Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat (1978) Review

“Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Fox and Hounds
Director: Cheung Sum
Cast: Simon Yuen Siu Tien, Sharon Yeung Pan Pan, John Cheung Ng Long, Candice Yu On On, Chu Chi Ling, Thompson Kao Kang, Johnny Cheung
Running Time: 84 min.

By Paul Bramhall

To the kung fu genre, 1978 can be considered prime time. Jackie Chan starred in Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagles Shadow, Sammo Hung made Warriors Two, the Venoms arrived in the form of The Five Venoms, Invincible Shaolin, and Crippled Avengers, and directors like Joseph Kuo were cranking out the likes of Born Invincible and Seven Grandmasters. In short, life was good. 1978 represented a kind of peak in the evolution of the kung fu genre – the choreography reached new heights of intricacy and complexity, if flowed faster, and the camerawork became increasingly dynamic. Underpinning all of this, was a pool of performers who, without the physical abilities and attributes they came with, none of the above would matter.

With so many classics coming out in the same year, its inevitable that some titles would slip through the net, and I was keen to find out if the ridiculously titled Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat was one of them. Admittedly, a title sequence that consists of photos of photos (or if you want to make it sound a little better – stills) from the next 85 minutes doesn’t inspire confidence, so I was surprised to find KFMNDC (as I’ll refer to it here hereon) to be a welcome addition to the 1978 roster. Despite the images the name may bring to mind, KFMNDC is actually set in modern-day Hong Kong, and focuses on the friendship between a pair of kung fu practicing tenants living in the same building.

Played by John Chang and Sharon Yeung Pan-Pan, the pair have a likeable chemistry, and develop a friendly rivalry as to which one has the better kung fu. Directed of Cheung Sum, Chang became his go-to leading man having headlined the directors out-there kung fu/horror hybrid Mantis Fists and Tiger Claws of Shaolin from the year prior. Sum and Chang would go on to work together on Two Wondrous Tigers (reuniting him with Yeung Pan-Pan) and Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow the following year. Sum himself was an interesting director, having dabbled infrequently in the martial arts genre in the early 70’s, he was mainly known for his racy sex flicks like Bald Headed Betty, Massage Girls (featuring an early lead role from Chow Yun Fat!), and Bed for Day, Bed for Night. It was only when the kung fu craze took hold again in the late 70’s that he re-focused his energy on the genre, notably also directing the classic Daggers 8.

I confess I’ve never seen Chang and Yeung Pan-Pan look as fresh faced as they do here. I was familiar with Chang from the likes of Tiger Cage III (controversial opinion – I consider if the best in the trilogy, which I know may stop everyone from reading any further) and of course his roles alongside JCVD and Bolo in Bloodsport and Double Impact, so seeing him in a role like this was a welcome surprise. Likewise for Yeung Pan-Pan, I thought I’d only known her previously from her late 80’s/early 90’s Girls with Guns flicks like Princess Madam and Angel Terminators, however her role here reminded me that I have in fact seen her before in the likes of the Shaw Brother’s Lion Vs Lion. In many ways she was the full package – great onscreen fighting skills, acrobatic, and a distinctive look – so it’s a shame she was barely in more than 20 movies during her peak (which I’ll use as a convenient excuse for my forgetfulness).

I don’t normally spend too much time on the plot of old-school kung fu flicks, however for KFMNDC it’s so out there that I think it deserves a mention. In a nutshell, when walking home from his waiter job one night Chang is mistaken for a sexual predator by Candy Yu (the 1st Mrs Chow Yun Fat) and arrested. She plays a flight attendant, and to apologise, she gives him a jar of candy that was given to her by a passenger. As it turns out, each candy contains a diamond inside, and was supposed to be intercepted by some gangsters once it was off the plane, so having it gifted to Chang certainly wasn’t a part of the plan. The gangsters eventually track down Chang, Pan-Pan, and Yu, which leads to plenty of fisticuffs and some unexpected moments of humor.

That’s not to say that all of the humor works. KFMNDC is a unique mix of the typical teeth gratingly puerile Canto-comedy that was so common at the time, matched with moments of humor that have a distinctly absurdist streak running through them. So, while we do get those fine kung fu comedy traditions of a guy getting peed on in the face by a child, and another landing face first in dog shit (all complimented by sound effects that rival Goose Boxer in their level of obnoxiousness), there’s also some genuinely funny moments. One fight scene has Yeung Pan-Pan and a gangster she’s fighting against literally sit-down mid-fight to take a rest and get their breath back, while another has Chang taking on two gangsters at the same time, and one of them decides to light up a smoke mid-fight and sit it out for a few minutes.

It almost feels like Sum is subtly taking the mickey out of the kung fu genre, a feeling which is reinforced in a sequence that has Chang explain how he learnt all of his kung fu from watching kung fu movies. It’s a decidedly existential concept thrown into a straight forward old-schooler of the era, and it was these brief moments of unexpected humor that made KFMNDC such an enjoyable watch. There is one more draw though for the dedicated old-school kung fu fan, and that’s the casting of Simon Yuen as a kung fu teacher who runs the school that Yeung Pan-Pan attends. You may be thinking if he’s the ‘drunk cat’ that the title refers to, so now feels like as good a time as any to point out I have no idea what the title’s connection is to the movie itself. Presumably, with the success of Snake in the Eagles Shadow earlier in the year, more period sounding titles (involving drunkenness and cats) would be likely to draw in an audience.

As the legendary leader (and father) of the Yuen Clan, I’m sure he’d find it ironic that, as someone with over 300 screen appearances to his name dating back to the 1940’s, the ones he’s most known for are playing a drunken beggar in the last few years of his life. Here he’s not on Beggar So duty, so we actually get to see a rare appearance in his twilight years free of the scraggly grey wig, and in a modern-day environment to boot. He may have been 67, but amazingly he performs in a fight scene free of any doubling, and shows an enviable level of energy and dexterity that would make anyone easily believe he was at least 20 years younger. The fight choreography itself is handled by Liu Hok-Ming, a guy who was known more for being a bit player in many of the kung fu movies that were cranked out from the mid-70’s to mid-80’s, and KFMNDC was the first time for him to take on choreography duties solo.

Having previously debuted as an action director the same year by taking on co-duties with Lam Moon-Wa in Killer of Snake, Fox of Shaolin, the fights on display belie his relative lack of experience. The choreography is sharp and crisp, incorporating the occasional acrobatic flourish that enhances the choreography rather than detracting from it. Chang and Yeung Pan-Pan in particular really shine. Early on Chang takes on Hung Gar Fist expert Chiu Chi-Ling (Kung Fu Hustle – which is worth mentioning because Stephen Chow recycles a joke from KFMNDC) in a playful 3-minute survival match, and it’s a joy to watch as the pair exchanges fists, kicks, and flips. The camerawork also shows signs of how far the genre had come at this point, shifting away from the stationery shots from the beginning of the decade, to a constantly moving camera that adds an extra sense of kinetic energy to the performer’s movements.

Along the way Chang and Yu accidentally get married, Yeung Pan-Pan takes on attackers by hiding in a Shaolin Wooden Man, and Chang has to fight a kung fu dwarf to prove his skills. By the time we get to the finale against the main villain (Thompson Kao Kang, sporting a tennis ball sized cyst on his neck) and his eccentric gang of lackeys (we’re talking the cross-eyed, sporting a Hitler moustache, eye-patch adorned, cowboy hat wearing variety) there’s already been enough kung fu goodness on display to satisfy even the most jaded kung fu fan. You know, the type who’ve sat through 10 kung fu flicks back-to-back on one of those 50 Movie DVD packs and have lost the will to live. While the succeeding years would quickly become dominated by copycats trying to recreate the Seasonal Films formula (including Seasonal themselves!), KFMNDC is a breath of fresh air, just don’t expect any drunk cats.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10