Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly

[masterofoneinchpunch]

35 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

Some impressive notes/posts there @masterofoneinchpunch, overall what did you think of the book?.

Thank you.  I have more notes coming up.  Overall I think it is good.  I like that he put in new research and interviews.  Some of his asides are unprofessional (I quoted several of them) and seemed childish (I take my writing very seriously especially my humour ).  His HK knowledge is weak.  He really should have done more studying in that area as it pertains to the book (and would have helped make a better book, especially in the HK areas). 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

39 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

A lot of the English guys who worked on the first run of James Bond films were Judo guys or grapplers.

Do you think Judo and Karate had eliminated a lot of the more flowery and useless movements?.

...

You can find Judo and Jiu-jitsu references in English and American cinema and books from the 1910s on (I really should finish the article I have started on early MA in Western society).

Yes, in a way.  Karate can be too stiff and cause commitment to mediocre movements.  Like so many systems there are great aspects of them, but can cause you to think too rigid in a system.  Boxing and Muay Thai, have been the biggest influences on stand-up MMA with ground using going to Jiu-jitsu, wrestling and Judo. My personal philosophy has been "vale tudo" what works.

[DrNgor]

Just now, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Like so many systems there are great aspects of them, but can cause you to think too rigid in a system.  Boxing and Muay Thai, have been the biggest influences on stand-up MMA with ground using going to Jiu-jitsu, wrestling and Judo. My personal philosophy has been "vale tudo" what works.

In Jeff Speakman's interview with Scott Adkins, he talked about how kempo is dying because too many teachers want it to be exactly like how it was taught by Ed Parker (we'll ignore the controversy surrounding Sensei Parker for now). Speakman said that he studied jiu-jitsu and started from the lowest ranking and moved up before being confident to incorporate it into his own kempo curriculum.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

The entire Eastern martial arts craze started with Judo. Despite what we have been brainwashed with over the last 70 or so years, that Kung Fu was this ancient secret art that the West had never seen, the Westerners had seen it, and were less than impressed. Even in the 1890's and 1900's people observed Kung Fu matches and swordplay forms and didn't see much there. After Japan invaded China and the martial arts were suppressed there was not much heard about Kung Fu, etc. Then US and English troops went to Japan, Okinawa and Korea and learned Judo and Karate. But Judo had an impressive display when Teddy Roosevelt had Judoka do some matches with US wrestlers. And wrestling was rough back then. Even still the US wrestlers were beaten and Roosevelt took up the sport. When the Chinese wanted to modernize they observed Japan in the 1910 to 1920. Historian Tang Hao found that Chinese arts were way behind. Judo and Jiu Jitsu, as well as Kendo, were much more alive and non theory based. Karate was most likely pretty new. One of the main issues was the Boxer Rebellion. Most likely the practitioners that were left alive were the opera guys, medicine show demonstrators and some security people (and remember, they had guns by the 1800s) not serious masters who fought duels, etc. Karate, however, was from White Crane, an ugly, direct style not, northern Shaolin or Hung Gar, with the flashy tiger crane or flying toe kicks. If you look at the styles that were used by palace guards of the Manchu (no place for flash) it was Baji and later Pa Kua, hence the movies used that internal versus external conflict. These are not flashy styles. 

 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Just now, DrNgor said:

In Jeff Speakman's interview with Scott Adkins, he talked about how kempo is dying because too many teachers want it to be exactly like how it was taught by Ed Parker (we'll ignore the controversy surrounding Sensei Parker for now). Speakman said that he studied jiu-jitsu and started from the lowest ranking and moved up before being confident to incorporate it into his own kempo curriculum.

I'm a big Speakman fan.  I liked how he helped incorporate Filipino weapons into his own curriculum.  

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

4 minutes ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

You can find Judo and Jiu-jitsu references in English and American cinema and books from the 1910s on (I really should finish the article I have started on early MA in Western society).

Yes, in a way.  Karate can be too stiff and cause commitment to mediocre movements.  Like so many systems there are great aspects of them, but can cause you to think too rigid in a system.  Boxing and Muay Thai, have been the biggest influences on stand-up MMA with ground using going to Jiu-jitsu, wrestling and Judo. My personal philosophy has been "vale tudo" what works.

Exactly. Muay Thai is an excellent sport, and at first it looks like only striking, but Muay Thai has neck wrestling and clinching, they are very, very hard to throw, as the Sanda Guys found out. And Sanda guys are GOOD.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

1 minute ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Exactly. Muay Thai is an excellent sport, and at first it looks like only striking, but Muay Thai has neck wrestling and clinching, they are very, very hard to throw, as the Sanda Guys found out. And Sanda guys are GOOD.

Yeah, the plum is one of the most important aspects to learn and work with.  Incorporate this and works so well with people who do not know how to deal with it.

[DrNgor]

20 minutes ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

I liked how he helped incorporate Filipino weapons into his own curriculum.

My Goju-Ryu sensei, Eugene Tibon, is of Filipino descent and comes from a family that had done farming in the San Joaquin valley for a few generations. Apparently fights would apparently break out between rival farmers at the time, and his relatives learned how to use escrima (knife and stick fighting) to defend themselves. He tried to incorporate that into his curriculum.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

3 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

My Goju-Ryu sensei, Eugene Tibon, is of Filipino descent and comes from a family that had done farming in the San Joaquin valley for a few generations. Apparently fights would apparently break out between rival farmers at the time, and his relatives learned how to use escrima (knife and stick fighting) to defend themselves. He tried to incorporate that into his curriculum.

Cool!  Don't forget that Dan Inosanto was born here in Stockton.  I introduced a Filipino friend to escrima weapons in film (and lots of other martial art movies).

[DrNgor]

3 minutes ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Cool!  Don't forget that Dan Inosanto was born here in Stockton.  I introduced a Filipino friend to escrima weapons in film (and lots of other martial art movies).

Wow, Stockton is home to Dan Inosanto, Dennis Dun and Janet Leigh. The late Christopher George (who was in Pieces along with Bruce Le) also was stationed there and set up some businesses there at some point. Great place.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

3 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

Wow, Stockton is home to Dan Inosanto, Dennis Dun and Janet Leigh. The late Christopher George (who was in Pieces along with Bruce Le) also was stationed there and set up some businesses there at some point. Great place.

Well it is one of the most violent areas in the United States.  It is nicknamed "Murder Valley."  I hate that 4 goes through the city (which I drive over quite a bit).  But it is such an interesting place.

[DrNgor]

3 minutes ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Well it is one of the most violent areas in the United States.  It is nicknamed "Murder Valley."  I hate that 4 goes through the city (which I drive over quite a bit).  But it is such an interesting place.

I take it as a Red Badge of Courage that I went through the Stockton Unified School District, including grades 1-3 and 7-8 in downtown Stockton. I'm proud of that violent dump I call my hometown. 

There have been sociology papers written about how people can grow up in Stockton, hate it, get the hell out when it comes time to go to college, and then find themselves back once they're ready to start their career.

Edited January 7, 2021 by DrNgor

[masterofoneinchpunch]

6 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

I take it as a Red Badge of Courage that I went through the Stockton Unified School District, including grades 1-3 and 7-8 in downtown Stockton. I'm proud of that violent dump I call my hometown. 

There have been sociology papers written about how people can grow up in Stockton, hate it, get the hell out when it comes time to go to college, and then find themselves back once they're ready to start their career.

I call it The Modesto Curse as well hee hee (of course you will be the only one that knows what I mean).

Edited January 7, 2021 by masterofoneinchpunch

[masterofoneinchpunch]

“Lo Wei didn’t believe in cooperating with his actors.  He demanded deference and obedience.”
[these two statements really do not correlate] “By most accounts, Lo Wei was a hands-off director, not overly invested in the details of his movies.”
[anecdotal] “One of his students, Larry Hartsell, had told Bruce about a bar brawl where he had tasted his own blood and terrified his opponents.  Bruce loved the story and adopted it into his repertoire.”
[on The Big Boss and on nude sex scene] “This scene with about five minutes of other X-rated material, was cut from the Cantonese-language and international versions released in Hong Kong and the West primarily to appease the censors.”
[Bruce Lee] “…I think our martial arts films have been too heavily influenced by the Japanese…”
[The Invincible Eight actually did well] “Even more than Bruce, Raymond Cho need a hit.  His first five films had done poorly at the box office.”
“Hong Kong audiences were a notoriously touch crowd to please.  They would very vocally curse a bad movie.  Some would even bring knives to the theaters and, if they were disappointed, express it by slicing up their seats.”
[not sure where you can get BO for The Sound of Music in HK] “The Big Boss also smashed the previous box office record held by The Sound of Music.”
[Really; I really hate this] “Everyone else in The Big Boss looks like they are playing patty-cake, while Bruce is a demonic whirlwind.”
[uh what did he direct?] “…Michael Kaye, another Golden Harvest director.”
“In December 1971, Bruce sold his Bel Air home and his Porsche and relocated his family to the Waterloo Hill neighborhood in Kowloon.”
[I really would like this] “…Modern Chivalry Heroes, by the founding father of the martial arts genre, Ping Jiang.”
[a lot of the Japanese villains are Chinese; thinking there is an exception to this.  Any ideas?] “Fist of Fury was the first time a Hong Kong studio had hired Japanese actors to play the villains in an overtly anti-Japanese movie.”
“Fist of Fury was the first and only time Bruce shared an on-screen kiss with a costar…”
“Their on-screen kiss may be the least convincing in film history.”
“Sammo walked away convinced that Bruce was the genuine article, but his pride wouldn’t allow him to say that Bruce was better.”
“Hong Kong was light years behind Hollywood in terms of screenwriting, directing, and production values…”
[Fist of Fury] “It was the first time he demonstrated the nunchaku…”
“It was the first time he introduced his catlike screeches while attacking.  He adopted the exaggerated emotional acting style of Japanese samurai films (chambira).”
[High kicks are used in Northern Chinese styles; not sure what he means by chain kicks] “…nunchakus were an Okinawan weapon, unknown previously in Chian; chambira was Japanese; high chain kicks were used in Korean Tae Kwon Do, not Chinese kung fu;…”
“On December 1, 1971, Bruce and Raymond signed a contract establishing a new satellite company called Concord Productions.  Bruce derived the name from the Roman goddess of harmony, Concordia…”
[on Bruce signing with GH] “When other stars heard, they clamored for similar arrangements, marking the beginning of the end for Shaw’s contract system.
“After Fist of Fury, he acquired a red Mercedes 305SL convertible.”
[first apartment in HK] “…2 Man Wan Road, Sunlight Garden Kowloon…”
“…a 5,700-squre-foot, two-story, eleven-room, gray concrete home on 41 Cumberland Road in the tony suburb of Kowloon Tong…”
“…he’d set the movie in Rome, so it would be the first Hong Kong movie to even film in the West.  The Little Dragon decided to call his directorial debut Enter the Dragon for obvious branding reasons.’
[Actually not as successful as Chang Cheh and Jimmy Wang Yu] “That argument ended the most successful director-star partnership in Hong Kong film history.”
[Way of the Dragon] “Up until this point, no Chinese director had ever filmed in the West.

[DragonClaws]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:04 AM, masterofoneinchpunch said:

You can find Judo and Jiu-jitsu references in English and American cinema and books from the 1910s on (I really should finish the article I have started on early MA in Western society).

 

My Dad has some very oldEnglish  books on health and strength, one of them features an extensive collection of picture guides showing holds & moves for Judo and Jiu Jitsu. If I recall rightly, there's also a guide on how to use a walking stick in self defence. I think there from the Victorian period?, but its sometime since I looked at these.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

6 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

My Dad has some very oldEnglish  books on health and strength, one of them features an extensive collection of picture guides showing holds & moves for Judo and Jiu Jitsu. If I recall rightly, there's also a guide on how to use a walking stick in self defence. I think there from the Victorian period?, but its sometime since I looked at these.

May you please give me the title(s)?  I would really appreciate it.  This sounds awesome (and up all of our alleys -- hmmm this colloquialism may be taken wrong).

[masterofoneinchpunch]

[this is not a kung fu comedy] “…Bruce pioneered a new trend in Hong Kong cinema – the kung fu comedy – which Jackie Chan would later perfect.”
“…instead of working with Lo Wei on Yellow Face Tiger, he feinted toward Run Run Shaw.  They had a meeting that was leaked to the press, which reported that Shaw Bros. was offering Bruce a lucrative deal.”
“…whenever Bruce had a major conflict with Chow, he would meet with Shaw.”
“Sake turned out to be the only type of liquor Bruce consume in quantity, and it became his favorite beverage as the pressures of fame grew heavier.”
“…Kam Yeh Po at Starry Night News criticized Bruce as “arrogant” and “spoiler by his sudden stardom.”  His editorial marked the beginning of the end of Bruce’s honeymoon period with the Hong Kong media.”
“…Bob Wall, a hot-tempered Irishman.”
“Bruce’s thirteen pages of detailed notes and stick figure drawings for the Colosseum fight were partially inspired by the second and third rounds of Muhammad Ali’s boxing match against Cleveland Williams (1966).”
[uh, Bruce Lee grew up as an entertainer] “Unlike Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who grew up as entertainers…’
“To appease the star and director, Thomas let Bruce dub the voice of the African American henchman who threatens the Chinese waiters in the restaurant.”
[ummmm no] “It was 1972  -- cigarettes were still considered healthy, even for athletes.”
[This is just stupid, it was a top 10 film for HK, it just was not near as popular as Way of the Dragon] “One month after Way of the Dragon, Lo Wei and Jimmy Wang Yu released their movie.  It barely made HK$2 million at the box office.”
“Bruce’s feint to Shaw secured the green light from Chow for Game of Death.”
“As Bruce continued shooting the pagoda scenes for Game of Death from late August to mid-October 1972 without a script…”
“When The Big Boss was released on October 3, 1971, Bruce suddenly became the most famous person in Southeast Asia.”
[I don’t think this is the reason; more research needed] “The triads were not as involved in the Hong Kong movie business in the early 1970s as they would later become in the 1980s and 1990s, because Run Run Shaw had a monopoly over the industry.”
“…Bruce began wearing a hidden buckle knife.”
“…began carrying a gun for protection.”
[Hong Kong is a little more difficult to summarize than this] “This post-racial sentiment didn’t sit well with m any Chinese who were still struggling to find their pride as a people after centuries of colonial rule.”
[post-Marxist drivel] “To the Chinese, body hair is associated with otherness.”
“Upon his return, Bruce, whom Ip Man had nicknamed “Upstart,” went to his master’s school to demonstrate the superiority of Jeet Kune Do.”
[He does not understand this] “The Cultural Revolution in mainland China (1966-76) as upending that power relationship with children turning on their parents, students on their teachers, and disciples on their master.  Its reverberations were being felt in Hong Kong, terrifying the authorities.  By espousing individual freedom and a rejection of tradition, Bruce had aligned himself philosophically with the youth revolt.”
“On December 2, 1972, Ip Man died, and Bruce Lee failed to attend the funeral.”
“When Ip Man died, they deliberately did not tell him about the funeral, making him lose face with his fans.”
“On the seventh day after a Chinese funeral, the equivalent of a wake is held at the person’s home, because it is believed that the spirit of the dead comes back on that day.”
[Enter the Dragon] “…Hollywood had sold movies to the Chinese market but had never worked with Hong Kong.”
[on Shih Kien being chosen; I’m not sure of this, not sure of his source either which I cannot find] “The choice was deliberate: Bruce wanted to signal to his Chinese audience that he was the inheritor of Wong Fei-hung’s mantle.”
[Betty Ting Pei] “Afterward, he broke off their relationship and banned her form the Golden Harvest lot.”
“When Bruce was growing up, the only people the average Chinese hated more than the British were the Chinese police officers who enforced, often corruptly, their unequal laws.”

[DragonClaws]

8 hours ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

May you please give me the title(s)?  I would really appreciate it.  This sounds awesome (and up all of our alleys -- hmmm this colloquialism may be taken wrong).

 

I'm currently unable to get to see my parents due to Covid-19. However, I will ask my father about the book the next time I call him.

Edited January 8, 2021 by DragonClaws

[Yihetuan]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:29 AM, DrNgor said:

My Goju-Ryu sensei, Eugene Tibon, is of Filipino descent and comes from a family that had done farming in the San Joaquin valley for a few generations. Apparently fights would apparently break out between rival farmers at the time, and his relatives learned how to use escrima (knife and stick fighting) to defend themselves. He tried to incorporate that into his curriculum.

I wonder if his family was involved in the Watsonville riots in the '30s. Apparently, a lot of the white farmers were upset that the filipino workers were shacking up with white women.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Yihetuan

[masterofoneinchpunch]

[um this is not just American] “The Chinese disliked the Americans’ arrogant attitude and tendency to yell at underlings.”
[It was dubbed] “If Five Fingers of Death, a subtitled movie with an entirely Chinese cast, could generate decent box office returns in America…”
“On February 1, 1973, while filming Enter the Dragon, he took out a five-year limited life insurance policy from American International Assurance Company in the amount of US$200,000.  On April 30, 1973, after the movie finished and tall the huge offers began flooding in, he took out a second, much larger policy from Lloyd’s of London in the amount of US$1,350,000.”
“May 10, 1073” “”In the stalls, he pulled out a bag of Nepalese has and ate some of it.”
“…deduced edema (swelling of the brain).  Dr. Wu administered Mannitol to reduce the swelling.”
“Research since then has proved that cannabis does not cause cerebral edema or lead to death.”
[BL suffered from]
…grand mal idiopathic…”
“And a month prior to his collapse, Bruce underwent surgery to have the sweat glands remove from his armpits…”
“Bruce decided he would split his time between American and Hong Kong, making one Hollywood and one Chinese movie per year.”
“Having his family on another continent would also allow him a great deal more freedom when he was in Hong Kong.”
[the source is her so I’m not completely trustworthy of it] “Betty had not heard about Bruce’s collapse, and he didn’t tell her he had nearly died.”
“In truth, Lazenby had blown all his Bond money and only came to Hong Kong because he had heard its movie industry was happening.”
“Dr. Chu insisted that the “patient” be taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which was twenty-five minutes away, rather than the much closer Baptist…”
[Betty Ting Pei; I believe she knew his condition] “Deeply upset, she could not bring herself to ask about his condition.”
“Given the consistency of Raymond’s and betty’s later testimony, it seems likely he had already coached her in what to say.”
“…two items he [Dr. Lycette] found in Bruce’s stomach: remnants of the Equagesic pill and small traces of cannabis (hash).”
“British officials didn’t care why some Chinese kung fu actor had died; they cared about quelling the unrest and maintaining control.”
[this is normal] “If one strategic goal of the coroner’s inquest was to bore the public into submission, the plan worked.”
“…Professor Teare had developed an alternative hypothesis as to the cause of death – one that had been mentioned in passing during the inquest by Dr. Chu but never brought up again – hypersensitivity to Equagesic.”
“His risk factor was increased by sleep deprivation, extreme weight loss, and the recent surgical removal of his armpit sweat glands.”
“…neither cannabis nor meprobamate is known to cause cerebral edema.”
[Relatively speaking; more expensive than say than Taiwanese MA films] “Cheaply made Hong Kong kung fu flicks, what Variety would call “chopsocky,” became a cultural phenomenon, breaking out of the urban grindhouses into suburban multiplexes.”
“Three episodes of The Green Hornet were stitched together, prefaced with footage from Lee’s screen test, and released as a theatrical movie in November 1974.”
[Bruce Le] “…The Dragon Dies Hard (1975)…”
[this seems stupid] “…posters of Bruce Lee to place on dorm room walls next to Che Guevara.”
[Too simplistic; look at BO of Michael Hui for example] “Bruce saved Golden Harvest and shattered Shaw’s monopoly.”
[Stretching a bit here] “Chuck Norris was the white Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung the chubby Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan the funny Bruce Lee.”
[First it was more Taiwanese, later Philippines, second Chan was affordable until 1978] “Shady independent Hong Kong producers who couldn’t afford Norris, Chan, or Hung sought to cash in on the Lee phenomenon by hiring Bruce Lee look-alike actors …

[masterofoneinchpunch]

And now I'm finished:

[not even close; just look at Tower of Death] “The best of Bruceploitation genre turned out to be Game of Death (1978).”
[check] “He became the first Chinese American male actor to star in a Hollywood movie and the first Asian since the advent of sound.  It took a quarter of a century before another Chinese actor, Jackie Chan, was able to repeat this extraordinary feat.”
[Um, there are problems with Fu Manchu especially but he is non of these things; Chan is awesome and Chan was never non-aggressive or submissive; serious misreading of both of these characters] “Prior to Bruce, it was only Fu Manchu, the Yellow Peril Villain, and Charlie Chan, the model minority.  These two tired representations reinforced the stereotype of the Chinese male as submissive, non-aggressive, and physically and sexually inferior…”
[John Wick is mostly influenced by Judo] “…the kung fu film, which continues to thrive, as evidenced by The Matrix, Kill Bill, and John Wick.”
“The Hong Kong statue of Bruce Lee was the second erected in the world.  The first was unveiled a day earlier in, of all places, the city of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina.”

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Everyone, do you have any issue with the errata I wrote?  I'm debating on sending it to the author (only the errata).

[De Ming Li]

You wouldn’t in a million years think that there is a Bruce Lee statue in Bosnia!

[Drunken Monk]

This isn't exactly the most burning question I've ever had but Polly's wording irked me as it didn't explain things properly.
Polly addresses Bruce's undescended testicle but later says "It was removed." By that, does he mean it was "descended" by a doctor or does he mean the undescended testicle was removed entirely and Bruce was left with one?

Again, the state of Bruce's bollocks aren't the most important thing in the world but this bit of language just didn't sit well with me.

[Cognoscente]

On 1/13/2021 at 12:09 AM, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Everyone, do you have any issue with the errata I wrote?  I'm debating on sending it to the author (only the errata).

You might like this other thread where Polly wanted people to help him make corrections.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bruceleelivestributeforum/viewtopic.php?p=28654#p28654

 

On 5/9/2018 at 8:34 PM, Fist of the Heavenly Sky said:

The affairs are an open secret, yes, but I suppose we didn't expect the Little Dragon to be this loose. It certainly doesn't help that Linda apparently did not bat an eye to any of this, and still went out of her way to paint this very unrealistic perfect image of her late husband. 

By the time that it was February 1973, the HK press didn't seem to mind facilitating this image.