The Young Master
(1980)
Directed by Jackie Chan
Starring Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Pai Wei, Lily Li
Rating: ******
4.5/6
Jackie Chan stars and directs
In this Kung Fu film of old.
He plays a young man with a master,
A rather familiar role.
His master runs a school
And a festival is near.
They enter in a contest
And plan to win this year.
The contest sounds quite simple.
Some of the school’s best student
Dress up as a dragon
In flight arrivals school’s students.
They do this while they’re balancing
On elevated objects,
Going ever higher,
Being careful not to misstep,
For it’s a long enough way down
That injury will occur,
Particularly when you recall
That they’re covered in dragon fur.
But no one falls, and yet they lose,
And their Master won’t forgive them.
We see quite a lot of time pass
And still they’re not forgiven,
Till one of the students,
A man by the name of Tiger,
Admits that he got paid to lose
And runs off like a tiger.
The master goes to Jackie
And asks him to bring Tiger back,
So Jackie goes on an adventure
With his belongings in a sack.
Meanwhile, Tiger has joined up
With a robbing criminal gang.
Tiger is now wanted.
He can’t just go home again.
Jackie only finds him out
When he runs into a Lawman
Who thinks that Jackie’s Tiger
Because he carries a similar fan.
Yuen Biao plays the lawman’s son
And he and Jackie have a fight.
Yuen’s a little better,
But it’s still quite a well-done fight.
Once Jackie clears up his identity,
He asks for leniency from the Law
For his fallen brother Tiger,
A fugitive from the law,
But the sheriff says no, not unless,
Jackie can bring down the leader.
Jackie agrees as if it’s no problem at all,
And meets the criminal leader,
Who proceeds to thrash him left and right,
Breaking most of his bones.
He’s a dangerous and difficult opponent
And his blows hit him like stones.
He finds a way to beat him
And avoid his deadly blows,
And the method that he uses
Is forgetting everything he knows.
His new chaotic fighting style
Seems to work at last.
He captures the bandit,
And returns with Tiger in a body cat.
All in all, it’s a pretty good film
Though not as polished as his later efforts.
I’m giving this movie a four and a half,
And I’m impressed with the results of his efforts.