User reviews

As an italian i saw this film on tv and years later i came across it on youtube. It features the talented burlesque-like comedian Franco Franchi who is known in appearing with his comedy buddy Ciccio Ingrassia in a number of cheap italian comedy films were their nearly parodied every possible film genre known to mankind until they decided to go different paths... This was then the result of Francos one man show.

Now lets get down to the flick. This movie makes a move on the eastern kung fu films popularized especially by Bruce Lee at the time ( Sadly it was released the same year when Bruce Lee died in 1973 ) Alone the cover is a parody of Bruce Lee's The Big Boss and so is the italian original title. A few elements are directly taken from the 70ts Kung Fu series starring David Carradine which came out one year before this. Franco plays somewhat of a Kung Fu grashopper student in a sort of Bruce Lee type of role who is trained by a master that tries to look oriental but clearly isn't ( he is a kung fu master who leads a Karate School full of Karatekas... Silly enough ?. Good it's parody.

The greatest flaws are again the dumb jokes some are funny for italians or sicilians and the fight choreography/scenes... Gosh. I highly doubt that anyone of the crew, actors or producers must had any knowledge about Martial Arts it's just ridiculous stupid even for a parody. Typical raw italian humor that tends to racism in caricature of asians where is no sign of difference between chinese and japanese culture. The story is also filled with every trope and clicheè to the already limited Kung Fu film storytelling.

This italian cult movie was not a Big Boss spoof, It was not made in Sicily (Rome is the setting) and It was not influenced by TV serial Kung fu, so the previous review miss completely the point, since story and personages clearly came from Shaw's King boxer while Carradine's Shaolin monk stayed unseen in Italy until the 80's, and Ku fu was made in the Spring of 1973 and released September of the same year. Incredibly this poorly made comedy outnumbered both Shaw's King boxer and BRUCE's Classics in Italy grossing almost 1 million of italian lira, a huge box office back then. This because his main star Franco Franchi was incredibly popular and because the movie captured the craze for the Kung fu films, theyr stereotypes and childish formula Just like an instant photo could made. By all his many flaws and few merits, Ku Fu stand as a vulgar and vivid testimoniance not only of a Lost Italy and filmgenre (even the poor dressing of the personages resembles the shoestring budgeted costumes of many Kung fu pix), but also as a portrait of the suburban and so called "underdog" audience who went for It, as the ragged and noisy crowd surrounding Franco Franchi in the final tournament, genially staged on a clownesque circus floor almost in Fellini style, shows in a so clever and lovely manner. More THAN a movie, Ku Fu Is a joke from the 70's strictly for Italian fans of Franco Franchi and Kung fu films as they were seen here. A silly movie as well as a guilty pleasure for nostalgia. Still well remembered here.