AKA: Dragon and the Cobra

Director: Mathew Mallinson

Producer: Terry Levene

Cast: Aaron Banks, Adolph Caesar, Teruyuki Higa, Bill Louie, Fred Williamson, Ron Van Clief, Gail Turner, Hollywood Browde, Louis Neglia

Running Time: 86 min.

By Jeff Bona

Whenever the discussion topic of “What’s the worst Bruceploitation movie ever made?” comes up, the answer 99.9% of the time will be Fist of Fear, Touch of Death.

Is it really that bad? Yes. But it’s also one of the best examples of something that’s so stupidly entertaining that it would be a dream to get some insights on who, what, where, when, how and why Fist of Fear, Touch of Death came to be – and thanks to the creative team from The Film Detective, dreams do come true.

Filmed in 1979, this U.S. production from director Matthew Mallinson is a pseudo-documentary that takes place during the “1979 World Karate Championships” at Madison Square Garden. At the event, a news anchor (played by Oscar/Golden Globe nominee Adolph Caesar of A Soldier’s Story) interviews top martial arts experts and personalities – including Aaron Banks, Ron Van Clief and blaxploitation star Fred Williamson – with questions about the late Bruce Lee, particularly about his mysterious death.

Scattered throughout the film are segments of spliced-together footage (Godfrey Ho-style) from Bruce Lee’s 1957 film, The Thunderstorm, as well as Bruce’s appearance in the 1971 TV series, Longstreet. Scenes from Thunderstorm are forced into the narrative as flashbacks from Bruce’s teenage years; and the Longstreet footage is presented as a series of “interviews” (making it look as if Bruce is having a face-to-face conversation with Adolph Caesar or Aaron Banks). Additionally, footage from 1971’s Forced to Fight, an obscure period Taiwanese kung fu film, has Tong Wai’s character being passed as “Bruce Lee’s Great Grandfather”.

The cinematic concoction of Fist of Fear, Touch of Death is topped off with a series of fourth-wall breaking, mirco-subplots involving Fred Williamson (i.e. waking up with a topless hooker); Ron Van Clief doing Karate exercises (at one point, he stops and says with conviction: “I think Bruce Lee was murdered!”); and a kung fu fight scene with Bill Louie (as sort of a “Kato” with a mustache) who saves a girl from being gang raped.

Thanks to the newly released, limited edition Blu-ray (and DVD) from The Film Detective, we are treated to 29-minute documentary titled That’s Bruceploitation: Making Fist of Fear, Touch of Death, which features insightful interviews with the film’s director, Matthew Mallinson (who is perhaps best known for his editing work in films like Trapped Alive and Caged Fury); producer Terry Levene (Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death); screenwriter Ron Harvey; filmmaker Jim Markovic (The Real Bruce Lee); and cult actors Ron Van Clief (The Black Dragon’s Revenge) and Fred Williamson (Black Caesar).

In That’s Bruceploitation: Making Fist of Fear, Touch of Death, we learn that in 1979, Mallinson was presented with the task of making a marketable “Bruce Lee movie” using whatever resources he could get his hands on. This included the aforementioned “1979 World Karate Championships,” which in reality was a martial arts exhibition event put together by prolific martial arts promoter Aaron Banks and his New York Karate Academy. Using guerrilla-style filmmaking tactics, Mallinson used Banks’ exhibition as the film’s backdrop and haphazardly filmed the event’s VIP attendees (Ron Van Clief, Fred Williamson and Bill Louie) as “last minute” stars of the movie. Even the Fist of Fear, Touch of Death film crew, along with mildly drunk Adolph Caesar, had to fake their way into the Madison Square Garden auditorium as legit “media representatives”.

It’s also revealed that producer Levene had purchased the rights to Thunderstorm, Longstreet, as well the Tong Wai actioner Forced to Fight. According Levene, he let Mallinson cut ‘n paste scenes from all three sources, add new dub tracks, and inject them into the newly filmed footage to form a cohesive plot (which he fails to do, but that’s the beauty of it!). Sidenote: Levene previously applied Thunderstorm footage to 1977’s The Real Bruce Lee, which he also produced.

The Film Detective did a mighty fine job with its “40th Anniversary” Blu-ray edition of Fist of Fear, Touch of Death, which is presented in an all-new 4K restoration. It also includes Liner notes by film historian Don Stradley and English and Spanish Theatrical Trailers.

But what really makes the disc shine is the That’s Bruceploitation: Making Fist of Fear, Touch of Death documentary. The fact The Film Detective got all these guys together to talk immensely about the making of Fist of Fear, Touch of Death is a magical experience.

Jeff Bona’s Rating: 8/10 (as a whole!)