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| Jackie Chan's initial movie as a star with the Golden Harvest studio also marked one of Chan's first forays behind the camera. Like most of Chan's work of the period, there is a heavy emphasis on comedy here -- a lot of which hasn't aged very well, unfortunately. But the kung fu scenes are still quite fun to watch and make this film mandatory viewing for any fan of Jackie's work.
Jackie plays the usual ne'er-do-well he usually went for in his old school movies; this time out, he's a student named Lung (Dragon) whose school is thrown into disarray when their top pupil, Tiger (Wai Pak), throws an important lion dance. Disgraced, Tiger takes to a life of crime, and so Lung sets off to bring him back to the school. But since both Tiger and Lung use a fan, Lung is taken into custody by the local police chief (Shek Kin) and his son (Yuen Biao), who thinks Lung is the one that helped break out a dangerous criminal, Kam (Whang In-Shik). Lung manages to convince the chief to let him and Tiger go, as long as he can capture Kam.
Even though the story is pretty simple, it does take a while to get things going -- one could only imagine how must of a trudge Chan's original three hour cut must have been, if the just-too-goofy comedic scenes (complete with cartoon sound effects) present in the released cut are any indication. As groan-inducing as some of the jokes are, the stuff here's thankfully not all that bad, and Jackie seems to have realized that he had to throw in a lot of action scenes.
Finally free of Lo Wei's desires (who wanted to make Chan into the next Bruce Lee), Jackie is able to fully create fights in his own style, though it was by no small accident -- reports have Chan doing some takes hundreds of times to get things just right. While the end results aren't quite near the pinnacles of Chan's career, they're still good stuff, especially his brawls with his "little brother" Yuen Biao. Taken as a whole, The Young Master might not look like too much. But it is one of those films that ends up being more than the sum of its' parts, and it still remains one of the best entries from the final period of "true" old-school kung fu cinema. |
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| | | | ALTERNATE SYNOPSIS:
Jackie Chan ("Rush Hour", "Shanghai Noon") stars in one of his most entertaining films, "The Young Master". Orphans Ching Loong (Chan) and his brother Cheng Keung (Wei Pei) are taken in and trained by a highly regarded kung fu school. But when Cheng accepts a bribe from a rival school to throw the annual lion dance competition, he is expelled, and he leaves to begin a life of crime. Then, when Ching is mistaken for his brother and arrested for a crime Cheng is believed to have committed, Ching's life is turned upside down. It's laughter, anxiety and amazing kung fu action as Ching strives to restore honor to his school, his brother and himself. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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| | | | ALTERNATE SYNOPSIS:
Dragon (Jackie Chan) is an underdog student at a Chinese martial arts school. When his brother, Tiger, falls out with their teacher, then falls in with bad company, Dragon sets out to find him. Along the way, he finds himself at odds with the kung fu fighting local sheriff (Shek Kin) and his son (Yuen Biao). To clear Tiger's name, Dragon is forced to engage in a fight to the finish with the villainous Master Kam, a bandit with the fastest flying feet in the east. In the end, the outcome of this epic duel relies less on Dragon's skill than on his sheer stamina and courage... Jackie Chan, the world's favorite action star, sets a new standard for kung fu films with this groundbreaking action-comedy classic. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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ALTERNATE SYNOPSIS:
When two rival martial arts schools square off in an annual lion dance competition, the favorite, betrayed by their star pupil, Tiger (Wei Pei), exits in disgrace. When Tiger is expelled and joins up with a notorious gang of criminals, led by feared kicking expert Master Kim (Wong In-Sik), Dragon (Jackie Chan) embarks on a dangerous mission to bring his "brother" back to the school. Unfortunately, the situation is further complicated when he is mistaken for his criminal brother, and must fight to clear his name, while continually on the run from both the local police and the criminal gang. Unknown to Dragon, the ultimate challenge awaits him: a deadly one-on-one encounter with the formidable Master Kim.
Filled with intricate, masterfully-choreographed action sequences, clever sight-gags, and fluid camerawork, this timeless classic broke all Hong Kong box office records on its original theatrical release, and is still today one of the top-grossing Jackie Chan movies of all time!! |
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Probably the best and most enjoyable of Jackie's early films (i.e. before "Project A"), and the first film he did for Golden Harvest. Fascinating and intricate choreography showcases Jackie Chan's astounding dexterity as he dishes it out and takes a beating. This is also the only film I've seen with Jackie performing a lion dance. Jackie's goofy antics are toned down considerably, making the film much more enjoyable, and he gives a pretty intense performance. The musical score is also quite interesting - lots of popular classical pieces including Holst's "Mars" and the theme music to "Popeye"! Good stuff. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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