THE FIST OF DEATH; THE FURY OF THE KARATE EXPERTS (BOTH 1982)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

The last two movies starring the original Santo are really one movie on the same subject matter, with the same director and most of the same cast-members. Both FIST and FURY take place in some unidentified jungle (possibly somewhere in Asia, since two character have Asian-sounding names), where a small cult of devotees center their religion around a glowing rock from outer space. A flashback establishes that this cultus originally boasted twin priestesses, one of whom has the Spanish-sounding name of "Queria" while the other has the Chinese-sounding name of "Kungyan." You can tell that Queria is the good twin because she wears white, while Kungyan is destined to be the villain because she wears black. (Both are played by the same actress, buxom burlesque performer Grace Renat.)

The cause of the sisters' disaffection, however confusing, is the only scene in the two films that has even minor mythic content. Apparently these are alien entities linked to the magical stone, for they decide to send an emissary to Earth known as "Jungle Girl." She appears on Earth as a little girl of perhaps two years, and although the priestesses find her in the jungle, they don't raise her themselves, but allow her to be raised by a local tribe of friendly wolves. It almost seems like the author was seeking to mash up the Immaculate Conception with the story of Tarzan.

 Queria and Kungyan also learn that when Jungle Girl matures, she's destined to marry a local prince named Cheng. For some reason, this pisses off Kungyan the Black, so she leaves the cult with her hulking henchman (played by another wrestler, Tinieblas). But she considerately waits until Jungle Girl grows up and is about to marry Cheng, at which point Kungyan and her allies-- some of whom are demons-- abduct Jungle Girl (who can't do crap to defend herself) and steal the magical stone. So Queria calls in the Mexican hero Santo to sort things out.

While this rocky storyline might have given birth to some demented fantasy-material during Santo's heyday, FIST just meanders around in between extremely lackluster fights while the priestesses utter New Agey dialogue. FURY is pretty the same thing, and almost the same plot (Kungyan just goes back and steals the magic stone again). The actor playing Santo, then in his sixties, understandably doesn't have much of his old mojo, and Cheng, the only actual "karate expert" in either film, doesn't distinguish himself either. One distinction of the second film is that a minor character is played by Rene Cardona, best known for directing at least two dozen luchadore flicks, some of which starred Santo.

I find myself wondering who the filmmakers thought was their audience. Did Mexican kids of the eighties really care about a sixty-year-old icon blundering his way through a silly jungle-setting? It may be that aging Mexican baby boomers were the real target, though there's damn little in either film that would engage forty-something adults. It's a strange conclusion to the career of Santo (except for a later cameo in another movie), though at least it sports a few curiosities that lift it above total formula.