Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978)

[Drunk Monk]

Sometimes there's nothing more comforting than some Jackie Chan action.

I saw HaLoKF when it came out and have only fleeting memories of it being one of Jackie's lesser flicks, so it was odd to find it on Criterion (Criterion has such a quirky collection). Now, in retrospect, I understand it much better. This was right after Jackie hit on his 'comedy Kung Fu' style and he was throwing up everything just to see what stuck. The opening montage, a parody of cliche KF flick openings where Jackie mocks many genre standards like Zatoichi and the wuxia swordsman, all while demonstrating his immense Kung Fu, says it all. 

Jackie was at his physical peak in the late 70s. Here, he plays a buffoon with no Kung Fu, impersonating a master. And yet, his acrobatics are ridiculous, like usual. The fights are all played out for comedy in rapid fire skits and much of it is inexplicable. There's a Popeye satire where Jackie eats a weed and gets pumped up. There's a Bruce Lee satire where Jackie uses a wig as a nunchuck. Several action sequences are sped up to goofy music ala Benny Hill. There's cruel mockery of afflictions like stuttering and tics. 

Jackie learns his Kung Fu from some beggars, one of which always announces himself with farts. He also learns from a secret manual, which he reads during a fight scene, sometimes reading it upside down so he fights from a headstand. 

The title in Chinese translates into 'half style charges into the jianghu' Remember jianghu means 'rivers and lakes' which is a term that refers to the culture of wandering martial artists depicted in wuxia. Not sure where the 'loaf' comes in - such a funny translation. 

This is such an uneven film plotwise. It's basically Road Warrior. Jackie is tasked as a guard to transport a jade and elixir and all the baddies are in hot pursuit, but instead of post-apocalyptic muscle cars, it's Kung Fu fights. The choreo is typical, extraordinary for its complexity and length of shots - and Jackie shines as always. Some of his acrobatic sequences are unbelievable. He executes them with such ease and flow, but when if you take a moment and think about what he just did, you get how amazingly skilled he was in the day. 

D00M recommended.

[Drunk Monk]

Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar
Originally tapped as a potential successor to Bruce Lee, Hong Kong martial-arts phenom Jackie Chan soon established his own unique screen persona, blending goofball slapstick and bone-crunching kung fu into intricate feats of supercharged athleticism. Tracing his rise from breakout star to full-fledged auteur, these six unabashedly silly, unstoppably entertaining early-career highlights find Chan refining the lovably mischievous image that would make him a global icon, while also assuming greater creative control over his projects—first as his own martial-arts choreographer, and later as a writer-director who set a thrilling new standard for daredevil action comedy.

• Spine #1197
  

FILMS IN THIS SET

• 
  Half a Loaf of Kung Fu
   
  1978
  Like a live-action comic book, this antic farce lets Jackie Chan, choreographing his own fight sequences, cut loose with a wild parody of the martial-arts genre. He plays a bumbling wannabe kung-fu master who, when he assumes the identity of a dead hero, finds himself embroiled in a series of absurd misadventures and the search for a pair of mystical artifacts. Cartoon sound effects and send-ups of everything from Popeye to Jesus Christ Superstar are part of the lighthearted fun—not to mention Chan fighting a bald adversary with his own wig!
  
• 
  Spiritual Kung Fu
   
  1978
  Jackie Chan’s kung-fu clowning gets a supernatural twist in this off-the-wall action fantasy. He stars as a cheeky student at a Shaolin temple who must fight to protect his order, with help from some unexpected mentors: five pink-haired, silver-leotard-sporting extraterrestrial spirits who train him in arcane, animal-style martial arts with an otherworldly flair. The ghostly high jinks (realized with eye-poppingly outlandish special effects) give way to a last half hour that’s near-nonstop action, with Chan single-handedly taking on eighteen stick-wielding monks in a blistering battle royal.
  
• 
  The Fearless Hyena
   
  1979
  An auteur emerges as Jackie Chan—working for the first time as director, in addition to serving as cowriter, lead actor, and martial-arts choreographer—takes full charge of his on-screen image. Perfecting the archetypal Chan character, he stars here as a rapscallion student of his martial-arts-master grandfather (Hong Kong cinema legend James Tien) who uses his kung-fu prowess to fight challengers for money—until a personal tragedy forces him to get serious. Experimenting with various lenses and camera setups, Chan maximizes the action’s visual impact, while unleashing some of his most innovative fight choreography in a stunning, whirlwind display of “emotional kung fu.”
  
• 
  Fearless Hyena II
   
  1983
  By the early 1980s, Jackie Chan’s popularity made him box-office gold. Thus when, midway through filming the sequel to his hit The Fearless Hyena, Chan walked off the production to defect to rival studio Golden Harvest, producer Lo Wei opted to complete the film with the help of stunt doubles and recycled footage. The result—the tale of two lazy cousins (Chan and Austin Wai Tin-chi) who join forces to avenge the deaths of their fathers—may not be pure Chan, but there are plenty of loony pleasures (including our hero fighting an adversary with his feet!) to be had.
  
• 
  The Young Master
   
  1980
  Jackie Chan’s second directorial effort was also a film of important firsts: his first for upstart studio Golden Harvest and his first with cowriter Edward Tang, who would become a key collaborator. The star-filmmaker shows his increasing confidence with this endlessly inventive tale of a martial-arts student (Chan) who goes in search of his exiled brother, only to become entangled in a case of mistaken identity—with much amusement provided by Chan’s interplay with his real-life former schoolmate Yuen Biao. The epic finale, in which Chan goes from human punching bag to raging bull, is a bruising highlight of his career.
  
• 
  My Lucky Stars
   
  1985
  Longtime friends Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao—who had worked together since childhood as part of a Beijing opera troupe—join forces for this rollicking blend of action thrills and lunatic humor, which sees Chan’s undercover agent recruiting his band of outlaw buddies to travel to Japan in order to help him catch a rogue cop who has stolen millions in jewels. Though not the main star, Chan lights up the screen in the film’s most exhilarating set pieces: a kinetic amusement-park-set opening and a surreal haunted-house finale, both stylishly and creatively staged by director-star Hung.
  

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Yeah, I've seen all of these. But that sure is a nice box set. And xmas is coming...