Duel of Fists

DUEL OF FISTS (1971) is a contemporary kung fu thriller shot in Bangkok during the city's Water Festival. (The early scenes are essentially a Bangkok travelogue.) David Chiang plays a Hong Kong man looking for his long-lost brother, armed only with a childhood photo of him (in which the youth already has his distinctive anchor tattoo!). The brother, played by Ti Lung, is a boxer facing his toughest opponent, Killer, who came by that name honestly. David attends the match and recognizes his brother and roots for him. Ti Lung is supposed to take a dive but he winds up beating Killer and winning the fight, spurring the local mob to send armies of thugs after him and David.

Ti Lung is a good fighter and acquits himself well, particularly in the boxing scenes. David, on the other hand, is very skinny here and dresses in an array of garish late 1960s eyesore fashions-puffy sleeves, ascots, flowered pants and a floppy hat. Yet we're supposed to believe he can outfight dozens of tough thugs armed with knives and clubs without getting a scratch. Ti Lung is more believable, except when we consider that his biggest fights with the thugs come right after his grueling, exhausting match with Killer, just when he'd be weakest. The fights are well-staged, but the superhuman feats in such a contemporary setting are a bit hard to swallow. The sequel, THE ANGRY GUEST (1972), which takes the brothers to Japan, is much better.

This was one of a group of early collaborations between stars David Chiang and Ti Lung and director Chang Cheh for Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio. Also that year (1971), the trio did the far superior DUEL OF THE IRON FIST, aka DUEL OF THE SHAOLIN FIST, about gang warfare in early 20th century China, and the near-epic THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, a masterful swordplay adventure set in old China.