Fist of Fury: the Bruce Lee film was as popular for its action as its nationalism
- Lee as a Chinese martial artist who stands up to foreign enemies struck a popular chord in 1972 colonial Hong Kong
- Fist of Fury is remembered in part for a scene in which Lee’s character kicks apart a sign reading ‘No Dogs or Chinese Allowed’
Bruce Lee is praised for his martial arts skills in both the East and the West, but his popularity in Hong Kong is also rooted in his nationalism, in the sense that his characters stood up for Chinese people and the Chinese race.
Fist of Fury (1972), Lee’s second martial arts film, is literal in that respect, telling the story of a young Chinese kung fu expert who takes revenge on the members of a Japanese karate school that murdered his sifu (master). When the film opened in Hong Kong, a scene in which he smashes a sign that calls China “the sick man of Asia” drew loud cheers from the audience.
The film is a straightforward revenge drama, but the racial politics and locale provide some distinction. When the master of his kung fu school dies in suspicious circumstances, Chen Zhen (played by Lee) suspects it’s the doing of a rival Japanese karate school. As the foreign powers discriminate against the Chinese, the police won’t intervene, and Chen decides to avenge the honour of his sifu himself. The rest of his school feels revenge is dishonourable, so he finds himself on his own.
The movie was directed by veteran filmmaker Lo Wei, who shot Lee’s first martial arts hit, The Big Boss (1971). But Lee did not rate Lo’s directorial skills highly and filmed the fight scenes himself. The action scenes are phenomenal, featuring overhead camera angles that show the fight as a whole, powerful close-ups and even an unusual subjective tracking shot from the point of view of one of Lee’s enemies as he attacks.