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In a 1973 film that bares many similarities to Bruce Lee's debut film The Big Boss, The Awaken Punch's Henry Yu Yang plays an altruistic fighter who begins to build a name for himself as he violently cleans up a town from within its more seedier elements. But when he must abide by a promise to his dying father to give up his fighting ways, he will be faced with a new challenge in the arrival of the knife-throwing master Tien Feng (Fist of Fury) and his gang. With action from the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and a cameo from a young Jackie Chan and others, this basher is the epitome of the Punch and Block violence that began a long trend within Martial Arts cinema. USA aka title: Fury of the Black Belt. The Prodigal Boxer (1972) is an early take on the legend of martial artist Fong Sai-Yuk (later to be portrayed by the likes of Jet Li and Alexander Fu-Sheng), here played by Mang Fei. Once Fong Inadvertently kills a student of the rival school run by Iron Hand Tan (Kurata Yasuaki), this action leads to a series of near death confrontations between the men concluding in a tournament battle of the ages. Choreographed by Shaw Brothers' Lau Kar-Wing (the brother of the great Gordon Liu and Lau Kar-Leung) this film represents the brawling style of the time as well as the genesis of the more stylistic "Shapes" trend of martial arts action that would soon follow.

Bonus Materials

• Audio Commentary on The Prodigal Boxer with actor/director Michael Worth and Clones Cast/Cinema Bushido host Matthew Whittaker
• Creative Chaos: The Basher Genre: an interview with Michael Worth and Action Choreographer John Kreng
• Original Theatrical Trailers to both films
• Essays on the Basher genre within Kung Fu Cinema History

Sales Points

• NEW 4k Transfer from a 35mm inter-positive print of The Awaken Punch
• NEW 4k Transfer from a 35mm negative of The Prodigal Boxer
• Newly commissioned artwork from artist Bryan Meredith
• For Fans of Bruce Lee
• Comparable to films like The Big Boss (1971), Fists of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973)!

Press Quotes

You have to give VCI credit for trying to appeal to a certain niche demographic with these Pearl River releases, and the contributions of Michael Worth continue to be, well, worthwhile. Worth is in both on a commentary and featurette on the disc containing The Prodigal Boxer, and the featurette in particular is a rather interesting (if relatively brief) analysis of the "evolution" of the martial arts film from its supposed genesis in the 1920s through what Worth terms its "basher" phase, which Worth in turn avers paved the way for such icons as Bruce Lee.

     —Blu-ray.com

Tales of revenge and honor with fight scenes of furious energy and some genuinely striking stylization. And the restorations are stunning, particularly considering the shoddiness with which these pictures are all too typically dumped onto disc.

     —The Playlist