Fist Of Fury 1991 (1991)

An earlier Chiau movie, very loosely based on Bruce Lee's Fist Of Fury.

Chiau is a country bumpkin with an unusually strong right arm, who comes to the big city and falls foul of big city living. The first person he meets is thief Kenny Bee, who takes his bag. After chasing him down and apprehending him, Chiau decides to move in with him since he's lost the contact number of the friend he was supposed to stay with. Chiau's attempts to find gainful employment are not fruitful, so Kenny persuades him to enter a kung fu tournament on the strength of his right arm. In order to enter, however, Chiau must join an accredited kung fu school. From there, the story progresses...

I thought this was a really excellent film - in fact, one of my favourite Chiau films so far. The story is well developed, the performances are great (mainly Kenny Bee's - I think the only other thing I've seen in him is Moon Warriors, and he was completely different here). Corey Yuen also has one of his best roles.

There's quite a lot of action in the film, with Chiau showing the odd impressive move. The overall tone of the film is probably more serious than his later works, though there are a couple of scenes that are hysterically funny. The final fight, a rocky-esque war of attrition, is surprisingly brutal. Production values aren't as high as Chiau films would quickly come to deliver as standard, but the film stands up well despite this.