Fist of Fear Touch of Death

Cast:

Bruce Lee
Fred Williamson

What the box says:

Mayhem reigns where martial arts experts meet! Before the "Ultimate Fighting Championships" became popular, this martial arts tournament was the biggest and baddest sport around. Filmed at the famous Madison Square Garden, this epic contains non-stop action from the legendary BRUCE LEE at the peak of his career. Starring with Bruce is former all-pro football star Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. Fred, star of "M*A*S*H", "Take a Hard Ride" and "Adios Amigo" proves once again why he was one of the most feared players ever to play the game.

Plot:

SideOrderOfNinjas wishes to provide a warning that trying to logically follow this would be a big mistake. A mistake on par with whoever thought Battlefield Earth and Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes would be good ideas.

We get triumphant music as a travel montage of New York City goes across the screen. This is the 1979 World Karate Championships.

Aaron Banks, one of the bigger karate stars, believes that Bruce Lee died from the Touch of Death. Focusing the chi can cause person to die 3 to 4 weeks later depending on the strength of the chi. Aaron isn't quite up to doing it himself. But, Bruce Lee showed him the principles behind it.

Bruce Lee, Fred Williamson, Rob Van Clief, Aaron Banks, etc...We get numerous clips. They show a fight where the announcer claims a guy's eyes were removed and thrown to the crowd.

Who will be Bruce Lee's successor? The 1979 World Karate Championships have been dedicated to Bruce. Of course, Bruce died in 1974. An interview of Bruce is shown. Aaron Banks then demonstrates the theory behind focusing your chi for the touch of death.

Actually, they show something in a ring. "Bad Ass" Bonnie Lee is fighting Fred "The Flying Fatman". Well, Bonnie finishes Fred off in short order.

Reporter, Adolph Caesar, has a flashback how Fred "The Hammer" Williamson almost didn't make it to Madison Square Gardens. His wakeup call was 2 hours late. The wakeup call was for Harry Belafonte, too. His chick wants him to stay for her to get some HAMMER Time....Sweet lovin' does ensue... But to a disco beat, Fred is on the street. Fred takes some guy's cab. The dude throws a fit and thinks he's Harry Belafonte. Everyone thinks Fred Williamson is Harry Belafonte. I have to ignore that fact....Somebody else gets the cab. A Rolls Royce carrying reporter Adolph Caesar stops to pick Fred up. What kind of reporter can afford be chauffeured in a Rolls. They drive past New York City landmarks and get to Madison Square Gardens...

The madness continues. 2 welterweights will fight for the Bruce Lee title. But, one problem is there is no Bruce Lee title. Fred thinks it is ridiculous. Amen Hammer...Amen Hammer...

Rod Van Clief is being interviewed. He thinks Bruce was murdered, too. He has some strange training exercises involving the use of a sword to cut carrots apart on people's necks. Ignore the illogic....We get more footage of Rob training. I think wish fulfillment is rearing its ugly head. These 4 guys are following a girl. They are talking aloud about how her. Suddenly, Rob bumps into the girl asks if the guys are bothering her. He takes them out almost Steven Seagal fast. The girl doesn't know how to thank him. Somehow, Rob has an "I know a way you can thank me" grin on his face....

We go on to the Bruce Lee story. The reporter claims to have discoveredBruce Lee. Bruce's great-grandfather, Chan Lee, was a great samurai. Riddle me this Batman, how does a Chinese martial artist become a samurai that is Japanese? Now on to the sublimely bizarre. This has to be from a movie. I don't think any motion picture cameras were around in the 19th Century. He throws arrows at guys like Jet Li did in Deadly China Hero. Somehow, an avalanche entombs him in boulders. But, he uses his super strength to free himself. Chan Lee fights 20 guys, tossing several into trees. He has almost the powers Chow Yun Fat had in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Or does every martial artist possess the ability to jump like Spiderman on a trampoline?

The story goes on to Bruce Lee when he was 18. His older brother returns for the first time in years. The family is worried about Bruce's growing fascination of martial arts. Mom is afraid he'll die...

We get another flashback to the time of Chan Lee. He challenges somebody to a duel. A group attacks him. Sword blades are broken and impale numerous opponents. Chan has to fight a group wielding spears. He still hasn't got to his main target.

Back to teenage Bruce, he has just gotten his black belt. Bruce wants to carry on the family tradition.

Chan fights another bunch of guys...Can you sense the repetition?

Bruce is starting to think about running away from home. He invites his girlfriend to the karate matches. Sounds romantic doesn't it? His girlfriend's older brother thinks that Bruce is a bum and doesn't want his sister involved with Bruce.

Brother goes to Bruce's dad to get him to keep Bruce from his sister. Dad wants Bruce to give up this karate nonsense. The touch of death is mentioned. Bruce doesn't believe in it. Would this be an attempt at paranoid foreshadowing? It is implied that the touch of death killed his great-grandfather.

We are treated to another Chan flashback. This is getting to be very predictable.

Bruce wants to go to the karate matches. Dad makes him do his homework. Bruce sneaks off to find his girlfriend. She's hiding from him. She looks for the Lee family caretaker to get some advice why Bruce is like he is...This leads to another flashback....

Chan fights some guy with a projectile launching axe. Well, after all the fighting and killing, Chan Lee wants to settle down with his wife and child. Just wants to be left alone. After 5 years of peace and quiet a group of evil guys try to pick a fight. These three guys include an evil midget and a guy who wields a mighty abacus. Yes, Bruce Lee's ancestor fought midgets and abacus wielders. Chan pretty much ignores them. How could a master martial artist feel provoked to fight a midget? Chan finds his child has been injured or killed. We never learn what happened either way. But, now, Chan really wants to unload some serious karate vengeance.

Bruce decides to run away from home to pursue his dream. Dad blames his older brother for putting ideas in his head.

Chan is fighting some guy. It's not going so well, for him. His wife tosses Chan his sword. He manages to decapitate his opponent.

Bruce is in Hong Kong looking for a job in the movies. Now for something surreal. It looks like someone took some Bruce Lee interview footage and mixed it with a guy to make it appear someone is talking to Bruce. Bruce talks about his martial arts skills, etc...

Back to present day, Caesar is talking more about Bruce. Bruce eventually got a Hollywood contract. This led to the Green Hornet television show.

Some guy is spray painting on a wall. He and a buddy spot a couple of women jogging. They decide to get the rest of the gang. These joggers have to be slightly blinder than Stevie Wonder. They stop to take a breather. Not noticing the large group of men following them or how they almost tippy-toe behind an object to stay out of sight until they strike. The joggers are surrounded and screaming. A large black car pulls up. A guy is slowly walking up to the commotion. It's supposed to be Kato from the Green Hornet not the Kaelin. The gang surrounds Kato, who finishes them off in rapid order.

I'll beat you if you say I'm not Bruce Lee
Kato chases after them to retrieve the purse of one jogger. The gang has regained its courage in numbers and in ball bats, too. Unfortunately for them, Kato has his nun-chucks. The beat down is over. The jogger asks who he is. Kato is Bill Louie, some guy that was interviewed earlier in the movie. He drives off. I forgot to mention he's wearing a black chauffeur’s uniform and a little Robin like face-mask.

Aaron Banks is interviewed again about Bruce's personality. I swear they pull the doctored interview trick again. Bruce and Aaron compliment each other. I can only hope that Bruce didn't ever compliment this nut-job.

We go to a karate demonstration in Madison Square Gardens. Another match has two guys tied to each other with a length of rope like a Texas Strap wrestling match. We get some sparring. A 2 on 1 attack with sticks. Boards are stacked, a guy's arm is placed on top and the sledgehammer is being readied. Guy does the stunt and is fine.

We get an interview with Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. He repeats that nobody can fill Bruce Lee's shoes. The welterweight championship will be a good fight, but it won't find a new Bruce Lee.

A couple of guys are sparring. We get to watch a guy break 14 boards at one time.

The welterweight championship match is ready to begin. They have been promoting the winner of the match as the successor of Bruce Lee. But, will the winner suffer from the curse of Bruce Lee, too? It will be a 12 round match. The first round ends. The fighters have gloves of hands and feet. It might be better if I had paid attention to the fighters. But, I'm not going back now. One guy is counted out in the 2nd round.

The celebration begins. Well, I never heard of the winner since this match. I think I can safely say he's not the successor of Bruce. We get a close-up of the championship trophy.

What have we learned? Caesar doesn't believe that any one can measure up to Bruce. There can only be one Bruce Lee. But, wasn't the point of this film to find Bruce's successor?

What I say:

I thought the numerous guys that had names that sounded like Bruce Lee after he died was bad. Bruce Lei, Bruce Li, etc... But this..I can't call it a movie this thing has some how managed to be on par with Celebrity Autopsy. Who wanted to try to milk the memory of Bruce Lee one last time? I have to think some of the people involved truly admired and respected Bruce Lee. But, some twisted people had a little footage of Bruce Lee and tried weaving it into a movie with a lot of skits involving martial artists andthe World Karate Championships, too. I want to throw up a link to the Bruce-Sploitation page that really goes into some detail about Bruce and the guys that tried to ride on his coattails, etc... Brucesploitation

The Bruce Lee great-grandfather footage made me wonder what movie they got the footage to use. I can understand having a feared warrior for an ancestor but did any ancestors jump 3, 4 stories at a time? How about catch a salvo of arrows and throw them impaling the archers? This guy would have been a great martial artist movie star if only motion picture cameras existed in the 19th century. The Kato scene was called a tribute, but they almost treat the Chan Lee footage as real.

The interviews that look doctored to show Bruce talking to somebody on camera is disrespectful if not multimedia grave-digging. Wouldn'ta few Bruce Lee interviews be enough without making it look like he is praising the nut-job that thinks the touch of death killed Bruce.

The fact Bruce Lee died from the touch of death should be news. We hear regularly about how Elvis, Marilyn Monroe were murdered. But, nobody talks about Bruce. Could these people be afraid of the touch of death? Could I call it the Dim Mokk, the death touch? I guess I shouldn't in this abomination. The idea, that focusing your chi and touching someone who dies from it weeks later, seems pretty farfetched.

How did we learn that Fred Williamson was one of the most feared players of the game? Any film with end credits for Fred Williamson as "Hammer, and ladies man" must be awarded cool points. But, a lot of things work against it.

The Kato tribute and the Rob Van Clief thing in the park had me scratching my head. I thought the Kato thing at first was supposed to be Bruce until I saw the guy's face. It was hard not to keep a straight face after this point. They probably couldn't afford to get a single clip of Bruce Lee from any movie or the Green Hornet television show.

They spend so much of the running time trying to convince us about finding thesuccessor of Bruce Lee and then in the end drop it. Probably, when you promote a 12 round karate bout and a guy gets knocked out in the second round, thatisn't a great way to claim the mantle of Bruce Lee. There really isn't much of a focus on Bruce Lee. A couple of interview clips were about the only material that had anything to do with Bruce. A lot of running time had to do with the young Bruce, but a problem with that is. Young Bruce never demonstrated any martial arts ability whatsoever. Can you picture the Michael Jordan story without any footage of him playing basketball? That's the impression I got from Fist of Fear Touch of Death

If you want to see a tribute to Bruce Lee, find a copy of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Or get off your butt and watch some Bruce Lee movies.

Quotable Dialogue
"Who do you think killed Bruce Lee?"
"The Flying Fatman sure lives up to his name."
"I know you're Harry Belafonte."
"Why are you upset over my happiness?"
"You can't break boards for a living..."
"Can you bring me a steak?"
"Who was that masked man?"
Morals of the Story
Chinese people want to be Samurais that are from Japan....
An abacus is a deadly weapon...
City gangs are ethnically diverse....