Bruce and the Iron Finger (1979) Review

“Bruce and the Iron Finger” Promotional Poster

AKA: Bruce vs. Iron Hand
Director: To Man-Bo
Cast: Bruce Li (aka Ho Chung Tao, James Ho), Bruce Leung Siu Lung, Ku Feng, Fong Yau, Dai Sai Aan, Wong Kwong Yue, Lin Ke Ming, Lee Hoi San, Tai San
Running Time: 86 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In 1979 the Bruceploitation genre ramped up with a vengeance, spurred on by the posthumous release of Game of Death the year prior, the genre burnt bright for a few more years before fizzling out in the early 80’s. Featuring what must surely be a record for the number of movies released with ‘Bruce’ in the title – Bruce the Superhero, Treasure of Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee Strikes Back, Bruce vs. Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Fists of Bruce Lee, Blind Fists of Bruce, and last but by no means least, Bruce and the Iron Finger.

Starring Bruce Li, as the Bruceploitation star who holds the record for the number of times he’d actually portray Bruce Lee onscreen, by the late 70’s he’d made a concerted effort to establish his own identity, and here is billed under his actual name of Ho Chung Tao. 1979 was a good year for Chung Tao, as even though many of the productions he appeared in still slapped the auspiciosus ’Bruce’ in the title (he was also the star of the aforementioned Fists of Bruce Lee and Blind Fist of Bruce), the movies themselves had little to no connection with the Little Dragon. It was the year he’d feature in what I personally consider to be his best movie, The Gold Connection, and also the year when he’d feature in what I’d consider to be his second best outing – Bruce and the Iron Finger.

Not to be confused with the Bruce Le vehicle Bruce’s Deadly Fingers (the Bruceploitation genre was fond of its digit related titles), Bruce and the Iron Finger was helmed by director To Man-Bo, who was having a particularly productive year in ’79. Amongst the six titles he directed are well regarded classics such as Fists, Kicks, and the Evils and My Kung Fu Twelve Kicks, and he’d work with Chung Tao twice, the other being on Jeet Kune The Claws and The Supreme Kung Fu (or as it was retitled for many countries, Fist of Fury 3). Man-Bo’s kung fu flicks of this era tended to stick with the same talent both in front and behind the camera, so a recurring theme was brothers Bruce Leung and Tony Leung Siu-Hung on fight choreography duty (usually with Bruce Leung also in front of camera), and the presence of Ku Feng in various roles.

Everyone convenes in Bruce and the Iron Finger, for a tale that feels like a classic old-school kung fu flick mixed with the detective genre. Chung Tao plays a cop visiting Hong Kong, who finds himself involved in trying to get to the bottom of a case which see’s kung fu masters turning up dead, the only clue to their demise being two bloody puncture wounds in their neck. I should point out that the old-school kung fu flick aspect is far weightier than the detective story element, so it’s no spoiler whatsoever to say that the killer is Ku Feng. He plays a master of the iron finger technique which gives him skin of steel (think Hwang Jang Lee in Invinicble Armour), however there’s a major downside – the mastery of such a technique means he can’t have sex. I guess you can’t have an iron finger and an iron todger.

With this in mind, you probably wouldn’t want to shack up with a member of the opposite sex who’s a nymphomaniac, and has an aversion to wearing anything beyond skimpy underwear. But this is what Ku Feng does in the form of Lee Hoi Gei (whose only credits are this and The Tattoo Connection). Hoi Gei gets off on seducing other kung fu masters who can get it up, and Ku Feng has an annoying habbit of constantly walking in on them during the act, leading to him become a killer driven by his inability to satisfy his woman. Almost as if Man-Bo was embarrassed to direct such an out-there take on the genre, there’s an attempt to incorporate a subplot about girls from Vietnam being human trafficked, which Hoi Gei is masterminding behind the scenes. It’s a nice touch and actually works to a degree, but there’s no escaping the fact that this is really all about Ku Feng being driven to murder because he’s flacid.

As ridiculous as it sounds on paper, onscreen Bruce and the Iron Finger is a nice slice of gritty contemporary 70’s action, and the whole thing is played straight faced. Even a scene which has Hoi Gei declare to Someno Yukio, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs, that she’s going to ride him like a horse is played straight. I’m sure the implication behind this line in the script notes was supposed to be racier than what ends up onscreen, which has Hoi Gei literally straddle Yukio on all fours, and makes him crawl around the apartment with her on his back. I could have done without the closeups of his posterior being slapped, but the scene entertaingly ends with Hoi Gei dropping a lit cigarette into his mouth, and to top it off Yukio, still wearing only his briefs, then gets into a fight with Ku Feng in the garden.

While the night time set opening had me fearing I was in for another forgettable dose of Bruceploitation action (not helped by the battered and beat up print which is currently the only way to watch it), things quickly pick up, with the choreography of the Leung brothers being particularly crisp and sharp. Chung Tao’s screenfighting skills were rather clunky in the first half of the 70’s, however starting from 1976’s Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth he showed a noticable improvement, and by ’79 he looked like the real deal. Similar to Leung Kar-Yan, he seemed to develop a knack for quickly picking up choreography despite a lack of formal training, and here he looks legitimately lethal with both his fists and his feet.

Bruce Leung also gets in on the action, playing an instructor who teaches the iron finger technique, and a fight in which he faces off against Chung Tao is a highlight. Starting off in the kung fu school and ending up on the rooftop, similar to Kuei Chih-Hung’s lensing in The Gold Connection, Man-Bo really takes advantage of the environment, shooting parts of the fight through the clusters of TV ariels that clutter the rooftop. For all of the ferocity Leung shows in his fights, he undeniably looks a little goofy with his semi-mullet, combined with a pressure point based kung fu that has him pacing around with his arms in the air, like someone who took the preying manits poses a little too literally. However he gains his street cred back ten fold when he arrives to lend a hand in the final fight, decked out in a tracksuit with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, which stays there even after the first kick is thrown!

The fight action in Bruce and the Iron Finger comes thick and fast, and even though this was only Leung Siu-Hung’s fourth gig at choreographing after debuting in ’76 with Tiger of Northland, the talent that’d eventually see him go on to direct the likes of Superfights and Bloodmoon is clear to see. Chung Tao soon finds himself being ambushed everywhere he goes, which leads to fights taking place in all of our favorite 70’s HK locales – the junk yard, apartment stairwells, kung fu schools, and of course container yards. In the junk yard Lee Hoi-San turns up as a steel bar wielding assassin (the second most famous bald headed kung fu star after Gordon Liu?), a face who’s welcome in any kung fu flick and worked with Chung Tao frequently (see also Bruce Lee – The Man, The Myth, Soul Brothers of Kung Fu, Bruce Lee in New Guinea, and The Lama Avenger), for another of their worthy showdowns.

Eventually culminating in a two versus one showdown, as Chung Tao and Bruce Leung teamup to take on the might of Ku Feng and his lackeys in a container yard, Bruce and the Iron Finger finishes strong by delivering a healthy dose of kung fu goodness. For the avid listener, you may notice some subdued Bruce Lee battle yelps scattered in here and there, but really this should be seen as a Ho Chung Tao actioner first and foremost, and he delivers the goods. For the male viewer, it should act as a precautionary tale to always read the label for any side effects the kung fu your practicing may have, and for everybody else, enjoy watching the fists and feet fly against a backdrop of late 70’s Hong Kong.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10