The Young Master

The Young Master
Hong Kong film poster
Directed by	Jackie Chan
Written by	Jackie Chan Edward Tang Lau Tin-chi Tung Lu
Produced by	Raymond Chow Leonard Ho
Starring	Jackie Chan Yuen Biao Feng Feng Shih Kien
Cinematography	Chen Ching-chu
Edited by	Peter Cheung Frank J. Urioste Chang Yao-chung
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date	9 February 1980 (1980-02-09)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK $11,026,283

The Young Master (Chinese: 師弟出馬) is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by Jackie Chan, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Yuen Biao, Feng Feng and Shih Kien. The film was released in the Hong Kong on 9 February 1980.

The film is notable for being the first that Jackie Chan worked on for Golden Harvest, and despite being his second film as director (his first was The Fearless Hyena), this is often incorrectly regarded as his directorial debut. The film was co-written by Edward Tang, Lau Tin-chi and Tung Lu, and produced by Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho.

As is common with Jackie Chan films, the fight scenes involve the use of many different weapons including poles, ropes, fans, benches and swords. Dragon Lord is the sequel to The Young Master, and originally called Young Master in Love, as confirmed by Jackie Chan in his book.

Plot

The school attended by Dragon (Jackie Chan) and his brother, Tiger (Wei Pei) is entered against a rival school in a Lion Dance competition. The school needs to win the prize money to remain open but their star performer, Tiger, is seemingly injured when he falls from a ladder, leaving his brother, Dragon, to take his place. During the competition, Dragon realizes that his brother feigned his accident in order to take part in the competition for the rival school.

The rival school wins the competition, but the truth emerges about Tiger's betrayal and he is exiled in disgrace. Dragon vows to bring back his errant brother so the pair can make amends to their master. Dragon sets off on his mission, but en route is mistaken for a criminal known as The White Fan by local police chief, Sang Kung (Shih Kien) along with his son (Yuen Biao) and daughter (Lily Li). Meanwhile, Tiger collaborates with his employers (the rival school) by freeing a dangerous criminal known as Kam (Hwang In-Sik). However, Tiger is later framed for a bank robbery. To stop his brother from being arrested, Dragon promises to apprehend the escapee, Kam.

The movie ends with a furious, brutal fight between Kam and Dragon, in which Dragon sustains substantial damage. At the beginning of the fight, it appears that Kam has the upper hand as he punishes Dragon with blindingly fast punches and kicks. However, after consuming water from an opium pipe given to him by a whimsical old man, Dragon becomes energized and defeats Kam. The movie ends with Dragon returning to his hometown, a hero (albeit one in full body cast from the many injuries he sustained).

Cast

• Jackie Chan - Dragon Lung
• Yuen Biao - Sang Kung's son / Fourth Brother
• Tien Feng - Master Tien
• Feng Feng - Ah Suk
• Wei Pai - Tiger
• Shih Kien - Sang Kung
• Lily Li - Sang Kung's Daughter
• Whong In-shik - Master Kam
• Lee Hoi-san as Master Kam's men
• Fung Hak-on as Master Kam's men
• Chiang Kam as Master Tien's student
• Tai Bo as Master Tien's student
• David Cheng - Master Kam's son
• Yue Tau Wan - Cross Eye
• Bruce Tang Yim Chan - Ah Chang
• Mars - (extra) (uncredited)

Production

According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Chan nearly suffocated when he injured his throat while filming a stunt scene.

Music

The theme song played over the closing credits, "Kung Fu Fighting Man" was the first song recorded and performed by Jackie Chan. He has since gone on to release many records, and has performed the theme songs on many of his films.

Records

• The film was the highest box office draw of its day beating previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and establishing Chan as a Hong Kong cinema's top star.
• The fan-fighting scene in this movie required 329 takes to complete due to the intricate choreography.
• The climactic showdown between real life Chan and hapkido master Hwang In-Shik in the original release of this film was approximately 15 minutes long, reputedly the longest fight scene in any kung-fu movie to that date. Subsequent releases of the film have edited this scene down for time.

Versions

There are two main versions of the film currently available, one being the 106 minutes (NTSC/film speed) Hong Kong cut and the 90 minute international cut. A Taiwanese video featuring footage missing from both the Hong Kong and international cuts was also released.

However, even this version is not definitive - the original version of the film that Chan handed over to Golden Harvest was reportedly three hours in length. This had to be re-edited, so over 70 minutes of footage was cut during the first edit.

Home media

On 27 December 2002, DVD was released by Hong Kong Legends in the United Kingdom in Region 2.

External links

• The Young Master at IMDb
• The Young Master at AllMovie