FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH (1980)
Label: The Film Detective
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Matthew Mallinson
Cast: Fred Williamson, Van Clief, Aaron Banks, Ron Harvey
Synopsis: A sub-genre of 1970s cinema, Bruceploitation clung to the box office success of the Bruce Lee legacy after the star’s untimely demise in 1973, utilizing Lee lookalikes and archival footage from the legend himself. Carving a niche within the grindhouse market, Bruceploitation not only appealed to fans of the day, but has generated a cult status in recent years.
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980) came towards the very end of the "bruceploitation" era, another in a long line of film's that cashed in on the legacy of Bruce Lee by combining footage from a late-50's drama starring a very young Bruce Lee, a samurai film from the early 70's, and newly shot footage, including some stuff from the World Karate Championship of 1979 shot at Madison Square Gardens, where martial artists take their shot at claiming the title of “successor to the Bruce Lee legacy”.
It begins mockumentary-style with TV sportcaster (Adolph Caesar, the narrator on Dawn of the Dead and lots of blaxploitation trailers!) interviewing martial arts masters Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson (Hell Up In Harlem), Ron Van Cleif (The Last Dragon) and Aaron Banks (Mean Johnny Barrows), with both Van Clief and Aaron Banks implying that Bruce Lee's death was anything natural, that it must have been something else, which Banks attributes to the "touch of death", a secret technique that attacks pressure points and can potentially cause a delayed death. It's a cool nugget, and with a title with "touch of death" in it you's think they'd go somewhere with it, but you will be disappointed when it never again comes up up in this film!
While Bruce Lee gets top billing he's not in it all that much, which is standard for these "bruceploitation" flicks I guess, I have not seen a whole lot of 'em. While the TV sportscaster talks about the '79 World Karate Championship happening right behind him, strangely he fails to comment on the image of a competitor plucking the out the eyes of another competitor and tossing them to the crowd! He then begins to talk about Bruce Lee's history, with the image fading into sepia tone footage of the film Thunderstorm (1957) which has been re-dubbed. It attempts to tell the dramatic story of a young Bruce Lee at odds with his father, wanting to pursue a career in kung fu. Keep in mind that none of this is actually based on the true event's of Lee's life, the best part of it is when his dad says something along the lines of "you're driving everyone kung fu crazy!", good stuff. Then we have footage from the film Invincible Super Chan (1971), which is a cool action-packed samurai film, it's supposed to be a story about Bruce Lee's grandfather, but as Lee was Chinese and practiced kung fu and the samurai were Japanese it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but fear not, it's at least entertaining and chock full o' action, so at least it's not boring, which is more than I can say of the sepia tone Bruce Lee footage.
So we have the Karate Championship footage edited patchwork-style with the '57 Chinese film and the '71 samurai film, then we also have an interview between Aaron Banks and Bruce Lee, who are clearly not in the same room at the same time, and absolutely not actually talking to each other, but it's been dubbed into some weird mutual kiss-ass interview that does nothing for to push the "story" being told forward.
The best of the newer footage is of Fred Williamson, a scene of him waking up late at a hotel, banging a ditsy broad, and man-handling a 90-pound weakling named Jasper Milktoast, played by screenwriter Ron Harvey, and for some reason that I am not aware of people keep mistaking him for singer/actor Harry Belafonte, which is just weird. Another winning bit of weirdness is Ron Van Clief saving a pair of "cantaloupe tits" joggers in Central Park from a gang of hoodlums. when one of the ladies asks what she can repay him he stares into the camera with a knowing smile, then it freeze-frames Mentos-commercial style. The last bit of new stuff that's worth mentioning is Bill Louie (Bruce vs Bill) dressed as Lee's character Kato from the Green Hornet TV series taking on a gang with a pair of nunchucks, it's pretty well shot and action-packed.
None of this actually comes together in a cohesive way, it's quite the opposite, sort of like a short-attention span cinema patchwork, with only the 50's footage of Lee being boring, the rest is just kinetic mind-numbing exploitation, but at least it's never truly boring, I will give it that. This is a straight-up cash-in on the legacy of Bruce Lee, it's doesn't even pretend to care about the facts of his life or death in any way whatsoever, they were just trying to put asses in seats with Bruce Lee's image on the movie poster, and I bet it worked.
Audio/Video: Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980) arrives on Blu-ray from The Film Detective on the 40th anniversary of it's release, framed in (1.66:1) widescreen in 1080p HD. It's been scanned in 4K from the original camera negative, but there's not a lot you can do for a film that's sourced from differing elements in various aspect ratios and various states of condition. Obviously the new footage looks the best, the older stuff had to be re-framed to the 1.66:1 aspect ratio and it shows. Grain structures are unevenly matched, there are scratches, fading and other imperfections throughout, but all things considered it's solid enough, but it's not fantastic.
Audio in the disc comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles. The dialogue is never hard to understand, the dubbed-stuff is poorly written and dubbed, but you can hear every awful word of it.
Extras on this 40th anniversary edition include a brand new 30-min featurette with principle cast and crew including Ron Van Clief, producer Terry Levene, director
Matthew Mallinson, scriptwriter Ron
Harvey. It's fun stuff with Levine and company describe how the film came together, the patchwork way it was comprised of various existing film elements mixed with newly shot elements to bring it all together (sort of), with the director Matthew Mallinson speaking to the weird mix of Japanese and Chinese culture that don't make a lot of sense, and some creative work around issues he had with the actor Adolph Caesar. Screenwriter Ron
We also get a limited-edition booklet with liner notes written by Justin Decloux and Will Sloan, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast. It's a fun appreciation of the film that gets into other brucesploitation era of films, and debating if the film itself is an insult to the legacy of Lee. Extras are punched-up with a TV spot and a theatrical trailer with burned in Spanish subtitles.
The single-disc release comes housed in a limited edition (of 1500) blood-red keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork. The Blu-ray disc itself has the same key art, and it looks great, the red and yellow motif of the design is eye-catching and the spine has some serious shelf appeal.
Special Features:
- That’s Bruceploitation featurette, by Daniel Griffith from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures (29 min)
- Limited-edition liner note booklet written by Justin Decloux and Will Sloan, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast.
Matthew Mallinson, scriptwriter Ron
Harvey. It's fun stuff with Levine and company describe how the film came together, the patchwork way it was comprised of various existing film elements mixed with newly shot elements to bring it all together (sort of), with the director Matthew Mallinson speaking to the weird mix of Japanese and Chinese culture that don't make a lot of sense, and some creative work around issues he had with the actor Adolph Caesar. Screenwriter Ron
Harvey seems to be looking down at scripted answers during his segments, like he was reading from a previous interview or a book, not sure what was going on there but it was a little weird.
We also get a limited-edition booklet with liner notes written by Justin Decloux and Will Sloan, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast. It's a fun appreciation of the film that gets into other brucesploitation era of films, and debating if the film itself is an insult to the legacy of Lee. Extras are punched-up with a TV spot and a theatrical trailer with burned in Spanish subtitles.
Special Features:
- That’s Bruceploitation featurette, by Daniel Griffith from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures (29 min)
- Limited-edition liner note booklet written by Justin Decloux and Will Sloan, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast.
- TV Spot (1 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980) delivers zero Bruce Lee action, but for a patchwork-style cash grab it's plenty entertaining, it's not good, but it's entertaining. The new Blu-ray from The Film Detective is a solid presentation, if you're into schlocky kung-fu or similar "bruceploitation" fare it's worth getting a copy, my favorite part of the whole thing was actually the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures produced featurette, I watched that at least four times, I only watch the movie once.
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980) delivers zero Bruce Lee action, but for a patchwork-style cash grab it's plenty entertaining, it's not good, but it's entertaining. The new Blu-ray from The Film Detective is a solid presentation, if you're into schlocky kung-fu or similar "bruceploitation" fare it's worth getting a copy, my favorite part of the whole thing was actually the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures produced featurette, I watched that at least four times, I only watch the movie once.
