Movie Melting Pot… ‘King Boxer’ (Hong Kong, 1972)

More affectionately known as ‘Five Fingers of Death’ (Tian xia di yi quan), this classic of the martial arts genre is said to have started it all. All of what, you ask? All that is the modern martial arts genre beginning with the 70’s. From the exaggerated bloody special effects to the just slightly fantastical physical capabilities of the masterful martial artists, ‘King Boxer’ delivers on many levels.

Lieh Lo plays Chao Chih-hao, a promising young martial arts student who chooses not to jump at every chance to fight. Chao has his heart set on his master’s daughter Yin-Yin, but when his master poorly defends his school against a local gang of troublemakers he sends Chao to study under a far superior master named Shen Chin-Pei. He tells Chao that if he competes in an upcoming tournament and defeats the cruel Ming Dung-Shun, he may have his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Chao arrives under Shen’s guidance as his and a rival school prepare to compete in the tournament. During his training, the two schools endure unsanctioned fights of honor and revenge, Chao meets a young singer creating a sort of love triangle and Shen is severely wounded by a dishonorable blow during a fight to protect his school. As a result, Shen gives Chao his secret manual and instructs Chao to go off alone and learn Iron Palm, also referred to as Iron Fist. This powerful technique uses the flow of Chi in a way that makes ones hands extremely hard and tough and increases the strength of one’s blows.

There is far more to the story evoked in ‘King Boxer’ than we typically find in most martial arts films. It’s this very complexity and depth of storytelling that helps immensely in making this a fantastic cinematic experience. Of course, the choreography and cinemtography of the fights and the blending of styles also adds it’s own touch of brilliance. At one point in the film, the rival school hires on a Japanese samurai to eliminate the competition. This plot element adds some fascinating additional layers to the story as well as the visual style and fight chemistry. While watching this film, one should also take note of the way in which the blood and gore (relatively minimal compared to modern cinema) are handled and realize the influence this film first has had on many more recent movies.

As incredible as ‘King Boxer’ is, I found the feature-length audio commentary on the DVD equally as entertaining. Once you see this film, you’ll understand how influential this film was over the work and film philosophy of Quentin Tarantino. Anyone familiar with Tarantino’s work will instantly point out the various styles, sounds and scenes that would become major elements in Tarantino’s awesome two-part ‘Kill Bill’ movie. It’s a great eye-opening realization and the best part is we get to hear all about these and many other movie-related Mega Movie Geek stories and insights from Quentin Tarantino and film scholars David Chute and Elvis Mitchell. This Dragon Dynasty DVD release also includes interviews with action director Lau Kar-Wing and director Chang-Hwa Jeong.