Customer Reviews

The Chinese Connection [VHS]

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(48)

 

 

Bruce Lee's second blockbuster kung fu film "Jing wu men" (1972), is arguably his best movie and captures Lee at his most lethal, charismatic and heroic. Set in turn of the century Shanghai, Bruce Lee is the Chinese kung fu school's most promising student (Chen), and he returns home to find his Sifu (or Master) has died. A very upset Bruce refuses to accept his teacher's death, and his suspicions are further aroused by a hostile visit by members of the local Japanese Bushido school bearing a banner insinuating that the Chinese are the "sick men of asia".

Suffice to say, that getting on the wrong side of Bruce Lee is like sticking your hand into a hornets nest, and Bruce is shortly dishing out retribution against the bullying Japanese with his stinging fists and spinning kicks. Produced on a rather modest budget by Golden Harvest Productions, "Fist Of Fury" relies on a relatively simple plot line, however Lee demonstrates during the movie his acting depth and that he is equally capable of playing a lethal avenger, a broken hearted pupil and even a grinning, buffoonish telephone repairman. The film was also the first time Bruce showed off his prowess with a pair of nunchuka.....how many people after seeing this film ran out and bought a pair of nunchuka, and then proceeded to clobber themselves black and blue trying to imitate Lee's whirling technique ?

When "The Chinese Connection" aka "Fist Of Fury" was released in Hong Kong in 1972, it had an even greater box office impact than Lee's first kung fu spectacular "The Big Boss". Once again, Chinese film fans flocked in their thousands to see this handsome, virile and athletic Chinese actor who wasn't afraid to say he was proud to be Chinese, but more than that, he throttled his Japanese adversaries and made them respect him and his Chinese kung fu. And when Bruce goes strolling into a park and is denied entrance due to a sign saying "No Dogs or Chinese Allowed", he vents his anger on mocking Japanese students, and then splinters the sign with a leaping front kick. It's interesting to note that Bruce Lee had a similar effect on Chinese audiences, in much the same way that "blaxploitation" films of the same period hit the right note with African American audiences. Jim Brown, Fred Williamson and Bernie Casey were very similar to Bruce Lee....good looking, hard hitting tough guys who didn't take insults lying down, and they took a stand and fought back. No wonder highly popular kung fu and blaxploitation films often turned up on double bills across the USA in the mid 1970's !

There is also an interesting story regarding the USA release title/s of Bruce's first two kung fu films. After the huge success in 1973 of "Enter The Dragon" in the USA, National General released Bruce Lee's three prior kung fu films, but there was a mix up in the titles. Bruce's first big success was "Tang shan da xiong" (1971), about an ice factory being used for heroin smuggling, and with the success of the Gene Hackman film "The French Connection", it was decided to release Bruce Lee's film about crooked drug dealers in the USA as "The Chinese Connection". However, somehow the prints of "Tang shan da xiong" and "Jing wu men" were mis-labeled, and "Jing wu men" was mistakenly released in the USA as "The Chinese Connection", and "Tang shan da xiong" was released as "Fists of Fury".

( I agree...it's very confusing ! )

The DVD on Amazon with the red tinted cover is unfortunately the Region 1 CBS/FOX non-widescreen version, dubbed with English voices and only presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

HOWEVER....over many many years, I've purchased and owned numerous versions of "The Chinese Connection" aka" Fist Of Fury" on VHS, LD and DVD....thus I think I've come across the finest example of them all. Media Asia / Hong Kong Legends have released a Special Collectors Edition DVD that is just jammed full of fantastic features. First off, it's a digitally remastered razor sharp print in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, secondly the soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio for BOTH the dubbed English language version, plus it includes the original Cantonese soundtrack. WOW....those kicks and punches now reverberate through my surround sound system with real cracks and thuds. ( Most other versions are either mono only, or Dolby Digital 2.0 mono ! )

There's also a wonderful audio commentary by martial arts practitioner and cinema guru, Bey Logan, which is both informative and entertaining, an animated biography showcase, the HK & UK theatrical trailers, and four photo galleries. Plus to cap it all off, there are recent interviews with two of Bruce Lee' s co-stars from "The Chinese Connection" aka "Fist of Fury", Tony Liu and Max Lee. To the best of my knowledge, the Media Asia / Hong Kong Legends version is only available in Region 2 and Region 4 DVD, however that's no issue if you have a multi zone DVD player. So, if you want to see Bruce Lee's finest film, in its best presentation to date, then definitely hunt down the Media Asia / Hong Kong Legends DVD release...it's readily available on the Amazon UK website. The Media Asia / HK Legends DVD version is worth ten stars !!

This is classic Bruce Lee, loved it! However, be warned. I had the Collector's Choice Double Feature DVD by Madacy, "Fists of Fury" & "The Chinese Connection" on one DVD. Madacy's version of "The Chinese Connection" is by far the worst DVD movie I own. If I could adequately describe how bad it is, you might not believe me, it's that bad. I have since purchased the GoodTimes DVD of "The Chinese Connection" in anamorphic widescreen, and I'm happy with it.

"The Big Boss" made Bruce Lee known, but "Chinese Connection" is the film that truly made the Chinese audience love him and worship him. Rightfully so, for this is Lee's best movie. He plays Chen, the top disciple of a revered kung fu master, recently killed under mysterious circumstances. Chen's spirit burns with a sense of duty, a desire for vengeance and an indomitable will to uphold the pride and rights of his people in a time where they are treated as second class citizens in their own land. Lee truly showcases his talent as an actor by bringing his character to life with such a wide range of emotion and depth. It totally overshadows his role in Enter the Dragon, where his character is little more than a subdued killer who gets to spout a few lines of philosophy. As for the fight sequences, Lee's characteristic fury is never as intense as it is here. This is also the first time Lee breaks out his infamous nunchakus. The storyline is somewhat simplistic (as is characteristic with all films of the genre) but it is still extremely heartfelt and symbolic if you understand the feelings and sentiments of Chinese people at the time. But even if you don't, the raw power of Bruce's performance along with the gritty, unorthodox fighting should win over any fan of the genre. In character and creativity, the only other Lee film that could match this one is Return of the Dragon. These two films represent Lee's best and overshadow the overrated Enter the Dragon.

ATTENTION ATTENTION! People do not waste your money. This disc is worse than bad. Spend the extra 10 bucks and get the good version of both movies. On the Chinese Connection the sound is so slow. It sounds like you are playin a 45rpm record on 33rpms (those of you under 30 won't understand). Fists of Fury looks like it was dubbed off of a 50 year old version of the film. People shouldn't be allowed to deface Bruce's art with this garbage.

DO NOT BUY THIS DVD.

This is absolutely the most awful DVD ever. They took 2 fantastic movies and ruined them. The transfers onto DVD look like they were done by a monkey. The sound is awful.

If you want to buy a Bruce Lee DVD, DO NOT BUY THIS ONE.

I wish I could give a lower rating that this.

How do I hate this disc? Let me count the ways, starting with The Chinese Connection.

1) The video was horribly pixelated and blurry. It looked as if someone took the videotape version, played it on a television, and used a video camera to copy the movie. 2) As it was, the print they chose was covered in scratches and dust. I've seen bootlegged copies of movies that looked better. In fact, this movie looked better when I saw it broadcast by my local UHF station before cable TV. 3) If that weren't bad enough, the sound played at a slower than normal pitch, making everyone sound as though they'd taken steroids or something.

Now for Fists of Fury. 1) The print that they used suffered from an annoying red tint which made eveyone and everything look orange. 2) The video on this side wasn't pixelated like the Chinese Connection side, but it was just as blurry. 3) The audio was terrible on this side of the disc too. Though the pitch was correct, the sound was muffled, making everyone sound as though they were talking through several layers of gauze.

The disc was completely unwatchable, and I couldn't wait to get it back into the NetFlix mailing envelope. Bruce Lee fans worldwide should take up a collection to have the people responsible for this disc hunted down and brought to justice. For good measure I played this disc in two different players (my JVC XV-M555 three disc changer, and my new PowerBook (FireWire) with DVD-ROM) with the same result. As for features, each side has text on Jeet Kune Do, Lee's style of fighting, on the production of the movie itself, and a trivia game. On the Chinese Connection side, however, the trivia game is has two glaring errors. The second question, about the 20 minutes of original footage of Lee in Game of Death, is repeated in the third question, but the answer has no relevance to Game of Death. The fourth question is about Lee being an expert Cha-Cha dancer. If you give the correct answer and select "True", you get the "Incorrect" screen. If you choose the incorrect answer, "False" you get the "Correct" screen.

Well, I'll be one of many to say it...the sound for this version of Bruce's timeless classic truly [stinks]!! Wow, Fox sure does not know how to remaster a great film. Anyways, the original name for this film is Fist of Fury (not Fists of Fury, which is the replacement name for The Big Boss). Now that the confusion is out of the way hopefully, this is about Chen (Bruce) who comes back to his martial arts school to find his master suspiciously dead. Japanese own the territory, and Chen suspects a murder. He finds out that a Japanese official was behind it, and fights his way to confront him. Thin plot, but the fighting was way ahead of its time. This is the beginning of what everyone remembers of Bruce. His amazing technique and the power that he puts in all of his attacks are mindblowing. Hands down, he is the best realistic fighter to be caught on film. What version to get?? Definitely not this one for the sound is completely mono and only an English dub is available. If you can play Region 2 PAL dvds, then the Hong Kong Legends version entitled Fist of Fury is the one to own. Awesome remastered sound (5.1 dbd Chinese and English) and video (shockingly clear) and uncut. There is also a DTS version which is pretty hard to find, but plays on any dvd player. I can't say much for this one, but DTS for an early 70's film can't be too much better than dbd 5.1. There is also a standard HK version of this film as well, which is still way better than this Chinese Connection release. Just look for the film titled Fist(not Fists) of Fury and you got yourself a classic. This film is such a classic that Jet Li did the infamous remake of it called Fist of Legend, which is probably my favorite martial arts movie of all time. This film is essential for any martial arts collection, and I urge all of you to own it. Actually, all of Bruce's films are a must own...Big Boss (Fists of Fury here in US), Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon here), Enter the Dragon, and Game of Death...Way of the Dragon (or Return) was my favorite, check out my review on that and check my other HK reviews too...Hope this was helpful.

Madacy's Double Feature edition of these classic Bruce Lee films, is by far the worst. "THE CHINESE CONNECTION", runs over 2 hours, but, hold your breath...that doesn't equate extra footage, it means that the film transfer is so slow, both sound and picture, that it stretches the film's running time by nearly 20 minutes! Both films look horrible, and are not uncut.

Also, GOODTIMES version of "CHINESE CONNECTION", although it is widescreen(2.35:1), runs only 103 min., versus the full running time of 107 minutes. The version from DML, also sucks. Go with THE MASTER COLLECTION from CBS/FOX Video, c/o 20th Century-Fox Entertainment. That's what I did.

Too bad that one of Bruce Lee's greats had to be so poorly reproduced on DVD. The video quality is terrible, it looks like .AVI format with lots of pixelation, and the sound is just awful. This company sets a new standard in DVD, they are no longer safe purchases. Buy it on VHS instead

Are you confused as I was about all the titles of the Bruce Lee movies overlapping!? Ok. Take a deep breath. Sigh. And read . . . . in 1972 THE BIG BOSS came out in Hong Kong. It was released in the US later as FISTS OF FURY (notice the "s" on the end of "FISTS"). In 1973, THE CHINESE CONNECTION was released in Hong Kong. Same director and leading actress as Big Boss. It was released as FIST OF FURY in the United states (notice, no "s" on the end of "FIST"). That is what this video is. Don't buy it thinking that you are getting the BIG BOSS. You're not. I've also seen the CHINESE CONNECTION confused with RETURN OF THE DRAGON that was originally released as WAY OF THE DRAGON. Ugh! Luckily, Return of the Dragon is a standard title now. Those described above, however, will trick you--even when buying Amazon videos. Be careful--look for the date of release and read the reviews CAREFULLY!