After the unpolished thrills of The Big Boss struck box office gold, Bruce Lee and his backers at the Golden Harvest studio pulled out all stops to take action cinema to new heights.
The follow-up picture had no dilly-dallying in the plot department: within minutes of the opening credits the spectacle of Lee’s martial arts prowess is on full display when his character, Chen Zhen, is pushed into rage after the death of his master.
The film opens with Chen returning to Shanghai in the early 1900s and finding his contemporaries at the Jingwu martial arts school in mourning. Master Huo Yuanjia has died under mysterious circumstances and, with no one speaking up about what had happened, the hot-headed Chen isn’t content to let things go.
Raising tensions even more is a rival Japanese school, which stirs up trouble by sending two fighters and a slimy interpreter (Wei Ping-ao) to deliver a framed banner with the taunting line “Sick Men of Asia.” Jingwu elder Fan Chun-hsia (Tien Feng) reminds the livid Chen of his school’s principles – to train for physical fitness to be strong for serving community and country – and urges calm.
But Chen won’t have any of that: soon he’s returning fire by raising hell at the Japanese dojo and, after a quick detour to address racial injustice at a clubhouse with a flying kick, he goes into hiding, investigates how Huo died and metes out revenge.
Filmed almost entirely in elaborate sets at Golden Harvest’s newly acquired studio, and with the few outdoor scenes shot in Macau, Fist of Fury is vastly more refined than its predecessor and goes all out to entertain.
The plot is tight and fast-moving, and Lee’s scenes are fine-tuned to maximise his presence with more than just his physical talents, from highlighting his easy-going comic skills to sharing his martial arts philosophy. As in The Big Boss, a running thread promotes calls for restraint – but not inaction – for the martial arts practitioner, and nationalistic themes add another dimension.
Action choreography is likewise primed to deliver an exemplary Bruce Lee showcase. As Lee pulps challengers in the rival martial arts school as well as troublemakers within the Jingwu campus, action is staged with Lee the clear centre of attention. Lee’s famed nunchaku skills get a run early in the piece, there are lightning-fast moves aplenty, and as in other films Lee eventually goes shirtless to better show off his physique and agility.
Upping the fun, too, is a playful side to the choreography, as the hero throws in all sorts of unorthodox attacks from punches to the groin to biting.
Once again, Lee upped the ante at the box office, with Fist of Fury setting a new all-time record at the Hong Kong cinemas.
Lee quickly set his sights on even greater cinema ambitions, and Fist of Fury’s runaway success went on to inspire further films, as well as TV series, centred on its lead character - most recent was 2010’s Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, with Donnie Yen paying tribute to Lee in the title role.