“Revenge of Drunken Master” Poster
Director: Gang Beom-Gu
Co-director: Godfrey Ho
Cast: Johnny Chan (Wang Dae-wi), Bruce Cheung Mong, Kwon Sung-Young, Eagle Han Ying, Lee Mi-Ji, Han Myeong-Hwan, Kim Ki-Ju, Eom Ju-Hyeon
Running Time: 82 min.
By Ian Whittle
As if all the many weird and wonderful Bruceploitation films weren’t enough, the Koreans (and consequently Asso Asia/Godfrey Ho and Tomas Tang) also tried their hand at JackieChansploitation. Following the cross-over with Dragon Lee; Golden Dragon, Silver Snake; Wang Dae-wi (aka Johnny Chan) got a solo vehicle – judging from The Korean Movie Database, his only one, and his last of two films.
I get the impression the Drunken Boxing (complete with the Wong Fei-hung theme “Under the General’s Orders”) was added late to the production, as the main focus is on Wang’s character being an acupuncturist, specialising in making people laugh. Unfortunately, he made the wrong man laugh forever as punishment for his bad behaviour, and now he is on the run with a bounty on his head. And if that wasn’t bad enough, as a member of the Drunken Boxing clan, he is also being pursued by a gang the English dub wonderful calls the Blood Ninjas!
Hot on Wang’s trail is a policeman/bounty hunter (the dub can’t decide) played by Eagle Han Ying. And this is where the film gets…um, awkward. Wang rescues a girl from bandits, leaves her sleazy uncle tied up…and proceeds to rape her. And then they have a conversation about her age and his job as though nothing had happened. And then she falls in love with him and stalks him all through the rest of the movie. I mean…eewww! And I’m fairly sure this isn’t the only old school Korean kung fu movie I’ve seen with this queasy Stockholm syndrome love story.
Wang’s travels lead him into encounters with all sorts of odd characters – a fake vampire, Eagle Hang Ying, Japanese samurai (complete with the chambara music from Fist of Fury), Eagle Han Ying, a leper colony and, oh look, Eagle Hang Ying again. Finally, Wang and Han team up to take on the Blood Ninja gang, led by Bruce Cheung Wong, who mainly fights with what can best be described as flying discs. Adding to the odd sexual stuff going on in this film, Cheung has a bizarre hunchbacked dog-like servant (imagine a creepy version of Baldrick from Blackadder) who appears to either his lover or his pet!
Much to my surprise, the action choreography on display is generally above average for a Korean movie of this vintage and can hold its own with a typical Hong Kong/Taiwanese indie. As a leading man, Wang Dae-wi is less irritating than one would expect from a Jackie clone, but doesn’t really have the leading man presence to stand out from the final pack. So, unless he ended up a mainstay on the Korean version of Coronation Street or The Young and the Restless, the last we saw of him was his final gurning freeze-frame closeup, looking appropriately drunk.
Ian Whittle’s Rating: 5/10
This is one of those movies that ticks all the ridiculous boxes for why I love Korean kung-fu flicks.
Plus, you can never have too much Eagle Han Ying, the guy elevates any movie with his presence and pristine kicks. Well, except for ‘Return of Red Tiger’, nobody could elevate that piece of crap.
Does anyone know if some of these old school Korean kung fu movies take place in China or Korea as the setting? There seems to be a lot of crossover.
Most of the time the original versions were set in Korea, and sometimes in the territory then known as Manchuria, however the Asso Asia dubs and re-edits always changed the plots to indicate they were set in China (usually alluded to by characters names being Chinese in the dub rather than Korean, and talk of invading Qings etc.).
Hong Kong movies shot in Korea, on the other hand, were usually attempting to pass Korea off as China.
Thank you that makes a lot more sense now!
I always found it ludicrous in Dragon Fist that James Tien is meant to be a much better fighter than Han!