The Righteous Fist (1972)

The Righteous Fist is an old school kung fu movie with lots of action. It's rarely one-on-one fighting, usually a good school vs bad school all out brawl with bodies flying everywhere type of movie.

Kong Yin Ho returns home to start his medical practice, or is he? The bad guys know him to be CID, perhaps an anachronistic term, but blame the dubbing. He comes home to find the town in disarray and his sister kidnapped. He seems to forget about her as do the baddies for a long time. He visits his old school that is under threat from Boss Yu who is the Big Bad and a smuggler in league with the Japanese. Before you can say "hi-yah!", the baddies have nearly decimated the good school. Kong confronts the Big Bad but is overpowered and his hand is crushed. He finally remembers his sister and easily rescues her. He and his old master's daughter (and his love interest), with a handful of students, hideout in a cave. He performs the quickest revenge training session I've ever seen. After that it's time to rampage.

There were some bonkers elements to the story. One bad guy is literally scared to death by the good guys. The Japanese fighter brought in to bring everyone into submission has the gross habit of snorting and spitting. He shall henceforth be called The Spitter. After Kong learns the Iron Palm in one easy lesson some of his moves were gruesome. And a boulder fight took things over the top.

I found Wang Jung's acting to be rather stiff. Chiao Chiao played his love interest, Sam Mai, showing her gentle side and her ferocious side. Big guy, Cheng Fu Hung, played a character named Sham Poo with the dubbing. Pretty sure that was an error.

The fights, with the exception of the final duel were usually group against group. There were kicks and hits that missed by a mile, but most of the time the grand fights were well timed and entertaining. A couple of fights had some bad editing, chopping off key sequences, whether that was done in the initial cut or bad editing by a censor later, I don't know. Chiao Chiao acquitted herself well as she used her fists, feet, and any available weapon to fight greater numbers when the hero ran off to duel with The Spitter. Kong and The Spitter fought near and in a river, some parts were unbelievable, others brutal.

The Righteous Fist had everything an old school kung fu movie should have: A righteous hero, an evil Big Bad, a worthy evil opponent to duel, a beautiful love interest who could take care of herself thank you very much, a traitor, high stakes, and lots of action. Despite some lapses in story continuity, sloppy fight editing at times, and stilted acting, TRF is worth trying if you enjoy old kung fu movies.

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