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Fist of Fury
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- For the 1971 film known as "Fists of Fury", see The Big Boss.
- "Jing Wu Men" redirects here. For the real martial arts school, see Chin Woo Athletic Association.
Fist of Fury (also known as The Chinese Connection) is a Hong Kong film directed by Lo Wei in 1972. It starred the martial artist Bruce Lee in his second major film after The Big Boss. The film depicts a Chinese martial arts school in Shanghai International Settlement which fought against a Japanese judo school.
film is loosely based on Chin Woo Athletic Association, the actual school from which the film took its Chinese title.
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Encyclopedia
- For the 1971 film known as "Fists of Fury", see The Big Boss.
- "Jing Wu Men" redirects here. For the real martial arts school, see Chin Woo Athletic Association.
Fist of Fury (also known as The Chinese Connection) is a Hong Kong film directed by Lo Wei in 1972. It starred the martial artist Bruce Lee in his second major film after The Big Boss. The film depicts a Chinese martial arts school in Shanghai International Settlement which fought against a Japanese judo school.
Background
The film is loosely based on Chin Woo Athletic Association, the actual school from which the film took its Chinese title. The plot features the story of Chen Zhen (??; Cantonese: Chen Jen; played by Bruce Lee), a fictional character created by director Lo Wei for the film. Chen Zhen is shown as a student of the real-life martial artist Huo Yuanjia (???; Cantonese: Fok Yun Gap) who, after the mysterious death of Huo, fought the Hongkou Dojo of Suzuki Taro.
The film takes place in the early 20th century, after the mysterious death of Huo Yuanjia, and during the occupation of Shanghai and virtually all of coastal China by several foreign countries, including Japan. It is about a Chinese Martial Arts school whose master (Huo) was recently killed by men associated with a rival Japanese Martial Arts School who continue to harass them. Chen is out to find out who is responsible for his master's death and get justice.
The real Jing Wu school still survives to this day and can be found in many major cities abroad. Their headquarters are in Malaysia, and their students strive to keep the Jing Wu spirit to this day.
The film is famous for the scene in which Chen Zhen is denied entry into a park bearing a sign stating "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" (Traditional Chinese: ??????????). After the turban-wearing Sikh guard at the park allows a foreigner's dog to enter the park, a man out of a group of Japanese approaches Chen and tells him that if he pretends to be a dog then he will take him inside. Chen becomes furious and proceeds to attack the Japanese with punches and kicks. He then kicks the offending sign in the air and breaks it with a flying kick. Another famous scene is when Chen enters the Japanese school to return a "gift" from the Japanese, which is a pejorative sign meaning "Sick man of Asia" (???? or ????). After defeating the entire school, including the sensei, he destroys the glass-covered portrait of the aforementioned sign and forces two of the students to chew the paper so as to fulfill their promise that they would literally "eat their words" if they were defeated. Finally, the final scene of the film of Chen charging and making a flying kick at a line of armed soldiers just before they shoot was well received with Chinese audiences as a show of ferocious ethnic pride.
The former U.S. title The Chinese Connection, trading off the popularity of the recently-released Gene Hackman film The French Connection, was originally intended for Bruce Lee's previous film, The Big Boss, due to the drugs theme of that movie. However, the U.S. titles for the films were accidentally swapped for an unknown reason so this film carried the title The Chinese Connection until 2005, despite being obviously unrelated to the content of the movie. The Big Boss in the U.S. had the title Fists of Fury, leading to much confusion. Recent American TV showings and the current official US DVD release from Twentieth Century-Fox have restored the original titles of all the renamed Bruce Lee films; this film is now officially called Fist of Fury in the United States.
This film is one of Bruce Lee's most influential works, as it is one of the main reasons behind the shift in Hong Kong cinema from swordplay to empty-handed fighting, which initiated the "Golden era of Kung Fu Cinema" of the 1970s.
Cast
- Bruce Lee as Chen Zhen
- Nora Miao as Yuan Le-erh
- James Tien Chun as Fan Chun-hsia
- Feng Tien as Fan
- Paul Wei Ping-ao as Hu
- Maria Yi as Yen
- Lee Quin as Hsu
- Lo Wei as Inspector
- Hwong Chung Hsin as Tien the cook
- Han Yin-chieh as Feng Kwai-sher
- Feng Wi as
- Tony Liu as Chin
- Chin San as Tung
- Riki Hashimoto as
- Robert Baker as Petrov
- Lam Ching Ying (Stuntman)
- Jackie Chan (Stuntman, uncredited)-Appears as an extra in the school training scenes just before the Japanese spring a surprise attack on the school. He was also the stuntman for the Japanese villain, "Mr. Suzuki", in the final scenes of Fist of Fury. He can be seen flying through the air after Bruce's character delivers a flying kick. Jackie fell much farther than originally intended, at a height of 15 feet. After it had been caught on film, Bruce rushed over to see if he was okay.
- One of the Japanese men during the park entrance scene is played by Yuen Wah, who later appeared in many other Hong Kong action films and in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. He was also Bruce Lee's acrobatics double.
Box office
Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury managed to gross HK$4,358,928.
Historical errors
- In the original, Japanese martial artists are shown wearing their hakama (skirts) backwards. This is not the only Chinese martial arts movie of the time to make this mistake.
- During one of the rickshaw ride scenes, there is a motorcycle or moped covered with a rainproof cover clearly visible parked on the pavement - an anachronism given the film is set circa 1908.
- At the gateway with the infamous "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" sign, some passers-by are shown in modern-day clothes (early 1970s), contradicting the 1908 setting.
Dubbings
Sync sound was not widely used in Hong Kong cinema for a long time so the voices (even on the original Chinese track) for this movie were dubbed. In fact, on the Chinese track the voice of the Russian fighter when he speaks English is dubbed by none other than Bruce Lee himself (with added reverb).
This film marks one of the few times that a DVD has an alternate new commentary. Media Asia UK distributor Hong Kong Legends has released this film as a "Special Collectors Edition" and a "Platinum Edition." Bey Logan recorded two alternate commentaries for both releases. The usual process with re-releases on DVD is that the commentary is passed onto the next release. Bey decided to re-record his second commentary as he wanted to give it a new light and also being an avid fan of this film. The theme song is played by
Mike Remedios
Sequels and Remakes
- Jackie Chan starred in a sequel titled New Fist of Fury; it was his first major lead role. The film was a total failure in theatres due to the incoherent storyline and poor fight scenes. The film nearly ruined Chan's future career and some considered him simply a Bruce Lee imitator.
- Two more sequels were made (which have no continuity with Jackie Chan's New Fist of Fury), starring Bruce Li as Chen Zhen's brother Chen Shen, avenging his brother's death. Despite the fact that New Fist of Fury is technically the "official" sequel (due to both director Lo Wei and leading actress Nora Miao returning), many martial arts film fans prefer the first of the Bruce Li sequels over Jackie Chan's sequel.
- ATV (A terrestrial channel in Hong Kong), made a 30 episode TV series Fist of Fury starring Donnie Yen as Chen. The last 15 episodes have a similar plot to the movie while the first 15 are about Chen joining the Chin Wu school.
- Jet Li's Fearless is loosely based on the real life of Huo Yuanjia, Chen Zhen's master in Fist of Fury.
See also
External links
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