Tie tui jiang mo

Duel of Karate (official english title) was released in Taiwan 1/13/71 and two years later in Italy as I FIGLI DI BRUCE LEE (transl. The sons of Bruce Lee), in the wake of the Kung-Fu fever. So you can guess my surprise when I saw this as a kid and neither Bruce nor his children were there. The italian dubbing renamed Bruce Lee the good Kung-Fu master killed in the begin, in order to capitalize on the Little Dragon. They did it twice, cuz this film was re-released again in Italy 1978 as LA GRANDE SFIDA DI BRUCE LEE (transl. Bruce Lee's great challenge) showing Bruce Li/Ho Tsung Tao on the poster. Back then, I felt DUEL OF KARATE was a terrible movie, but I didn't know yet Kung-Fu cinema yet: so, to say the truth, this clumsy movie has more than one reason to be seen. 1) The late star Chen Hung Lieh (or Chan Hung Lit) can't fight but he's an hell of an actor, usually playing the evil guy; this time he's the hero and this is a curiousity; 2) His on-screen brother Tien Peng (aka Roc Tien) was an hell of an actor too (A TOUCH OF ZEN, 1970), usually playing the main hero, but this time he's the co-star as the unknown brother of Chan. 3) Yi Yuen, an aged performer from Taiwan, was ALWAYS the evil guy, as he's in this, and he deliver fake Kung-Fu but a great charisma as usual. 4) Wong Chun (the father of both Chan and Tien Peng in the story) was a good taiwanese actor who made 112 movies. 5) Doris Lung was a good actress who became mentally ill in real-life, I don't know why. 6) The final showdown is one of the most stuntmen-crowded battle I ever seen in a Karate movie, with an army of acrobats jumping everywhere. The fighting style is pretty much MARTIAN arts, people can fly, any kick is like a whiplash, fingers are like razors... well, if you're at the game it's a funny movie. A guilty pleasure. But not a movie you need to know at any cost if you love the genre.