Fist of Fury
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| Fist of Fury | |
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| Directed by | Lo Wei |
| Produced by | Raymond Chow |
| Written by | Lo Wei |
| Starring | Bruce Lee Nora Miao |
| Distributed by | Golden Harvest |
| Release date(s) |  March 22, 1972 |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese Mandarin English |
| IMDb profile | |
- "Jing Wu Men" redirects here. For the real martial arts school, see Chin Woo Athletic Association.
Fist of Fury (Simplified Chinese: 精武门; Traditional Chinese: 精武門; pinyin: Jīng wǔ mén; formerly known as The Chinese Connection in the United States, and not to be confused with Fists of Fury, which is the former US title of The Big Boss) was a Chinese 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 which fought against a Japanese karate school.
The film is loosely based on Chin Woo Athletic Association, the actual school from which the film took its Chinese title. The plot featured the story of Chen Zhen (陳真, played by Bruce Lee), a fictional character created by director Lo Wei for the film.[1] Chen Zhen is shown as a student of the real-life martial artist Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲; Cantonese: Fok Yun Gap) who, after the mysterious death of Huo, fought the Hongkou Dojo of Suzuki Taro.
The film is set in 1908, during the occupation of Shanghai, China by several foreign countries, including Japan. 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." After the guards at the park allowed a foreigner's dog to enter the park, a group of Japanese approached Chen, informing that he had to pretend to be a dog before being allowed inside the park. Chen became furious and proceeded to attack the Japanese with punches and kicks. After that, he kicked the offending sign in the air and broke it with a flying kick.
The film also featured the nunchaku, two sticks connected by a chain and used as a weapon by Bruce Lee in the movie.
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 arguably Bruce Lee's most influential work, 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.
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[edit] Cast
- Bruce Lee as Chen Jen
- Nora Miao as Yuan Le-erh
- James Tien Chang as Chun-hsia
- Maria Yi as Yen
- Lee Quin as Hsu
- Lo Wei as Inspector
- Hwong Chung Hsin as Feng Kwai-sher
- Feng Wi as Yoshida
- Tony Liu as Chin
- Chin San as Tung
- Riki Hashimoto as Hiroshi Suzuki "Mr. Suzuki"
- Robert Baker as Petrov "The Russian"
- Lam Ching Ying (Stuntman)
[edit] Memorable Lines
- "Remember this. We Chinese are not weaklings!" (after defeating the Japanese karate school, for the first time).
- "This time you will only eat paper, next time if I see you again, you will be eating glass!" (after saying the ""Sick man of asia" line).
- "So- why did you kill my teacher then?! Why?! Why?! Why?!...Why did you kill my teacher?!" (after capturing one of them men responsible for his teacher's death. Chen originally means to interrogate him, but in a fit of rage- kills him).
- "I have come here to avenge my teacher. This doesn't concern you. I'll allow you to leave. Out. Out. Out. Out. SCRAM!!!!!" (after entering the school in the final scenes.)
- "I am not educated much, do not lie to me..." (negotiating with the Chinese police officer before being arrested)
- "You're the wrong color, so beat it." The turban-clad guard standing outside the gateway Chen is trying to pass through. [citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
- Sync sound was not widely used in Hong Kong cinema until the 1990s so the voices (even on the original Chinese track) for this movie were dubbed. On the Chinese track, listen for the voice of the Russian fighter when he speaks English. It is none other than Bruce Lee himself (with added reverb).
- People in contemporary dress are shown circulating around the gateway to the facility Chen is trying to enter (featuring a sign reading "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed"). As the film is set in 1908, this is an anachronism.
- Jackie Chan appears as an extra in the school training scenes just before the Japanese spring a surpise 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.
- It is said that during the scene when Chen delivers the line "We Chinese are not sick", after defeating the students of the Japanese judo school, the audience at the Hong Kong premiere of the movie stood up and cheered.
- 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.
- The real Jing Wu school still survives to this day and can be found in all major cities abroad (the Chinese ones are few in numbers, owing to the Cultural Revolution). Their headquarters are in Malaysia. Their students strive to keep the Jing Wu spirit to this day.
[edit] Sequels
- 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 Fist of Fury 2), starring Bruce Li as Chen Jen's brother Chen Shen, avenging his brother's death.
- Jet Li's Fearless is based on the real life of Huo Yuanjia, Chen Jen's master in Fist of Fury.
[edit] Remakes
In 1994, Fist of Legend, starring Jet Li, was released as a remake of the film.
- ATV (A terrestrial channel in Hong Kong), made a 40 episode TV series of Fist of Fury starring Donnie Yen as Chen. The last 10 episodes have a similar plot to the movie while the first 30 is about Chen joining the Chin Wu school.
[edit] See also
- Huo Yuanjia, the founder of Jing Wu Men.
- Fearless, a film about Huo Yuanjia.
- Fist of Legend, a remake starring Jet Li
