MONDO BOOKS
THESE FISTS BREAK BRICKS HOW KUNG FU MOVIES SWEPT AMERICA
(W) Chris Poggiali (A) Na (CA) Na
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.