5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not a bad one in the lot., May 16, 2010
This review is from: The Martial Arts Essentials, Vol. 6: Drunken Masters (DVD)
if you like drunken style kung fu, then this six movie set is for you. like i said there's not a bad one in the lot,though some are a little better than others. here's a list of the movies and descriptions from the box.
WORLD OF DRUNKEN MASTER:joseph kuo directed and produced this epic starring the cast from his other masterpiece hits 7 grandmasters and mystery of chess boxing. lee i min and jack long play drunken masters who have fallen for the same girl. a special guest appearance by the ghost faced killer mark long livens up the party. rounding out the cast is the original drunken master himself, simon yuen. 4/5
SHAOLIN DRUNK FIGHTER: a young man joins shaolin after his family is murdered and learns the art of drunken fighting. 3.5/5
DRUNKEN ARTS & CRIPPLED FIST: chess boxing star lee i min teams up with sam the seed(simon yuen)in this all time classic. lee not only learns drunken fist but then combines it with crippled fist boxing.4/5
SHAOLIN DRUNK MONK: gordon liu learns the shaolin fists and 8 drunk gods styles to get revenge against the big mantis clan.4/5
STORY OF DRUNKEN MASTER: sam the seed has not one but three students who learn drunken fist boxing. kung fu superstars cassanova wong(warriors two)and yan pam pam round out the cast.4/5
KUNG FU OF 8 DRUNKARDS: superstar meng fei takes the lead role and goes against chan sing's tiger claw as well as not one but two silver foxes.4/5
picture quality is pretty good but some of the night scenes are too dark. if you turn the brightness up on your tv it helps.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
more Drunken titles than performances but still a good deal, November 21, 2011
This review is from: The Martial Arts Essentials, Vol. 6: Drunken Masters (DVD)
As a fan of old-school kung fu, the mere existence of Video Asia's "Martial Arts Essentials" series justifies investigation and occasionally even purchase. The whole "Drunken" sub-genre of the fu-flick proliferated on the coattails of Jackie Chan's immensely popular "Drunken Master" (1978), a movie I am NOT a fan of. My low opinion of DM seems to slightly separate me from the majority of my fu-loving brethren. Hopefully that qualifies me to be a little more objective about the films offered here, all of which certainly borrow elements from the original, and 2 or 3 (at least in the English-language versions) could be considered sequels. Elements like DM's main theme, apparently, which is supposed to signify the presence of Chinese folk-hero Wong Fei Hung, not Drunken style.
All movies are English-dubbed except "Shaolin Drunken Monk", with tolerable-to-good picture quality. It would often bother me when movies with the word "Drunken" in the title have little-to-no drinking in them. At the very least I'm looking for the final fight to be sponsored by Beefeater. That's not generally the case with these titles but I've come to appreciate the style itself, rather than the binges and tainted livers that so often accompany it.
DRUNKEN ARTS & CRIPPLED FIST
Lee I Min ("7 Grandmasters") stars as a young man who returns home after spending 10 yrs of his childhood studying kung fu with the old beggar himself, Simon Yuen ("Drunken Master"). His stingy father wants to use him for collections and protection but the naive lad refuses to fight because he promised his master he'd behave. He unarrogantly proclaims that he's "an expert". He gradually starts fighting back when he's repeatedly challenged and attacked. Nothing but victory for him until his master's former pupil (Lung Tien Hsiang, "5 Element Ninjas") comes to show him what's up. He must return to his master for additional training in the secret Crippled Fist.
Nothing special but a pretty good flick with decent fights. Okay picture, partially widescreened. 78 min. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
1979. aka: Peculiar Fist Kid
KUNG FU OF 8 DRUNKARDS
Meng Fei ("Unbeaten 28") leaves the comfort of his uncle's restaurant to study the 8 Immortals style with a drunken beggar (Lui Ming, "Snake Crane Secret") for 10 days. He comes back to make more noodles and is surprised to learn that his skills are effective. Unfortunately, his exhibition is noticed by students of his master's old rival (Chan Sing, "The Himalayan").
Not bad. It's got your requisite amount of painful humor and suffers a little from being fullscreened but I've seen and enjoyed worse. 85 min. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
1980. aka: Drunken Art's Tricks
SHAOLIN DRUNK FIGHTER
Some jerk by the name of Tiger Kuo (Hau Chiu Sing, "Superpower") orders his men to kill General Hung and his family but the general's son, Chih Yeh (Jacky Liu), escapes and makes his way to Shaolin to train. Also roaming the countryside is a respectful Japanese swordsman (Hyeon Kil Su, "Shaolin Drunken Monk") looking to test his skills against Shaolin.
Korean-made flick is pretty good with some very good fights that really need to be shown in widescreen. This has the Wong Fei Hung theme and while Chih Yeh doesn't drink, he uses Drunken Staff in the final fight. 85 min. 3.5 to 4, out of 5 stars.
1983. aka: Royal Monks
STORY OF DRUNKEN MASTER
Simon Yuen plays Sam (the) Seed, aka the Beggar So (or Su), the character he made famous in "Drunken Master". This was a busy year for him as he also cranked out "Dance of the Drunk Mantis", playing the same role. Here, Chi Wai (Korean super-kicker Cassanova Wong, "Warriors Two"), one of Sam's students, runs afoul of a dimwit, skilled in the Northern Grasshopper Style. Sam recognizes the style as practiced by a man (Yen Shi Kwan, "Once Upon a Time in China") he once tangled with. Of course the dimwit is the guy's little brother and has been looking for Sam. Sam must train Chi Wai and his other two students (Sharon Yeung, "Choi Lee Fut Kung Fu" and Yuen Lung Kei, "Dreadnought") in advanced techniques.
This is no masterpiece but I liked it quite a bit. The fights are pretty good, and it moves along at a decent pace, never really dragging. This has one of the better pictures in this collection, too. Nice and widescreen. This movie also uses the Wong Fei Hung theme and as a bonus, one of the good guys (Yuen Lung Kei) actually gets liquored-up for the final beatdown. 83 min. 3.5 to 4, out of 5 stars.
1979. aka: Drunken Fist Boxing
SHAOLIN DRUNK MONK
Gordon Liu ("Challenge of the Masters") plays Lau Chung, who kidnaps the daughter (Cheung Mei Gei) of Wong Kin Chung (Eagle Han, "Shaolin vs Tai Chi") who heads the Big Mantis Clan. Turns out this clan ain't exactly the local Jaycees. They're a buncha jerks who killed Gordon's family and left him for dead. Not cool.
This is not a particularly good film but it's got some decent fights and is a little better than I remembered. Gordon actually does a few kicks, remembers to add elements of the Soft Style he learned in "Fist of the White Lotus" and, believe it or not, gets to, umm...rock the casbah. This claims to be the "Original uncut Chinese version with English subtitles" but the English-dubbed Tai Seng version runs 5 minutes longer. Oh, well. Not really good enough to warrant a debate. 79 min. 2 out of 5 stars.
1982. aka: The Drunken Monk
WORLD OF DRUNKEN MASTER
The Beggar Su is portrayed by 3 actors in this film, including a kinda-related introduction with Simon Yuen. Then he completely disappears. Then he's played as an old man by Yu Chung Chiu ("The Crane Fighters") and finally as a young man by Lee I Min (of above's, "Drunken Arts and Crippled Fist"). Jack Long, to me, is the star and plays all the depicted ages of Fan Ta Pei as Su's lifelong friend and classmate. They both fall for their master's niece and conflict ensues.
I like this movie quite a bit and while there is no drinking during the final fight, Fan Ta Pei and Su are tanked throughout most of the film. The fights occur often and are of high caliber. Director Joseph Kuo ("Mystery of Chess Boxing") knew how to make classic fu, most of the time. The picture quality is decent and partially widescreened. 84 min. 4 out of 5 stars.
1979. aka: Drunken Dragon
If you love classic kung fu and don't mind collections, then this is definitely RECOMMENDED. Also check out reviews for "Volume 3: Best of the Best Series One", featuring 5 sweet flicks and a cool documentary.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bland, November 17, 2010
This review is from: The Martial Arts Essentials, Vol. 6: Drunken Masters (DVD)
This is a 2 disc set where one of them is double-sided.
I might need to watch this set again but on my first view, I was not impressed at all. Granted, the video quality (not remastered) and acting is what it was for the time these were made, but IMO the only movie of note in bland-bland set is the "Shaolin Drunk Monk" starring Gordon Liu.
Fans of the older kung-fu fighting films will recognize many of the faces on all these films... There is a good amount of fighting on all these films, just not that great. Honestly, I would skip this set and get Shaolin vs Ninja(Heros of the East), Fist of Legend, Fearles, Ip Man, and all the Bruce Lee and Gordon Liu movies.
I certainly do NOT give this a Highly Recommended rating...but it was a nice try...
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
