Drunken Master II

Jui kuen II

Hong Kong

1994

102 Min

Color

2.35:1

Cantonese

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Liu Chia-Liang, Jackie Chan

PROD Edward Tang, Eric Tsang

SCR Edward Tang, Man-Ming Tong, Gai Chi Yuen

DP Tony Cheung, Cheung Yiu-Tsou, Jingle Ma, Man-wan Wong

CAST Jackie Chan, Ti Lung, Anita Mui

Synopsis

Returning home with his father after a shopping expedition, Wong Fei-Hong is unwittingly caught up in the battle between foreigners who wish to export ancient Chinese artifacts and loyalists who don’t want the pieces to leave the country. Fei-Hong has learned a style of fighting called “Drunken Boxing”, which makes him a dangerous person to cross. Unfortunately, his father is opposed to his engaging in any kind of fighting, let alone drunken boxing. Consequently, Fei-Hong not only has to fight against the foreigners, but he must overcome his father’s antagonism as well. —IMDb

Director

Liu Chia-Liang

Liu Chia – liang born July 28, 1936 in Guangzhou, Guangdong) is a famous Hong Kong martial arts filmmaker, choreographer, and actor.
He is best known for his movies which he made during the 1970s and 1980s for the Shaw Brothers Studio. One of his most famous films is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin which starred his martial brother, Lau Kar-fai, as well as Drunken Master II which starred Jackie Chan

Before becoming famous, Liu worked as an extra and choreographer on the black & white Wong Fei Hung movies. He teamed up with fellow Wong Fei Hung choreographer Tong Gaai on the 1963 Hu Peng wuxia picture South Dragon, North Phoenix. Their collaboration would continue on until the mid-1970s.

In the 1960s he became one of Shaw Brothers’ main choreographers and had a strong working relationship with director Chang Cheh, working on many of Chang’s movies as a choreographer (often alongside Tong Gaai) including The One-Armed Swordsman, as well as other Shaw Bros. wuxia pictures… read more

Liu Chia – liang born July 28, 1936 in Guangzhou, Guangdong) is a famous Hong Kong martial arts filmmaker, choreographer, and actor.
He is best known for his movies which he made during the 1970s and 1980s for the Shaw Brothers Studio. One of his most famous films is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin which starred his martial brother, Lau Kar-fai, as well as Drunken Master II which starred Jackie Chan

Before becoming famous, Liu worked as an extra and choreographer on the black & white Wong Fei Hung movies. He teamed up with fellow Wong Fei Hung choreographer Tong Gaai on the 1963 Hu Peng wuxia picture South Dragon, North Phoenix. Their collaboration would continue on until the mid-1970s.

In the 1960s he became one of Shaw Brothers’ main choreographers and had a strong working relationship with director Chang Cheh, working on many of Chang’s movies as a choreographer (often alongside Tong Gaai) including The One-Armed Swordsman, as well as other Shaw Bros. wuxia pictures, such as The Jade Bow. After a split with Chang on the set of Marco Polo, Liu evolved into a director during the sudden boom of kung-fu movies in the early 1970s. He occasionally did choreography work for non-Shaw movies as well, such as Master of the Flying Guillotine.

After Shaw Brothers collapsed in the 1980s, Liu moved on and continued directing and choreographing movies, among them Drunken Master II. However, the film’s star Jackie Chan and director Liu clashed over the style of fighting, resulting in Liu leaving the set before the filming of the final fight scene, which was then taken over by Chan. Most recently, Liu performed acting and choreography work for Tsui Hark’s 2005 wuxia movie Seven Swords.

Mark Houghton opened the Lau Family Hung Kuen school Lau Family Hung Gar academy in HK/Fanling with the support of his sifu, Lau Kar Leung. He gave his disciple the permission to spread the art of Lau Family Hung Kuen to chosen students. There are already branches in England,Philippines, and China.

Liu Chia-liang was the third child of Lau Cham (Lau Jaam, 劉湛), a martial art master who studied under Lam Sai Wing, pupil of the legendary Wong Fei Hung2. He has two brothers who make a living in the film industry, actor/choreographer Lau Kar Wing, and adopted martial brother Gordon Liu. His nephew Lau Kar Yung (son of his older sister)is also an actor,choreographer and director. Another nephew, Lau Wing-kin (son of Lau Kar-wing) is also an actor, and assisted Lau Kar-leung with directing the action of Seven Swords.
Liu’s wife is Mary Jean Reimer whom he married in 1984. A former girlfriend of Liu is Kara Hui. Liu currently resides in Hong Kong with his wife and their daughters Jeanne and Rosemary.

Liu Chia-liang on what he thought of Bruce Lee’s kung fu:

“There were elements derived from Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Western boxing — all that, with a little of Chinese kung fu. But Bruce Lee was very smart. He applied himself diligently, and when he practiced kung fu, he gave it his all. He was a superb actor. He began to do movies very young.

When we were kids, we knew each other very well. Bruce Lee was passionate about kung fu. It was his life. His contribution was recognized by those of us who were doing kung fu. He introduced it to the whole wide world. But he was missing something; That was the “Wude” (martial arts philosophy) and the “Xiu yang” (self-control). He only knew how to fight. He hit to hurt, for the pleasure of the strikes. He was too much a Westerner. The traditional Chinese courtesy was alien to him. When you watch his movies, the violence and the power of his blows can’t be missed. For us, the principle is Dian dao ji zhi (to stop when we hit the opponent, to know how to restrain yourself and slow down the strike at the very moment of the hit). Someone is really strong in kung fu only if he’s able to do that." —wikipedia

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Jackie Chan

Hong Kong’s cheeky, lovable and best known film star endured many years of long, hard work and multiple injuries to establish international success via his early beginnings in Hong Kong’s manic martial arts cinema industry.

Jackie Chan was born “Kong-sang Chan” on Hong Kong’s famous Victoria Peak on April 7th, 1954 to Charles & Lee-Lee Chan, and the family emigrated to Canberra, Australia in early 1960. The young Jackie Chan was less than successful scholastically, so his father sent him back to Hong Kong to attend the rigorous China Drama Academy, one of the Peking Opera Schools. Chan excelled at acrobatics, singing and martial arts and eventually became a member of the “Seven Little Fortunes” performing troupe and began life long friendships with fellow martial artists / actors Sammo Hung Kam-Bo and Biao Yuen. Chan journeyed back and forth to visit his parents and work in Canberra, but eventually he made his way back to Hong Kong as his permanent home.

In the early… read more

Hong Kong’s cheeky, lovable and best known film star endured many years of long, hard work and multiple injuries to establish international success via his early beginnings in Hong Kong’s manic martial arts cinema industry.

Jackie Chan was born “Kong-sang Chan” on Hong Kong’s famous Victoria Peak on April 7th, 1954 to Charles & Lee-Lee Chan, and the family emigrated to Canberra, Australia in early 1960. The young Jackie Chan was less than successful scholastically, so his father sent him back to Hong Kong to attend the rigorous China Drama Academy, one of the Peking Opera Schools. Chan excelled at acrobatics, singing and martial arts and eventually became a member of the “Seven Little Fortunes” performing troupe and began life long friendships with fellow martial artists / actors Sammo Hung Kam-Bo and Biao Yuen. Chan journeyed back and forth to visit his parents and work in Canberra, but eventually he made his way back to Hong Kong as his permanent home.

In the early 1970s Chan commenced his movie career and interestingly he appeared in very minor roles in two films starring then rising martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, Fist of Fury (1972) aka “Fist of Fury” aka “The Chinese Connection” and the Warner Bros. production Enter the Dragon (1973). Not long after Lee’s untimely death, Chan was often cast in films cashing in on the success of Bruce Lee by utilizing words like “fist”, “fury” or “dragon” in their US release titles.

Chan’s own film career was off and running and he swiftly appeared in many low budget martial arts films that were churned out at a rapid fire pace by Hong Kong studios eager to satisfy the early 1970’s boom in martial arts cinema. He starred in Shao Lin mu ren xiang (1976) aka “Shaolin Wooden Men”, Jian hua yan yu Jiang Nan (1977) aka “To Kill With Intrigue”, Dian zhi gong fu gan chian chan (1980) aka “Half A Loaf of Kung Fu” and Fei du juan yun shan (1978) aka “Magnificent Bodyguards” which all fared reasonably well at the cinemas. However, he scored a major breakthrough with the hit Drunken Master (1978) aka “Drunken Master” which has become a cult favorite amongst martial arts film fans. Not too long after this, Jackie Chan made his directorial debut with Shi di chu ma (1980) aka “The Young Master” and then Enter the Dragon (1973) producer Robert Clouse lured Jackie to the US for a film planned to break Jackie into the lucrative US market. The Big Brawl (1980) aka “Battle Creek Brawl” featured Jackie competing in a “toughest street fighter” style contest set in 1940s Texas, however Jackie was unhappy with the end result, and it failed to fire with US audiences. In a further attempt to get his name known in the USA, Jackie was cast alongside ‘Burt Reynolds’, Roger Moore and Dean Martin in the Hal Needham directed car chase flick _Cannonball Run, The (1981). Regrettably, Jackie was cast as a Japanese race driver and his martial arts skills are only shown in one small sequence near the films conclusion. Stateside success was still a few years away for Jackie Chan!

Undeterred, Jackie returned to the Orient to do what he did best….make jaw dropping action films laden with amazing stunt work. Chan and his legendary stunt team were unparalleled in their ability to execute the most incredible fight scenes and action sequences and the next decade would see some of their best work.

Chan paired with the dynamic Sammo Hung Kam-Bo to star in Qi mou miao ji: Wu fu xing (1983) aka “Winners & Sinners”, Jackie Chan’s Project A (1983) aka “Project "A”, Kuai can che (1984) aka “Wheels On Meals”, Fuk sing go jiu (1985) aka “Winners & Sinners 2”, Xia ri fu xing (1985) aka “My Lucky Stars 2” aka “Winners & Sinners 3”. Chan then journeyed back to the United States for another shot at the US market starring alongside Danny Aiello in The Protector (1985) filmed in Hong Kong and New York. However, as with previous attempts Jackie felt the US director James Glickenhaus failed to understand his audience appeal and the film played to luke warm reviews and box office receipts. Jackie did however decide to “harden” up his on screen image somewhat and his next film Ging chat goo si (1985) aka “Police Story” was a definite departure from previously light hearted martial arts fare, and his fans loved the final product ! This was quickly followed up with the “Indiana Jones” influenced Long xiong hu di (1987) aka “The Armour of God” during which at the time of filming, Jackie mistimed a leap from a wall to a tree in Yugoslavia and fell many metres onto his head, causing a skull fracture. It was another injury in a long line of injuries that Chan has suffered as a result of doing his own stunt work, and he was soon back in front of the cameras.

Jackie Chan’s Project A2 (1987) aka “Project A: Part 2”, Ging chaat goo si juk jaap (1988) aka “Police Story 2”, Ji ji (1989) aka “Mr Canton and Lady Rose”, Operation Condor (1991) aka “Armour of God 2” and Supercop (1992) aka “Police Story 3” were all sizable hits for Jackie escalating his star status to phenomenal heights in Asia, and to his loyal fan base around the globe. US success was now just around the corner for the the hard working Jackie Chan and it arrived in the form of the action film Rumble in the Bronx (1995) aka “Rumble In The Bronx” – actually filmed in Canada – that successfully blended humor and action to make a winning formula in US theaters. Jackie did not waste any time and went to work on Jackie Chan’s First Strike (1996) aka “Police Story 4”, Mr. Nice Guy (1997) aka “Mr Nice Guy”, Wo shi shei (1998) aka “Who Am I”, which all met with positive results at the international box office. Jackie then went to work in the largest US film production in which he had been involved, starring alongside fast talking comedian Chris Tucker in the action / comedy Rush Hour (1998). The film was a bigger hit than “Rumble In the Bronx” and firmly established Jackie Chan as a bona fide star in the United States. Jackie then paired up with rising talent Owen Wilson to star in Shanghai Noon (2000) and its sequel Shanghai Knights (2003), plus he returned with Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 2 (2001), as well as starring in The Tuxedo (2002), The Medallion (2003) and the delightful Around the World in 80 Days (2004).

Not one to forget his loyal fan base, Jackie returned to more gritty & traditional fare with New Police Story (2004) aka “New Police Story” and The Myth (2005) aka “The Myth”. The multi-talented Jackie Chan (he’s also a major recording star in Asia) shows no sign of slowing down and has long since moved out of the shadow of Bruce Lee to which he was usually compared early in his career. Chan is truly one of the international film industries true maverick actor / director / stuntman / producer combinations – he has done it the hard way, and always his way to achieve his dreams and goals to be an international cinematic star.

Off screen, he has been directly involved in many philanthropic ventures involving financial assistance to schools & universities around the world, he is a UNICEF GoodWill Ambassador, plus he has campaigned against animal abuse & pollution and assisted with disaster relief efforts to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami victims. —IMDb

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