Responses to this message:
THE ORIGINAL LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER (1912) D.W. Griffith's classic is about as politically incorrect as they get these days portraying the owners of Southern plantations as good guys and the slaves as demons who had to be controlled. Drunken Master is the one bad Southern plantation owner for he drinks too much and is way too merry and thus not forceful enough with his slaves. One runaway slave is brought back to him & he doesn't have the guy flogged! Drunken Master is disposed of at the end by the KKK which is here depicted as a group of heroic Christians out to save everyone's soul. Rumor has it that this was infact Pat Buchannan's all-time favorite movie
AMOS AND ANDY MEET THE GHOST OF DRUNKEN MASTER (1939) Old Halloween episode of the classic radio show where Amos and Andy receive a visit from the owner of the plantation where their fathers worked as slaves. Well, actually, it's the ghost of said plantation owner that they meet. At first, they're scared of him but all three go down to a local bar and get drunk. Soon, they're getting along great & Amos and Andy wish they'd worked for the guy in life & he learns that "the colored people can be fun!" Soon, dawn breaks, and the Ghost of Drunken Master must go back to the grave... he promises to visit again next Halloween!
MY LORD AND DRUNKEN MASTER, SOUL REASON FOR LIVING (1947) This movie was a very popular tear jerker in the 40s starring Alice Faye and Tyrone Power as her alcoholic husband. Alice even tries leaving him! But, she soon learns that life is ultimately pointless without the man she loves by her side. She goes back to him, and he gives her a solid beating for running away. She says she deserved it and promises to put up with his alcoholism because he's the man she loves... forever. This movie became popular again in the 60s when it was re-released. Some big movie executives whose wives were ready to walk out on their successful husbands due to the constant drinking and cheating. The executives would hope the re-release would put an end to the women's movement. Boy, were they off the mark!
MY LORD AND DRUNKEN MASTER SHOULD ROT IN HELL (1974) Remake of the 1947 classic. Jane Fonda leaves alcoholic husband. Life's tough. She has no education, and it looks like she'll never make it. Plus, she's carrying his child! She goes back to the husband who beats her beyond all recognition for leaving him. She winds up killing him in self defense and is put on trial. It looks like she's destined to go to the electric chair until her water breaks in the courtroom! The baby is born right there and is so f***ed up with major birth defects of the way Drunken Lord and Master mercilessly beat her that the Jury acquits her. She winds up moving in with her defense attorney who she's fallen in love with but refuses to get married. The end.
MY LORD AND MASTER IS ROTTING IN HELL NOW (1977) Jane Fonda returns in this sequel to her 1974 hit. She and the defense attorney are still living with each other raising her small daughter and his three teenaged children from a previous marriage. They move to a small town where nobody likes them because "they're living in sin". Things don't get much better when Jane's father dies and her mother moves in with them... Mother wants them to get married too. The two start planning a wedding but their relatives keep locking horns over issues Jane and the attorney find trivial and unimportant such as politics and religion and the seating arrangement. Jane realizes that there's no choice. She takes her child and moves to Europe to start a new life on her own. This film flopped at the box office.
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER (1987) Alan Parker's remake of the D.W. Griffith classic portrays an extremely cruel Drunken Master who drinks and then treats his slaves even more cruelly than was usual at the time! At the end, the slaves revolt and kill Drunken Master.
DRUNKEN MASTER (1991 TV-Movie) starring Barbara Eden. Also known as "I Dream of Jeannie: Before the Laughter". Tells the story of Major Anthony Nelson's womanizing and drug and alcohol abuse and horrid treatment of Jeannie in the early years before finding out he has some strange exotic illness and is given only two more years to live. We then see Tony go on a major spiritual journey where he learns to give up drugs, alcohol, womanizing... and ultimately learns to love Jeannie. When his disease is cured, he proposes to Jeannie, and the two are married!
LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER (1996) Spike Lee's satire about an African-American named Jonathan trying to get a TV show on the air to showcase the talents of his beautiful girlfriend. But, the network executives don't want anything intelligent on the air with minority players so Jonathan decides to create an offensive sitcom based on D.W. Griffith's "Drunken Master" loaded with stereotypes and slaves in black face. He thinks the audience will revolt against the networks. Instead, people love the show!
Responses to this message:
Post a response to this discussion thread