA happy. And since the mainstream Martial Arts film hasn’t been in the best condition over the past few years, something to get more kids into the genre is what we need.

Drunken Master II (1994)

Drunken Master II (1994)
Aka: Legend of the Drunken Master
Chinese Title: 醉拳II
Translation: Drunken Fist II

 

Starring: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui Yim-Fong, Ti Lung, Felix Wong Yat-Wah, Lau Kar-Leung, Hoh Wing-Fong, Cheung Chi-Kwong, Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Hon Yee-Sang, Ho-Sung Park, Chin Ka-Lok, Bill Tung Biu
Director: Lau Kar-Leung
Action Director: Lau Kar-Leung, Jackie Chan’s Stuntman Association

 

I first learned of Drunken Master II back in 1995 when I picked up a special summer issue of “Inside Martial Arts” (not to be confused with “Inside Karate,” “Inside Kung Fu,” and “Black Belt”). There was an article in it about the Top Modern Martial Arts Movies, or in other words, the best martial arts films made from 1990 on. Four of the picks were Jackie Chan movies: Police Story 3: Supercop; Operation Condor; City Hunter; and Drunken Master 2[1]. Interestingly enough, this sounded like the least interesting of the bunch.

When I started collecting Jackie Chan films in earnest in the summer of 1997, I scooped up almost everything that was available (save the obvious Jackiesploitation VHS tapes). It was in the book Jackie Chan: Inside the Dragon by Clyde Gentry III that I learned that Drunken Master II not only featured one of his best fights, but was one of his best movies, period. It wasn’t until winter of 1998 that I found this movie at a Suncoast at the old K-Street Mall in Downtown Sacramento. It was right after Christmas, but my wonderful mom was still willing to fork over 20 dollars to pick up the Tai Seng VHS of Drunken Master II, in widescreen with burned-on subs. I watched it that night and was amazed. Some of the best martial arts fighting I had ever seen up to that point was on that tape.

When the film came out in 2000 as Legend of the Drunken Master, I had my dad take me to see it—he wasn’t the type that would brave normal subtitles, let alone burned-on ones. We watched it and he enjoyed it—he got a kick out of Anita Mui’s character. I also showed this to my friends and it entered the realm of the Classics. I actually lent to several friends from both groups, all of whom really enjoyed it. For the past thirty years, Drunken Master 2 has enjoyed a strong reputation among martial arts fans—casual and hardcore—and currently enjoys a 7.5 rating on the IMDB.

The film opens somewhere in Northern China, with healer Wong Kei-Ying (Ti Lung, of Opium and the Kung Fu Master and The Savage 5) and his son, Fei-Hung (Jackie Chan), and servant Tso (Cheung Chi-Kwong, of Midnight Caller and Model from Hell), on their way back to Foshan after a trip procuring medical supplies. While waiting to board the train, one of the soldiers declares that everybody has to pay taxes on their purchases. When Fei-Hung learns that the foreigners are exempt from taxation, he hatches a plan to hide a box of ginseng in a foreigner’s suitcase.

Sometime later, the train stops at a small town where the locals can hawk food to the passengers. Wong Fei-Hung sneaks into the foreigner’s baggage car via a clever gag involving geese and ducks and tries to get his box of ginseng. The thing is, there’s another man, Fu Man-Chi (Lau Kar-Leung, of My Young Auntie and Seven Swords), in the car who’s stealing a box with an identical cloth cover. The two get into a fight, with Fu muttering something about Wong Fei-Hung being a “traitor” (or “lackey”). They fight to a standstill, with Fei-Hung having to run back to the train before it leaves. This is where it gets interesting. The foreigners—mainly British, with a few Chinese employees—report something missing from their baggage and the head security officer orders his men to search all the passengers. When they reach the Wongs’ seats, Fei-Hung discovers that the box of ginseng actually contains an Imperial Seal. Before he (and his father) get into real trouble, a young Intelligence Officer (Andy Lau, of Drunken Master III and House of Flying Daggers) vouches for them.

Once back in Foshan, Wong Fei-Hung tells his stepmother, Ling (Anita Mui, of Miracles and The Heroic Trio), what had transpired on the train. This leads to an extended comic scene involving an oversized carrot (or radish) and tree roots passing as fake ginseng. Anyway, while Fei-Hung is mixed up in the search for a ginseng substitute, we learn that the British consulate also owns the local foundry. They want the Chinese workers to increase their hours without due compensation, and send the new foreman, Henry (Ho-Sung Park, who played Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat video game), to beat them into compliance. Well, it works. We also learn that the British consul (Louis Roth, of Shanghai Shanghai and Ninja Commandments) covets the land that Po Chi Lam, Wong Kei-Ying’s clinic, sits on because it doubles as a kung fu school during the evening and interrupts the consul’s sleep. Uh, okay. Jerk.

Things start to get sticky because the Consul’s men, led by John (Ken Low, of Holy Virgin vs. the Evil Dead and Crystal Hunt), still suspect that the missing Jade Seal is still in Fei-Hung’s possession. One day, Ling is out with her mahjong friends pawning off her prized necklace in order to buy some new ginseng. One of John’s men steals the necklace, most likely to trade back for the seal. This leads to a huge fight between Wong Fei-Hung and the consul’s thugs, including Henry. Fei-Hung gets incredibly drunk thanks to his stepmother’s intervention and beats the hell out of everybody, but attacks his dad when the latter shows up to break up the fight. The results in a huge fight between him and his dad, ending with the latter disowning his son…again (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the first Drunken Master). That evening, John and his men find Wong Fei-Hung in a drunken bout of self-pity, which leaves him vulnerable to John’s kung fu, which is better than Henry’s. They beat him, strip him, and leave hanging from an arch as a message…

Despite the title and Jackie Chan reprising his role as Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, there isn’t any continuity between this film and the original Drunken Master that shot him to stardom. Historically, the film doesn’t make sense as it’s ostensibly set in the Republic Era, probably between 1912 and 1914. The real Wong Fei-Hung lived from 1847 to 1925, so he would’ve been in his mid-60s when this film is set. Instead, Jackie Chan, who was 39 at the time of filming, plays the character in his early 20s. So, Drunken Master II doesn’t present anything solid from a historical of film continuity perspective.

The film is famous for the falling out that Jackie Chan and director Lau Kar-Leung had during filming. A lot of their disagreements stemmed from how to approach the action. There were disagreements between Jackie and Lau Kar-Leung in just how much wire-fu should be included, in addition to things like camera angles and fight editing. Lau Kar-Leung has generally been a stickler for authenticity in technique over the aesthetic flourishes that his peers are known for. He himself played a drunken master in a cameo appearance in Heroes of the East (1978). It is quite probable that had he remained on board for the entire project, the fights might have been closer in spirit to Gordon Liu’s drunken duel with the Japanese karate master from that movie: true to the drunken forms of Hung Gar (and Lau Gar), but not necessarily something 90s audiences were looking for.

What I don’t know is how much their arguments over the action choreography impacted the final script. I say that because it’s clear that this movie has some notable story issues.  This is most notable in the disappearance of Andy Lau’s character from the film following the train sequence. I don’t know if his character was supposed to be a secret villain or an actual ally, and we may never know. I also think that some of the supporting good guys, like the ones played by Chin Kar-Lok (who has doubled for Jackie on a number of occasions) and Lau Kar-Yung, could have been better explained. In the final product, it’s like “Who’s that short guy with the chin-length hair fighting with the good guys?”

The external conflict is reminiscent of the plot of Dragon Lord (1982), Jackie’s last traditional kung fu movie—if you don’t count The Fearless Hyena 2. Something about the British smuggling rare treasures and antiques out of China to put on display at the notorious British Museum, which is involved in controversies over its artifacts to this very day. The internal conflict has more to do with his troubled relationship with his older, wiser, and more traditional father, Wong Kei-Ying. Interestingly enough, Ti Lung is only seven years older than Jackie. The two fight extensively over Fei-Hung’s use of both the drunken style and drinking in order to perform it. Anita Mui steals the show as Ling, Fei-Hung’s fast-talking stepmother, who is always trying to mediate things between the two conflicting generations of Wongs. She adds just the right amount of overacting to her role, whether she’s picking fights with John’s goons in public or trying to weasel her away out of culture-sanctioned spousal abuse with her husband. I think few people will watch this and come away not loving that woman. God give rest to her soul, that Anita Mui. I think the rapport between these three actors—Jackie Chan, Ti Lung, and Anita Mui—is enough to make up for the storytelling deficiencies.

Plus, you know, the action.

There are four major set pieces and a few smaller ones. The first big fight practically starts off the film and is a traditional kung fu fight between Wong Fei-Hung and Fu Man-Chi, i.e. the director himself. It is a meeting of supreme martial arts talent, not unlike Sammo fighting Lau Kar-Leung in The Pedicab Driver five years prior. The two duke it out with a spear and saber beneath a train, which is where the choreography shines. Shooting fights is cramped spaces is always a dicey approach, but these two treat it as if it were child’s play. They then go at it hand-to-hand in a barn (of sorts) and Chan uses his drunken boxing style, albeit while sober, performing moves like “Drunken Man Lying on the Battlefield.”

The next big fight is Jackie Chan versus Henry and the thugs in the public square. This is where he really busts out the drunken boxing, and is full of great moves and neat combinations. Fans of the first film will be happy to see him unleash all of the Eight Drunk Gods. Our favorite is Jun Holding the Pot (or Lan’s Waist Attack), where he spins his opponent’s head between his arms like a hula hoop. There’s also a nice seven-hit combo in perfect traditional form that Chan performs on a stuntman before he gets drunk. My friends and I always got a good laugh out of that one.

The third fight is the infamous Axe Gang fight, where Jackie Chan and Lau Kar-Leung team up to fight an entire army of Axe Gang members (led by Hsu Hsia, who played The King of Sticks in the first film) at a tea house. This fight feels like your typical 1980s Jackie Chan melee, complete with dozens (and I mean dozens) of stuntmen falling off railings, out of windows, off of roofs, and onto tables and other breakable furniture. At one point, Jackie Chan picks up a bamboo pole and starts fending off the nonstop onslaught of attackers. But he really gets the advantage when the hatchets break up the pole: broken bamboo is notoriously sharp, ya’ know.

The foundry finale has often been cited as one of the greatest fight sequences of all time. It’s broken up in three sections. In the first, Jackie Chan squares off with a muscular European man, played by Vincent Di Tuataane. Di Tuataane originally was a bodyguard for French officials, so I think that says enough about his martial arts capabilities. He fights with a chain, that he either swings or wraps around his arm to enhance his punches. Chan bests him with (sober) drunken boxing. The second part is more vintage Chan, where he faces off with a handful of low-level stooges armed with metal poles and hooks, while John and Henry throw obstacles at him. It is very much a video game-esque fight, but the choreography is phenomenal, especially as Chan has to fend off multiple armed attackers while simultaneously avoiding falling objects.

Finally, he throws down with John, played by his then-bodyguard, Ken Low. Ken Low was a Muay Thai champion in SE Asia before moving to Hong Kong and the man can kick like nobody’s business. My friends and I called them “Machine Gun Kicks,” because he of how many he could fire off in rapid succession without lowering his leg. At one point, Jackie is kicked onto a bed of hot coals, a stunt they had to do twice because he didn’t like the way he fell the first time. Famously, Chan can only get the upper hand after drinking methanol, or wood alcohol. The last part is reminiscent of the finale of The Young Master (1980), where Chan goes into complete rage mode, unleashing all the Drunk Gods in rapid succession, similar to the earlier fight in the town square.

It should be noted that Henry, played by Korean Taekwondo stylist Ho-sung Park, was supposed to be Chan’s final opponent. However, according to the IMDB, he sprained his angle and had his part in the finale reduced. Chan has said that Park couldn’t keep up with the Hong Kong style of fight choreography, especially when they were often hitting each other for real.

Some time ago, I did a poll at the Kung Fu Fandom forum about the members’ favorite fights from movies that multiple classic duels and melees. When I did Drunken Master 2, the fight between him and Lau Kar-Leung got 9.09% of the votes, the Axe Gang fight got 9.09% of the votes, and the finale got 81.82% of the votes for an easy win. And speaking of winning, Jackie Chan’s Stuntman Association and Lau Kar-Leung won two awards for Best Action Choreography: one at the Hong Kong Film Awards and another at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. The entire movie is Jackie Chan fighting at his absolute best. He may have films with better plots. He may have films with better stuntwork. He may have films with better acting, although he does great here. But the fighting is second to…well, few, if any.

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[1] - The Other films on the list were Double Impact; Lionheart; Yes, Madam! (yes, they got the year wrong); Once Upon a Time in China; Rapid Fire; Iron & Silk; Showdown in Little Tokyo; The Perfect Weapon; and Marked for Death.