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Dragon Fist

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This article is about the film starring Jackie Chan. For other uses, seeDragon Fist (disambiguation).

Dragon Fist
Theatrical poster
Directed byLo Wei
Written byWang Chung-pin
Produced byHsu Li-hwa
Lo Wei
StarringJackie Chan
Nora Miao
James Tien
Yen Shi Kwan
Eagle Han-ying
Wu Wen-sau
CinematographyChen Yung-hsu
Edited byLeung Wing-chan
Music byFrankie Chan
Distributed byLo Wei Motion Picture Company
Release date
  • 21 April 1979(1979-04-21)
Running time
93 minutes[1]
CountryHong Kong
LanguageMandarin
Box officeHK$1 million (Hong Kong)
246,046 tickets (overseas)

Dragon Fist(simplified Chinese:Long quyền;traditional Chinese:Long quyền), also known asDangsang Martial ArtsorThe Wild Big Boss,[2]is a 1979 martial-arts film starringJackie Chan.

Plot[edit]

Tang How-yuen (Jackie Chan) is a disciple of kung fu master San-thye. San-thye wins a martial arts tournament, only to be killed by evil kung fu master, Master Li (Yen Shi-kwan). Tang tries unsuccessfully to fight Chung, and leaves the evil master unharmed. Tang, along with San-thye's wife and daughter head after the killer to seek revenge. When they find him, Chung has repented and has cut off his own leg as penance. The master's widow becomes ill, so Tang goes to work for a gang in order to get her medicine. However, whilst in their employ, he is blamed for the death of a young boy, and San-Thye's widow is poisoned. Tang and the one-legged master join forces to defeat the evil lord who poisoned San-thye's widow.

Cast[edit]

  • Jackie Chanas Tang How-yuen
  • Hsu Hsia as Master King
  • Ouyang Sha-feias Master King's wife
  • Nora Miaoas Zhuang Meng-lan
  • Yen Shi-kwan as Master Li
  • Pearl Lin - Zhong Qiu-ping
  • James Tienas Fang Gang
  • Eagle Han-yingas Nan Qing
  • Ko Keung as Master Wing
  • Chui Yuen as Wing's student
  • Wong Kwong-yue as Wing's assistant
  • Chui Fat as Wing's assistant
  • Peng Kang as Wing's student
  • Wang Yao as Wing's student

Production[edit]

Like Chan'sSpiritual Kung Fu,Dragon Fistwas filmed inSouth Koreain early 1978 but was unable to be released or produced because the studio went bankrupt and was running out of money. As a result, both Lo Wei productions only had cost-cutting measures after Chan returned from his loan deal with Seasonal Films, where he madeSnake in the Eagle's ShadowandDrunken Masteralongside directorYuen Woo-ping.During the production, Chan reportedly had his nose broken repeatedly, joking "Do you think I was born with this nose?"[3]Unlike most of Jackie Chan's early films,Dragon Fisthad a more serious tone, with little in the way of comedic moments.[4]

Like many other Hong Kong kung fu films, the film was scored with variousmusical cuesfrom American films, mainlyJerry Goldsmith's 1966 score forThe Sand Pebbles.[5]

Box office[edit]

The film was released in Hong Kong on 21 April 1979.[6]The film grossedHK$1,004,000 at the Hong Kong box office in 1979.[2]Overseas, the film sold 103,261 tickets inSeoul City(South Korea)[7][8]and 142,785 tickets in France (where it was released in 1982),[9]for a combined 246,046 tickets sold overseas in Seoul and France.

Home media[edit]

  • On 15 February 2001, Seven 7 released theFrench languagetheatrical versionDVDentitledLe Poing De La Vengeance,with anaspect ratioof 2.35:1. It contains no other language options.
  • On 22 October 2001, Eastern Heroes released the film in the UK on DVD, uncut (except for many frame-cuts). However, it's poorly cropped from 2.35:1 into 1.78:1 and only contains an English dub.
  • On 4 June 2002,Columbia Tri-Starreleased the film in the US on DVD, in Full Frame with English andCantonese languageoptions. However, it contains a heavily edited version produced by Aquarius Releasing (roughly 15 minutes missing) and isdubtitled.
  • On 24 February 2006,Universal Japanreleased the film in Japan on DVD, in 2.35:1 and with a Cantonese soundtrack. This version was the first completely uncut release on DVD, however, it does not feature any English subtitles.
  • On 11 June 2007,Hong Kong Legendsreleased the film in the UK on DVD, in 2.35:1 and uncut in Cantonese language with newly translated English subtitles.
  • In 2018, UK company 88 Films released the film onBlu-ray.It contains the original Mandarin, Cantonese, and English language tracks in mono and in a newly remastered 5.1 DTS-HD MA format. The blu-ray also contains subtitles for each track option. It is uncut and remastered in genuine HD.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Staff writer (23 May 2007)."Dragon Fist".British Board of Film Classification.
  2. ^ab"Dragon Fist (1979)".Hong Kong Movie Database.Retrieved23 June2020.
  3. ^Witterstaetter, Renée (October 1997).Dying for Action: The Life and Films of Jackie Chan.Warner Books.ISBN0-446-67296-3– viaInternet Archive.
  4. ^Gentry, Clyde (1997).Jackie Chan: Inside the Dragon.Rowman & Littlefield. p. 180.ISBN978-0-87833-970-9.
  5. ^Charles, John (16 April 2009).The Hong Kong Filmography, 1977–1997.McFarland & Company. p. 80.ISBN978-1-4766-0262-2.
  6. ^Corcoran, John (2003).The Unauthorized Jackie Chan Encyclopedia: From Project A to Shanghai Noon and Beyond.Contemporary Books. p. 2002.ISBN978-0-07-138899-3.
  7. ^"영화정보"[Movie Information].KOFIC(in Korean).Korean Film Council.Archivedfrom the original on 10 May 2012.Retrieved26 August2019.
  8. ^"The Wild Big Boss (Dangsanbigwon)".Korean Movie Database.Korean Film Archive.Retrieved23 June2020.
  9. ^Soyer, Renaud (4 February 2014)."Jackie Chan Box Office".Box Office Story(in French).Retrieved1 July2020.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dragon_Fist&oldid=1232673888"