Overview: Following in the footsteps of VENGEANCE!, Chang Cheh’s second action film set in China’s early Republican era expands on the urban gangster theme with more underworld scheming, basher-style knife fighting and large-scale, bloody brawling. This time it is martial arts star Ti Lung who takes center stage as an exiled gangster returning to his old turf to avenge the murder of his godfather. David Chiang is back to being the enigmatic lone wolf, a hired assassin with a secret agenda, who is on a collision course with Ti Lung. As with his previous film THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, Chang pushes the onscreen body count to the maximum as action directors Tang Chia and Yuen Cheung-yan orchestrate the biggest and bloodiest screen battles yet seen from Shaw Brothers studio.
Detailed Synopsis: On the eve of his retirement, gang boss Shen (Yang Chih-ching) and his two sons, Jen-lin (Ku Feng) and Ren-jie (Ti Lung), lead a bloody attack on a rival faction that’s weakened and mourning the death of its boss. They’re aided by Jian-nan (John Chiang) the “Rambler,” an independent fighter friendly to Shen’s gang. While celebrating their success, Shen and his men suffer a reprisal attack in a restaurant. The attackers are repelled but not before Shen is killed. Fearing police intervention, it’s decided that someone must take the blame for the carnage. Owing a life debt to Shen, his adoptive father, Ren-jie volunteers to take the heat and go into exile. This leaves his brother Jen-lin and the gang’s chief operations man Gan Wen-bin (Chuan Yuan) in charge. Ren-jie is forced to leave behind his girlfriend Hu Die and find work as a coolie in another town. Wen-bin had promised to send Ren-jie money but the only thing he gets is an ambush by gangsters hired to kill him. Ren-jie learns that the men were hired by Wen-bin and returns home to investigate. He returns to find many of his old associates now looking to kill him and his brother reduced to a drunken bum. Worse yet, Hu Die is one of many women forced into prostitution by Wen-bin. While attempting to rescue her from indentured servitude at a brothel, Ren-jie is overwhelmed by Wen-bin’s men and captured. While being beaten and tortured into unconsciousness, Ren-jie learns that the Rambler had been the one that killed his father after being secretly hired by Wen-bin. Ren-jie is subsequently taken outside to be buried alive but is rescued by his brother, his loyal friend Siao Mau (Cheng Kang-yeh) and a masked assailant who turns out to be the Rambler. While recovering from his wounds, Ren-jie is hidden away among the women who were forced into prostitution. Although the Rambler had helped him, Ren-jie vows to kill him in a duel. After regaining his strength, Ren-jie fights his way through the men in charge of the prostitution ring to free the women. He then goes after Wen-bin and his men with Siao Mau in support. The Rambler lingers to ensure that the fight is fair without getting directly involved. Afterwards, Ren-jie and the Rambler settle their differences after the politically-motivated reasons for Shen’s death are revealed. Ren-jie sticks around to help the Rambler fight his battle with men hired by a corrupt senator who had been manipulating the gangs from behind scenes all along.
AKA: Da jue dou, Daai kuet dau, Duel of the Iron Fist, Duel of the Iron Fists, Duel of the Shaolin Fist, Iron Fist Pillage, Revenge of the Dragons, 大决斗
Genre: Crime
Companies: Shaw Brothers
Release Date: April 21, 1971
Producer: Runme Shaw
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Tang Chia, Yuen Cheung-yan
Cast: Ti Lung (Ren Jie), John Chiang (The Rambler/Jian nan), Chuan Yuan (Gan Wen-bin), Wang Ping, Yu Wei
