Successfully released in US as Kung-Fu the invisible fist in 1973 (it ranked among the 100 hits of that year), The Good & The Bad (official english title) was a B.O. smash in Hong Kong 1972, as one of the domestic top-ten hits. The reason is simple: director Ng See Yuen (a former Science professor turned filmmaker and the youngest in the wild bunch of Kung-Fu directors), didn't have the budget for FX or stuntmen and stunt-doubles, so hired real martial artists/actors like the late Chan Sing and Yasuaki Kurata (the only japanese actor who became a star in Hong Kong). The result was an hell of crazy fighting, the kind you can't perform without an hard training. Ng See Yuen made a string of movies like this, usually played by Chan Sing as the main hero, creating a new kind of martial arts for screen that local audience renamed "Dazai movie stars" (translatable as "neck-bones risking martial actors"). This movie fits perfectly the formula: almost no-plot (a simple cat-and-mouse play between chineses and japaneses secret agents), tons of combats played astonishngly furious by everyone, expecially the Good Chan Sing and the Bad Kurata in one of the longest final duel ever filmed. Of course no human being can fight for so long, but if you're at the game the entertainment is guaranteed! A collateral note: Yasuaki's henchman was real martial arts champion Chieh Yuen, chosen by Bruce Lee as co-star for Game of Death (as you can see in the found footage of that movie). Sadly the muscular Chieh Yuen died young too in 1976 for brain tumor. All in all Kung-Fu the invisible fist is a poorly made but riveting piece of dynamic action. Released in Hong Kong 12/6/72 and re-released internationally under several titles.
