| A little info before the review. This film was originally called The Little Tiger of Canton (rough translation) and it wasn't finished. It was later finished and released under the title that I am calling it. Jackie said in his book that his respect for producers and directors had reached a new low. Before the film was completed, they bailed on everyone so no one got paid for their time. It was Jackie's first starring role, he was only 17 in it. He said that there was no plot and basically that it was crap. I beg to differ. I do agree that the story was lacking somewhat, but compared to others, it was lacking mainly in strong dialogue, not plot. I found it highly entertaining, even the so-called stuntdouble that appeared at the end. I recognized the double right off when there were some distance shots of a man performing the "drunken boxing" style (Jackie invented it for Drunken Master which hadn't even been thought up then!), and quite a few scenes blindfolded!! He actually did a pretty good job of imitating Jackie's style for back then. The most outragious thing was the scene that was taken right out of Drunken Master!! At least it was a good scene. The dubbing was pretty good, they even tried to match the mouths..a little bit. A few of the people I think I recognize from other early Jackie movies. BTW, why was this titled Master With Cracked Fingers? Was it because of the small scene where Jackie had to punch his hand into a bucket of glass? It left no marks or 'cracked fingers'. Maybe I failed to notice his master's fingers. Oddly, the American version named him Jackie Chan (probably so that we would know which one he is!!). He hadn't even started going by that name! In the stunt coordinators list, it says Chan Yuen Lung, which is what he called himself for that movie to save face. Jackie said that the budget was very low and it looked it, but me and my dad both thought that they made the most of what little money they had. 8/10 (I wouldn't watch it very many times, but it was enjoyable. My rating ignores the added footage, though it is almost as entertaining as the movie itself!) |
| Master With Cracked Fingers |