Dragon Lord (1982)

Dragon Lord was Chan’s next film after returning from his first ill-fated attempt to break into the American film scene. Packing up a crew and heading to South Korea to shoot, Jackie appeared determined to outdo everything that had come before. Originally meant as a sequel to The Young Master, the film shares some of the same traits but breaks from Chan’s martial roots to feature several incredible and humorous non-fighting action scenes. The result is a genuinely entertaining film, while not fully realized, it does show Chan at his combined physical and creative peak.

The opening scene involves a unique event where a pyramid of buns was constructed and a golden “football” placed on top. After the sound of a final firecracker, four teams wearing colored headbands would race to the top and attempt to bring the football back to their side and place it in a sack. Afterwards, a whimsical story develops about Dragon and his friend who acts more like children than adults, fighting over the affections of a girl named “Sexy,” playing hooky from studies and nearly shooting themselves attempting to fire a rifle.

Eventually, a minor plot comes rolling in as a “Lieutenant” tries to stop a group of thieves from smuggling precious Chinese artifacts out of the country. Dragon and Cowboy first meet up with the group while hunting for pheasants. While the film has some of the most painful looking stunts of Chan’s career, the films’ tone is decidedly light. The smugglers let the pair off, continuing their search for the Lieutenant. It turns out that the pheasants are needed for their tail feathers which are turned into shuttlecocks for the annual Shuttlecock Cup. This game was conceived exclusively for the film but is pulled off so well it easily appears that it could have been a real sport. It also gives Chan and his crew an opportunity to show of some stunning athleticism. While Dragon gets the final point to win for his team, his enthusiasm overtakes him and he carelessly kicks the shuttlecock into the crowd, striking the girl of his dreams on the forehead. In an attempt to win her affections, Dragon hopes to drop a kite with a love letter in her yard but of course it ends up landing on top of the smuggler’s hideout instead which leads to a great rooftop tango where Chan is dodging spears thrust up at him. Finally, the Lieutenant ends up in the care of Cowboy and his father. This leads to a terrific final brawl in a barn involving ladders, sacks of rice and well… a shuttlecock.

This is classic Chan shtick and he is obviously in complete control. The martial arts is played down while humor and wild action scenes are enhanced which makes this film the key turning point in his creative career. After this, Chan broke away from martial arts films altogether and embraced broader action adventures beginning with Project A.

Some may criticize the film’s weak plot and Jackie’s obvious attempt to downplay traditional martial arts. It should be noted that while kung fu films were on the verge of losing their punch, some of the genre’s best works were coming out about the same time as “Dragon Lord,” including fellow opera school chums, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao’s homage to Wing Chun, The Prodigal Son. Nevertheless, Dragon Lord is still a highly entertaining film and despite the lukewarm response of Hong Kong moviegoers at the time, the film shows that Chan’s vision of the genre was much broader than most of his contemporaries could foresee.