What's this about?

Lately, it seems like many of the movies/shows are just a rehash or reboot of things that have already been done. And so I started to dive into the past. It's been fun, but I find myself losing track of which ones I’ve seen and whether or not I enjoyed them. Sometimes the titles themselves just don't tell me enough to remember.

I wouldn’t have voluntarily watched a lot of these movies when I was younger. It’s strange how interests change. That goes for what I read, too. I have another blog that explores books. I’m mostly reading older fiction and memoirs, and some of the books have led me to movies/shows and vice versa. In those cases, I may post the book review over here as well.

There will be spoilers, which is different than my book reviews. That’s mostly because I want to have enough information to help me remember what I’ve seen. I’m getting older. The brain doesn’t cooperate like it used to. What can I say? The gray hairs are catching up with me!

Friday, September 12, 2025

Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection) - 1972

I've never seen an entire Bruce Lee movie before, and I noticed there was one on Tubi that I could watch. I had a bit of time and was in the mood for some fighting, so I pressed play and settled in to see what all the hype was about.

Chen is devastated that his teacher is dead. A Japanese interpreter comes to his martial arts school and threatens the students with his two thugs and a sign disparaging Chinese people. From there on out, it's an all-out war between two schools, and the bodies are piling up. Some are dead, and a lot are injured. Until the end, when tons are dead.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised how much fun I had with this movie. I had the most fun at the beginning and the end, when Bruce Lee was beating the crap out of people, but there were a few scenes in the middle that were pretty cool as well. Parts of it are unintentionally hilarious, like when he was swinging around two students (dummies) and hitting people. Epic.

On the other side of this, I actually learned things! While this isn't based on a true story, Chen (Lee's character) is a student of Huo Yuanjia, a hero of Chinese martial arts. He died in 1910, and it's unsure whether the arsenic found on his bones was poisoning or just a sign of the times. Also, this movie is set in Shanghai in the early 1900s. At that time, tensions were rising between Japan and China for a number of reasons, and I think those feelings were depicted pretty realistically. It was something I wasn't expecting to see. 

My first martial arts movie was so fun. I want to see more Bruce Lee, but I really wish I could've watched this in the original Mandarin with English subtitles. Dubs are nice, but I could tell the actors were using TONS more emotion at certain times than the voice actors were giving me. I was also impressed with what Bruce Lee could do with those nunchaku. I've only ever see people fling them around. He was actually using them as weapons. I'd like to watch it again to see if I can spot one of my favorite fun martial artists, Jackie Chan. Apparently, he's an extra and a stunt double for the bad guy. Also, just a word of advice for Chen. If you want to grill your enemies for information, you might want to interrogate them BEFORE you kill them. Just sayin! Good Movie! 

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