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盲拳鬼手 (1979)
Blind Fist of Bruce


Reviewed by: ewaffle
Date: 04/01/2008
Summary: A pointless exercise

In “Blind Fist of Bruce” Yeh Chen Lung is a complete failure as a man of action. He is duped by two charlatans who pose as kung fu masters, keeping them as part of his household while paying them a salary. They go so far as to stage a phony robbery at the bank he owns so that Yeh Chen Lung can come to the rescue and route the bandits. Yeh and the two parasites are invited to dinner by the lovely Miss Hung who was present during the robbery but not threatened. The lunkhead buddies assume the restaurant is a brothel and that they are wasting time on eating dinner while waiting for Miss Hung to take the Yeh Chen Lung upstairs. Miss Hung responds by telling them that she doesn't run that kind of establishment but if they can do the same level of kung fu that her maidservant can they might get lucky. They are overconfident; she is extremely accomplished so they are soundly beaten.

The charade ends when Ho Fu Wei, a true tough guy, arrives and demands a loan from the bank. When Yeh Chen Lung tries to throw him out Ho Fu Wei beats him up without breaking a sweat. He then calls a meeting to tell the town leaders that he is setting up a society there to keep people from having accidents--if they pay him in advance they will remain safe. He is running a protection racket--most of the townspeople, merchants and local officials realize that they are no match for him. His thugs collect protection money from everyone, even shaking down an old blind musician trying to eke out a few pennies on a street corner. Who turns out, of course, to be the Blind Master.

Having been soundly defeated by Ho Fu Wei, Yeh then watches while Ho Fu Wei beats up his putative teachers. Watching this puts Yeh Chen Lung in privileged position the audience has had since the beginning of the movie; he is witnessing the action but is not involved in it he can see how inept they are. When Ho Fu Wei comes after him again he acts intelligently for the first time and tries to escape.

Yeh is in despair—his kung fu is a joke, his friends have deserted him for the bully, even his mother is threatened and wants to leave town. When he happens to see the Blind Master defeat Ho Fu Wei and his henchmen he takes heart, realizing that the Blind Master is the teacher he needs. This is the second time that Yeh Chen Lung is a passive onlooker and for the second time he has an epiphany that might change his life.

There is the usual difficulty in becoming a student—the Blind Master isn’t interested in teaching anyone but Yeh is persistent enough to convince him to teach once again. The training scenes aren’t very good—“Blind Fist of Bruce” reaches mediocrity only occasionally—but they do serve to push the plot in the expected direction. Yeh Chen Lung and the Blind Master together crush Ho Fu Wei, his two thugs who come armed with staves and short swords and also the former false masters who have gone over the apparent winning side. Peace is restored; Mom moves back to the ancestral home, the bank reopens and the captivating Miss Hung arrives with a big deposit. This harmony is short-lived, however. Ho has recruited the fearsome Tiger (who uses the snake method), a villain who has a history with the Blind Master. Tiger not only blinded him, he smashed his school, killed his daughter and scattered his students.

Tiger seems to enjoy killing people, the more helpless the better. While Ho Fu Wei is a criminal, out to enrich himself and willing to stack up a few bodies if necessary, Tiger kills because it is what he likes best. Clearly he will be the most formidable opponent Yeh and the Blind Master are likely to encounter.

There is very little to recommend here. The action is staged very poorly. It made sense that Bruce Li and the false bandits he fought would look stiff, sluggish and poorly coordinated in the first few fights since he was playing someone who had no fighting skills but was fooled into thinking he did. But most of the fights had the same stagy unrealistic quality, with fighters staggering from the force of punches and kicks that conspicuously missed their target. The battle in which Tiger was dispatched to his next life was dull, very poorly planned and terribly executed. Yeh Chen Lung and the Blind Master use a length of cloth to ensnare and finally strangle Ho Fu Wei but their clumsy stumbling around made it look the three of them were trying to jump rope. Since the comedy wasn’t funny, the pathos not pathetic, the characters flat and the plot one that was pulled off the shelf, all this movie had to distinguish it at all was the action—which was as bad as everything else.


Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 09/18/2003

There was a boatload of Bruce Lee knockoffs introduced to the public after his death. While none of them could ever reasonably hope to match Lee in both talent and charisma, one of the better ones was Bruce Li, and because of that, Blind Fist of Bruce is actually a pretty good movie compared to a lot of the other junk that was coming around this time.

The plot is really nothing special -- Li owns a bank that is taken over by some thugs and he learns kung fu from a blind master (Simon Yuen) to get his revenge -- but there are a ton of fights (some of which, specifically the finale, are quite good) and a thankful lack of the dopey comedy which plagued many chop-socky movies of the period. Blind Fist of Bruce isn't anything great, but if you like to kick it old-school, it's a fun ride.


Reviewed by: RiceBowl
Date: 08/12/2003
Summary: An okay Drunken Master version a Bruce Lee( Bruce Li) film

Wasn't the first Bruce Lee good enough? Well this film didn't have to much Bruce Li elements in it. I would have to say this film is Drunken Master and Big Boss blended in a blender. Simon Yuen or Yuen Siu Tin is a cool old guy (well actually he is a cool dead guy) but he plays the same old guy that is good at kung fu. His character can only flow with Jackie's characters. This film starts off with Yeh Chen Lung (Bruce Li) who is bad at kung fu that gets beat up, finds a master, then beats the guy he wanted revenge on, then there is master that is better then them (meaning Yeh Chen Lung and the old master) from old master's past. Obviously the ending is like all old kung fu films and that's all Ill tell you. I don't hate old school kung fu movies but when you repeat characters and try to profit off a dead guy who has inspired so many and contributed so much to the martial art world then you see just an imitation and cry for greedy money (this doesn't mean every one of the people who made the move are greedy). If your just in to the fights then don't bother, the fights are very slow and they just flip around and use the same arm techniques with their elbow.

School Grade 72%

http://www.ricebowlcinema.com/


Reviewed by: mpongpun
Date: 08/05/2002

Ho Chung Tao aka Bruce Li plays a bank owner named Yeh Chen Lung that gets strong armed into giving up his bank and property to leopard fist master, Ho Fu Wei (Chang Tao), who uses his gung fu to beat Chen Lung to pulp. Chen Lung goes out and trains hard in the martial arts under two shady gung fu instructors (played by Chan Lau and Wang Pao Chien) who teach him some garbage fu such as Elephant Fist, Cat Fist, and 3 Dog Strike Fist-all made up by the fake teachers. After Chen Lung 'thinks' he has his gung fu down, he pays Ho Fu Wei a visit, and then challenges him in a battle to get his bank back. Each time he loses. Eventually, Chen Lung fires his bumbling teachers, and gets with a real gung fu master, albeit a blind one (played by Simon Yuen Siu Tien). Chen Lung learns gung fu and then goes back to reclaim his bank and property by pounding on Ho Fu Wei. But the movie is not done. Ho Fu Wei, needing to gain face, gets a buddy of his named Chin Ta Sum (Tiger Yeung) or Tiger as his friends call him, to avenge his beatings and to reclaim the bank for him. To add to the plot, this guy named Tiger also has a history with the Blind Master, and contributed to his handicap. So in the end, the Blind Master and Chen Lung must battle Tiger in usual showdown fashion. Two against one bad guy, long end fight scene, and the bad guy spewing blood from his mouth upon death. Decent flick.