Fist of Fear, Touch of Death
TV reporter Adolph Caesar is outside Madison Square Garden before the start of a martial arts tournament that will apparently determine the "successor" to the legacy of Bruce Lee. He interviews martial arts promoter Aaron Banks, who says that Lee was actually killed by a kung fu move called "The Touch of Death." Banks describes the move as being effective in "three to four weeks." The segment contains a sequence of flashbacks to Bruce Lee ostensibly supporting Banks' assertion. In one, a poorly dubbed Lee states "the secret to karate is power, internal power from the ear!"
From inside Madison Square Garden, Caesar discusses the competitors (including Bill Louie, who, while in the ring, apparently pokes an opponents eyes out and flings them into the audience). He talks about the legacy of Bruce Lee, and shows what he describes as "interview footage" he did with Lee shortly before his death; the next scene is footage of Lee from the TV show Longstreet with new dialogue awkwardly dubbed in. Then, Caeser flashes back to earlier in the day, where action star Fred Williamson seen having to traverse through a number of obstacles to get to the tournament while being repeatedly mistaken for Harry Belafonte. Next, Ron Van Clief is also profiled and interviewed. Van Clief is then seen saving a woman from being raped in a New York park.
The middle section of the film is devoted to "The Bruce Lee Story," a chronicle of Bruce Lee's early years in China, where he is depicted as being "karate crazy," much to the dismay of his parents. The footage from this section of the story is from the 1957 Bruce Lee film Thunderstorm, which has also been redubbed. This act of the presentation purports that Lee was learning karate to live up to the legacy of his great grandfather, who was "one of China's greatest Samurai masters" (an anachronism as China did not actually have Samurai, these were in fact Japanese warriors). The life of Lee's grandfather is also portrayed in this act at alternating points, in scenes lifted from Invincible Super Chan. Later, Lee leaves home and lands a career as an actor. This segues into a scene of Bill Louie, dressed as Kato from The Green Hornet, saving two female joggers from being raped by a gang near the World War II memorial in Battery Park in broad daylight. This segment ends after Louie apparently murders the last conscious gang member with a throwing star.
After Caesar announces the conclusion of "The Bruce Lee Story," the film transitions back to Madison Square Garden, where a number of performers are showcased. Caesar interviews Fred Williamson, who denounces the idea of a contest to determine Bruce Lee's successor.
The grande finale is devoted to a two-round kickboxing match, in which Louis Neglia reigns victorious. Adolph Caesar concludes the film with a final thought.
blaxploitation, cult, grindhouse film, satire