Half a Loaf of Kung Fu

I've said it before, I'll say it again: I think Jackie Chan's pre-Drunken Master movies are pure gold. Not for the same reasons that make'Drunken Master' and following movies gold, but gold nonetheless. 'Half a Loaf of Kung Fu' is rather gold. I swear, the more the 70s kung-fu movies I watch, the easier it becomes to watch them, and the more I like them and wish to seek out more. Now there's a scary thought...

I missed the name of Chan's character here. In fact, I missed most, if not all, of the character's names in this movie. Actually, I missed most of the plot too. Actually... Plot? What plot? I still can't figure out what this was actually about, and there no identifiable threads running in the plot other than the evil-witch and the treasure she wants to steal.

'Half a Loaf of Kung Fu' is very funny movie, and I'm sure Chan was trying to spoof kung-fu films. It probably would have worked had other kung-fu movies of the time not been sillier that 'Half a Loaf...' in the first place. The fight scenes are credible enough to maintain interest when the plot-apparent lags. 'Half a Loaf...' does drag on a bit at times, especially when it just gets to ridiculous. It probably could have been shorter, and much more entertaining for it.

It isn't the best of 70s kung-fu movies, but it is by no means the worst. Jackie Chan fans might get a kick out of this, as would others looking for something to laugh at - 6/10

The film starts off well enough with the spoofy opening titles, where Chan adopts a number of famous roles – such as Zatoichi – and mercilessly takes the mick with them. From there on, it's pretty much typical comedy kung-fu nonsense for an hour; most of it tests the patience, but some of it is funny. This is certainly a fast paced movie with numerous characters; Chan is a kid who ends up impersonating the Whip Hero, then there are lots of different groups of bad guys who end up getting involved with him. There's an odious beggar, an evil witch, and guys with moustaches and long hair which usually turns out to be fake. Add in some kick-ass femme fatales and an old DRUNKEN MASTER style teacher with some killer moves, and you have a generic but fun outing.

The film definitely improves in the final half hour, in which a cargo of treasure is ambushed by all the bandits at once. Non-stop kung fu takes place until the very end of the film, with decent fighting and comedy in between to make it more entertaining – like Chan trying to learn new moves whilst being beaten pretty bad. The film has a weird sense of humour, no doubting that; there's a dream where Chan turns into Popeye (yep, the music is here again) and he does stuff like throw eggs at the bad guys to repel them. The ending is pretty violent with broken arms and necks. The varied characters and their mannerisms always entertain. The dubbing is the same as that in most of Chan's films from this era, annoying but sometimes funny with it. Nothing special, but pretty good for one of Jackie's '70s movies.

Frustrated by the weak box office returns of New Fist of Fury and Shaolin Wooden Men, Lo Wei gave Jackie Chan creative control over the slapstick comedy Half a Loaf of Kung Fu. With Chan's friend Chen Chi-hwa as director (Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin), Jackie wanted to make a film that was the antithesis of the current martial art dramas that were being shown. Jackie called this movie a "ninety-minute-long practical joke," but Lo failed to find the humor and decided to vault this film and created his own comedy for Jackie the insipid Spiritual Kung Fu. Half a Loaf of Kung Fu would remain unwatched until 1980.

One of the most interesting segments of the film is the beginning which parodies the normal use (at that time) of the main actors showcasing their martial-art ability. He spoofs the Zatochi series, he tries to catch arrows but fails and there is a great scene that has him using a fighting dummy for practice only the have the camera pan away to reveal a mini dummy. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is not as inventive as the starting sequence, though there are many good scenes. The problem is that the plot is not that different from many other films that Lo Wei has done.

Jackie plays Gon Tou, a wandering hungry man in search of a job. He eventually gets a housekeeper position for Mr. Man who houses the witch Lady Mui. He spies on her while she was doing a poison experiment, inadvertently gets his new friend San killed and narrowly flees. After his escape he came across a fight between Se Tai Chung and Lao Yung Lung – the man with the whip. This battle resulted in the death of both and Gon assumed the identity of Master Lao to collect the bounty on Chung. Now Gon is mistaken for a man with fighting skills even though his combatant acumen is very small. He gets beat up quite a bit.

He stumbles across a flatulent beggar (Dean Shek) who teaches Jackie such moves as "Lady Draws Arrow" and the ever impressive "One Finger Stops Mountain" (guess which finger.) Dean is funny in this Cantonese comedic role. Gon is then helped by another beggar (Lee Man Tai) who prevents Lady Mui from killing him. At first the beggar does not want to help Gon anymore, but he acquiesces and will help him if he takes something to Fong Wan. He later meets him at Fung Yu's Stone House with his daughter (Doris Lung) and friend (James Tien.) Together they are protecting the "Thousand Year Jake", which cures any poison, and "Potion of new Life" which is the fountain of youth. Since these are so powerful and priceless many criminals such as Lady Mui, Iron Hand Lui and The Man of a Thousand Faces (Kam Kong) want these. Gon helps Fong while learning more and more Kung Fu.

The plot is a bit chaotic and it ultimately fails as a spoof because so many martial art films have had plots much more ridiculous then this movie. But, it is an important film in Jackie's career because it is a turn from the grim-faced stoic hero that Lo wanted him to be. It is also a funny film with many inventive, though sometimes broad, scenes such as a dream sequence with Jackie becoming Popeye or Jackie reading a manual while fighting. It is also hilarious when Jackie knows that the flatulent beggar is approaching before we even see him. There is also a great reference to Bruce Lee when Jackie uses a wig as nunchucks while making Bruce-like sounds.

The fighting of the film is much more traditional, with the exception of the nunchuck wig, than Jackie's later films. But there are some good shots, especially the ten-minute ending fight scene. There is also a nice teaming of Dean and Jackie towards the end that was fun to watch. Overall, I like the film. It was better than the early Jackie Chan movies, though not as good as his later films. If you are a Jackie Chan film and have not seen it, then there is a good chance you will like it -- as long as you like flatulent beggars and goofy plots.

Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu really is an early glimpse at the kung fu comedies that would make JC famous. You can really see that Jackie had influence over this production in both fight choreography and overall tone of the film. The opening sequences is really a highlight of this film and the choreography is solid in the fight scenes. Overall a very enjoyable film and a must for JC fans.

7 Tiny Wooden Dummies out of 10

This is not so bad as other garbage Kung-Fu films of his 70's but it seems nobody didn't wanna make this film. Even Jackie looks playing irresponsibly both on acting and action this time. This may be a comedy film but it's so hard to laugh with this. Try this with your friends or whole family and enjoy a chill falls on the company.Soon after this one, Jackie made a new contract with bigger company and started to make his film all by himself as he wants to do with far big budget.Maybe he didn't wanna make this kind of 70's styled cheap Kung-Fu films anymore.And he was right -- if he kept doing this kinda shabby film,there would be no chance to "RUSH HOUR" exists in 90's.