Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980)

Director:

Matthew Mallinson

Writers:

Ron Harvey (screenplay)
Ron Harvey (story)
(more)

Genre:

Documentary | Sport

Tagline:

The 3 Greatest Masters! Bruce Lee, Fred Williamson, Ron Van Clief

Plot:

A reporter interviews fighters and promoters about Bruce Lee, intercut with footage from old Bruce Lee films and pseudo-documentary footage. |

Plot Keywords:

Bruce Lee | Interview | Mockumentary | Madison Square Garden Manhattan New York City | 42nd Street Manhattan New York City

Cast

Bruce Lee	...	The Martial Arts Master (archive footage)
Fred Williamson	...	Hammer, the ladies man
Ron Van Clief	...	The Boxer
Adolph Caesar	...	TV Anchorman
Aaron Banks	...	The Promoter
Bill Louie	...	Kato #2
Teruyuki Higa	...	Karate Instructor
Gail Turner	...	The Rape Victim
Richard Barathy	...	The Stone Smasher
Hollywood Browde	...	Hammer's Girlfriend
Louis Neglia	...	The Middleweight Champion
Cydra Karlyn	...	The Boxer's Girlfriend
Annette Bronson	...	The Jogger
John Flood	...	Cyclone
Ron Harvey	...	Jasper Milktoast
Mark Messina	...	Animal
Raymond Loperfido	...	Blade
George Lopez	...	Tornado
Charles Odwin	...	Robot
Raymond F. Martineau	...	Boxer (as Raymond Marinteau)
Frankie Italo	...	Tattoo
Angelo Spergo	...	Magician
Alphonse Hewitt	...	Killer
David Pedernera	...	Doc
Danny Reilly	...	Bullit
Glen Perry	...	Threads
Dean Brockway	...	Bike Man
Danny Weatherspoon	...	Bomber
Ricardo Cruz	...	Macho Man (as Richard Cruz)
Jose Miranda	...	Flash
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clint Eastwood	...	Himself, at the Academy Awards (archive footage) (uncredited)
Liza Minnelli	...	Herself, at the Academy Awards (archive footage) (uncredited)
John Wayne	...	Himself, at the Academy Awards (archive footage) (uncredited)
Raquel Welch	...	Herself, at the Academy Awards (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Matthew Mallinson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ron Harvey		screenplay
Ron Harvey		story
Matthew Mallinson		story

Produced by
Terry Levene	....	producer

Cinematography by
John Hazard		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jeffrey D. Brown		(as Jeffrey Brown)
Matthew Mallinson

Makeup Department
Jean Morris	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Scott D. Hello	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vincent Giordano	....	assistant director
John Gray	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Jeffrey D. Brown	....	sound (as Jeffrey Brown)
Russell C. Fager	....	sound editor (as Russell Fager)
James Y. Kwei	....	sound (as Jimmy Kwei)
Skip Lievsay	....	sound editor (as John Lievsay)
Aaron Nathanson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Brian Wierda	....	sound editor

Stunts
Bill Louie	....	stunt coordinator
Ron Van Clief	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Daniel Ducovny	....	camera operator (as Dan Decovney)
Buffy Gardella	....	still photographer
Kevin Jones	....	gaffer
Lisa Rinzler	....	assistant camera
Harry Savides	....	key grip

Editorial Department
Cheryl Bloch	....	assistant editor
Buffy Gardella	....	assistant editor
Paul Kahaner	....	assistant editor
Anne-Marie J. McNeil	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Keith Mansfield	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Jim Harte	....	production assistant
Terry Levene	....	presenter
Laura Milado	....	assistant to producer
Rudy Pagan	....	Rolls Royce
Camila Velez	....	script supervisor

Thanks
Frank Ruiz	....	special thanks: Nisei Goju Ryu

Production Companies

• Aquarius Promotions

Distributors

• Aquarius Releasing (1980) (USA) (theatrical)
• Wizard Video (1981) (USA) (VHS)
• Wizard Video (1981) (USA) (video) (Betamax)
• Woodhaven Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Falcon Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• American Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Tapeworm Video Distributors (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Direct Source (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Troma Team Video (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• Direct Source (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Direct Source (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Monument Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• BCI Eclipse (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Brentwood Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Pro-Active Entertainment Group (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Troma Team Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Leisure Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Payless Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Astral Films (????) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Ace Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Edde Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Filmedia (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Video Screen (198?) (Netherlands) (VHS)

Special Effects

• A&A Special Effects

Other Companies

• Arriflex  camera equipment provided by (as Arriflex)
• Brooks Van Horne  men's wardrobe
• Cinergy Communications  editing equipment
• Cutting Edge Enterprises  editing equipment (as Cutting Edge)
• Davis Outfitters  women's wardrobe
• F&B/Cecomobile  camera equipment provided by (as F&B/Ceco)
• Madison Square Garden Organization  special thanks
• Magno Sound  post-production facilities
• Mayflower Hotel  special thanks
• Mayor's Office for Motion Pictures & Television  special thanks
• New York Karate Academy  special thanks
• New York Police Department Motion Picture Unit  special thanks (as New York Police Unit)
• Phantasmagoria Productions Inc.  post-production sound editing (as Phantasmagoria Productions)
• Scull's Angels  special thanks
• Select Effects  opticals
• Shorlane-Benet Advertising  main title art
• Statler Hilton  special thanks
• Tri-Com Films  camera equipment provided by

Also Known As:

"Fist of Fear" - USA (video box title)
"The Dragon and the Cobra" - USA (video title)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:82 min

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R | Singapore:PG | Iceland:16 | Norway:16 (video premiere)

Filming Locations:

Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden - 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Aquarius Promotions

Movie Connections:

References Halloween (1978)

If only Bruce Lee hadn't died...

... then movies like this would never have been made.

If you've ever seen a Bruce Li/Le/Lai/ or Dragon Lee movie, then you should know what Bruce-ploitation is all about. "Fist of Fear, Touch of Death" takes Bruce-ploitation several steps further, and to a new low. The basic plot of the movie is apparently centered around a martial arts bout to determine Bruce Lee's successor.

Most of the movie follows interviews with Bruce Lee, dubbed and spliced with Aaron Banks and Adolph Caesar. Fictional scenes of his family depict Bruce Lee as a martial arts-obsessed teenager ("Mother, I can kill a man with my bare hands - you don't understand me!", yet later calling someone else crazy...), randomly spliced with scenes from an old chopsocky movie supposedly depicting Bruce Lee's great-grandfather as "19th century China's greatest samurai" - can't have been too hard, I don't think there were many. These scenes take up most of the movie - I nearly forgot about the whole determining Bruce Lee's successor thing, and when they finished, I was so happy thinking that the movie was over, only to realize there were another twenty minutes. Damn. It seems as though the writers (if any) forgot what the basic plot was about and went off on same bizarre rant about Bruce Lee's heritage (the one they made up, not his real heritage).

This movie does not have cult-status in any way, nor does it give the cheesy-laughs you'd expect from a regular chopsocky movie. The only thing it manages to do is insult Bruce Lee and his legacy (even Fred Williamson says the same thing in this sad excuse for a movie). Avoid at all costs.

1/10