Bullet Points: Soul Brothers of Kung Fu

With a name like Soul Brothers of Kung Fu, I was expecting the 1977 film to be an amazing mash up of Bruceploitation and Blaxploitation movies. After watching the movie I learned that was not exactly the case.

The Bruce Li starring Soul Brothers of Kung Fu did give African American martial artist Carl Scott his first major role in a film. But one look at the Soul Brothers of Kung Fu poster art and hype and it would seem that Bruce Li and Carl Scott were the Kung Fu Tag Team Champions of the World. After watching the movie I learned that too was not exactly the case.

Now normally when a movie does not live up to the expectations of a viewer, it is seen as a negative. But deceptive titles and poster art were the name of the game in the Bruceploitation Era…

• Two Guys, a Girl and a Row Boat: The movie begins with three refugees adrift at sea in a row boat. There’s Wong Wei-Lung (Bruce Li), his friend Shao-San and their friend and Wei-Lung’s eventual love interest Chai-Yun. Shao-San is ready to give up, but before he can take the plunge into the sea the trio of friends are picked up by a friendly boat. On board they are given some much needed food and water as they sail towards Hong Kong and the beginning of their new lives. After the opening credits roll we learn that a year has passed since Wei-Lung, Shao-San and Chai-Yun were lost at sea… but once again Shao-San is not happy with their situation. Shao-San is sick of being a low level worker with no money, but the wise beyond his years Wei-Lung preaches patience to his impatient friend. At this point it was obvious that Shao-San was going to continue to be a big pain in the ass…

• Anti-Bullying Campaign: One day while working on the docks of Hong Kong, Wei-Lung and Shao-San witness a young black man named Tom (Carl Scott) getting bullied by four grown men at the behest of their supervisor. Wei-Lung intervenes and speaks up for Tom and then moments later a fight ensues. Wei-Lung kicks all their asses… the supervisor included! An appreciative Tom asks Wei-Lung if he can teach him kung fu, something Wei-Lung wastes no time agreeing to. After that we get a couple of training sessions as the movie goes on with Wei-Lung and Tom and there is another fight scene where Tom is able to put into practice some of the things he has learned. But all of this was far from the Bruce Li/Carl Scott team up that the poster promised or the title of the film inferred.

• Take One on the Chin: Word of the fight that Wei-Lung got into down at the docks quickly spreads to the big boss, Mr. Chin (Feng Ku, who also worked with Li on Dynamo and Bruce Against Iron Hand). It was Chin’s men that Wei-Lung kicked the crap out of and now Chin is pretty pissed off. Chin spends the rest of the movie hatching schemes to defeat Wei-Lung. But whether it is on the streets of Hong Kong or in the center of the ring at “Madison Square Garden” for the International Karate Championship… Wei-Lung kept coming out on top!

• No More Mr. Nice Guy: Once Wei-Lung returns from the United States as champion, Mr. Chin really goes off the deep end with his vendetta. First Chin has a whole army of goons beat the tar out of Wei-Lung and then the goons attempt to kidnap Wei-Lung’s now fiancée Chai-Yun. When Chai-Yun fights back they end up raping her for her trouble… but wait, they aren’t through with her yet because they kill her by running her over with a car. As Wei-Lung is mourning the loss of Chai-Yun and recuperating from his injuries, Mr. Chin sends in his personal whore Dora to seduce Shao-San to the darkside. Since Shao-San proved he could be a pain in the ass friend early on in the film, it didn’t really take much for him to turn on Wei-Lung… All of this serves as motivation for Wei-Lung to get back in top physical condition (thanks in part to the kung fu laboratory he has set up) and use his Iron Finger technique to put a stop to Mr. Chin and his evil ways once and for all.

Soul Brothers of Kung Fu was an average Bruce Li film at best. It was the first movie in the Bruceploitation bunch that I went into with preconceived notions of what the movie would be and that could be why it felt like a bit of a letdown.

Still the movie had its moments, including the fight scene where Wei-Lung goes to Mr. Chin’s training compound and whips out the nunchaku!  This was easily my favorite scene in the movie and the sound effects of the nunchaku were epic! Oh and did I mention the quadruple flip?!?!

If there’s anything better than four flips it would be six Bonus Bullet Points…

• AKA: The movie was originally released under the title Last Strike in Hong Kong. The title was changed to Soul Brothers of Kung Fun when it was released in the United States.
• Provocative Quote: “Your bedroom kung fu is better than his.”
• If You Ever: …wanted to see a comical scene with Bruce Li in his underwear and having no idea where his pants were, then this is the movie for you.
• The Red Light District: The set up used for Wei-Lung’s professional fights was similar to they way the fight scenes in Dynamo were filmed. Although the red light that was used made me think I was watching a Kane match on Monday Night Raw in 1997.
• Name That Tune: Music from 1970’s blockbusters, Live and Let Die and Rocky, are featured in Soul Brothers of Kung Fu. In fact, “Going the Distance” is used for the opening credits, but for whatever reason they opted not to use “Gonna Fly Now” during the training montages.
• Inspirational Quote: “If a man wants, there’s nothing he can’t do.”