Read Online Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book by Ric Meyers - Free Book Online
Authors: Ric Meyers
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using the “Death Touch,” or poisoned by jealous rival studios. There were tales of his involvement with gangsters and drug pushers. In short, no one could believe that their idol, their “Chinese Superman,” had died naturally. He had to have been killed by some sort of insidious supervillain or because of an elaborate conspiracy.
Enter the Dragon premiered in the U.S. during the summer of 1973, then opened in Hong Kong in October. In the meantime, a small distributing company, National General, had secured the rights to present Lee’s earlier films to the American public. The movies were dubbed, and the Chinese titles translated. The Big Boss was supposed to be called The Chinese Connection , and Fist of Fury was to be called Fists of Fury. But, with the care and consideration customarily reserved for “chop-socky” flicks, the titles were switched. Now The Big Boss was Fists of Fury and Fist of Fury was The Chinese Connection. That’s how American audiences saw the features, and that’s how American audiences still know them … by the wrong titles. Soon after, Way of the Dragon came to U.S. shores as Return of the Dragon — promoted, of course, as a sequel to Enter the Dragon … although made before that film.
Bruce Lee was the most successful Chinese star in the world — a month after he was already dead. Still, decades later, people don’t believe the “official” cause of his death. They maintain that drugs had to be part of his downfall. While it is impossible to say for certain that Bruce Lee did not use drugs, Fred Weintraub was definite in his opinion: “Let me tell you that Bruce would never put anything into his body that would hurt him. I had him examined at UCLA the week before he died. He was in great shape. He had an aneurism. That happens to people under the age of thirty-five.”
Mike Stone echoes Weintraub’s sentiments. “I’ve met several people with Bruce’s intensity and, interestingly enough, those people died quite young. But the unique thing about Bruce was that his belief in himself, and the intensity with which he did things, was always at a peak. He had a tremendous faith in himself and a belief in his ability.”
Sadly, the Chinese film industry could not let their hero go honorably. They chose to remember him by mounting literally dozens of quickie, rip-off productions that purportedly showed the king back in action, or told his life story. Even the best of these films were pretty bad, if for nothing else than they were being made at all. Asian hackmeisters recruited Ho Tsung-tao , an otherwise credible actor with good martial arts skills, to become “Bruce Li” in a series of undistinguished (but fun) adventures like Bruce Lee Superdragon (1974), Goodbye Bruce Lee , His Last Game of Death (1975), Exit the Dragon , Enter the Tiger (1976), and Bruce Lee Against Supermen (1977).
These movies can be entertaining in a ludicrous way. One never knows when a Bruce Lee “clone” will appear behind trademark sunglasses (as in Exit the Dragon , when the “real” Bruce Lee asks Bruce Li to solve his murder if he just so happens to get killed in the near future) or when mountain gorillas will rise on their hind legs and fight kung fu-style (as in 1977’s Shaolin Invincibles ).
Following hot on Bruce Li’s heels was Bruce Le, originally named Huang Kin-lung . At least Li was a decent performer — an actor who was able to shake his Lee clone mantle in subsequent years to act in better, more respectable, productions. Le is not the former and has not done the latter. Le is a wooden screen presence, sinking any scene in which he isn’t swinging his fists or feet. In addition, he seems content to toil in exploitive garbage, trading on both his slight physical resemblance and willingness to go through Bruce’s superficial motions. The directors and writers of these travesties manage to sink anything their star can’t. Certainly there are defenders and fans of these efforts,
Enter the Dragon premiered in the U.S. during the summer of 1973, then opened in Hong Kong in October. In the meantime, a small distributing company, National General, had secured the rights to present Lee’s earlier films to the American public. The movies were dubbed, and the Chinese titles translated. The Big Boss was supposed to be called The Chinese Connection , and Fist of Fury was to be called Fists of Fury. But, with the care and consideration customarily reserved for “chop-socky” flicks, the titles were switched. Now The Big Boss was Fists of Fury and Fist of Fury was The Chinese Connection. That’s how American audiences saw the features, and that’s how American audiences still know them … by the wrong titles. Soon after, Way of the Dragon came to U.S. shores as Return of the Dragon — promoted, of course, as a sequel to Enter the Dragon … although made before that film.
Bruce Lee was the most successful Chinese star in the world — a month after he was already dead. Still, decades later, people don’t believe the “official” cause of his death. They maintain that drugs had to be part of his downfall. While it is impossible to say for certain that Bruce Lee did not use drugs, Fred Weintraub was definite in his opinion: “Let me tell you that Bruce would never put anything into his body that would hurt him. I had him examined at UCLA the week before he died. He was in great shape. He had an aneurism. That happens to people under the age of thirty-five.”
Mike Stone echoes Weintraub’s sentiments. “I’ve met several people with Bruce’s intensity and, interestingly enough, those people died quite young. But the unique thing about Bruce was that his belief in himself, and the intensity with which he did things, was always at a peak. He had a tremendous faith in himself and a belief in his ability.”
Sadly, the Chinese film industry could not let their hero go honorably. They chose to remember him by mounting literally dozens of quickie, rip-off productions that purportedly showed the king back in action, or told his life story. Even the best of these films were pretty bad, if for nothing else than they were being made at all. Asian hackmeisters recruited Ho Tsung-tao , an otherwise credible actor with good martial arts skills, to become “Bruce Li” in a series of undistinguished (but fun) adventures like Bruce Lee Superdragon (1974), Goodbye Bruce Lee , His Last Game of Death (1975), Exit the Dragon , Enter the Tiger (1976), and Bruce Lee Against Supermen (1977).
These movies can be entertaining in a ludicrous way. One never knows when a Bruce Lee “clone” will appear behind trademark sunglasses (as in Exit the Dragon , when the “real” Bruce Lee asks Bruce Li to solve his murder if he just so happens to get killed in the near future) or when mountain gorillas will rise on their hind legs and fight kung fu-style (as in 1977’s Shaolin Invincibles ).
Following hot on Bruce Li’s heels was Bruce Le, originally named Huang Kin-lung . At least Li was a decent performer — an actor who was able to shake his Lee clone mantle in subsequent years to act in better, more respectable, productions. Le is not the former and has not done the latter. Le is a wooden screen presence, sinking any scene in which he isn’t swinging his fists or feet. In addition, he seems content to toil in exploitive garbage, trading on both his slight physical resemblance and willingness to go through Bruce’s superficial motions. The directors and writers of these travesties manage to sink anything their star can’t. Certainly there are defenders and fans of these efforts,
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