Duel of the Iron Fist (1971) User Reviews

One of many "Duels" and one of the best

[ckormos1 · 7/10 · 12 April 2019]

This genre of films is well noted for title problems. Many movies have two, three, or even four alternate titles. The titles frequently do not relate to anything happening during the film. This movie is known as "The Duel" and "Duel of Iron Fists" and "Duel of the Shaolin Fist" and "Iron Fist Pillage" and "Big Duel". The situation is further complicated because Shaw Brothers made another movie in 1971 starring David Chiang and Ti Lung titled "Duel of Fists" or "Duel of Fists" or "Striking Fist".

There is more. Assuming you have a copy of this movie there may be a lot missing. This is common because of censorship of the violence. I have the Celestial release and the run time is 1:45:16. I am aware of releases up to about fifteen minutes short of that. I can't even get into the many VHS differences. Besides, that technology is 99% extinct anyway. I recommend acquire the Celestial DVD and you will do good.

This movie starts with Ti Lung getting fresh ink. After the opening credits, Yeung Chi-Hing and Lee Wang-Chun meet. When I first started watching these movies I had the usual problem, as an old white guy, of telling the actors apart. I identified Lee Wang Chun as "Mr. Smiley" because he had the best smile I have ever seen on screen.

Almost all the fights in this movie are out and out brawls. Brawls can be done the lazy way resulting in stunt men jumping around all over the screen in the long shots then brief shaky close ups of two or three strikes. The fights then all look alike and boring. The brawls in this movie are done right. There is a direction or flow to the movement instead of nervous looking stunt men hopping around in the background awaiting their turn as the lead actor is only attacked by the man he looks at. The sots stay long enough to show all the moves and there are more than just one or two moves before a cut. Knives are the main weapon but not the only weapon. The overall result is that the fights all look different and never get boring.

Five minutes before the movie ends guns come out. It is my outspoken opinion that guns simply have no business in martial arts movies. The audience is good if gun aren't even mentioned, just pretend guns don't exists no matter what time period the movie is in.

Any Shaw Brothers movie with both David Chiang and Ti Lung starring are considered mandatory viewing for any fan of this genre. I think I watched this movie twice and made some notes then watched it a third time to write this review. Initially I rated it an eight out of ten. Today I will round that down to a seven but still well above average for the genre in 1971.

Old school kung fu

[patronise · 7/10 · 11 December 2005]

This film is a lot of fun. The revenge based plot means infinite opportunities for groups of bad guys to leap out from no where to try and kill the hero - which results in some fantastic, often knife based fights. It may not be realistic, but it sure is spectacular. And then there's the fun to be had with the bad dubbing by Americans from down South and the quirky, chop-sockyness of this film. But if that's not enough, the first major fight scene in this film will be very familiar to fans of Kill Bill volume 1. It was this film that inspired Quientin Tarintino's brilliant finale in the Blue Flower. The set is very reminiscent, and there is even a moment where the power is cut and the fighters are in darkness. So for classic, old school cinema that's still relevant to today - Dual of the Iron Fist is an excellent film.

A great flick, but when will it be released?

[johnboy1 · 8/10 · 5 March 2005]

Just to let everyone know that the new DVD release of this movie is NOT the original version, but an edited one.

The VHS version was released sometime ago, and clocked in at 90 minutes. It's called "Duel Of The Shaolin Fist". At least it's widescreen, but it's been edited considerably.

The DVD release is full screen (so we get a good look at half their faces in many scenes), and it is 98 minutes long. Unfortunately, the final scene is edited out, the film is spotty, and it skips. Don't be misled by the original title. It's NOT "Duel Of The Iron Fist"! When will we be able to get an uncut original DVD of this classic movie?

The "8" I rated it is for the full-length original, not this mess.

Johnboy

THE DUEL: Landmark Hong Kong martial arts/crime film

[BrianDanaCamp · 9 September 2001]

THE DUEL (aka DUEL OF THE IRON FIST, 1971) is a straight-out gangster film, with lots of kung fu-style knife fights, involving large numbers of combatants, sprinkled throughout the story. Set in the early 20th century, it has dark, atmospheric studio sets creating an almost film noir background against which the formulaic gangster story plays out.

Directed by Chang Cheh, it features his favorite star pair, Ti Lung and David Chiang. Ti plays a gang member who is forced into exile after a restaurant rumble in which his father, the gang boss, is killed. When he comes back after a year, he finds that the gang has joined forces with the rivals who had his father killed and finds himself under attack. David plays 'the Rover,' a mysterious knife fighter whose loyalties are not too clear until he reveals a surprising secret at the end.

There are many dramatic moments as Ti gradually links up with sympathetic former gang members who side with him as he seeks revenge. One of them is his half-brother, now a drunkard, who is played by Ku Feng, normally a villain in these films. The Rover shows up to help out even though Ti doesn't entirely trust him. Ti seeks out 'Butterfly,' his old girlfriend, only to find she's now a prostitute working for his enemies. He makes a bold rescue attempt with tragic results.

The film was released in the U.S. in an English-dubbed version titled DUEL OF THE IRON FIST in 1973 as part of the first wave of kung fu films to hit western shores following the success of FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (aka KING BOXER). Despite the "Iron Fist" employed in that title, there's barely a fist in sight throughout the film, although the abundant knife fights are expertly staged, with Ti and David clasping their blades with the point down and rushing fearlessly into the attacking hordes, slashing and swinging with utter abandon. The staging of the fights is similar to the swordfights seen in Japanese Samurai and Yakuza films, particularly in shots where the camera tracks Ti as he proceeds down a corridor or balcony, slashing and dispatching each man in a line of opponents. The whole tone of the film, in fact, is closer to that of a Yakuza (gangster) film than it is to Chang Cheh's usual kung fu films. There's also a Sergio Leone-like feel to the proceedings, with at least one scene recalling A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. It also has thematic and stylistic similarities to the Hollywood gangster epic, THE GODFATHER, which was made a year later. Despite all these influences and foreshadowing it remains a stunning departure from the Hong Kong action films of its time.

A cut version of this title was released on tape in the U.S. as DUEL OF THE SHAOLIN FIST. It's missing an 11-minute scene at the beginning, including the first big fight of the film, and at the end lops off the film's final three minutes.

ADDENDUM (11/15/08): Since I did the above review, I've acquired and watched the restored, remastered Celestial Pictures Region 3 DVD of this film, under its original title, THE DUEL. It's great to see this film's beautiful widescreen cinematography in its full glory. The colors and scenes are quite a bit brighter than in the VHS tape versions I had access to, so I don't know if I'd make such a big deal about the "film noir" aspect in a new review. Overall, the film just gets better upon re-viewing, especially now that it's widescreen and in its original language, Mandarin, with subtitles. The film's running time is 105 minutes, longer than both tape versions I had. Also, the subtitles give the nickname of David Chiang's character as "the Rambler," not "the Rover." The DVD contains the film's original trailer, which includes a line that erroneously brands this film as a sequel to VENGEANCE (1970), an earlier martial arts crime film from the same director and featuring the same two stars, but with no related plot elements.

AKA: The Cough of Death

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 24 January 2023]

The plot in The Duel is fairly complex, with non-stop double crosses and no one trusting anyone much at all by the end of it, but the brutal action scenes are frequent and quite exciting. This makes it an above average Shaw Brothers martial arts movie, but still a step or two below the studios' greatest efforts.

It's certainly a worthwhile watch for action fans, but part of me wishes it had either spent a bit more time making its story clearer, or just given an even bigger middle finger to the idea of story, cut 15 minutes of chit-chat from the film, and had 90 minutes of even more frequent, bloody fight scenes.

Incredibly Charming, but Quite Niche

[joelnova93 · 7/10 · 17 August 2019]

Quentin Tarantino selected this film for his first film fest, and going into this one knowing that piece of trivia made it a lot of fun to watch, as it becomes quite clear why he highlighted this martial arts film in particular. High crime, Ultra violence, and some really quirky characters sprinkled through out, especially David Chiang's "The Rover" (aka "Rangler" in Chinese), a super cool mystery man. If I had to describe through Tarantino, think Kill Bill meets Reservoir Dogs.

The plot is pretty straight forward, but I suppose the most important thing to focus on is the fact that the world changes around them, and it's interesting to see who stands their ground and who instead falls and changes with it.

The camera work is very impressive here, as the majority of screen time revolves around David Chiang's "Rover". It actually feels like while the rest of the world rages on, a quiet box sits around him. It really stabilizes the tone of the film and solidifies his role as one of the Top Bad-A** characters he's ever played.

The sound mixing is a bit funny in this film, as some effects seem updated and mixed in later into some fights, possibly due to an effect of a re-master?

To sum things up, the film is incredibly charming mostly because of the presence of David Chiang, and the overall quirkiness of many of the other main characters. But the niche really comes in because DUEL OF THE IRON FIST is very likely to have the MOST AMOUNT OF FIGHTING AND BODY COUNT I'VE EVER SEEN in a Shaw Bros. film. I would actually go so far to say it could be a bit out of control to some viewers, not making this one very marketable.

Definitely an underground piece, so watch if you dare. But fans of David Chiang will rejoice. Exceptionally Charming, but Quite Niche

Testosterone On Steroids. Woo Wee!

[DavyDissonance · 10/10 · 8 June 2017]

A bunch of gangsters just hack the living $#!+ out of each other. Duel Of The Iron Fist is a mindless hack and slash action movie. It's just gleaming with angry f····rs wielding an assortment of blades and killing each other off in masses and in bloody like fashion. Seriously, you cannot go five minutes without some blood splashing mayhem. Now, I know the acting is stiff and the story is a bit disjointed; I don't give a flying f···. Angry Chinese people hacking each other to death is all that matters. 10 out of f·····g 10. End of f·····g review.

A for Action...

[poe426 · 10/10 · 4 August 2011]

DUEL OF THE IRON FIST was part of the first kung fu double feature I ever saw in a theater (the other film was KUNG FU- THE INVINCIBLE FIST), and it still holds up. Butterfly-tattooed Ti Lung and the always impeccably-dressed David Chiang (called "The Rover," a kind of Doc Holliday who's good with knives, but whose nagging cough bodes ill) find themselves at odds with a local gang. Lung eventually has to leave and go "incognito." He's found out in short order, of course, and has to fight his way to freedom. The action is good and rarely lets up as Lung wades through scores of assailants. Although at first there appear to be no traditional "good guys" in this movie, there ARE a couple of surprising turnarounds by the time the Finale (set partially in a raging downpour) takes place. Chang Cheh paved the way for future superstar action directors like John Woo, and DUEL OF THE IRON fist is the GODFATHER of Triad action films.

One of Shaw's best

[Leofwine_draca · 9/10 · 26 August 2022]

THE DUEL is an excellent Shaw adventure from the triumvirate combiation of director Chang Cheh and stars Ti Lung and David Chiang, perhaps their ultimate outing. It follows a simple, revenge-themed narrative that has much in common with other classics like VENGEANCE! And BOXER FROM SHANTUNG, with Lung going off the deep end when his clan leader is murdered. Chiang has a great dark role as a hired assassin. There's little plot but a huge amount of incredible fight scenes which are packed with blood sprays and a who's who supporting cast of famous Shaw fighters. The ending is the most homoerotic I've ever seen, and the whole thing is tremendously entertaining; I'd go so far as to say this is one of Shaw's best.

Practically plot-less, but some great action nonetheless

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 July 2007]

One Chinese gang attacks and wipes out another gang in the beginning of the film. Unfortunately, the patriarch of the winning family is killed in the process. Oddly, and without any discernible reason, the gang solicits a volunteer to blame the massacre on and he leaves until the police decide to stop investigating. Now how ONE MAN ALONE is the one responsible for about 50 deaths is beyond me, so sending this one guy away just seemed silly, but that's the plot. Later, when this man comes home, betrayals and scheming have occurred--leading to almost one hour and fifteen minutes of non-stop killing.

If you are looking for a Chinese martial arts film with much of a plot, then you should probably skip this movie, as its practically non-stop action and practically no plot or character development--even when compared to other martial arts films. I would estimate that 80-90% of the film are fight scenes--endless and reasonably well made fight scenes using knives. Again and again and again, fight scenes! If you want a film with a body count perhaps running into the hundreds as people are slashed, kicked, and slashed, then this is the film for you. The problem was by the end of the film there are literally no people left to kill and the film really lost my interest!! Deep it ain't, but if you want to see excitement and action ONLY, then this film is for you!

By the way, this movie is set in contemporary times and no one thinks of shooting the hero until just near the end. And, when they FINALLY do the logical thing, it's too late and the effort is really, really lame! Logical errors like this and the lady's suicide (why???) make this a "turn off your brain" type of film.

The First HK Gangster Film!

[Boodikka · 1 April 1999]

Boasting a young production assistant by the name of John Woo, this knife-fighting film is considered by many to be the first HK-style gangster film. In fact Ti Lung would go on to star in "A Better Tomorrow". Ignore the shoddy production values, and enjoy this morality play. WARNING: Some US prints end with the government troops fighting Ti Lung and David Chiang in the rain. This is not the ending, the fight goes on for another 15 minutes! Enjoy the risible dubbing; at one point Ti Lung has 3 different accents in one sentence!

7 but it's poo poo

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 1/10 · 17 September 2020]

This is a an awful movie. The acting it okay. The story line is awful. This has an awful ending. It is smalley poo pop. Do not see it. It is an awful movie. It could have been good if it had a better ending.

Great Gung Fu movie

[HAMMERTHROW · 18 May 2004]

To make it short.... Ti Lung, David Chiang, were the guys in the 70's as far as Martial Arts movies.The one thing wrong today is that it's on VHS tape, but the last 10 minute segment is cut like in some versions of the movie when it played. If you can see the complete version if possible. It doesn't end the way most films would....Still, the part that plays is very good. Very violent set pieces, very bloody, but with great stylized fight throughout. Ti Lung is the best! See also if you can find it The New one Armed Swordsman or in the USA it came out as Triple Irons.