A reporter interviews fighters and promoters about Bruce Lee, intercut with footage from old Bruce Lee films and pseudo-documentary footage.
The Blu-ray 40th Anniversary edition of “Fist of Fear, Touch of Death” is a masterclass in disrespecting an icon like Bruce Lee and exploiting his death for a less than subpar film. Released seven years after his death, the film centers around the “1979 World Karate Championship” where the successor to Bruce’s legacy will be crowned. The film presents itself as a mixture of a documentary, live sporting event, and news story which causes confusion on the actual events happening as the “plot” progresses. There is also a complete disregard for the actual history and legacy of Bruce Lee. The worst of them being that they infer his great grandfather was a samurai warrior and inspired his martial artistry. This is completely false as Bruce Lee was of Chinese descent and is a prime example of the lack of respect they had for his legacy. Although it must be pointed out that this style of Bruceploitation was not uncommon at the time as many films used Bruce’s likeness to promote themselves.
The story follows Adolph Caesar as he interviews martial artists and celebrities, before the start of the competition, on the significance of Bruce’s death. They believe he was murdered by an ancient technique known as the Touch of Death. This is quickly shelved once the subplots begin to creep in. Mixing old footage from Bruce’s filmography and their own footage, they create a completely new dialogue to tell, an inaccurate story of Lee’s history. For example, old footage from a samurai action film is played as memories of a young Bruce Lee from his film “Thunderstorm.” The audio is completely redubbed in order to tell their version of “The Bruce Lee Story.” Scenes from some of his more popular films are intercut with their footage to show a false interaction with the late martial artist. This neglect of his Chinese culture and baseless claims of his motivations to bring martial arts to the states is nothing short of insolent. The competition meant to crown Lee’s successor doesn’t even seem to be the driving force in the film because the competitors aren’t even introduced until they arrive in the ring for that specific match. They aren’t even interviewed. The genre mixture and use of differing footage make the entire plot incoherent and confusing only to be left unfulfilled by its conclusion. In a way, it feels unearned and lackluster for a finale.
This special anniversary edition does include a half-hour Behind-the-scenes short in which the creative team around “Fist of Fear, Touch of Death” dive into the making, the inspirations, and the intent of the film. One of the worst realizations I found is that they knew what they were doing in the choices they made to portray Bruce Lee and chalk it up to them making a satire or comedy, although the film does not feel comedic or satirical in the least. But this was the way of creating Bruceploitation films and “Fist of Fear, Touch of Death” is no exception. There was one thing I did enjoy about the film and it’s a quote from Ron Van Clief that goes as follows: “Bruce Lee was the prototype. Everything else is an imitation.” That quote is probably the most honest interpretation of Bruce Lee’s legacy. He truly was a prototype that plenty have strived for and still strive to be. The word prototype accurately describes Bruce’s legacy since it was suddenly cut short. He wanted to bring martial arts to the forefront of society and had a mission to not only show its strength but its beauty to the world. That mission, unfortunately, could not be fulfilled and left his legacy incomplete like that of a prototype before its final product design. Thus, making it prey to exploitive films such as this to try and imitate his design.
Now available on a special 40th-Anniversary Edition Blu-ray
