The Bloody Fists is a Jimmy L. Pascual film released by Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd. at a time when martial arts films were still big business getting bigger every day, thanks in large part because Bruce Lee was still around to lead the way. In The Bloody Fists Chen Sing plays a brutal robber reluctant to be a hero, Henry Yu Yung plays a young villager who is nobly heroic, and Chen Kuan Tai portrays a villainous Japanese gang leader like nobody’s business. The Bloody Fists is also known as Death Beach and after a showdown between Chan Sing and Chen Kuan Tai both titles are sufficiently earned.

We are first introduced to Chan Wu Ger (Chan Sing / Chen Sing) when he attempts to rob a motorist but discovers it was an elaborate trap set up by a police captain intent on his capture. While we don’t see Chan Wu Ger actually kill any of the officers he does use one as a shield when the police captain fires on him. It seems to fit with the mentality of this criminal character to make a police man kill a police man while trying to kill him. We soon learn that Chan Wu Ger is a notorious sort of folk-bandit that the countryside has nick-named "On The Wing" because he always seems to get away with the most audacious escapes.

Either Chan Sing was hamming it up a bit, or his character as written by Ng See-Yuen really was meant to be as vain about his appearance, or maybe a bit of both. Before Chan Wu Ger gets into a fight he always takes out his comb and very dramatically and smugly combs his hair with a tough guy attitude, then breaks it and throws it away. This kind of thing normally shouldn’t work, but Chan Sing makes it work. It furthers his portrayal of a more complex than usual anti-hero. He does this when fighting with the police officers at the beginning and also when fighting the Japanese at the end.

A no good exile from the village that had fallen in with Japanese and Japanese criminals at that, Pai Chin San (Suen Lam) returns to the village that ran him out years before. He brings with him these Japanese friends who have a plan. They let it be known that they are setting up a martial arts school, but that is just a ruse for their real intentions. They want to takeover control of the village’s production of Dragon Herb, which is crucial in combating a plague sweeping the country. After which, they will turn over the only fields that can grow this Dragon Herb and set up their opium operation in place.

While there is an attempt to give the film a period feel, the actual time is never really made specific. It is at least turn of the century, but way before World War II. The few gun appearances look World War I era, but some of the vehicles look post World War I. There was Bubonic plague in parts of China from about 1910-1912 and also in1946. At a guess then I would say the film’s events were supposed to be around 1910. As for the "Dragon Herb" that is important to the story that can be a guessing game as well, because there are a lot of things in Chinese herbalism that may be broadly classified as ‘Dragon Herb’ which may actually treat some symptoms of the plague, while some may not.

The leader of these Japanese criminals is Okinagwa (Chen Kuan Tai) who wears a lower-face mask and gloves for much of the movie. When things heat up and it looks like he needs to do what his men can’t he removes his mask and eventually the gloves come off as well. This removal of his lower-face mask and his gloves has a similar sort of self-obsessed narcissistic reveal of his character as does it seems Chan Wu Ger’s combing his hair then breaking his comb.

Chan Wu Ger wanders into the village after his escape and decides to rest there. While there he sees the Japanese putting on an invitation tournament where one of the villager’s is losing his fight to a Japanese opponent. Without anyone seeing he takes one of the coins he has stolen and throws it at the Japanese fighter, ending the fight in some confusion, but saving the villager further beating. He tries to appear as much as he can to be a mere wanderer and stay out of what is going on. He overhears some of the Japanese talking about their eventual plans but is still unmoved. He is satisfied to leave it for the three Yu brothers to handle because he must be on his way before the law picks up his trail.

Chan Wu Ger’s departure doesn’t come off as planned. Barely into the countryside he comes down with the plague and is retrieved by the village mute, played by Hon Gwok Choi. While in the village Chan Wu Ger treated the mute with respect and he returns that by bringing him back to be treated. The character of the mute could easily have been cardboard, because many times such characters are written pretty cardboard, but Hon Gwok Choi makes you feel something for the character.

Incidents of torture and murder escalate in the village. The Japanese want the ‘Dragon Herb’ and they will get it anyway they can. One of the Yu brothers is whipped, and another is tied to a post with his legs out ankles resting on bricks stacked higher and higher. This is all gleefully encouraged by the Chinese traitor, Pai Chin San. This all fuels the fury of Henry Yu Yung’s character, Yu Yang.

Suen Lam plays Pai Chin San as the ultimate sell-out sleaze to great you-love-to-hate-him effect. He doesn’t care about his country’s security, his village’s safety, or the sadness he causes his mother for his actions. He doesn’t even care about his sister: when his own sister is being raped by one of his Japanese masters and he interrupts unintentionally to bring him news, he actually apologizes for the interruption and bids him get back to it.

When Chan Wu Ger is better and once again intends to leave he sees the dead villagers who were killed for standing up against the Japanese, one of them being the mute. Chan Wu Ger feels challenged to do something. It is painfully obvious to him that people who took care of him, some even suspecting who he really was, aren’t able to defend themselves alone and the stakes are too great if the village falls to the Japanese and the plague spreads further in China. And whatever he is, he IS Chinese.

The Japanese bring the men of the village to the beach and tie them to posts. It is a bloody waiting game they play. For every time they are not told the location of the Dragon Herb one of them will be killed. This is the setting for Chan Wu Ger’s arrival and the showdown between him and the Japanese, and for Yu Yang’s combat with Pai Chin San.

There are a few twists that precede Chan Wu Ger’s fight to the death with Okinagwa, which adds a bit more weight to the event. Chan Sing and Chen Kuan Tai put on a pretty brutal show. Initially their characters fight hand to hand, but soon weapons are brought out. Okinagwa uses nunchaku, while Chan Wu Ger wields a blade that looks like a sai.

Okinagwa’s use of the nunchaku employs both offensive attack and defensive moves against Chan Wu Ger’s blade. Chan Wu Ger’s use of the sai provides some defense in turn however as the kusari (chain) get jammed in between the blade and the side guards. The point at which Okinagwa spins the nunchaku around Chan Wu Ger’s wrist, then grabs both two-section handles like a vice to inflict damage.

It doesn’t end with weapons though. They get discarded during the course of the fight and Chan Wu Ger and Okinagwa get back to hand to hand combat. There is a minimum of off-screen trampoline leaps and a concentration on bashing until one is left standing.

The Bloody Fists features a seemingly unlikely hero in the character of Chan Wu Ger, a notorious crook on the run from the law. Heroism doesn’t come naturally to the narcissistic and vicious Chan Wu Ger. Anti-heroes were not so new for martial arts films even then, but the way Chan Wu Ger’s character is written has some cleverness to it.

For all of Chan Wu Ger’s lawbreaking he is still Chinese. It is his core self-identifier as Chinese that comes into play and sways him to ‘the side of the angels’ when a Japanese drug gang shows up and stakes their claim upon a helpless Chinese village that proved his refuge for a time. While he is an unrepentant crook, he is Chinese first.

Not everything Pascual touched was gold, but for a time there was a cluster of films with some cast and crew overlapping that were better than what one would have thought their low budget would have allowed. Jimmy L. Pascual had a hand in some pretty good films around this time.

He produced Kung Fu – The Invincible Fist aka Tiger Vs. Dragon (1972) which starred Chan Sing and Yasuaki Kurata which was also directed by Ng See Yuen. He directed and produced Fist Of The Double K aka Fist To Fist (1973), which starred Henry Yu Yung and had action direction from Yuen Woo Ping. He produced The Awaken Punch (1973) starring Henry Yu Yung and that also had action direction by Yuen Woo ping. Anyone who likes this film will most likely appreciate these three films, and vice versa ( Kung Fu – The Invincible Fist, Fist Of The Double K, and Awaken Punch have also been reviewed by me, here at Firefox News ).