Bloody fists

A fugitive criminal, nicknamed the Tramp, stops a car in which a large amount of money should be transported. Seeing plain paper in his bag instead of money, the Tramp realizes that he has been ambushed, and he is surrounded by police. Nevertheless, he manages to escape by killing one of them.

Chen San returns to a remote Chinese village after two years of exile. Sanya tells the locals that he was in Japan, where he studied martial arts, and now intends to show his martial skills. In place, Yu Yang comes with his girlfriend and shows his dissatisfaction with his return. The newcomer cannot beat Yan, after which he talks about the arrival of his Japanese friends in the village. Immediately after this, a tramp comes to the village in search of a place to sleep. A guy named Ba agrees to help him.

Yu Yang comes to his kung fu school, where his friend and student, Sun Ping, a servant of the law, had arrived earlier. The two of them and Yang’s brother, Yu Chan, discuss Sanya’s return and the arrival of the Japanese in the village, after which they conclude that the Japanese need their healing dragon grass that can help against the plague. A man comes and reports that the Japanese have already arrived.

Chen San and Japanese friends attend the Weiyuan Martial Arts School, where her master Liu and her students are beaten. Then, new arrivals are sent to the Yu Brothers School. There they offer a high price for grass, but the brothers refuse to make a deal, after which the Japanese leave.

The Japanese are posting an announcement informing them of their intention to buy grass from the Chinese at the highest price and the opening of a Japanese school in place of the old Chinese, and those who want to fight the new school owners are invited to come and prove their superiority in public. The tramp is considering participation.

Chen San learns from his Japanese associates why you can’t just kill the brothers and get grass. He reports that he will not participate in fights.

Yang, Chan and Ping agree to participate in the tournament. Ping recently returned talks about a police captain who can help in the fight against the Japanese. According to him, now the captain is looking for a fugitive criminal, who was once an honest fighter, but killed several people in the north and now has to arrive in the village.

The tramp, having received an overnight stay with the dumb, is talking with his grandfather. The old man, answering a question, claims that he did not see the captain of the police in the village. The guest also learns that Ba is dumb. The alien expresses his desire to watch the fights of the upcoming tournament.

At the tournament, first goes to Chen Sanya's younger brother, after which Yang enters the fray, and then Ping. Seeing that another Japanese is entering the fray, the Tramp throws a coin in his leg, after which the Japanese leader stops the tournament.

The head of the Japanese explains to his people who and how helped the Chinese fighters. He orders his people to deal with Pin, and he announces a desire to go and kill the man with the coins.

The next morning, the Tramp leaves the village, but the Japanese overtake him. They test his skill, but the Chinese successfully resist the attackers. After that, the Tramp reports that he does not have time, as he is in a hurry. The Japanese let him go. Meanwhile, another group of Japanese ambushes Pina. The rest of the Japanese come to the place after meeting with the Tramp. Sun Ping is dying.

The tramp becomes ill and he falls to the ground. Ba, collecting brushwood, notices him. Mute unsuccessfully tries to bring him into consciousness, so he drags him back to his house.

Upon learning of the death of a friend, Yu Yang cannot calmly train. In a conversation with his girlfriend, he admits that they will not be able to defeat the Japanese. Nevertheless, he believes that grass must be protected at all costs, although his girlfriend is against death in order to protect the grass.

The tramp lies unconscious. The old man concludes that he has a plague and asks Ba to bring the dragon grass and light a fire.

Meanwhile, the Japanese fighters, at the direction of Chen Sanya, come to the place where the grass should be, but find nothing there. They even begin to torture a local resident, but are forced to let him go: Sanya’s mother comes and urges him to stop the torture.

The tramp regains consciousness, after which the old man says that he was sick for a long time from the plague, but thanks to the grass and efforts of Ba, he is now healthy. A stranger learns about the reason for the appearance of Japanese fighters in the village. The fugitive recalls that he is being sought and wants to leave, but the old man convinces him to stay, because he is still weak.

The leader of the Japanese is dissatisfied with the search results for grass; Sanya advises him to abduct Yang’s girlfriend. The brothers learn about the abduction from a letter that tells about the exchange the next morning. Ian wants to go save her right away, but his brother convinces him to suffer until tomorrow. Nevertheless, Yan does not stand up and goes at night to the Japanese, where he is beaten and taken prisoner.

The next morning, Chan cannot find his brother. He goes to the dumb man and warns him to hide if something happens to Yu Chan, since only the dumb man knows the location of the grass. The Ba tells Chang about the stranger in his house. Sanya overhears them, and then watches the dumb in the hope of finding a way to the cache. Sanya catches the guy, but he runs away and in the fight with him, Ba dies.

Yu Chang comes to the place of exchange to the Japanese. Those demand from him to say where the grass is, and he insists on the release of his people. The Japanese threaten to kill Jan, if they do not get grass. Chan decides not to speak and confronts them, but dies.

The old man, seeing off the cured, gives him his dagger. The tramp thanks the old man for his salvation and says that he could stay to fight the Japanese, but the old man recommends not to do this. Having gone away from the village, the stranger stumbles upon a dumb dead man, after which he firmly decides to return and help the villagers.

Sister Sanya comes to the Japanese school for her brother, since their mother is sick. Japanese Ikeda leads her inside, where she rapes a girl.

Meanwhile, Chen San and a group of Japanese fighters come to the old man. A Chinese traitor talks about killing a dumb man. The old man begins to be beaten. The tramp, seeing this, kills the attackers, while Sanya manages to escape. As he dies, the old man asks the Tramp to avenge the guy, and also tells the whereabouts of the grass.

Chen San comes to the Japanese and announces the return of the alien and the killing of their people. The leader of the gang announces the nomination along with all the captured inhabitants to the beach.

Upon arrival, all prisoners are tied to the posts and threatened to execute them one at a time every minute if they don’t tell about the whereabouts of the grass. The Japanese manage to execute one prisoner, after which the Tramp suddenly appears. He convinces foreigners to release all prisoners in exchange for a cache of grass. Prisoners leave the beach, accusing the stranger of betrayal. The tramp reports that the Japanese will only get grass through his corpse, forcing them to fight. During the fight, Yu Yang returns to the beach. Seeing Chen San trying to help the Japanese leader kill the Tramp, Yang attacks the traitor and kills. The fugitive kills four Japanese, including the main one, but receives a mortal wound from the latter. Yu Yang is trying to save a stranger, but he says that it is too late. Jan thanks him for saving the inhabitants. The tramp is dying.

The film was the second joint work of Wu Siyuan and Yuan Heping after The Crazy Killer (1971) ^[9] .

During the filming of Chen Guantai, a contract was signed with the Shao Brothers Studio , which is why she recalled the actor until the shooting of the film was completed. For this reason, in some scenes he was replaced by another actor, appearing on the screen in a black mask ^[10] .

The data are based on the materials of the Internet Movie Database site ^[11] .

• English The Bloody Fists Hong Kong (original version with subtitles) / USA
• English Deadly Buddhist Raiders USA (alternative name)
• English Dong kau taan Hong Kong (Cantonese pronunciation)
• English Dragon Showdown UK (DVD title)
• fr. Durs combats de karaté France
• English The Bloody Fists United Kingdom (video title)
• fin. Veriset nyrkit Finland
• him. Zakato - Die Faust des Todes Germany

Start Dates ^[12] :

  Hong Kong - May 17, 1972
  Germany - May 30, 1973
  UK - June 6, 1974 (premiere in London)
  France - July 3, 1974

During the movie theater in Hong Kong, from May 17 to May 31, 1972, the film raised 1,731,484 Hong Kong dollars ^{[3] [13]} , which allowed Bloody Fists to be included in the top ten highest grossing Hong Kong films for that year (fifth place) ^{[ 14]} .

Time Out film critic called the Bloody Fists “a prime example” of independent production “with a good image of collective villainy.” The critic praised "the chic visual effects and efforts to create adequate motivation for the usual conflict of interest between the Chinese and Japanese" ^[15] . In conclusion of the film’s description in the book The Encyclopedia of Martial Arts Movies it is written ^[10] :

Bay Logan wrote in a book in Hong Kong Action Cinema that Bloody Fists received “wide distribution,” and that the film turned out to be “the first great success” of the director ^[16] . Richard Meyers in Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book wrote that the film was a “milestone in independent production” for the director ^[17] .

Below is a list of distribution companies involved in the release of the film in different countries. The material is taken from the Internet Movie Database ^[1] .

• 1974 - Sofradis (France) (theater rental)
• 1975 - International Film Distributors ( Canada ) (with dubbing)
• 1976 - London International Film Distributors (United Kingdom) (theater rental)
• 1979 - (Hong Kong) (video)
• 1986 - Sheptonhurst (United Kingdom) (VHS)
• 2004 - DMEG ( Sweden ) (video)
• 2004 - Firefly Entertainment (UK) (DVD)
• 2004 - Succéfilm AB (Sweden) (video)
• 2006 - (USA) (DVD)
• 2007 - MIG Film (Germany) (DVD)

• Bloody Fists at the Internet Movie Database   (Retrieved August 18, 2019)
• Bloody Fists at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bloody Fists at the Website