World Of The Drunken Master (1979)

A winery owner and drunken boxing master trains two young boys in the art of drunken boxing after he catches them stealing from his winery.

After the success of Jackie Chan's film Drunken Master, more drunken Kung Fu films started cropping up to cash in.  This is an unofficial sequel/prequel to that film and focuses on the early life of Begger Su and his pal Fan Ta-Pei.  Begger Su is one of the most iconic characters in martial arts cinema.  Director Joseph Kuo resurrected the character for this film. Simon Yuen (the original Begger Su actor) is all over the box cover and appears in the opening credits demonstrating drunken kung fu but then is replaced by two other actors for the rest of the film.  A little bait and switch which is highly disappointing.

Vineyard owner Chang Chi catches Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu red-handed as they steal grapes from his supplies. To make good for what they've stolen, Chang Chi puts them to work in his winery, and soon discovers they both have a natural talents for the martial arts. Chang begins coaching them in the finer points of Kung Fu, and one day when Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu see a thug named Yeh Hu harassing the townspeople, they stand up to the bully, only to discover he outpaces them as a fighter. Chang Chi arrives in time to save the day, but this rekindles an old rivalry between him and Yeh Hu, and now Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu must get serious about their martial arts studies to protect Chang Chi and the villagers from Yeh Hu and his minions.

Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu reunited 30 years later.

Action director Yuen Cheung-Yan put in some solid work here with the fighting but it doesn't come close to matching the original Drunken Master film.  The fight scenes still supply enough excitement to raise World of the Drunken Master above the shallow level of your average chop socky movie. There are a few comedic elements in the film and despite their appearances, Li Yi-Min and Jack Lung make a competent comic team.  The film ended with sort of a cliffhanger ending which was surprising.  As far as I know there was no sequel.  Who the hell knows what happened next.  It's a rather confusing ending.

Fan Ta-pei ready to kick some ass.

One bad point about the film is the final fights are way too cut-up.  The film has great fight choreography, a well-acted and thought out main plot, and good cinematography. The subplot at the beginning and ending of the film...not so thought out.  Overall it is a worthy film to add to your collection if you're a fan of old school Hong Kong cinema.