Bullet Points: Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance
In a world of movies about people wanting a book written by Bruce Lee, 1980’s Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance is one of them…
- Peter Out: At this point in my life, I have seen my fair share of Bruceploitation films… films that often have some pretty outrageous premises and moments that require the viewer to suspend their disbelief… like Bruce Le playing a character named Peter for instance. Peter runs a martial arts school in Manila and as the movie begins we see him teaching a class… but the lesson is interrupted when Peter gets a long distance, person to person call from his buddy Jack Lee (played by Jack Lee). Jack informs Peter that he’ll be making the jaunt from Hong Kong to Manila to take part in a tournament that Peter will also be competing in. Well, I guess you can call what Peter does in the tournament compete… he’s knocked out of the tournament by Miguel (Romano Kristoff, Black Fire), which is convenient because Miguel is the movie’s main antagonist.
- That’s What Friends Are For: After witnessing Peter’s defeat, Jack bestows upon Peter his most prized possession… a book that was given to him by the late Bruce Lee (no relation) prior to his death. The book contains the secrets of Bruce’s fighting techniques and Jack advises that once Peter masters these techniques, there’s no way he’ll get his ass whooped like that again. But there’s someone else who was hoping to get his hands on this one of a kind book… Miguel!
- By Any Means Necessary: Miguel wants the book at all costs and he tries a number of methods… sending goons to Jack Lee’s hotel room is Plan A. That doesn’t work for a number of reasons… first of which, Jack no longer has the book… plus Jack is a better fighter than all the goons combined something the goons find out the hard way. Miguel takes a different approach with Plan B… he sends in Sally and Susan because the female of the species is more deadly than the male. Sally and Susan “just happen” to bump into Jack and Manny (one of Peter’s students) as they were about to go out on the town. One things leads to another, Sally gets Jack drunk (like Bruce Lee in The Big Boss), takes Jack back to her room, slips into some lingerie and the two make sweet love… while the one night standers are sleeping and basking in the afterglow, more of Miguel goons slip into Sally’s room presumably to find a book that could not possibly be there and instead find out that Jack sleeps with his pants partially on, so he could do the jump out of the bed and into his pants move and then kick their asses.
- If You Want Something Done Right: Miguel is pissed at this point… he has Sally killed for failing him and then takes two of his heavies and goes over to Jack’s hotel room where they toss the place looking for the book. When Jack arrives back at his room, he plays dumb, gets kidnapped for his trouble and is taken back to Miguel’s estate. Once there, they tie Jack’s legs behind his head as they interrogate him! They then throw Jack in a locked room, with his legs still behind his head… Miguel figures out that if Jack doesn’t have the book, he must have given it to his dear longtime close personal friend, Peter. So it is off to Peter’s school they go…
- Fists of Vengeance: Miguel ends up with not only the book but Peter’s girlfriend Miriam… two really good motivators for Peter to use his newly acquired skills to seek vengeance and even the score with Miguel for his loss in the tournament at the beginning of the movie. The highlight of this final fight is the fact that the final portion of it takes place in a fountain! Oh and if you are wondering what happened to Jack, you’ll have to watch Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance to find that out.
I have to give Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance a thumbs in the middle… especially compared to other films in the Bruceploitation genre that have a “secret book” premise like Bruce’s Deadly Fingers and Kung Fu Fever. The film needed more Bruce Le in my opinion.
If you are of the opinion that this review needs more Bullet Points, here are some Bonus Bullet Points just for you…
- Familiar Face: The unwritten rule of casting The Real Jim Gaines in any action movie shot in the Philippines was followed. Gaines plays one of Peter’s students. You may remember Gaines from such films as Blood Debts, Strike Commando and American Ninja.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Bruce Le take a girl out on a date to the local cock fights, then Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance is the movie for you.
- Multimedia Presentation: At one point in the movie when Jack Lee opens THE book, the theme song from Enter the Dragon begins to play and pictures of Bruce Lee are shown on the screen.
- International Clone: Bruce Le made Bruceploitation movies in various countries over the years including the Philipines, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and even Italy.
