Dance of the Drunk Mantis / 南北醉拳(1979)

Director: Woo Ping Yuen
Starring: Yuwn Siu-tien, Hwang Jang-lee, Linda Lin Ying, Yuen Shun-yi, Charlie Shek, Yen Shi-kwan Hong Kong. 1h 31m

Set after the cult classic Drunken Master, the aged fighting master Sam Seed (Yuen Siu-tien) returns home to his wife after many years to discover he has a new son! This outlandish Ku fu movie is one of my favorites for it’s equal measures of clever fighting and cheeky comedy which boils down to hell of a final movie for the legendary actor Yuen Siu-tien, as he passed from a stroke soon after filming. Not only is the humor and fighting well balanced but the characters conjured up are not easily matched, the cast includes the characters, Rubber Legs , Moneybags, Foggy and Sickness Master, who all sound like some Wish version of Wu Tang.

Drunken Master Part 2

The film was posthumously released after the death of Yuen Siu-tien, who passed away from a heart attack in January 1979, the film was released on 27 June 1979, a strange but fitting end to an illustrious career.

One year after training a young Freddy Wong (Jackie Chan) in Drunken Master, Beggar So / Sam Seed returns to find that his wife has adopted a son named Foggy. But there’s little love between father and son. Sam takes a disliking to the boy and does his best to torture him for fun, but the boys kung fu skills are hopeless and Sam just wants to drink and live the quiet life after last years antics.

Foggy is totally devastated and runs away to make something of himself, taking a job at a local inn where he meets Rubber Legs and his student. He overhears that they are looking for Beggar So and want to kill him, making Rubber Legs’ Northern ‘Drunk Mantis’ Boxing the ultimate kung fu.

Foggy is determined to return home and warn Beggar So, and through some unreal events he ends up learning Sick Boxing from the Sick Master who lives in a coffin in the graveyard (so goth) and then it’s his destiny to take on Rubber Legs and his conies.

.Generally the movie is heavily based in comedy and can be a little over the top with its laughs which overtake the Kung Fu scenes, where the camera sits back and just lets the energy flow.

TLDR

Dance of the Drunk Mantis / 南北醉拳 (1979) After teaching Freddy (Chan) in Drunken Master,Sam Seed returns home to find his wife has adopted a young man, they clash/join forces when Rubber Legs attempts to prove his fighting style in excellent comedic kung fu action film. pic.twitter.com/WNuDdrKuxR

— Admit 1 Film Addict (@admitonefilmadd) December 1, 2022

Rating: 8/10

Related: Drunken Master (1978)
Lists: Drunken Fighting Movies Spotlight: Yuwn Siu-tien

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