Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (1977) Cinema Shares International/Action RT: 85 minutes Rated R (strong violence, sexual content, nudity) Director: Shan Hua (as “I Hung Hwa”) Screenplay: Chan-Wei Lin (as “Chan Wai Lin”) Music: Fu-Liang Chou (as “Fu Liang Chow”) Cinematography: Te-Wei Chang (as “Tak Wai Cheung”) Release date: October 1978 (US) Cast: Bruce Li (as “Chung Tao Ho”), Feng Ku, Meng Lo (as “Lun Kuan”), Carl Scott, Pui-San Auyeung, Susan Yam-Yam Shaw (as “Yin Yin Shao”), Kwok-Keun Chan, Lung Chan, Chuan Chen, Yi-Hsiung Chi. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
As a white kid growing up in the suburbs in the early 80s, my only access to kung fu movies was Black Belt Theater which aired on Saturday afternoons on channel 29 here in the Philadelphia area. I wasn’t allowed anywhere near the urban theaters that generally showed such films on double and triple bills. Of all the titles I saw on BBT, my favorite (well, one of them anyway) has to be Soul Brothers of Kung Fu. Directed by Shan Hua (Infra-Man), it’s a story of friendship, betrayal and revenge with plenty of martial arts action to boot. It’s as close to Shakespeare as the genre can get without calling in Kurosawa which would then elevate it to arthouse status.
Our story opens with three friends- Wai-Lung (Bruce Lee’s #1 clone Bruce Li), Siu-San (Lo, Five Deadly Venoms) and Chai-Yun (Auyeung, The Proud Twins)- illegally immigrating to Hong Kong on a raft. Just as all hope seems lost, they’re rescued and brought to the city to begin new lives. The trouble begins about a year later when Wai-Lung and Siu-San run afoul of crime boss Shi-Po (Ku, Five Deadly Venoms) after beating the hell out of several of his guys for bullying a black teen, an American named Tom (Scott, Sun Dragon [aka A Hard Way to Die]). Wai-Lung takes Tom under his wing and starts training him.
It seems that every time one of the guys gets a leg up, Shi-Po is there to knock it back down. Wai-Lung, who can’t hold onto a job because of his run-ins with the crime boss, is always getting into fights with gangs of thugs. His love of fighting worries sweet Chai-Yun who doesn’t want him to go “too far, too fast” like his idol Bruce Lee. He eventually gets into the competitive fighting game which brings fame, fortune and happiness, but only fleetingly. Tragedy strikes courtesy of Shi-Po, leaving fiancee Chai-Yun dead and Wai-Lung with severe career-ending injuries.
After an appropriate period of mourning and self-pity, Wai-Lung vows revenge on his enemy. Thus begins the montage of our hero training in a new technique, the Iron Finger. When done, he’ll be able to defeat/kill his opponents by sticking his fingers into vital organs.
Meanwhile, Siu-San gets deeper and deeper into debt with Shi-Po due to his gambling habit. On top of that, he gets romantically involved with “bar girl” Dora (Shaw, Chinatown Kid), “bar girl” being a euphemism for prostitute. He goes to Wai-Lung for a $20K loan so they can marry, but gets turned down by his more pragmatic best bud. Angered by such betrayal, Siu-San goes to work for Shi-Po which, as we all know, means he and his former friend will face off against each other by movie’s end.
Even though it’s titled Soul Brothers of Kung Fu, Tom is never more than a supporting character. It’s never explained what he’s doing in Hong Kong or why he was at the loading dock where he got attacked. Did he work there or was he trying to steal? On the upside, he’s a decent fighter. He takes part in a few of the brawls, holding his own for the most part. Why couldn’t he have been more major of a character? I, for one, would love to see a little blaxploitation mixed in with Asian-made chop-socky. But what am I complaining about? You can only be so critical of cheap kung fu flicks.
One thing that sticks out in Soul Brothers of Kung Fu is the music. I’m not talking about the score (was there one?), but the incidental music. All of it is from other movies. The most familiar is the Rocky theme which is heard a few times. I also heard a section of Ennio Morricone’s “Reagan’s Theme” from Exorcist II: The Heretic. During a chase, Paul McCartney’s rocking theme from Live and Let Die is used. And if you’re looking for something really obscure, Van McCoy’s version of the Stylistics’ hit “Hey Girl, Come and Get It” is played during Chai-Yun’s birthday celebration. It was also used in Fists of Bruce Lee (another Bruce Li starrer), so I’m guessing it was a big hit in Asian countries. In any event, I love this about Soul Brothers of Kung Fu.
Of all the clones that followed in the wake of Bruce Lee’s death, Bruce Li is the coolest. He starred in another one of my Black Belt Theater favorites, Bruce Lee in New Guinea. He’s a fairly decent actor and a fantastic fighter. He gets to show off skills quite often in Soul Brothers of Kung Fu. The kung fu is solid and the fight sequences well-orchestrated. The finale, in which Li takes on the three goons that attacked him and Chai-Yun (one of them rapes her), is pretty great. Even though he’s not in it nearly enough, Carl Scott is also good, but why did the makers find it necessary to dub his voice like his Asian co-stars?
In the end, Soul Brothers of Kung Fu does what it’s supposed to do. It entertains fans of martial arts action. Sure, the English dubbing is questionable, but that’s part of the appeal of this particular genre along with the bad sound mixing during the fight scenes. Not all kung fu movies are gold, but the ones that hit the mark make for good times at sleazy, scuzzy grindhouse theaters. It would have been fun to watch Soul Brothers of Kung Fu with a rowdy audience cheering on the hero as he chops, punches, kicks and nunchuks his way through gangs of baddies.
