A young boxer s a martial arts school to increase his skill so he can enter a martial arts competition. He leaves the school when he hears that a local gangster is terrorizing the town. He comes to the aid of a young singer and brings on the wrath of the local gang. He eventually enters the martial arts competition after learning iron palm technique and takes out all competition.
5 Fingers of Death, 철인-죽음의 다섯손가락, Tian xia di yi quan, 천하제일권, Hand of Death, Rautanyrkki, Karatekuningas, Iron Man, King Boxer, Os 5 Dedos da Morte, Mannen med järnhanden, O vasilias tou karate, Tin ha dai yat kuen, Iron Palm, Kingu bokusa: Dai-gyakuten, Żelazna dłoń, Nepremagljivi boksar, Cheol namja, Пять пальцев смерти, King Boxer: Five Fingers of Death, Invincible Boxer, 鐵掌, La Main de fer, Cinque dita di violenza, Zhao, der Unbesiegbare, 죽음의 다섯 손가락, De profesión invencible, Železná dlaň, A halál öt ujja, Король боксу, Tian Xia Di Yi Quan, Cinco Dedos de Violência
Hong Kong 
South Korea15 
Italy 
16 
Denmark 
USAR 
Canada 
12 
ArgentinaATP 
Ireland18 
Sweden15 
Mexico 
Japan 12 16 Argentina Canada Denmark Hong Kong Ireland Italy Japan Mexico South Korea Sweden USA
Every time the opening theme for Ironside was used in this movie, I expected a yellow tracksuit wearing, katana wielding, blonde chick to appear. That never happened. From everything that does happen here, however, it is safe to say Quentin Tarantino saw this movie.
Everything that is great about Shaw Brothers studio's classic run of Martial Arts films distilled into one entertaining, wide appeal release.
The ubiquitous Lo Lieh plays an eager, but soft-spoken young martial arts student named Chi-Hao. The film begins with his master getting roughed up by a group of thugs, and although he wants revenge, Chi-Hao is instead instructed to seek out advanced skills from Suen Hsin-Pei (the always welcome Fang Mian), who runs a local kung fu school. If he can win the martial arts tournament, he'll earn a measure of justice against the rival school run by Meng Tung-Shun (another perfectly pitched villainous turn from Feng Tien), whose goons were responsible for the attack. Plus, he'll earn…
Finally cracking into the Arrow Shawscope Vol 1 boxset and first up is the stone-cold classic King Boxer aka Five Fingers of Death. The template for many similar movies that followed and soon would be the start of the martial arts craze in the 1970s with Enter the Dragon following soon after. It's a simple enough story with Lo Lei as a student who after he learns everything he can from his current master is sent to train with the superior teacher so he can defeat the local tyrant in a martial arts tournament. It's a nice change of pace with Lo Lei playing the hero as he usually is the villain in these movies but there are plenty of…
The film that is often credited with bringing the martial arts movie to a western audience. Five Fingers of Death makes the most of simple plotline - mixing moments of drama with numerous hard hitting fight sequences. We focus on a promising young apprentice who travels to a new martial arts school to improve his skill, but falls foul of the local gangsters on the way. It's a story of honour and revenge - with the concept of "an eye for an eye" being taken quite literally! The basic story is interesting but the film ups the ante with some side plots featuring various rivalries between the numerous characters. There's an array of memorable villains with their own unique styles.…
From the new book
These Fists Break Bricks by Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali:
"On the promotional circuit for her new movie, Paper Moon, a reporter asked ten year-old Tatum O'Neal to name her favorite film.
'Five Fingers of Death!' she gleefully cheered."
This is my first martial arts film and I’m sOOO glad that I liked it. I always thought it wouldn’t be my thing because I thought that it would be veeery repetitive and something was telling me that it wasn’t going to be my thing, but hell it was lmao I was like oKAY WHO’S NEXT WHO’S NEXT THE ENTIRE TIME. I didn’t expect this to be so bloody tho, but I’m not complaining. It was common sense to expect that they would be injured with bruises and stuff but maaan some things that I saw in here were worth of a soft gore movie. Maybe that’s a common thing in kung fu movies, maybe it isn’t (something is telling…
Most certainly falls under the category of 'Can't believe it's taken me this long to scratch this one off the Watchlist.' It goes without saying that "King Boxer" is a film whose reputation precedes it; even so, it's impressive just how well this film holds up after 50+ years. It is, quite simply, one of the best martial arts films ever made and easily one of the most enjoyable Shaw Brothers pictures I've yet to see.
What makes "King Boxer" so good? Well, actor Lo Lieh is certainly a well-cast and capable hero, but a large part of what makes the movie so interesting is how expansive and epic this story is willing to get. We have not one but…
Starting off the year with my Arrow Video Shaw Brothers Box-set. The first one is the legendary King Boxer aka. Five Fingers of Death. One of the biggest Hits Shaw Brothers ever produced. Interestingly, never quite a personal favorite of mine. You know, liked but not loved it. And while I still wouldn’t call it a favorite, I did enjoy it a little more this time around.
Lo Lieh is great. The villains are a really mean bunch. The soundtrack's iconic by now and cinematography very well done. And the fight scenes, while not overly complex, just rock here. Deliciously bloody and over the top at times. The movie does take a little to get going but the second half is almost nonstop fighting galore. And I had a blast!
I was reading Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Magazine #1, which came out in the spring of 1974, and there, nestled between the Shang-chi comic strips, Bruce Lee biography, and an essay about David Carradine's Kung Fu, was a movie review by John David Warner of 5 Fingers of Death, the movie that can truly be said to be the start of the kung-fu craze in America. "Here in New York City, it created somewhat of a sensation," he writes, "with people paying full ission for standing room only!" He loved it and painted a picture of "sitting on the second-floor balcony steps with an audience that...insisted on screaming throughout the entire picture, and I darn well ed them!" In…
Five Fingers of Death more like Five Stars
Get it? 'Cause the movie's good.
A pedra fundamental, a base de toda a saga Kill Bill de Tarantino.
O filme é a fonte até onde a vista alcança de Kill Bill, os golpes mortais, a arrancada de olho, o aprendizado do herói e mais uma lista sem fim.
Uma boa pancadaria com bastante Kung Fu, Karatê e até Judô, o herói não surge como o melhor ou maior lutador, mas também não é alguém que desconhece as artes marciais, suas habilidades vão aumentando ao longo do filme, então aqui temos um ponto divergente dos filmes com Bruce Lee onde o herói já está pronto e aparece como um lutador acima de todos.
Eye snatching motherfuckers run afoul of the Iron Palm architect and his students, but it's best not to mess with a guy whose hands get their own warning siren mic drop. That shit's inevitable. This is one of those that Quentin obsessed over, probably playing at the New Bev next week, so it's got that hyper-violent shit, which is very cool, but not philosophically deep in the way you might expect from a Lau Kar-Leung or a Cheh Chang. Not a bad thing necessarily. More like beer vs wine. Both have got their place. One of these dudes headbutts a tree and it crumbles. Can't hate on that sort of thing.
