Tian shi zhuang xie

Went on a bit of a martial arts movie binge tonight as a reward for working a lot lately. I think I kind of saved the weakest of the three I watched for last, Shaolin Drunkard, but this was also the craziest and most experimental. In fact, it's one of the most fever-dream-heavy martial arts flicks I've seen in a good while. I probably haven't seen something quite this weird within the genre since The Boxer's Omen... that one came out the same year, and was admittedly much more gross. Shaolin Drunkard is more bizarre than it is disgusting.

Strangely, for a Yuen Woo-Ping film, the action doesn't really jump out as the best thing in the movie. I think Shaolin Drunkard kind of gets by owing to its oddest elements, but other than some pretty crazy quirks, there's not a whole lot to it, nor its action (which I guess is appropriately weird, I'd have to concede).

I feel like something like this deserves its status as a martial arts deep-cut. Die-hard fans will probably find themselves stumbling upon it eventually, and those who would find it to be way too much will probably live their lives blissfully unaware of its strange existence.

Apr 2021

One of the 4 Yuen Clan films from the early 80s, and they are all equally as excellent as each other for me, the others being "Drunken Tai Chi, Taoism Drunkard and Miracle Fighters".

All 4 have to be seen to be believed, they are all so inventive and amazing and funny with it.

They all star Yuen Cheung Yan, Yuen Shun Yee and Yuen Yat Chor.

Sit back and enjoy

10 out of 10.

I have just seen Drunken Shaolin, and I must admit that it's a very entertaining film.

The story is about the drunken guy and a young man (chuen yan yuen). The young man joins a contest whose winner will marry a beautiful girl, however , he finds out that the girl has an ugly spot on the right side of her face. Therefore, he escapes, and the girl doesn't give up so easily, she chases after him in order to get married with him. The girl's father meets an evil man and then all the fun begins.

The jokes are great, the cheese factor is maxed, the fights are well fought and there are also some funky monsters. Oh, I have almost forgotten, the old drunken man is silly and funny as hell, so far he is the funniest drunken man on this drunken trilogy staring Chuen Yan Yuen. I would like to recommend it every fan of cheesy kung fu movies who isn't afraid of watching movies that the average person won't usually watch. Highly Recommended!

We used to call this movie rabbit teeth 25 years ago when we were kids because we didn't know the title of the movie was. Watch for yourself. Action ,Comdey There is no boring part of the movie.

By 1983 everything that could be done in a martial arts movie had been done a thousand times. As the genre was about to be pronounced dead a few creative geniuses like John Woo, Jackie Chan, and the Yuen clan reinvented it. This movie is sometimes called "Miracle Fighters 2". It is not a sequel but a continuation of the creativity of the Yuen clan.

Though they were geniuses in martial arts also they used practical effects to reinvent the genre. (A practical effect is a special effect produced physically and this was the only way to do it back then.) In this movie they used illusions that real stage magicians used, such as the ring trick at the end, and greatly elaborated. Rings were often used as weapons in martial arts movies and I hate them because they are not real weapons and mostly ineffective. The Venoms used rings but they were mostly acrobatic props. Here, the Yuens start with the genuine stage magician linking rings trick and raised it exponentially plus made an effective martial arts weapon.

They were also geniuses in the ancient Chinese art of puppetry. The wire work of lifting fighters into the air had been done for decades but the real creativity came with applying puppetry to the props too.

Chinese also knew all about fireworks and the Yuens used plenty of chemical reactions in their effects.

Some might say there was not enough fighting in this movie. Yes, there was less than usual for a typical martial arts movie. In my opinion, it didn't need any more fighting, quality beats quantity. I rate this 8 out of 10 and it has my highest recommendation.