The 1978 movie Jackie Chan will always regret making for one reason: “I have to be careful”
Jackie Chan has said he regrets the influence his role in the 1978 film *Drunken Master* may have had on young viewers. He believes some fans copied its drinking and fighting, prompting him to think more carefully about the messages his films convey.
Chan played Wong Fei-hung, who learns discipline under the martial arts instructor Beggar So. Sixteen years later, *Drunken Master II* showed a more mature Wong; Chan described it as a way to correct his earlier mistake. He has also spoken about using charity work to encourage young people to care for the world and protect the environment.
- Chan worries young fans copied drinking and fighting from *Drunken Master*.
- He made *Drunken Master II* with a more mature Wong Fei-hung.
- Chan says he now considers the messages his films send.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Chan’s concern is reasonable because popular films can influence how young viewers see risky behaviour, even when it is presented as comedy or fiction. Filmmakers with large audiences have some responsibility to consider whether drinking and fighting might be imitated, and to use later work to model greater discipline.
The case against
A film’s influence is difficult to predict or separate from other factors, and viewers remain responsible for distinguishing fictional action from real-life conduct. Drunken Master is a comic martial-arts story in which the hero’s training develops into a lesson in discipline, so its portrayal need not amount to an endorsement of harmful behaviour.