History Film / FistOfFury

* DarkerAndEdgier In many ways this film is much darker than Lee's first "big film", ''Film/TheBigBoss''.

->''"Our story begins with the death of Ho Yun Chia, a legendary Chinese hero. Famous for his victories over Russia's champion wrestler, and Japan's Bushido experts.

->He was poisoned. By whom? For what? It was not known for certain, but there has been speculation. Here we offer the most popular version."''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paul_mccartney_really_is_dead.jpg]]

He was poisoned. By whom? For what? It was not known for certain, but there has been speculation. Here we offer the most popular version."''

** The Japanese school, where people are variously seen practicing UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and kenjutsu, describes their martial art as ''bushido''. In real life, bushido is a philosophical concept, not a martial art, unless they decided to create one with that name.
** Petrov is described as a wresling champion, and he does have the look and size of one, but whenever he actually fights, he uses zero wrestling, instead using karate like the rest of the Japanese.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: It's difficult to feel sorry for the Interpreter during his abuse scenes.

* RedBaron: ''Fist of Fury'' is the title Chen is given after he beats down the Jaanese school.

* AlliterativeTitle

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Yoshida, the head instructor of the Japanese dojo, is the only Japanese who gets somewhat resembling a CurbstompCushion in the initial Chen Zhen, landing a wrist lock throw on Chen and generally making him work more than the rest.

* TheRedBaron: ''Fist of Fury'' is the title Chen is given after he beats down the Jaanese school.

Now available as an on-demand download from ''Podcast/RiffTrax''

* FightingWithChucks: The most triumphant example in cinema. This was also the first film where Bruce Lee used them.

** The Japanese school, where people are variously seen practicing karate, judo and kenjutsu, describes their martial art as ''bushido''. In real life, bushido is a philosophical concept, not a martial art, unless they decided to create one with that name.

** One which might easily be missed. [[spoiler: The Jingwu school is massacred but didn't go down without a fight. The karate school is annihilated.]]

* DeathByRacism: Not really deaths in most cases, but the film is all about a bunch of stupid, ''stupid'' people being racially discriminating and abusive against the Chinese - and Chen and Bruce Lee personally himself, by extension - and promptly getting the snot beaten out of them. [[spoiler:In a more literal case, Chen himself: yes, Chen was guilty of a number of crimes, but there was absolutely no justice in his [[SuicideByCop "arrest"]] in the film's ending sequence. [[KarmaHoudini It is highly likely that no-one in the Japanese karate school faced punishment for massacring the students at Chen's kung-fu school]], seeing as how the Japanese authorities viewed the Chinese as lesser people.]]
* DeconstructedTrope: The film shows the hero's RoaringRampageOfRevenge escalating the violence rather than stopping it, to the point that [[spoiler: by the end of the movie, Chen is a completely broken man who has lost everything in his desire for revenge...including his girlfriend and his family, who have been brutally slain by the enemy. In the end, he kills the BigBad and soon turns himself in to the police, [[DespairEventHorizon having nothing left to live for]].]]
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:The film ends with Chen, the villains defeated and his master avenged, agreeing to take all the blame for the deaths of the karate school, saving his friends. He walks outside to find a row of Japanese policemen with their rifles and pistols trained on him, then runs right at them and leaps into the air with a kick as gunfire sounds off.]]
* DirtyCoward: Virtually the entire karate school. They team up 20-on-1 with Chen early on, frequently resort to using weapons, murder a rival martial arts master with poison, and otherwise show themselves to be honorless jerks.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Chen [[FaceDeathWithDignity sacrifices himself to the Japanese and faces execution]] to spare his friends from being arrested.]]

* IdiotBall: The Japanese's first attack on the kung-fu school in retaliation for Chen's first attack. There's no reason for them to believe Chen - who just wiped the floor with the entire karate school - wouldn't be there. Only plot contrivance caused them to avoid fighting Chen and lots of back-up.

* JanitorImpersonationInfiltration: Chen disguises himself as a telephone repairman to infiltrate the Japanese karate school.
* KatanasAreBetter: Played with. When they're wielding katanas is the only time the two heads of the karate school are ever seriously threatening to Chen, yet the weapons aren't portrayed as inherently awesome, just...well...swords in a fist-fight.

* MightyWhitey: An interesting aversion. While Chen is the absolute biggest badass in the movie, the ONLY person who gives him a hard time is the Russian expatriate. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Russian is the only one who actually fights him alone and with pure martial arts. Chen also has no grudge against Petrov. He's just a bystander visiting the karate school.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Chen keeps trying to avenge his master's death, only for the karate school to retaliate against his dojo rather than him.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Horribly averted with the karate school. There's a particularly horrible one where they humiliate their Interpreter who has been nothing but supportive, just because he's Chinese.

* OneManArmy: After Chen kicks the ass of the karate School, you think that the karate school either sucks or Chen's school is better. No, it turns out Chen is just ''that'' good.
* PacifistDojo: The Jing-Wu school, whose founder was recently poisoned to death. There is a lengthy lecture early on in the film that stresses what their founder was really aiming for. Their current sensei does not take kindly to finding out that Chen decided to take matters into his own hands toward the Hon-Kyu school, at least, not until after he sees the results of their dojo's retaliation.
** It's also a chilling example of Creator/BruceLee, as Chen, straddling the fine line between MartialPacifist and ArrogantKungFuGuy.
* PaperThinDisguise: Chen uses quite a few while infiltrating Hon-Kyu. Whether the staff is fooled by the disguise or not isn't made clear.

* PyrrhicVictory: In line with Chen's DownerEnding. He ''did'' manage to save Jing Wu in the process, so there ''was'' a HappyEnding for the academy.

* TheRedBaron: ''Fist of Fury'' is the title Chen is given after he beats down the karate school.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Played with. It's obvious the karate school considers the Interpreter no better than any other Chinese person and abuses him during a party. The Interpreter gleefully laps it up.
* RivalDojos: Combines with [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Master]] to be the premise of the movie. It's a fairly one-sided rivalry as well with the kung-fu school seemingly unaware of the seething hatred the karate school bears them at the start of the movie.

** Chen heads to the karate school after they interrupt his master's funeral and proceeds to kick the entire school's ass by himself.
** It gets worse when he discovers his master was actually murdered. He goes back to the karate school, grabs the first guy he finds, and immediately ''beats him to death'' while demanding information.

* TooDumbToLive: Wu En, Suzuki's translator and a normal man, try to attack Chen with a rock...after Chen had just decided to spare his life!

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: In the fact that there ''was'' a martial arts master in China named Huo Yuanjia, [[Film/Fearless2006 who was beloved and died under mysterious circumstances]]. A note at the beginning of the film (that says that otherwise ThisIsAWorkOfFiction) mentions that the writers created the story using one of the various theories that were flung around at the time (that he was assassinated).