Tian xia di yi quan (1972)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Chang-hwa Jeong

Writer:

Yang Chiang (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 March 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The New Movie Sensation That's Storming the Entire World!

Plot:

Two martial arts schools prepare for an important tournament. |

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Tournament | Chopstick | Hand | Juggling

Cast

Lieh Lo	...	Chao Chih-Hao
Ping Wang	...	Sung Ying Ying
Hsiung Chao	...	Okada
Chin-Feng Wang	...	Yen Chu Hung
Mien Fang	...	Sun Hsin-Pei
Feng Tien	...	Meng Tung-Shun
James Nam	...	Han Lung (as Nan Kung-Hsun)
Shen Chan	...	Wan Hung-chieh
Bolo Yeung	...	Pa Tu-er, Mongolian Fighter
Wen Chung Ku	...	Sung Wu-yang
Lung Yu	...	Tu Wei
Yukio Someno	...	Oshima Shotaro (as Ran Yeh)
Tse Lin Yang	...	Sun's pupil
Chi Chu Chin	...	Chen Lang
Bong-jin Jin	...	Lu Ta-ming (as Chen Feng Chen)

Also Known As:

5 Fingers of Death (USA) (poster title)
Five Fingers of Death (USA)
Hand of Death
Invincible Boxer
Iron Palm (Hong Kong: English title) (working title)
King Boxer (Hong Kong: English title) (original subtitled version)
King Boxer: Five Fingers of Death (USA) (DVD box title)
Tin ha dai yat kuen (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

USA:104 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:R (2007) | South Korea:15 | New Zealand:R18 | UK:15 (re-rating) | UK:15 (re-rating) (2009) | Finland:(Banned) (1973) | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Company:

Shaw Brothers

Trivia:

The English dubbed version, released through Warner Brothers, was the film that launched the craze for "kung fu" movies in the United States.

Quotes:

messenger: Hey listen! Some great news! Chi-Hao's beat up Chen Lang down at Chen Sun House.
Han Lung: What? You're kidding.
messenger: No, no, no, I saw it happening!
Han Lung: God damn it.

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever, Volume 3: Exploitation Explosion (2008) (V)

Classic and not in a trite way

I saw Five Fingers at the Drive-In in...what, 1973, '74? It was the the first Kung-Fu movie I'd ever seen and I was greatly entertained. I recently bought it on DVD and watched it again. I was greatly entertained the second time, too. I believe this is probably the one most Kung-Fu movies are modeled after. Rival Schools, different styles, revenge, "white hat" good guys and "black hat" bad guys. They even threw in the Japanese (VERY bad guys) styles of Karate and Judo. I remember being amused by the dubbing dialog, along the lines of "Hey You! You are a very bad guy!" and "They should not get away with this! I will have a go at this bad crowd!" This time it wasn't so distracting, I guess I'm used to it. If you have even the slightest appreciation of this genre, this is one you should see.