8 Drunks

 

KUNG-FU OF THE EIGHT DRUNKARDS-1980-More inebriated Kung-Fu hi-jinx. An alcoholic martial arts master, Wu Tseng tries to teach his student Chan Kung (Meng Fei). After some fool who looks radiation scarred causes trouble with some firecrackers Chan Kung meets another fighter named Monkey Thief. They fight in an “8 Immortals Style” tournament. Kung becomes a waiter and that seems to help improve his Kung-Fu but he gets beaten up anyway. When some idiots refuse to pay their check a woman named Pie Yu beats them up. Meanwhile a mysterious figure in black hangs around in the background. There's more plot but it gets very confusing (probably due to the bad dubbing and editing) but there is some intense training sessions for Chan Kung and most of the fights are humorous (despite the serious story line) until the finale which is very violent but it all ends comically.

Director Ma Wu (the word director is spelled wrong on the print I saw) was also a busy actor as well as directing over 40 martial arts films (including WU TANG CLAN and ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA).

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Drunk Mantis Dance Fever

DANCE OF THE DRUNK MANTIS-1979-Jackie Chan style martial arts comedy full of stupid characters, terrible dubbing and hackneyed editing but it's slapstick acrobatic fights are great! An old woman beats up a much younger money lender and two bullies cluck like a chicken and a duck when they fight. An old Kung-Fu master, Sam the Seed (Siu Tin Yuen also in SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW who died soon after this) teaches his adopted son Foggy (Shun-Yee Yuen  also in INFRA-MAN) "drunk fighting". They have a falling out but later get back together to fight the old man's white bearded former pupil Old Rubber Legs (Jang Lee Hwang also in BRUCE LEE: A DRAGON STORY). After getting beat the son meets his thought to be dead uncle who teaches him some new moves so he can destroy Rubber Legs. 

Director Woo-ping Yuen (Siu Tin Yuen's son) directed several movies with Jackie Chan and was stunt coordinator on many more.

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Kung-Fu Drunks

KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS-1980-More inebriated martial arts craziness. An alcoholic Kung Fu master Wu Shing tries to teach a young student Kam Fung (Fei Meng) but the student gets frustrated and leaves. He goes to work  in a noodle shop for his uncle who constantly abuses him. Meanwhile, Monkey, a thief who says he doesn't care about women but every time one passes his queue goes rigid, causes trouble with some firecrackers. When Kam's uncle's place is vandalized he realizes the town bad guy wants Kam to reveal the whereabouts of Wu Shing. The bad guy's daughter also comes around looking for trouble unaware of her father's involvement. The main story is fairly serious but the the fights are comical until the finale. 

A pre-credit introduction explains that the "drunkard style" has nothing to do with drinking. It's just that the moves resemble a drunken man. Still the old master drinks constantly. Oddly, the movie never refers to it as "drunken style" (despite the title). Characters always call it "8 Immortals Style"!  The plot is very confusing but this is probably due to bad editing and dubbing. And despite a lot of tragic battles this ends on a comical note! 

Directior (that's how it's spelled in the credits!) Ma Wu was also an actor. For some reason at certain points in the film a version of "Dixie" is played!

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