Iron Fisted Eagle's Claw (1979)

Iron Fisted Eagle’s Claw (1979)
Aka: Yongmun Swordsman; Iron Fist, Eagle Claw
Chinese Title: 瘋拳癲腿
Translation: Crazy Punch, Epilectic Leg

 

Starring: Chi Kuan-Chun, Bruce Leung Siu-Lung, Chen Sing, Park Jong-Kuk, Gwok Mu-Seong, Philip Ko Fei
Director: To Man-Bo
Action Director: Bruce Leung Siu-Lung

 

I watched this on the off-chance that it might be a Secret Rivals film that *didn’t* star John Liu or Tan Tao-Liang as the kicker and one of the Wongs (Don and Tino) as the hand specialist. And to be honest, it kind of is. There’s no rivalry in the movie, and it has more comedy than many of the other Fist/Kicks movies did, but I think it still belongs in that grouping. Yes, the budget is quite a bit lower even by those films’ low standards, but when you have a kicker and a Southern stylist teaming up against the all-powerful villain, you have a Fist/Kicks movie on your hands.

The plot is relatively simple. During the Republic Era, a sheriff (Park Jong-Kuk of Snake Strikes Back) arrests some criminal who is the “Dai dai” (Cantonese for “little brother”) of another criminal/kung fu teacher, played by the great Chen Sing. Not too long afterward, the same sheriff arrests two brothers (Chi Kuan-Chun and Leung Siu-Lung, who need no introduction here) who go around putting on kung fu demonstrations. Crime? Some rich guy was trying to force a lady’s daughter into prostitution and Chi Kuan-Chun decided to show the crowd his kung fu was real by killing the bastard with a single punch (much like Hung Hey-Kwun, the founder of Hung Gar did). I think (I watched this in Mandarin without subs) this was actually a ploy for the Sheriff to get these two to follow him on his trip to escort that other criminal to the Republic Era equivalent to the penitentiary, because sure enough, some of Chen Sing’s men show up to try to free the guy. The sheriff and Leung Siu-Lung fight off the thugs while Chi Kuan-Chun guarantees that the criminal doesn’t run away of his own accord.

Upon arriving in the penitentiary, the sheriff frees our two heroes and sends them on their way. A few days later, Chen Sing’s men sneak into the pitifully-guarded prison and free their compatriot. After that, the next item of business is to get revenge of the sheriff. They invade his household and kill his family (including his baby son), rape and murder his wife, and kill his younger brother (Gwok Mu-Seong, the hero of Eagle vs. Silver Fox, who puts up a pretty good fight). They then ambush the sheriff and maim him, keeping him captive. He escapes and is rescued by Leung and Chi, who fight off Cheng Sing’s thugs. He’s then nursed back to health by a drunken master (Philip Ko Fei in a cameo), while Chi and Leung train themselves to get revenge for their friend.

There’s not much of a plot here, and costumes and sets are pretty threadbare, so you’ll have to content yourself with the action. Thankfully, the film delivers. At first I was worried, since Leung Siu-Lung was playing the comic foil to Chi Kuan-Chun during their initial kung fu demonstration scenes. Thankfully, he plays it relatively straight in most of his fights and the film doesn’t waste much time at all with drawn-out scenes of failed get-rich schemes and stuff like that. Chi Kuan-Chun uses his usual hung gar with emphasis on the Five Animals Form. His character is the straight man to Leung’s goof, but he sometimes jokes around a little in his fights. I’m not sure if this is his best fight, but he does a good job with the animal styles and gets to show off some nice forms, too. Chen Sing doesn’t have anything to do until the final fight, but he’s his usual reliable self with this strong hand-based tiger claw attacks. He wears a metal claw on one hand during the climax, but it’s not so much a gimmick as it is just a visual tic. Interestingly enough, Chi Kuan-Chun is also given an iron fist gauntlet to use in the later fights, but he almost forgets he has it until the end of the climatic fight. Sort of like how Ultraman never uses his ray attack until *after* he’s done wrestling against his opponent.

Korean actors Park Jong-Kuk and Gwok Mu-Seong make strong showings for themselves. Park demonstrates some nice, powerful kicks, reminiscent of Kam Kong on his best days. His handwork is a bit stiff, reminiscent of Keanu Reeves in the Matrix movies. I’m sure that he practiced more of the kicking side of tae kwon do than anything else. Gwok Mu-Seong gets to fake a hung gar form in his initial appearance and then kicks up a storm once he faces off with Cheng Sing’s ruffians. Sadly, he exits stage left after that fight.

Bruce Leung Siu-Lung pretty much steals the show here. Although he’s the film designated kicker, he’s versatile enough that he doesn’t depend on his feet to sell his fights here, unlike Tan Tao-Liang and John Liu. His handwork—an eclectic mix of monkey kung fu, ying jao pai (Eagle’s Claw), and wing chun--is actually more impressive than Chi Kuan-Chun’s standard hung gar strikes. His kicking is interesting.  You see, Dorian Tan and John Liu were masters of high kicks and kicking multiple times without lowering their legs. Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee could do it all. Leung Siu-Lung was more about the kicking combinations and chain kicks. Here, he unleashes barrages of roundhouse and spin kicks one after the other and it looks great. His performance certainly dwarfs that of Fists, Kicks and Evils and Four Shaolin Challengers, both of which were made around the same time.

Fans of the Secret Rivals films should easily find something to like here and, if you can get past the low production values, there’s more than enough quality fighting to satisfy.