Shaolin Drunken Monk (1981)

Shaolin Drunken Monk (1981)
aka The Drunken Monk; Drunken Martial Arts; The 36^th Chamber: the Final Encounter; Shaolin Drunk Monk; Drunk 8 Blows, Crazy 8 Blows
Chinese Title: 少林醉八拳
Translation: Shaolin Drunk 8 Fists

 

Starring: Gordon Liu, Eagle Han-Ying, Chin Yuet-Sang, Wong Yat-Cho, Kwan Il-Soo, Hyeon Kil-Su, Chui Ying-Jat, Chang Mi-Hee, Gam Chi-Ying
Director: Ulysses Au
Action Directors: Lau Kar-Leung, Chin Yuet-Sang

Drunken boxing, as I understand it, isn’t so much a distinct style as it is a technique that shows up in several different kung fu styles. As a result, a person will never find a single school advertising to teach ONLY drunken fist boxing. However, there are some styles out there that have their own drunken boxing forms. The Monkey Style has a set called the “drunken monkey,” for example. Choy Li Fut, a Southern hand-based style, also has its drunken boxing techniques. Another style that has a drunken technique is hung gar, the famous “Tiger Crane” style.

Hung Gar is a style founded by a Chinese folk hero named Hong Xiguan (Hung Hey-Kwun in Cantonese)…I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this somewhere in another review. The basic gist of it is that Xiguan studied kung fu, especially the Five Animal styles, at theShaolinTemple. He was, in fact, one of the first laymen to study kung fu there. He ended up marrying a woman named Fong Wing-Chun (not to be confused with Yim Wing-Chun, who is credited with founding the Wing Chun style), who was a Crane Fist exponent. He combined her Crane techniques with the Tiger Claw style and created Hung Gar.

Although the Tiger and Crane techniques are what define hung gar, the style is also known for its Five Animals forms, not to mention its Five Elements forms. But this isn’t all. Both hung gar and a related style, hung fut (known for its Southern Eagle technique), have their own drunken techniques. During this marathon of drunken fist boxing movies, I’ve often felt that actors with Peking Opera training are better at portraying the style, since they tend to be well versed in acrobatics, which makes it far more entertaining to watch. However, Gordon Liu (Kill Bill Vol 2 and Heroes of the East), is a hung gar master (and adopted brother of Lau Kar-Leung) and the drunken boxing he displays here is almost as good as Jackie Chan’s.

Too bad there wasn’t more of it in this movie.

Shaolin Drunk Monk is, from what I can gather, a Taiwanese-South Korean co-production. I’d say about half, if not more, of the cast is Korean, with the main exceptions being Gordon Liu and Chin Yuet-Sang (Buddha Assassinator and Lady Whirlwind), the latter serving as the film’s main choreographer. Director Ulysses Au worked on a few important kung fu films in Taiwan during the 1970s, mainly The Secret of Shaolin Poles and Young Hero from Shaolin, both of which were films about Chinese folk hero Fong Sai Yuk. 

It’s a bit of a disappointment that all this talent couldn’t make a better all-around film. With Lau Kar-Leung’s involvement, probably as a consultant, the quality of the hung gar that Gordon Liu performs is of a uniformly high-quality. The presence of Eagle Han Ying (Shaolin Drunken Monkey and North Shaolin vs. South Shaolin) also guarantees us some good mantis fist and kicking. It just never really comes together. It doesn’t help that the drunken boxing as implied in the title comes in rather short supply.

The plot is typical kung fu fare. There’s a kung fu clan known as the “Big Mantis Clan” that’s headed by Wong Kin-Chung (Eagle Han Ying). He’s a bit dismayed at the fact that members of his clan are being mysteriously beaten up and killed by some guys walking around wearing huge straw hats. On one particular occasion, he receives a note letting him know that his daughter (Chang Mi-Hee, Even the Sun is Sobbing) is going to be next. And what do you know, she is!

Apparently there are two culprits behind the assaults on the Big Mantis Clan members. The first is a one-armed boxer (Hyeon Kil-Su, who’d later show up in Shaolin Drunk Monk), apparently the victim of Wong Kin-Chung following the latter’s ascent to power in the clan. The second is a bald fellow named Lau Chung (Gordon Liu), who’s actually the son of the ex-Clan Leader. Both of them are working on their own, although they eventually start helping each other knock off the remaining members of the Big Mantis Clan.

While this is going on, Wong’s daughter remains Lau Chung’s prisoner, that is, until she finds out who he really is. Apparently the two were childhood friends and as soon as she knows who the guy holding her captive is, she goes all moist between the legs (and not because she’s peeing her pants, although she does do that, too). So yeah, we do get to witness a love scene between Gordon Liu and Chang Mi-Hee, although I’m not sure who out there really wanted to see it. It comes across as being a more uncomfortable affair for the latter, although I’ll refrain from making crude remarks as to why. Also of note regarding this subplot is the scene where the daughter is trying to decide between honoring her father and going after Lau Chung, which is filled with inexplicable changes in scenery and clothing , as if the daughter were taking several days to decides. It’s a really bizarre scene.

Obviously, once it’s time for Lau Chung to take on the person responsible for his dad’s death and his mother’s suicide, he’ll have to decide between his lover and his thirst for revenge.

If it seems like I don’t want to talk about this film’s plot, it’s probably because there’s simply less plot to talk about than usual. The movie is divided into three acts: the first act being the initial attacks on the Big Mantis Clan and the daughter’s kidnapping. The second act is an overlong flashback sequence that shows Wong Kin-Chung’s rise to power and Lau Chung’s subsequent training with a drunken master. I’ll note here that there’s absolutely no chemistry here between Lau Chung and the master, which is a near-death sentence for this type of movie. Whether it’s a surrogate father-son relationship or a two-strong-personalities-clashing one, there has to be some sort connection between the master and student. In this film, Lau Chung gets trained by some random drunken master in a flashback, who’s never mentioned again for the rest of movie’s running time.

 Despite the title and Gordon Liu’s trademark bald appearance, there really isn’t a Shaolin drunk monk to be seen in it. Gordon’s teacher is a drunk, but he’s not a Shaolin monk. Gordon Liu looks like a monk, but he doesn’t study at Shaolin, nor is he drunk when he’s performing drunken boxing. Truth to be told, Shaolin Drunk Monk would’ve been better suited for Shaolin Drunk Fighter than for this film.

The training scenes in this movie range from horribly mundane to sort-of interesting. There are long, LONG shots of Gordon Liu carrying buckets of water and preparing stoves and whatnot. I assume it’s mean to show him developing his physique through menial tasks, but it’s really just boring stuff. Watching him perform hung gar’s drunken techniques while standing on chairs and catching wet chairs hurled at him is a bit more interesting. Although most of the training we see has Gordon honing his jui kuen skills, most of his actual fighting is based on hung gar’s Five Animals technique, which we never see him practicing.

The actual action is actually pretty good, if ultimately forgettable. Chin Yuet-Sang, who worked on a lot of late 1970s films like Dance of the Drunken Mantis and Buddha Assassinator, is responsible for the bulk of the action choreography. He also shows up in a supporting role as a ninja working in the employ of Eagle Han Ying’s character. His use of the chain whip–which he also did in Lion vs. Lion–is one of the action highlights. He has the benefit of working with a bunch of Korean actors, most of whom are tae kwon do stylists, and thus we get a lot of solid kicking in the fights. Nothing here reaches the level of Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee, but it’s good enough.

Gordon Liu stands out, as is expected. Whenever Lau Kar-Leung and Gordon Liu work together, one can usually expect good results. I’m sure Lau Kar-Leung hung out on set mainly to make sure that the hung gar that Liu performs in his fight scenes was reasonably accurate to the actual style. Liu’s drunken boxing is a lot more accomplished here than it was in Heroes of the East, which seemed a bit stiff (not to mention shoehorned into the film because of the then-recent success of Drunken Master). It’s certainly miles ahead of Meng Fei’s drunken technique in Kung Fu of Eight Drunkards. I bring up Meng Fei because Meng also had a solid background in Southern kung fu styles, as opposed to the more acrobatic Peking Opera theatrics. Where Meng Fei was incredibly rigid and slow, Gordon is quick and supple, if not mind-bendingly flexible. The highlight of his showcase is that makes better use of the Angel Ho technique than Jackie Chan did in the first Drunken Master. If you pay close enough attention, some of the moves that Gordon does while imitating Miss Ho were re-used by Lau Kar-Leung when choreographing Jackie Chan in Drunken Master 2. The main problem is that Liu only uses it briefly in a fight against Chin Yuet-Sang and then at the very end of the final duel. That simply isn’t enough.

The other action highlight is Eagle Han Ying. Once more, Eagle uses the mantis style as a compliment to his tae kwon do. He did the same thing in Death Duel of Kung Fu, where he fought against John Liu and Don Wong Tao. Interestingly enough, Chin Yuet-Sang did the choreography for that film, too. There is a nice flying bicycle kick that Eagle Han uses here. It’s a shame that Eagle Han doesn’t get to fight more in this, since his high-kicking mantis is a joy to watch. The final fights are easily the best the film has to offer, no doubt about that. Watch for the subtitles that identify the locale of the final duels as being in Pakistan (!).

Shaolin Drunk Monk is just kind of there. The action is good; the rest is a bit dry. That puts it a notch above Kung Fu of Eight Drunkards, but one below World of Drunken Master. From the point of view of the technique, it’s worth it to get idea of what a more authentic portrayal of the technique might look like. From a purist’s perspective, it’s worth it for that. Just don’t expect good cinema to accompany it.