Development
Fist of Fury
Director: Lo Wei
Screenwriters: Lo Wai & Ni Kuang
Genre: Martial Arts
Cast: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao
Action Choreographers: Han Ying Chieh, Bruce Lee
Production
Logan (1996) discusses the production of Fist of Fury in this section. After starring in American production, The Green Hornet, Bruce Lee was signed by newly formed production company, Golden Harvest, in 1971, rejecting Hollywood and Shaw Brothers. Bruce Lee was propelled to stardom in The Big Boss. Fist of Fury is the film where Bruce Lee increased his input into Hong Kong Action film making, bringing in his previous filming experience in America, changing the way Hong Kong Action films are made in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee showed how martial arts can be useful in defence and deadly in offense. Bruce Lee is also a smart actor who is good at making himself look good on camera, therefore, making him an actor that has the skills to act and kill someone convincingly. Action scenes that does not involve Bruce Lee were choreographed by Han Ying Chiek, which is the reason why Bruce Lee was not officially credited as the action choreographer as Bruce Lee took over the former unofficially for scenes involving himself.
Dialogues in the film was dubbed over post-production due to sync sound not being used with Bruce Lee dubbing the Russian fighter in the film. The film was released in America in 1972 as “The Chinese Connection” while Bruce’s first film was released as “Fists of Fury” due to a mistake by American distribution company National General Pictures. Fist of Fury was produced on an approximate US$100,000 budget and distributed by Golden Harvest.
Reception
The character of Chen Zhen, is currently an icon. An icon symbolising patriotism, defiance against oppressors, self-improvement and a national hero (Bowman, Sick man of transl-Asia: Bruce Lee and Rey Chow's queer cultural translation, 2010). In Fist if Fury, Chen Zhen is a national hero as he has been loyal to his country and teacher. Chen Zhen has also been defiance to the bullying of external oppressors who yield more political power and it was done through his training to improve himself in times of turmoil, which has been repeated many times in the film to be the motto of the Jingwu Athlete Association. Chen Zhen is a fictitious character written by screenwriter, Ni Kuang, with the name inspired taken from the real disciple of Huo Yuan Jia, this has resulted in Chen Zhen being central to many myths and is often shroud with mystery (陳真, n.d.). The fictitious character has such an impact on Hong Kong film culture mainstay that there has been at least 3 films and 5 television series produced centred around Chen Zhen.
The action choreographers were Han Ying Chiek and Bruce Lee. To audience, the portrayal of kungfu in the film is an innovative breakthrough in action choreographing. The portrayal of traditional Chinese kungfu as an on-screen combat technique as opposed to Chinese opera style fights in wuxia films in the East and fisticuffs and guns in films from the West. This plays well to the West as it provides an exotic, refreshing and innovative experience in films through his action sequences. To the East, other than the innovative and refreshing style of action sequences in film, it also enhances the manhood of males and the nationalist instincts of Chinese around the world (Bowman, Theorizing Bruce Lee, 2010). This is done through the use and portrayal of traditional Chinese kungfu in the film. Bruce Lee was trained under the kungfu of Wing Chun under the tutelage of Ip Man and is the founder of Jeet Kune Do making him a more than capable executer of kungfu onscreen.
Sources
Bowman, P. (2010). Sick man of transl-Asia: Bruce Lee and Rey Chow's queer cultural translation. Social Semiotics, 20(4), 393-409. doi:10.1080/10350330.2010.494393
Bowman, P. (2010). Theorizing Bruce Lee. New York: Rodopi B.V.
Logan, B. (1996). Hong Kong Action Cinema. New York: The Overlook Press.
陳真. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%99%B3%E7%9C%9F
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