Though the choreography is credited to both Bruce Lee and Han Ying-Chieh, the majority of it was done by Bruce and displays his speed and power to considerable effect. It’s the revenge that makes this film famous, too, because it’s then that the fight scenes begin. It doesn’t take long for Bruce to take his revenge and begin to unravel the circumstances of his master’s death. This sets up the film’s pro-Chinese theme, set as it is in Japanese-occupied Shanghai.

Shortly afterwards, the eulogy for the master is interrupted by some Japanese fighters from a rival school, who arrive to heap insults upon Jing Mo and the Chinese in general. He’s obviously heartbroken, even having to be knocked out at the side of his master’s grave to put an end to his hysterics. The story begins with Chen Zhen’s return to his school to find his master dead and the funeral in progress. Surprisingly, the latter two were also directed by Lo Wei, who must’ve figured he was on to a good thing. It’s been remade and referenced many, many times since the original film, by several of Asia’s top actors or martial artists – notably by Jet Li in Fist of Legend, Donnie Yen in a TV series called Fist of Fury, Jackie Chan in New Fist of Fury and Stephen Chiau in Fist of Fury 1991. It follows the story of fictional character Chen Zhen, a junior student at the Jing Mo school run by real-life martial arts master Fok Yun Gap (Ho Yuan-chia in Mandarin). It’s a much bigger film, shot with a larger budget and higher production values by the same director, Lo Wei. Fist of Fury was Bruce Lee’s second film in Hong Kong, after The Big Boss made him a superstar across Asia.

Fist of fury 1972