Member Alan C Posted April 14, 2020 Member Share Posted April 14, 2020 (edited) It's almost criminal how, in the last 47 years, there's been no genuine in depth study of Bruce Lee's filmography. While the fight scenes in his movies are meticulously scrutinized, little attention is paid to the films as a whole. A few books deviate from this practice: Robert Clouse's The Making of Enter The Dragon, John Little's A Warrior's Journey ( the companion book to the documentary whose final chapters reveal Lee's script treatment/choreography notes for his uncompleted Game of Death project) and Lou Gaul's The Fist That Shook The World (a wonderful primer on the subtext of Lee's martial art films). For the most part, though, Bruce Lee's body of work as an actor/filmmaker has long been overshadowed by his cult of personality. Because of this, the thematic undertones found in his cinematic oeuvre is often neglected -- and that's odd, considering the global impact he had on cinema. This negligence, in part, stems from the misconception that Lee's film characters were interchangeable -- a judgement rooted in their shared physical characteristics ie hairstyle, facial gestures, combat stances, and signature war cries. The trademarks then became the brand, and wound up eclipsing all nuance he gave his roles. As a result, he's never been truly recognized as an actor, but rather a martial athlete who brought his existing persona to each film. Fact: Lee never once duplicated the same character in his six adult films (arguably the closest he came to doing so was with the character Li Tsung, in the TV series Longstreet, and Lee Jun Keung in Enter The Dragon -- but even there, the difference between the two characters is distinctly notable). If we include his childhood films, particularly The Orphan (made when he was 18 years old and legally an adult), a very different picture of Bruce Lee - the actor - emerges. The reality is this: Bruce Lee was a legitimately versatile performer, who played a variety of roles (most of which were not martial art heroes) throughout his vast acting career. It's only in his posthumous existence as the God of Martial Art that his acting accomplishments are overlooked because they don't match the designated image. This is significant when evaluating the characters he was going to play in The Silent Flute, and how none of them bear any resemblance to Bruce Lee, the ICON, as Southeast Asia knew him circa 1971-1973. Your thoughts? Edited April 15, 2020 by Alan C 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Shaolivevil Posted April 15, 2020 Member Share Posted April 15, 2020 (edited) Bruce Lee was a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the word. His unique talent and abilities went beyond just the martial arts. He was an actor, writer, producer, director, teacher, philosopher, body builder, inventor and so on. It's a shame that more attention isn't paid to all of these other things that made Bruce Lee the complex human being he was, beyond Bruce Lee The Legend or The Icon... Edited April 15, 2020 by Shaolivevil 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted April 15, 2020 Member Share Posted April 15, 2020 8 hours ago, Alan C said: This is significant when evaluating the characters he was going to play in The Silent Flute, and how none of them bear any resemblance to Bruce Lee, the ICON, as Southeast Asia knew him circa 1971-1973. Was there more of Steven McQueen and James Coburn persoanlities, in the Silent Flute scirpt/story?. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Alan C Posted April 15, 2020 Author Member Share Posted April 15, 2020 4 hours ago, DragonClaws said: Was there more of Steven McQueen and James Coburn persoanlities, in the Silent Flute scirpt/story?. Other than coming up with the title of the film, as far as I can tell, Coburn's main contribution to the screenplay came from his study of Sufism, a mystical form of Sunni Islam that purportedly pursues a spirituality using bodily discipline and mystical intuition. On the surface, Sufism seems to have little to do with the dogmatic scriptures of Islam, but at its core, the fact that it is a religion, intrinsically belies the theme of individualism and freedom that Lee conceived as the basis of the story. McQueen, not so much. Though he was involved in the initial pre-production phase quite significantly before bailing out. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted April 15, 2020 Member Share Posted April 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Alan C said: Coburn's main contribution to the screenplay came from his study of Sufism 1 hour ago, Alan C said: McQueen, not so much. Though he was involved in the initial pre-production phase quite significantly before bailing out. Hi @Alan C, and thanks for the reply. Bruce Lee said that the combination of Steve McQueens physcial fighting talents, combined with James Coburn brain. Would have made one hell of a fighter. This was talked about in Curse of The Dragon(1993). The pair where a big influence on him, not just purely from a fame and fortune standpoint. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Alan C Posted April 15, 2020 Author Member Share Posted April 15, 2020 1 hour ago, DragonClaws said: Hi @Alan C, and thanks for the reply. Bruce Lee said that the combination of Steve McQueens physcial fighting talents, combined with James Coburn brain. Would have made one hell of a fighter. This was talked about in Curse of The Dragon(1993). The pair where a big influence on him, not just purely from a fame and fortune standpoint. Bruce Lee's signature Cheshire cat smile --- that was him aping McQueen's ear to ear grin. He put time into perfecting that. The relationship with Coburn was more complex, specifically because they collaborated on a project. I'll write more about this later. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted April 17, 2020 Member Share Posted April 17, 2020 On 4/15/2020 at 5:27 PM, Alan C said: The relationship with Coburn was more complex, specifically because they collaborated on a project. I'll write more about this later. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Pup From The North Posted April 18, 2020 Member Share Posted April 18, 2020 On 4/15/2020 at 5:27 PM, Alan C said: Bruce Lee's signature Cheshire cat smile --- that was him aping McQueen's ear to ear grin. He put time into perfecting that. The relationship with Coburn was more complex, specifically because they collaborated on a project. I'll write more about this later. What the hell? So Bruce spent time in the mirror trying to organise his facial muscles into the form that best 'aped' Steve Mcqueen? Well, considering he travelled back in time to practice it even when he was in childhood, it shows you just how much was needed to achieve this. No wonder he wanted to make the most of this skill that required such dedication to acquire, as you can see he wanted to demonstrate his mastery on countless photographs. Oh actually, I thinks it's nonsense. I think this topic of aping Mcqueen's smile is ape shit. Please do not write about Coburn if it is going to be of the same essence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted April 18, 2020 Member Share Posted April 18, 2020 Wow, you really are marking your territory here... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Master with OK Fingers Posted April 19, 2020 Member Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) When someone says that they don't like every second of every Bruce Lee film 😁 Edited April 19, 2020 by Master with OK Fingers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 10, 2020 Member Share Posted May 10, 2020 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted October 30, 2020 Member Share Posted October 30, 2020 On 4/14/2020 at 4:53 PM, Alan C said: Your thoughts? I have only viewed clips of The Orphan(1960), do you think this was his best acting performance?. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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