History Film / FistOfFury

* TouchOfDeath: Chen can kick or punch anyone with fatal force.
** Tien, the chef who poisoned Chen's teacher, dies from an extremely hard punch to the abdomen.
** Feng Guishi dies from getting punched to death in the abdomen.
** Petrov dies from getting his windpipe crushed by a right-hand chop.
** Hiroshi Suzuki dies from getting his windpipe crushed by a jump kick.

''Fist of Fury'' (Chinese: 精武門; aka ''The Chinese Connection'' and The ''Iron Hand'' in the United States) is a 1972 Hong Kong action martial arts film written and directed by Lo Wei. It starred Creator/BruceLee in his second major film after ''Film/TheBigBoss''.

* 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, [[StuffedIntoTheFridge 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]].]]

%%* ActionHero: Chen. {{Deconstructed|Trope}}.

* AntiHero: (Contrary to the PopCultureOsmosis image of Bruce Lee,) Lee plays one in this movie. Lee's character, Chen Zhen, has frequent fits of rage, isn't ashamed of using [[CombatPragmatist dirty tricks while fighting]] and even [[ManBitesMan bites]] his opponent's ankles once he starts losing in a fair fight.

* BerserkButton: Looking down on Chen for being Chinese. This is one for Bruce Lee as well, and hey, who could blame him?

* DeathByRacism: Not really deaths in most cases, but the film is all about a bunch of [[BullyingADragon stupid]], ''[[TooDumbToLive 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.]]

* ManBitesMan: When Petrov puts Chen in a leg-lock, Chen responds by biting Petrov's ankles

* ScrewTheRulesTheyBrokeThemFirst: One reason for Chen being a CombatPragmatist.

* AllThereInTheManual: Yuan Le-erh, Chen Zhen's fiancée. The character's name isn't mentioned in the film.

* RealityEnsues: Chen's RoaringRampageOfRevenge ends up escalating things until the violence gets out of control and the authorities become involved.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: While Yuan Le-erh is well-acted, it's fairly obvious she's only there to add pathos to Chen's plight.

* ThugDojo: The Hon Kyu school. Surprisingly, despite being honorless jerks, their actual techniques aren't much different than Jing Wu. The main difference is that Hon Kyu go out of their way to cause trouble.

* TooDumbToLive: Wu En, Suzuki's translator and a normal man, try to attack Chen with a rock...after that he had just decided to spare his life!
* {{Tragedy}}: Obviously, one for Chen Zhen.

* TranslationMatchmaking: In America, the film was retitled ''The Chinese Connection'' (after ''Film/TheFrenchConnection''). The title (''Chinese Connection'') was actually intended for ''Film/TheBigBoss'' (since the plot of that film involved drug trafficking), but the American distributor messed up and ended up giving switching the titles for both films.

* PresentDayPast: The story is set some time in the early twentieth century (1908 or the 1930s, depending on who you ask), but makes no effort to disguise background occurrences of 1970s clothes and cars. This may have been because of budget limitations.

* 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.

* NiceToTheWaiter: Horribly averted with the karate school. There's a particularly horrible one where they humiliate their Interpreter who has been nothing but supportive.

* LastDisrespects: A variant. During Huo Yuanjia's memorial service, the Japanese arrive to insult the Chinese and present their "gift" of the "Sick Men of East Asia" sign.

* HeroicBSOD: Chen at first seems like he would pull through the funeral once arriving, but then utterly snaps when he sees his teacher being buried. Going as far as trying to dig him back, up while they were burying him. However once calmed, he spends most of the movie in this trope. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain That is until Suzuki's men come to the funeral]] and [[BerserkButton insult the Teacher along with the entire Chinese community.]]

* 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.

* ImprobableHairstyle: The story is ''supposed'' to take place around the early 20th century, but most of the haircuts (or rather lack thereof) are clearly from the time period the film was shot, very evident on Petrov the Russian. And the hair isn't the only improbability...
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Virtually the entire kung fu school other than Chen. They react remarkably well to a pretty horrific series of events. Yuan Le-erh, especially.

* KatanasAreBetter: Played with. Wielding katanas are the only time the two heads of the karate school are ever threatening to Chen, yet the weapons aren't portrayed as inherently awesome, just...well...swords in a fist-fight.
* KickTheDog: The Japanese school gets a RIDICULOUS number of these. Here's a short count: crashing the funeral of Chen's master, poisoning Chen's master, trying to get Chen to bark like a dog to enter a park forbidden to Chinese ("No dogs and Chinese allowed"), siccing the police on Chen, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick plotting to MURDER the entire Kung Fu school]]. The list goes on and on.

* FunnyBruceLeeNoises: Chen and Petrov scream at each other a lot while they fight.

* 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. Realising he's going to be publically executed, he lets out a final cry and performs a running jump kick at them, the final freeze frame catching him in mid-air as a crescendo of rifle fire sounds. Given Lee's disdain for the GunsAreWorthless trope, it's very unlikely that Chen survives]].

* 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, [[StuffedIntoTheFridge 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]].]]

* KatanasAreBetter: Played with. Wielding katanas are the only time the two heads of the karate school are ever threatening to Chen, yet the weapons aren't portrayed as inherently awesome, just... well... swords in a fist-fight.

** And the Hon Kyu students get the idea of raiding Jing Wu... [[DressingAsTheEnemy wearing the kind of attire the Jing Wu would!]]

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

** And the Hon Kyu students get the idea of raiding Jing Wu... wearing the kind of attire the Jing Wu would!

Has a belated sequel, starring Creator/DonnieYen as Chen Zen, titled ''Film/LegendOfTheFistTheReturn OfChenZhen'' in 2010, which retcons Chen's fate completely in an AlternateContinuity.

''Fist of Fury'' (Chinese: 精武門; aka ''The Chinese Connection'' and The ''Iron Hand'' in the United States) is a 1972 Hong Kong action martial arts film written and directed by Lo Wei. It starred Bruce Lee in his second major film after ''Film/TheBigBoss''. Set during the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, Creator/BruceLee plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in Japanese-occupied Shanghai and to bring those responsible for his master's death to justice. The movie has themes of racism and the consequences of revenge.

''Fist of Fury'' (Chinese: 精武門; aka ''The Chinese Connection'' and The ''Iron Hand'' in the United States). It starred Bruce Lee in his second major film after ''Film/TheBigBoss''. Set during the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, Creator/BruceLee plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in Japanese-occupied Shanghai and to bring those responsible for his master's death to justice. The movie has themes of racism and the consequences of revenge.

''Fist of Fury'' (Chinese: 精武門; aka ''The Chinese Connection'' and The ''Iron Hand'' in the United States). It starred Bruce Lee in his second major film after ''Film/TheBigBoss''. Set during the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, Creator/BruceLee plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in Japanese-occupied Shanghai and to bring to justice those responsible for his master's death. The movie has themes of racism and the consequences of revenge.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: A RealLife Example. After this movie was filmed, Bruce Quit Lo Wei's production, because of the unnecessary violence and racism. To make it even more awesome he practically took Golden Harvest and the cast with him as seen in ''Film/WayOfTheDragon''.

** It's also a chilling example of Creator/BruceLee, as Chen, [[PlayingAgainstType straddling the fine line]] between MartialPacifist and ArrogantKungFuGuy.

* PunctuatedPounding: "WHY?! WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY???!!!"

* TooDumbToLive: Wu En, Suzuki's translator and a normal man, try to attack Chen with a rock... after that he had just decided to spare his life!. {{What an idiot}}, indeed.

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

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Chen takes on a suicidal fight against a large group of adversaries in order to retain his honor and protect his school. Notably, the real-life Chen Zhen survived and successfully escaped from Shanghai]].

* TheQuisling: The Interpreter.
* RealityEnsues: The [[BolivianArmyEnding final scene]].