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Fist of Fury (1971)

Tang shan da xiong


Cast:

Bruce Lee is Cheng Chao-an
Maria Yi is Chow Mei
James Tien is Hsiu Chien
Yin-Chieh Han is Hsiao Mi (The Boss)
Malalene is Mrs.Wuman


What the box says:

This is the movie that made Bruce Lee an international star. The Dragon portrays Chinese country boy Cheng Chao-an, who leaves home and finds a job at a Thailand ice house. He soon discovers that the ice house is a front for a drug smuggling operation. When some of his cousins are murdered by the smugglers, Cheng takes action.


Plot:

On a dock, Bruce Lee goes with his Uncle Lao who has him promise not to get into trouble by fighting. Bruce spots a gang harassing a woman. His uncle reminds him not to get involved.

The gang picks on some kid. He tells Shane who unloads the beat-down on the gang. Shane chases the gang and unloads another beat-down on them.

At the family reunion, Bruce Lee meets his relatives including Shane and Chow Mein. The uncle has a job for Bruce.

At an ice factory, uncle reminds Bruce not to get involved. The cousins show Bruce around. Somehow, the boss is involved in drug smuggling.

Guy is gambling all his money away. The cousins show that the dice was loaded. They head home. Some punks pick a fight with the cousin while Bruce watches.

The next day, uncle tells Bruce not to fight.

Some guy hits on Chow Mein.

Back at the ice factory, Bruce is hard at work. He breaks an ice block and finds a bag of white powder.

Manager meets with a couple of cousins and pays them $1,000. The powder was dope. The boss will bring them into this business. The cousins turn him down and promise not to mention anything. The manager has them killed and hides the bodies.

The next day, the workers all disavow any knowledge of the missing cousins. The manager claims they quit.

At the boss’s house, he practices his kung fu. The boss’s son wants to recruit Chow Mein into their ladies of their night division. Bruce Lee meets the boss who claims the cousins quit and left.

That night, Bruce is worried. In the morning, the family searches the streets for the missing family members.

Bruce goes to talk with the boss again. The manager claims the guys have disappeared. The workers don’t believe him. The manager demands the guys get back to work. They riot with Bruce Lee watching. The workers try to talk him into fighting. More guys arrive to battle the workers. Somebody hits Bruce Lee.

OH, IT IS SO ON NOW
OH, IT IS SO ON NOW...OH, IT IS SO ON....
The guys rush him and are severely whooped.

Later, the Manager meets with Bruce Lee and offers him a supervisor position.

Back at the house, the men celebrate Bruce’s promotion.

Hup, 2, 3, 4, we're the nerdiest in the core...
Hup, 2, 3, 4, we're the nerdiest in the core...

Bruce checks with the boss about the missing cousins. The boss claims to see the cops in the morning. They have a party and a drunken Bruce Lee ensues. In the morning, a soused Bruce Lee is basking in the afterglow while the chick wants her dragon to be entered.

At the ice factory, the workers are disgusted with Bruce and refuse to work.

Bruce Lee checks with the boss who does the “I’m sorry but have no idea about your cousins.”

The family gives Bruce Lee the cold shoulder. One of the cousins is sure that the boss is lying and taunting Bruce. That night, Bruce stops by an house of ill-repute. The entered dragon lady tells him about the drug smuggling. He leaves and is unaware that the boss’s son kills the entered dragon lady.

Masked men grab Chow Mein.

Bruce Lee sneaks back to the ice house and finds the drugs in the ice along with some bodies.

The goons try to handle Bruce Lee. Fight is on.

Anyone see a man flying through this wall?
Anyone see a man flying through this wall?
Bruce deals out his kung fu beatdowns. He finishes the boss’s son easily.

Heading home, Bruce finds his family murdered and Chow is missing.

he next day, Bruce is mourning and pondering. An internal monologue, Bruce swears vengeance.

Bruce heads to face off with the boss. Bruce handles the goons. Heading for the boss, both are sizing each other before the smackdown. They fight.

Chow is freed.

Bruce and the Boss are bruised, bloodied, and battered. Boss tries to run off and Bruce beats him for good measure.

The cops arrive. Chow convinces Bruce to surrender since the cops just see all the bodies around the ground.


What I say:

Real Bruce Lee. No of the Bruce Lee documentaries like Fist of Fury Touch of Death and Real Bruce Leeor the guys with the similar sounding names like Bruce Li, Dragon Lee, etc...When one thinks of sweet kung fu action, Jet Li and the Shaw Brothers come to mind. Since excluding comedic martial arts, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung have to be missing.

The late 1970s saw the rise of the comedic martial arts movies. Now that is different than the Bruce Lee movies. Hong Kong tried to mold Jackie Chan into the new Bruce Lee. Jackie has never been anywhere in the same field asFantasy Mission Forcel, Killer Meteor, and Project A.

My biggest complaint about Fist of Fury is just seeing Bruce Lee standing there and take everything for so long. It is almost like at martial arts version of Kenny Roger's song the "Coward of the County." Plenty of martial arts movies like Rage of the Masters have the hero who promised not to fight anymore though finally he unleashes his swift merciless kung fu vengeance on the headskulls. Though when Bruce finally gets hit about 45 minutes into the movie, you know it is time. The proverbial fecal matter has hit the turbine propellor. Everyone could tell from that one screen grab in the plot section.

After the death of Bruce Lee, Hollywood saw an an opportunity to exploit it. Thus, Brucesploitation was born. I'm not even discussing the number of actors trying to hitch their wagons to Bruce Lee like Dragon Lee and Bruce Li. A number of pseudo-documentaries with just a few scenes of Bruce Lee placed in a movie with absolutely nothing to do with him: Fist of Fury, Touch of Death and Real Bruce Lee.

Watching a Bruce Lee movie, you pretty much know how things will go. Bad guys push people around. Bruce Lee finally unleashes a diet of Fists of Fury upon the malefactors. While, Bruce died young, he never had the time to develop quite the screen presence of actors like Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi. Just seeing Bruce Lee having reach his breaking point, and just knowing it's time...It's time to layeth the smackdown upon their candyselves according to the Rock.



3 1/2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"They stole my rice cakes and kicked me."
"I'm the one with the good head."
"You can say we had soem industrial unrest."
"Chow mein..."


Morals of the Story

Always profess your love to women who don't speak to you.
New employees automatically know all their job requirements.
Ice houses have industrial strength wood chippers.
People celebrate by marching.
Drunken guys breaking sticks is funny.
Dogs can jump 8 feet in the air.
Kung fu masters love popcorn.
Shirts can block swords.


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