Rage of the Wind (1973)

A Chinese boxing champion returns home from America to find that Japanese nationals are oppressing the people of his village. Chan Kuan’s hopes of leaving his fighting days behind him are ruined by Taga, the brutal Japanese boss who threatens to burn the village’s fishing junks and kill his wife.

The Rage of Wind is another in a long and increasingly tiresome line of Japanese vs. Chinese films where the Japanese are uniformly portrayed as villainous. The film’s saving grace is a final lakeshore battle featuring some satisfying, down and dirty “Southern style” Chinese boxing.

Homely Chen Sheng stars as Chan Kuan, a professional boxer who is returning to China with his American wife (Irene Ryder) after accidentally killing the son of his benefactor in a match. We learn this in a clumsy exchange between the couple as their boat approaches Chan’s village. About the same time, Taga, the occupying Japanese leader at the village has also returned to find one of his own men killed by Chan’s nephew.

Unlike many of the actors playing Japanese, Taga is played by a real Japanese actor named Yasuarki Kurota (aka Shoji Kurota). Kurota should be familiar to martial arts film fans for numerous turns as the Japanese villain in Hong Kong films from Heroes of the East (1978) to Fist of Legend (1994). Although friend and Aussie martial arts star, Richard Norton has called Kurota a “fine gentleman,” his characters are rarely less than frigidly vicious. With wincing eyes, a disarming smile and potent martial arts skill, Kurota is the most charismatic in a relatively mundane cast of usual chopsocky suspects.

The remainder of the story is a lifeless series of confrontations between Taga, his one-dimensional lackeys, Chan, and the nearly helpless townsfolk. Having taken all he can stomach with his wife kidnapped, his uncle murdered, and the townsfolk’s livelihood nearly torched, the fun finally kicks in as Chan runs down to the beach (?) to find Taga waiting for one final match. The two spare in a long, grueling unarmed melee until Taga busts out the nunchuku for some bone-crushing action. But thanks to the village idiot, played by Han Kuo Chai who rarely plays anything but, Chan receives a good old piece of hickory to dole out justice in the nick of time.

This is a purely average, early ’70’s kung fu flick with few distinguishing features. Amusingly, the ripped soundtrack does include a variety of tunes including some unidentifiable yet obvious horror music and even a track from synth-soundmeisters, Tangerine Dream. Largely, The Rage of Wind’s only true selling points are actor Yasuarki Kurota’s presence and his violently satisfying, elbow-busting fight to the finish with Chen Sheng.