u/Letatetet

William Wyler, Gregg Toland, and Humphrey Bogart deliver the works in this direct adaptation of a social-message broadway drama.

Most of the movie is a pretty spectacularly produced one-set play with a living community of extras hanging around and going about their lives right behind the action. Bogart steals every scene he’s in as usual. This was back when FDR made it illegal to portray being a charismatic, sexy gangster as insanely cool so this movie is about how these antisocial criminals just shove these poor neighborhoods further down the tubes. Yawn.

If your grandparents forced you to watch what they did growing up then you might be interested in hearing that this was the first movie to star “The Bowery Boys”, who went on to become staples of poverty-row cinema.

Was feeling a little sick a few nights ago, saw this and I had just watched A Shot in the Dark and thought it was very funny. I threw this on to distract me and it turns out that this is one of the funniest movies ever, and by the end I had forgotten I was ever sick!

This entry was where the series completely threw off the thin veneer of being a detective parody for an even thinner James Bond pastiche, where the only congruency with earlier films would be the words “Clouseau” “Dreyfus” and “Comedy”. But even saying that much about this honesty quite demented movie would feel misleading, the plot only pangs in and out of the film to lend coherence to the truly wild setpieces and gags. Actually, most of the gags don’t even proceed straightforwardly here, going from setup A to punchline Z like how an old Bob Clampett cartoon would. And it’s delightful! Of course there are also a lot of conventional jokes here too (i.e. Clouseau is a doofus, destroys expensive stuff, etc.) and that’s all funny too.

Peter Sellers is of course at the top of his game here, but there’s one who truly lights up the screen here is Herbert Lom, who switches between the facade of a genteel criminal and a twitching madman on a dime, honestly such an underrated talent this guy was. The few scenes the two share are definitely the highlights of this movie.

The movie isn’t this crazy on purpose however, it was actually the product of the studio cutting down director Edward Blake’s original vision of a globetrotting Pink Panther adventure (think of his earlier outing The Great Race) into a sub two-hour film. And to be honest here, I side with the studio. A longer version of this movie with more plot would be too exhausting, it’s the perfect length as is.

Just a heads up though: there is a portrayal of an (I think) gender-fluid character in this film which may prove divisive to modern viewers.

Not pro AI art just to be clear. Also, are non-Manga requests allowed here?

In 1978, Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master took the kung-fu world by storm and launched his career into the stratosphere. 15 years later, Drunken Master II (AKA “Legend of the Drunken Master”) would produce a similar effect with massive setpieces and action scenes and go on to be known as one of the great Kung Fu films. But what if I told you that the old beggar from the original film, Yuen Siu-tien, starred in a sequel just a year after the original with the same incredible stunt team behind that first film on a shoestring budget, and produced an even better film?

Okay, let me explain: I like Yuen Woo-ping’s 1979 Drunken Master sequel, which does not feature Jackie Chan in any capacity and starts the director’s brother in the lead role, more than 1993’s Legend of the Drunken Master. While the latter film’s infamously terrible english dub was working against it from the start, turning a lot of the clever comedy into grating and unfunny boredom and melodrama that just didn’t land for me, I also just think that Yuen Woo-ping just has a better eye for filming Kung-fu comedy than Lau Kar-leung. He cuts a lot less and puts a lot more emphasis on crazy and absurd acrobatics than fast reflexes or props. DotDM also features way more actual Kung fu scenes than DMII, which even without Jackie are wildly impressive and awe-inspiring. And no, Siu-tien doesn’t do his own stunts like he did for the original DM here, but he’s still plenty funny and charismatic just mugging in the background.

So yeah, if you’ve seen both films, feel free to share which one you enjoyed more and why. I’d really like some more perspectives on this because I feel like I’m coming off as a contrarian here lol

For how well known he is throughout the west, it’s surprising how few people know about Jackie Chan’s earlier work as one of the top action stars of Hong Kong cinema throughout the eighties (along with his former schoolmates Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao). Most people seem to either know him from either *Rush Hour* or that one cartoon, which is a real shame since his earlier stuff is way more interesting and has WAY more action.

This movie pretty much represents Jackie at the height of his powers. It is impossible to overestimate the number of insane things that this man can do with his body here, he’s just does perfectly choreographed backflip after backflip, punch after punch… you get the idea. Here’s just one scene where he absolutely tears through the screen:

https://youtu.be/9x_EFZ73bDc?si=jYgoM19VK813sbp-

If you’re familiar with Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung, then you probably already know that he used to be one of the most represented subjects in Hong Kong cinema. This film pretty much takes the piss out of that legend by portraying Wong (played by Jackie) as a charismatic but mischievous Kung-fu prodigy who eventually hones his skills through training with the equally legendary master drunkard Beggar So (Yuen Siu-tien). Yuen, who died the year after this film released, is in no less impressive form here than Jackie himself and really needs to be seen to be believed.

One issue though that might even be a dealbreaker for some: Tubi only has the dubbed version of this film. Now, while I happen to think this dub is pretty decent and retains the sense of humor well, the original language is simply always better, and this one definitely has problems (the film renames Wong Fei-hung to Freddy Wong, for example).

Regardless, any way that you can watch this movie, please do. What it lacks in major action setpieces that Jackie has become known for it more than makes up for that with the *sheer volume* of electrifying stunts and martial arts performed by the whole cast.

I haven’t seen the rest of Jackie’s Hong Kong work (except for Police Story) but if any of it can top this movie then I really oughta kick myself for not watching these when I was 15.

You shouldn’t really let that “horror” flair fool you, this film really isn’t trying to be scary and is much closer to being a comedic pastiche of old 1950s monster films like “The Blob” where most of the runtime is spent on small-town antics. However, whereas the humor in most no budget horror-comedies relies on shoving fourth-wall breaks into scenes like they’re the deus ex machina of jokewriting, “Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You” wisely decides to go in a more irreverent and charming route. A sample joke so you have an idea:

Person A: “You’re so nonchalant over there, eating peanuts, not offering them to anybody else.”

B: “You never offered me any of your butternut squash yesterday.”

A: “One doesn’t share butternut squash. It’s too difficult to share.”

As for the actual plot, “The Greatest Tutor in New England” Neil Stuart returns to his hometown after he left in disgrace three years ago claiming that there was a “riverbeast” hiding in the nearby woods. He and soem new companions soon are hot on the trail of proving the existence of the creature.

This movie is definitely lamenting a sense of “provinciality” that doesn’t appear in modern films as they are products of a consumer society which no longer feels endeared to that idea.

A fun, cute movie if you want something a little different and can vibe with its laid back pacing and sense of humor.