Jackie Chan's Turning Point! Why 'The Young Master' Is Called a Legend

Jackie Chan's "The Young Master" (original title: Shi Di Chu Ma) is a Hong Kong action film released in 1980.

It is a very important "turning point" in Jackie's career and is loved by fans as one of his early masterpieces.

Synopsis

Highlights: Legendary Action

This film is packed with the kind of "creative action using props" that is typical of Jackie.

• The 15-minute final battle: The one-on-one fight with Korean Hapkido master Hwang In-shik is of a length and intensity that remains in film history. The gritty conclusion, where Jackie is beaten to a pulp but eventually wins while high after drinking "something (water from a water pipe)," is a masterpiece.

• Action using a folding fan: The scene in the beginning where he skillfully uses a fan as a weapon is still very technical and beautiful to watch today.

• Lion Dance: The opening lion dance competition is acrobatic and worth seeing.

Trivia

• Co-starring with Yuen Biao: He also co-stars with his childhood friend and fellow "Seven Little Fortunes" member, Yuen Biao. Their well-coordinated fight scene using benches is a must-see.

• Explosion of perfectionism: There is a legend that for this film, Jackie repeated the take hundreds of times (some say over 120 times) until he was satisfied with a scene lasting only a few seconds where he throws and catches a fan.

The significance of this film beyond being mere entertainment

Breaking away from the shadow of Bruce Lee and the birth of "funny kung fu." In the early 1970s, Jackie Chan entered the film industry as a stunt double and bit-part actor for Bruce Lee. Although he demonstrated high physical ability while hidden in Lee's shadow in 'Way of the Dragon' and 'Enter the Dragon', after Lee's death (1973), the Hong Kong film industry was looking for the "next superstar."

Jackie initially appeared in serious kung fu films under director Lo Wei, such as 'New Fist of Fury', following the "second Bruce Lee" route, but all of them struggled at the box office. Audiences were no longer looking for "serious and cool" kung fu. In that context, 'Snake in the Eagle's Shadow' and 'Drunken Master', released in 1978, changed the situation completely.

In particular, 'Drunken Master' combined the skillful direction of director Yuen Woo-ping with Jackie's own comical acting to establish a new genre: "kung fu + comedy." Instead of a traditional heroic tale, the master-disciple story of a lazy and cheeky young man, Wong Fei-hung, learning the "Drunken Eight Immortals" fist from the beggar So Chan (Yuen Siu-tien) provided audiences with familiarity and laughter. This shift was extremely important for Jackie.

This is because he established a unique character image: not a "deified, perfect warrior" like Bruce Lee, but a "human hero who fails constantly, feels pain, but never gives up."

Technical and Artistic Value of Iconic Scenes: The bench fight (a combat scene using long benches), which is particularly noteworthy, highlights the well-coordinated combination between Jackie and Yuen Biao. The offense and defense while rotating the benches and the comical movements that toy with the opponent are not just fighting, but 'physical comedy' itself. Jackie's commitment to performing his own stunts and his disregard for danger are the origins of his later 'realism-oriented' approach.

Also, the anecdote about him doing hundreds of takes for the scene where he throws and catches a folding fan is famous, symbolizing Jackie's perfectionism and his passion for 'wanting to surprise the audience'.

This dedication is one of the reasons why the action standards of Hong Kong cinema were raised to a global level.

Cultural and Industrial Impact: 'Drunken Master' recorded the second-highest box office revenue in Hong Kong in 1978 and became a huge hit in Japan when it was released in 1979. Since then, it sparked a 'Drunken Master boom' across Asia, influencing manga, anime (the source material for Drunken Master characters like in 'Dragon Ball'), and even games. It is a symbolic work that shifted kung fu films from 'tragic heroic tales' to 'mass entertainment,' and it can be said that it heralded the golden age of Hong Kong cinema (the 1980s). For Jackie personally, this film clearly paved the way from being an 'Asian top star' to a 'globally viable action star'.

His foray into Hollywood in the 1990s (such as the 'Rush Hour' series) would likely have been impossible without the brand of 'fusion of laughter and action' built during this period.

Evaluation from a Modern Perspective: Even from the perspective of the 2020s, 'Drunken Master' does not fade. Precisely because CGI and wire-fu are mainstream now, the value of the 'raw physical expression' that Jackie created with blood and sweat stands out. The origin of Jackie as a 'physical comedian' in the lineage of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin is condensed here. If there are any flaws, it is that some of the comedy feels outdated to modern eyes or the depiction of women is old-fashioned, but that is overwhelmingly covered by the creativity of the action and Jackie's charm.