The King of Boxers (1972)

The King of Boxers (1972)
Aka: King Boxer; Hands of Death; Shogun Avenger; The King Boxers
Chinese Title: 小拳王
Translation: Little Fist King

 

Starring: Mang Fei, Kurata Yasuaki, Nard Poowanai, Wong Ching, Lau Kong, Maggie Li Lin-Lin, Pawana Chanajit, Hsu Hsia,  Sun Lan
Director: Kung Min
Action Director: Lau Kar-Wing, Huang Pei-Chih

Evidently, there are four films that go by the name of King Boxer. There's the 1973 classic starring Lo Lieh, better known as Five Fingers of Death, which kicked off the kung fu craze in the USA. There's another film from the 70s called Shaolin King Boxer, which features the kung fu stylings of Lau Kar-Wing (brother of Lau Kar-Leung). There's a movie made around 2000 called King Boxer, starring Jackie Chan kicking double Chin Kar-Lok and Billy Chow. And there's this film, which marked the debut of Meng Fei.

Who's Meng Fei, you ask? Meng Fei was a kung fu actor who I guessed was supposed to be one of the big things back in the early 1970s, but ended up being quickly relegated to cheap, Taiwanese films. He's best known for appearing in The Prodigal Boxer, one of the first modern portrayals of Chinese folk hero Fong Sai Yuk. He also was one of the titular heroes in Chang Cheh's classic Five Shaolin Masters, which made Shaolin kung fu popular during the 1970s. He later went on to appear in mediocre films like Snake and Crane Secret and Kung Fu of Eight Drunkards. Meng Fei had something of a boyish look to him that could've been honed into a good Jackie Chan or Alexander Fu Sheng type of actor, but I guess it never quite worked out that way. He could fight, no doubt about it. However, Hong Kong cinema is a fickle place, and skill and boyish good looks are not always enough to succeed over there.

The plot of the film is pretty easy to follow. Chow, the King Boxer (Meng Fei) is off in Thailand visiting a female friend. We don't know what their background together is, although it's obvious that they like each other. Chow asks the girl to take him to see a muay thai match and she does, introducing him to her brother, who's one of the fighters. Before the match, the brother is approached by some Thai thugs who try to bribe him to throw the match. He refuses and ends up knocking his opponent out. Later on, they are attacked by the same thugs and while the Thai boxing brother handles most of them, he needs Chow's help to beat the leader. Chow offers to teach his special kung fu to the brother.

Meanwhile, back in China, a Japanese karate master (Yasuaki Kurata, Fist of Legend and Call Me Dragon) hears stories of the "King Boxer" and desires to challenge him. He goes to Chow's school, but Chow is still in Thailand. The Japanese master and his lackeys beat up the Chinese students and break their signboard, which is a grave insult in kung fu cinema. The Japanese master is also smitten with Chow's sister, and invites her to dinner some time later. Yup, beating up her friends and gravely insulting her brother's school is the quickest way to a girl's heart.

Chow returns just in time to stop his sister from giving in and challenging the Japanese fighter to a fight. He whoops the Japanese master, who slinks away to plan his revenge. That revenge does come, in the form of a sneaky ambush at a reconciliatory dinner at a brothel/tea house which leads to a big fight and Chow's ultimate death. Shortly thereafter, Chow's friends from Thailand show up and the Thai boxing brother vows to take revenge.

First and foremost, this is a dull film. In a way that most of you will be able to relate to, the first ten minutes of the film is dedicated to travelogue shots of Thailand including...*gulp*...six minutes of footage of ELEPHANTS!!! Heck, most of the non-kung fu segments set in Thailand are travelogue footage of temples and stuff. The movie moves dreadfully slow between fight scenes in such a way that, despite there being seven fights taking up a little less than a third of a film, it feels like the fights are few and far between.

The other major flaw of the film is that it simply reminds you of other, better films. The segments with the Japanese school are reminiscent of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. The scenes and Thailand will make you think of The Big Boss and Duel of Fists more than anything else. Meng Fei's final fight in the restaurant looks like it was inspired by Chang Cheh's Vengeance! What's really strange about all this is that the film feels like it's set in two different time periods: Thailand circa 1970 and Shanghai circa 1920 (which is when Fist of Fury was set).

The fights aren't bad, although some of them of suffer from early 1970s choreography: glorified arm-flailing. Meng Fei's fights are the best, notably his fight with Yasuaki Kurata. The last fight, while full of energy, is a bit sloppy on the technique side. There's a muay thai match early on that is kind of dull, made more so by the fact that the camera stays about a 50 feet away from the combatants for a good part of the fight. There is some traditional kung fu to be seen in some of the fights, but nothing really special.

Yeah, this film is really only for completists like me. I do plan on watching more early 1970s kung fu films, despite the fact that I think a lot of them will be like this one: clunky, crude, silly, and ultimately boring. Nonetheless, I do hope that I'll find some real gems if I look hard enough.