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Dragon Fist
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $21.65
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Jackie Chan, Nora Miao, James Tien, Lin Yin-Ju, Chiang Kao
Directed By: Wei Lo
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780767875004
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0767875001
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2002-06-04
Running Time: 76
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1980
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best handwork Jackie Chan has ever performed
Comment: During an awesome opening tournament scene with Hsu Hsia taking on all comers, he gets killed, and his student played by Jackie Chan goes to take revenge. He goes with his master's wife and daughter to find the killer. But when he gets there, we find out that this man is very sorry for what he did. There's a bit more to the story, but I don't want to give it away. It's not a great story, but darker than most kung fu movies. I didn't see Jackie smile once. He gives a great acting performance, and an even better fighting performance. This is the most hate I have ever seen from Jackie. No comedy, he just tears people up with his awesome kung fu.
Yen Shi Kwan, Eagle Han Ying, James Tien and Chui Fat also star, and they all give fine performances. This is the best I have ever seen James Tien look next to his performance in Bone Crushing Kid. Jackie worked him really hard on this movie.
3.5/5
The Columbia Tristar DVD has awesome picture quality, a good sounding Chinese dub, and the original oldschool English dub (not one of those crappy dubs you hear sometimes). This version is cut, so if you want to see it uncut you should get the PAL Hong Kong Legends version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very rare "good" early Jackie Chan flick
Comment: Dragon Fist has very well done choregraphy. This is one of his good films with Lo Wei. Jackie was in good physical shape at the time of this movie so there is some pretty sweet acrobatics. His amazing choreography ability shows in every fight scene.
This DVD (Columbia Tristar) has cut the film from its original 95 minutes to 75 minutes. But to make up for it, it does have the original widescreen aspect ratio (2:35:1) and the original Cantonese audio with English subtitles. Although sometimes fight scenes will happen without any explaination, and you don't really get the WHOLE plot. But for the most part, you know what's going on.
If you want the whole story, get the Simitar DVD. That DVD is full screen, but you get its entire version with a pretty good picture quality. But stay away from the Beverly Wilshire DVD. They took Dragon Fist straight from a banged-up VHS without any refinement of the picture whatsoever. Also, the Beverly Wilshire version claims that it's widescreen, but they took it from a full screen version and then cropped the tops and bottoms to make it look "widescreen." So you are better off with a full screen version from Simitar.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dragon Fist (1978)
Comment: This film is really a drama with kung fu in it. Jackie's master is killed so his wife, daughter and Jackie seek revenge on the murderer. When they find him they discover that he's repented his sins and even cut off his leg and penance. The the one-legged master and Jackie join forces to defeat the person who killed Jackie's master.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good drama
Comment: This story is basically a good drama, with action/kung fu scenes supporting the story, which is unusual for a Lo Wei directed Jackie picture and for the Hong Kong 70s kung fu genre as a whole!! Jackie gives a good dramatic performance, though as it is basically his first, is not terrific. Please note the 3 stars are for Jackie and the story, not for the DVD itself. 20 or so minutes (which explains why a lot of the action happens) have been cut from this version. This is typical of US distributed Jackie movies I have found. Check out Amazon.co.uk for recently produced DVDs (including this one) which are not cut. They are PAL format though. If you are a rabid Chan-fan, and like to see Jackie stretching himself a little beyond the typical action/comedy/stunt scenario then this movie is a must see and won't disappoint, even in its reduced format.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent tale of redemption and butt-kicking
Comment: Dragon Fist is a classic tale of redemption and butt-kicking. Even if you've never seen a kungfu movie before, chances are, you'll be familiar with the storyline. I don't want to give the story away, but realize it's the same sort of plot used in many westerns, only instead of cowpokes and gunfights, we have martial artists and kungfu showdowns.Dragon Fist is an early Jackie Chan drama. It's a film he made before he created the genre of comedy chop sokki, and it shows not only can he do comedy, but he can also do a competent job at playing serious parts. My only real qualms about this flick are the dubbing (not bad, but not great, either) and the film quality. The video and sound quality is particularly bad in the beginning fight sequence. The kungfu masters all look about ten feet tall and four inches thick. It's pretty stretched out. In addition, the sound is very muffled, and I had to turn the volume up quite a way in order to understand what was being said. That being said, I do have one other nit-pick: all the kungfu masters wear horrible, obvious wigs! I was waiting for the hair to fly off during one of the many excellent fight choreographies, but it just didn't happen. That stuff is glued down really tight....
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