Essential
Summary
These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World is a must-have for martial arts fans as it really delves into the history of the genre and how it shaped the lives of many kids in America. There are some stunning pieces of art and movie posters printed inside too, so if you love kung fu movies then you need this book ASAP.
Plot: When a major Hollywood studio released Five Fingers of Death to thrill-seeking Times Square moviegoers on March 21, 1973, only a handful of Black and Asian American audience members knew the difference between an Iron Fist and an Eagle’s Claw. That changed overnight as kung fu movies kicked off a craze that would earn millions at the box office, send TV ratings soaring, sell hundreds of thousands of video tapes, influence the birth of hip hop, reshape the style of action we see in movies today, and introduce America to some of the biggest non-white stars to ever hit motion picture screens.
This lavishly illustrated book tells the bone-blasting, spine-shattering story of how these films of fury ― spawned in anti-colonial protests on the streets of Hong Kong ― came to America and raised hell for 15 years before greed, infomercials, and racist fearmongering shut them down.
You’ll meet Japanese judo coaches battling American wrestlers in backwoods MMA bouts at county fairs, black teenagers with razor sharp kung fu skills heading to Hong Kong to star in movies shot super fast so they can make it back to the States in time to start 10th grade, and Puerto Rican karate coaches making their way in this world with nothing but their own two fists.
It’s about an 11-year-old boy who not only created the first fan edit but somehow turned it into a worldwide moneymaker, CIA agents secretly funding a karate movie, the New York Times fabricating a fear campaign about black “karate gangs” out to kill white people, the history of black martial arts in America (“Why does judo or karate suddenly get so ominous because black men study it?,” wondered Malcolm X), the death of Bruce Lee and the onslaught of imitators that followed, and how a fight that started in Japanese internment camps during World War II ended in a ninja movie some 40 years later.
It’s a battle for recognition and respect that started a long, long time ago and continues today in movies like The Matrix, Kill Bill, and Black Panther and here, for the first time, is the full uncensored story.
Review: I’m loving that there are so many people out there who still love old-school martial arts and action movies; there are new books coming out all the time about the genre and I can barely keep up being that I am the slowest reader of all time!
These Fists Break Bricks is utterly essential reading for any martial arts movie fan as this book is not just bout the movies, but the music and the politics surrounding them. Starting from the early days of Hollywood when martial arts was first introduced (and sometimes mocked) this is impeccably researched and authors Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali know more about kung fu movies than I ever could. Speaking of which, I feel like we need to cover more classic fight films on this site, so I’ll try to start doing that in the future.
This book explores the movies of Bruce Lee and his influence on the genre as well as the realm of Brucesploitation which is a genre of movies in itself. They also discuss Billy Jack, kung fu comics and how kids lapped it all up back in the day.
The Foreword by RZA from The Wu Tang Clan discusses how kung fu movies affected his childhood going to the theatre with likeminded fans and despite the sticky floors, he was with his kinfolk who loved being transported away to another time and place. The movies had diversity including multiple female leads, so there was something for everyone. I actually found this book enlightening as being from Scotland watching movies in Times Square was something I never experienced growing up, but this helped me feel like I was a part of it.
There are some incredible movie posters and artwork on every page too making this an easy read despite the impressive length of this tome.
Overall, These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World is an essential purchase for any martial arts fan or just fans of movie history as this is not only entertaining, but educational too helping us feel like a part of something even though we didn’t grow up in that place or time.
