The Thunderbolt Fist is a Shaw Brothers action film set in the post-Second Sino-Japanese War, starring Chuan Yuan (in his only leading role), Shih Szu and James Nam.
Prior to the outbreak of war, a legion of Japanese Ronin are terrorizing a small town in the North-western Chinese border. Led by the ruthless Master Takashi, the Ronin are willing to steal and rob from the populace, until the heroic local fighters led by Master Fang decide to challenge the Ronin to a public duel, in exchange for the town's freedom. The Ronin obliged, but after Master Feng had won the duel, in the following night a group of Ronin ambushed Master Fang, killing him and nearly claimed the life of Tie-wa, Master Fang's young son, who was saved by the Fang's loyal butler and delivered to a neighboring family of kung-fu practitioners, who proceeds to adopt Fang and train him on a path to revenge.
A decade later, Tie-wa and his childhood friend, Hu-dieh - daughter of his adoptive father and his childhood mentor - sets out for revenge.
See also The Deadly Knives, another Shaw production released in the same year. Or Fist of Fury, the Bruce Lee flick that inspired this particular sub-genre of "loyal-Chinese-vs-evil-Japs" kung fu films which was popular in the early 70s.
The Thunderbolt Fist contain examples of:
- Action Girl: Hu-dieh, or Butterfly, played by the Shaw action babe Shih Szu. She is an expert fighter, mentored Tie-wa despite being younger than him, is a Robin Hood-style thief who steals from the Ronin and assists the townspeople, and kicks plenty of ass in the finale, killing numerous katana-wielding Ronin while using two tiny daggers.
- Age Cut: To depict the leads' growing up. Tie-wa and Butterfly are shown sparring as children while Butterfly's father watches, and after Tie-wa launches Butterfly into a backflip when they are kids, she then lands... as an adult in her twenties.
- An Arm and a Leg:
- Early in the film, a farmer who tried pleading to the invading Ronin intending to rob him, ends up having both his arms sliced off for his efforts.
- Tie-wa, after being captured by Takashi's minions, gets brutally flogged and tortured, to the extent of losing his right hand in the process. For the final scene, he's shown fighting with only his left.
- It all comes back to Takashi as part of his Karmic Death: having his arm ripped off by Tie-wa, the latter using his feet.
- Badass in Distress: Tie-wa gets captured alive and flogged by the Ronin. He barely survives and spends much of the last act recovering, and then training to re-develop his former martial arts skills.
- Bad Boss: Master Takashi, besides being ruthless to the local townsfolk by launching raids regularly, isn't a saint towards his minions as well, brutally beating up several karate trainees until they're visibly bleeding, and doesn't hesitate to abandon his mooks in the finale.
- Battle Couple: Tie-wa and Butterfly against Takashi and his Ronin in the final battle.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Tie-wa and Hu-dieh are both childhood friends after Tie-wa was adopted by Hu-dieh's father. By the time they grew up, they started having feelings for each other, but the battle against hostile Ronin gets into the way. After the final battle, they are implied to have become a couple.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Tie-wa suffers a really long, nasty, and simply uncomfortable-to-watch torture montage in the hands of his Japanese captors, after being sold out by the traitor Gu Gang and captured alive. From being beaten by chains, flogged, and having his spine pulled out while alive. He barely survives the incident and spends much of the film's third act recuperating, but luckily recovers in time for the final battle.
- Dual Wield: In the final battle against the Ronin, Butterfly wields twin daggers, and later substitutes one of her daggers for a katana.
- Expy: Tie-wa seems to be a combination of Chi-hao from Five Fingers of Death and Lei-ming from The Chinese Boxer, being righteous martial artists fighting for his nation's glory, getting framed and tortured, and eventually going on a rampage against his Japanese enemies. Makes sense, since all three movies are from Shaw Brothers.
- Face–Heel Turn: Gu-gang sells out his people to the Ronin. And he's actually rewarded for his actions!
- Foreshadowing: Recovering after his rescue from the lengthy torture sequence by his Japanese captors, Tie-wa decides to train himself to regain his kung fu skills, by hitting clay targets which, for some reason, are sculpted to look like human hands. In the final battle against Takashi, Tie-wa kills his sworn enemy by ripping off Takashi's arm.
- Gorn: Compared to another Shaw production, The Deadly Knives, released in the same year and also focusing on kung fu practitioners battling renegade Japanese invaders, this one is far gorier and more brutal, with plenty of over-the-top overkills.
- Handicapped Badass: Tie-wa in the later half of the film, having lost an arm after being flogged by Taskashi and his henchmen, but he can still regain - and improve - his pre-existing kung fu skills and take them to a whole new level. And indeed he does in the finale, taking down enemy Ronin one after another with literally just one hand.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Butterfly, besides being a resistance fighter, is also a heroic thief who steals from the Japanese, looting their vault for the silver they had robbed from raiding the town, and then secretly tossing silver coins into houses of the poor after leaving the vault.
- Last Villain Stand: The final battle had Tie-wa, Butterfly and the resistance fighters defeating Takashi and his legion of ronins, leaving Takashi and Tie-wa facing each other in a one-on-one standoff. Takashi instead challenged Tie-wa to a final duel in public, in the same stage Tie-wa's father fought ten years ago, which Tie-wa accepts. Cue the showdown the next morning.
- Les Collaborateurs: Gu Gang, who eventually sell out the town in exchange for a position of power with the ronins.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Tie-wa and Butterfly for the first ten minutes are shown as kids, with Tie-wa witnessing his father's death from Japanese assassins, before getting adopted by Butterfly's father and training himself for revenge. But the traitorous Gu Gang has a scene showing him as a kid, too, lusting after Butterfly and establishing how he would betray his town as an adult.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Completely averted; Gu-Gang, after his treason selling out the town to the Ronin, is shown enjoying a life of luxury with plenty of Ronin bodyguards flanking him. He shows NO regret for his actions, as such, and even helps lead the Ronin into fighting the resistance in the final battle.
- Sore Loser: The Japanese Ronin are absolutely terrible losers... after Tie-wa's father, Master Fang, defeats the ronins' champion, the champion tries to attack Master Fang In the Back while pretending to surrender. Master Fang beats down said champion with ease. In the following night, Master Fang, his son Tie-wa (then just a child) and their loyal butler ends up being ambushed by a dozen katana-swinging Ronin, and Master Fang ends up being killed while trying to defend his family.
- Torso with a View: Taken to ridiculous extremes in the final onstage battle between Tie-wa and Takashi: Takashi is finished off when Tie-wa shoves his foot through his guts, penetrating all the way to the back. Scroll to the bottom
. - Training Montage: Tie-wa and Butterfly sparring as a child, and later Tie-wa training to regain his skills after being captured, flogged and crippled by the Ronin.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: In the final battle, Takashi had a legion of four Elite Mook Ronin who attacks Tie-wa, all of them wearing shoes with studs on their sides. They managed to inflict a few cuts on Tie-wa, one dangerously close to his neck, but Tie-wa managed to beat them all to death.
- Unwilling Suspension: During the torture sequence after being captured alive by Takashi's men, Tie-wa is shown being hung upside-down from both legs.
- You Killed My Father: Tie-wa opposes the Ronin because they killed his father a decade ago, and successfully avenged his father's death by killing Takashi via foot through the guts.
