It's kung fu choas!...or so the box says. I'm not sure who directed this movie or if it's different names for the same guy. This movie ain't too bad, I liked. The fight sequences are better than usual, it is pretty cool in spots with some good choreography. In the fights scenes with Yuen Siu Tin it's obvious where a double is used, but they are pretty cool anyway. Plus the story isn't as cliched as most kung fu movies.
Bruce Li is Yah a rich guy who owns a bank. He has two idiotic kung fu teachers who know nothing about kung fu. Two guys try to rob the bank, but Yah beats them up. Turns out the guys were hired by the two moron teachers to make Yah look good. But when the bank gets robbed for real, Yah gets beat up real good cuz his kung fu sucks.
Fu, the guy who robbed the bank, sets up his racket in town and starts hitting up the local merchants for protection or tax money or something. Here we meet the old blind guy played by Yuen Siu Tin of Drunken Master fame. The old man plays songs for change, but the thugs say he needs a permit. He doesn't have one, so they send him packing. At home he meets the little girl that helps him out, she leaves with her older sister, but they are attacked by some bad guys. The little girl runs back and gets the old man who beats up the two guys with his blind kung fu.
The two morons start training Yah to beat Fu. They teach him stupid animal styles that they just made up like dog and elephant. Yah challenges Fu and with his phony kung fu is easily beaten again. Fu makes Yah sign over the bank and Yah finally wises up and fires the two idiots. Fu and his thugs attack the old guy for not having a license, but the old man beats them up. Impressed Yah tries to get the old man to take him as a student, but the old man turns him down.
The two idiots, now out of work, join Fu's gang. They go to Yah's house and steal a heirloom from Yah's mother. Yah shows up and gets beat again. Yah goes back to the old man and the old guy finally agrees to take him as a pupil. Insert some training sequences. One cool one with a bamboo rigging hooked to ropes and stuff that looks cool. Yah tests himself and challenges Fu and yet again gets beat. So he works even harder and practices his kung fu with chickens and then kicks it up a notch by practicing with chickens in the dark. Now that's dedication.
Ready for Fu, Yah takes on some thugs and easily beats 'em. Yah triumphs over Fu and gets back his house, bank, and his stuff. Fu calls in Tiger, this guy with a real bad haircut that looks like a helmet. Tiger sends Yah packing. Turns out Tiger and the old blind man have a history. Blindy tells Yah that Tiger fights with chemicals and acids. Enter flashback. Once upon a time the old man ran a kung fu school and Tiger was a student. The old man kicked Tiger out for causing trouble. A couple years later Tiger returned and challenged the old man. During the fight, Tiger sprayed acid in the old man's eyes blinding him and also killed the old man's daughter.
Tiger, Fu, and some henchmen track down the old man and Yah, and so begins the final fight sequence. The old man and Yah easily defeats the incompetent henchmen and Fu and Tiger run away. Yah chases after them and battles them both and takes out Fu leaving Tiger. Tiger tries spraying Yah with chemicals, but it doesn't work. The old blind man shows up and they double team Tiger. After some running around and a bunch of fighting Tiger is killed. I love happy endings.
See it wasn't that bad.
Blind Fist of Bruce is now available on DVD from Brentwood Home Video. The movie is full frame and dubbed. The picture shows speckles and linties, but is quite old, so this is expected. The disc does haves extras, but they aren't related to the film. Of course there is chapter selections, but that shouldn't be an extra, it should be a standard. There is a short film, "Casper the Friendly Ghost". What does Casper have to do with Bruce Li? There is also a trivia game, but not about the movie or kung fu films in general. The game is about movies as a whole and isn't that interesting. The last thing is a DVD dictionary that explains all terms DVD related and is a bit useful especially if you're a newbie. I don't expect to see a widescreen anamorphic THX certified version of Blind Fist of Bruce anytime soon, so I think Brentwood's DVD is the best there's gonna be. If you're a Bruce Li fan, then pick this one up.
"Reviewed" by Keith.