# Drunken Master (醉拳)
**Drunken Master** (醉拳) is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by [Yuen Woo-ping](https://www.edgepedia.org/yuen-woo-ping), produced and co-written by Ng See-yuen, and starring [Jackie Chan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jackie-chan) as a mischievous young [Wong Fei-hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/wong-fei-hung) who is trained in the drunken boxing style by the beggar-master So (Beggar So, played by Yuen Siu-tien).[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) Made quickly by the same team behind the year's earlier hit *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*, it blended acrobatic kung fu with slapstick comedy, broke the mold of the tragic heroic martial arts film, and made Chan a new generation action superstar.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/drunkenmaster) • [1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 醉拳 (Zui Quan); English title Drunken Master |
| Release | Hong Kong premiere 5 October 1978; Japan 21 July 1979[3](https://kungfutube.info/5186) |
| Director / producer | Yuen Woo-ping; produced and co-written by Ng See-yuen[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) |
| Cast | Jackie Chan (Wong Fei-hung), Yuen Siu-tien (Beggar So), Hwang Jang-lee (the assassin Thunderleg), Dean Shek, Lam Kau[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/drunken-master-1978) |
| Format | 111 minutes, Cantonese, color; produced by Seasonal Film Corporation[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) |
| Hong Kong box office | About HK$6 million by the end of 1978, second place on the year's Hong Kong box office chart[5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%86%89%E6%8B%B3/2517249?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Genre significance | Ushered in the kung fu comedy genre and established Chan as its leading star[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/drunkenmaster) |
## Spoilers
### Story and style
The plot follows the young Wong Fei-hung, son of a martial arts school master, who clowns around instead of learning kung fu. After his antics injure the son of a powerful local man, his father enlists a sadistic uncle with a reputation for crippling his students to teach the boy discipline. When Fei-hung loses a fight with an assassin hired to kill his father, he commits to mastering the "Drunken Boxer" style.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/drunkenmaster) A common synopsis describes the setup as a mischievous young man sent to train under a brutal but slovenly old beggar who teaches him the secret of the Drunken Fist.[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/drunken-master-1978)
The training sequences invert the traditional kung fu film's exercise routines: the student balances wine cups while lying back and carrying water to a bucket, and builds waist strength and jumping power with bridge exercises, presented as fresh and comic rather than solemn.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) The Hong Kong Film Archive notes that the film mixes comedy into acrobatic combat, showcases Chan's northern-style acrobatic grounding and agile footwork, and departs from conventional kung fu action formulas.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) In the finale the young hero creates an eighth form of his own, the He Xiangu (何仙姑) form, an ending the Archive reads as a statement that a new generation of filmmakers should innovate while carrying on tradition.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html)
## Production
Producer Ng See-yuen and director Yuen Woo-ping had scored a commercial and critical success with *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow* (1978), which introduced the then-rookie Jackie Chan, and the trio quickly joined forces again to make *Drunken Master* with the same team.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) Yuen Woo-ping and his father Yuen Siu-tien worked as a father-and-son pair on screen and behind the scenes, with the elder Yuen playing the drunken master Beggar So.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) The screenplay is credited to Ng See-yuen and Xi Hua'an (also known as Hsiao Lung).[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html) Hwang Jang-lee, the villainous assassin of *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*, returned as the hired killer Thunderleg.[7](https://shop.terracottadistribution.com/products/drunken-master)
The film was a Seasonal Film Corporation production. Its copyright registration records a date of publication of June 9, 1978, with Seasonal Film Corporation as claimant.[8](https://www.copyrightencyclopedia.com/the-close-encounter-of-the-vampire-drunken-master-the/)
## Box office and reception
*Drunken Master* earned about HK$6 million in Hong Kong by the end of 1978, placing second on the territory's annual box office chart, and it sparked a wave of kung fu comedy in Hong Kong cinema.[5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%86%89%E6%8B%B3/2517249?fromModule=lemma_inlink) A TMDb-based database records a reported worldwide gross of $16,483,650, ranking it #6,257 all-time worldwide and #37 among 1978 releases in that dataset.[9](https://filmdb.co.uk/box-office/movie/drunken-master-1978-box-office) One account states it earned two and a half times the revenue of the already successful *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*.[10](https://energyturnov.cz/files/file/f76a4b3e-908e-4c9b-94c2-d1eef2730db5.pdf)
Aggregated ratings are consistently favorable: IMDb 7.4/10, a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer of 81 percent, and a Metacritic Metascore of 68.[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/drunken-master-1978) The Hong Kong government's 2004 retrospective program described the film as Ng See-yuen's kung fu comedy classic and the cornerstone that lifted Chan, as the young Wong Fei-hung, to superstardom.[11](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200407/07/0707136.htm)
## Legacy
The film's impact extended well past its box office. Alongside *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*, it changed the landscape of martial arts cinema, broke the tragic-heroic mold, and sparked both a wave of imitations and a much longer trend for kung fu comedies that continued for decades; a book-length scholarly study, Luke White's *Legacies of the Drunken Master: Politics of the Body in Hong Kong Kung Fu Comedy Films* (University of Hawai'i Press, 2020), takes the film as its anchor.[12](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvn5tw7n) Its depictions of the secret-drunken master relationship and the drunken boxing style inspired later films, music, manga, anime, and video games, and helped establish Chan as one of Asia's most popular actors.[10](https://energyturnov.cz/files/file/f76a4b3e-908e-4c9b-94c2-d1eef2730db5.pdf) The Hong Kong Film Archive credits the film with opening an era of reinterpreting traditional heroes such as Wong Fei-hung in action cinema.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html)
Chan returned to the character in the 1994 sequel *Drunken Master II*, released internationally as *The Legend of Drunken Master*, which critics praised for its choreographed fighting.[13](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-legend-of-drunken-master/) The original film has remained in circulation: a 4K digital restoration anchors the Eureka Blu-ray edition, which includes the rarely heard original complete [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) soundtrack alongside Mandarin and English dub tracks, commentary by Hong Kong film experts Ric Meyers and Jeff Yang, and interviews with Chan and film scholar Tony Rayns.[7](https://shop.terracottadistribution.com/products/drunken-master) As of 2026 the film streams free with ads in the United States on [The Roku Channel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-roku-channel) and Tubi TV, and on subscription services including Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel in nine countries.[14](https://metatake.net/whereto/drunken-master-1978)
## References
1. [醉拳, Hong Kong Film Archive (2024 screening program)](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html)
2. [DRUNKEN MASTER, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/drunkenmaster)
3. [ドランクモンキー酔拳（1978）, KUNGFU TUBE](https://kungfutube.info/5186)
4. [Drunken Master, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/drunken-master-1978)
5. [醉拳（1978年袁和平执导的动作电影）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%86%89%E6%8B%B3/2517249?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
6. [Drunken Master, Hong Kong Film Archive (English page)](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2024/martial/pe-event-2024-martial-fs-film12.html)
7. [Drunken Master (Blu-ray), Eureka / Terracotta Distribution](https://shop.terracottadistribution.com/products/drunken-master)
8. [Drunken Master copyright registration, Copyright Encyclopedia](https://www.copyrightencyclopedia.com/the-close-encounter-of-the-vampire-drunken-master-the/)
9. [Drunken Master (1978) Box Office, FilmDB](https://filmdb.co.uk/box-office/movie/drunken-master-1978-box-office)
10. [Drunken Master (1978) film file, energyturnov.cz](https://energyturnov.cz/files/file/f76a4b3e-908e-4c9b-94c2-d1eef2730db5.pdf)
11. [電影放映 展覽 座談會 展示七十年代香港電影的潮流變化, Hong Kong Government News (2004)](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200407/07/0707136.htm)
12. [Luke White, Legacies of the Drunken Master: Politics of the Body in Hong Kong Kung Fu Comedy Films, University of Hawai'i Press (2020), JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvn5tw7n)
13. [The Legend of Drunken Master Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-legend-of-drunken-master/)
14. [Where to watch Drunken Master (1978), Metatake](https://metatake.net/whereto/drunken-master-1978)
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*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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