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Bruceploitation Reviews


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4 hours ago, saltysam said:

i love this one

Haha! I’m sure many people do. It’s a wild ride that doesn’t make complete sense but it just didn’t do it for me.

I’m itching to see more (good) Bruceploitation flicks as I’ve only just begun dipping my toe in the genre.

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Killer Meteor
9 hours ago, saltysam said:

Return Of Bruce

 Bruce Le travels to Manila looking for family, he befriends an orphan and a girl who he saves from a sex trafficking gang. That's about the extent of the plot, that hangs on pretty non stop fighting. Like all Le's movies, it makes no sense but it's very entertaining. Great cast, Meng Fei, Cheung Nik, James Nam,Lo Lieh are all here. Swiping music from various sources, inclusing Barry Manilow, comedy relief is provided by the gangsters effeminate bell bottomed white trousers wearing lackey. i found this pretty nice wide custom DVD on Cinemageddon, english dubbed, it looks pretty good. Didn't think this was available wide.

Yes, the lackey makes Wei Ping-ao look like Bruce Lee!

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Dragon Force

A Princess gets kidnapped by ninjas, CIA Operative Bruce Baron is sent on the rescue mission, he comes across a group of crime fighters called Dragon Force headed up by our boy Bruce Li. He proves himself to the team and they allow him to join, the team set out on the mission to rescue the princess. Interesting curio, one of Ho Chung Tao's last film roles. This movie has pretty much disappeared from sight,would be nice to find a remastered version. The chinese language subbed laserdisc rip i watched wasn't the best.

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1 hour ago, saltysam said:

Dragon Force

A Princess gets kidnapped by ninjas, CIA Operative Bruce Baron is sent on the rescue mission, he comes across a group of crime fighters called Dragon Force headed up by our boy Bruce Li. He proves himself to the team and they allow him to join, the team set out on the mission to rescue the princess. Interesting curio, one of Ho Chung Tao's last film roles. This movie has pretty much disappeared from sight,would be nice to find a remastered version. The chinese language subbed laserdisc rip i watched wasn't the best.

I believe this is the only Bruce Li movie I haven't seen, how's the action and does Li get to do alot of fighting?

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17 hours ago, CT KID said:

I believe this is the only Bruce Li movie I haven't seen, how's the action and does Li get to do alot of fighting?

The action is ok, nothing fantastic but plentiful. Bruce Li shows up about half hour in and yes he gets to do plenty of fighting. Worth a watch, i'm a Ho Chung Tao completist so i hope a better copy surfaces.

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Secret Executioner
On 2/19/2020 at 10:13 PM, saltysam said:

Dragon Force

A Princess gets kidnapped by ninjas, CIA Operative Bruce Baron is sent on the rescue mission, he comes across a group of crime fighters called Dragon Force headed up by our boy Bruce Li. He proves himself to the team and they allow him to join, the team set out on the mission to rescue the princess. Interesting curio, one of Ho Chung Tao's last film roles. This movie has pretty much disappeared from sight,would be nice to find a remastered version. The chinese language subbed laserdisc rip i watched wasn't the best.

Okay, when I saw Ninjas and Bruce Baron as a CIA guy I expected this to be another of those Godfrey Ho cut-and-splice films. Seems not from the rest of the summary and technicals.

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I'm gonna have to see if I can track a copy down, think I'll slide over to YouTube and see if they have any clips.   Edit: Sure enough the wu tang collection has the whole movie posted on there for anyone that's interested, have to give it a watch when I have more time. Punch in the title Dragon Force, not Power Force.

Edited by CT KID
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On 12/26/2018 at 11:16 PM, Killer Meteor said:

Bruce Lee Against Supermen (1975)

Charmingly bonkers Bruce Li movie that reminds me of the various Turkish superhero knockoffs. Li plays "Kata" (or is it it Carter?), who is none other then Kato from The Green Hornet, in an identical costume! Some vaguely lost looking gwailo plays The Green Hornet, who hear wears a red jumpsuit, cape and matching Kato mask! Lung Fei, dressed in a black traditional Chinese suit with small white cape, is the evil Superman (no really). For fights, sleaze and 70s funk, this scores pretty highly, which is just as well as the film is otherwise nonsensical drivel.  Features the most gratuiously long chase scene ever, and an awesome soundtrack feauturing Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Bob James.

5/10

I watched this a few days ago and I thought it was awful to the point that I couldn't even enjoy it on an ironic level. The fights weren't bad, especially those between Ho Chung Tao and Lung Fei. But the editing--courtesy of the director, who also gave us Bruce and Jackie to the Rescue--is nonexistent and action sequences just drone on way past the point that I might've cared. And why does the Green Hornet squad wear red pajamas? What's even the point of including the red superhero tights? Or the opening scene with Bruce Li as Kato?  Or in making the actual movie?

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19 hours ago, DrNgor said:

I watched this a few days ago and I thought it was awful to the point that I couldn't even enjoy it on an ironic level. The fights weren't bad, especially those between Ho Chung Tao and Lung Fei. But the editing--courtesy of the director, who also gave us Bruce and Jackie to the Rescue--is nonexistent and action sequences just drone on way past the point that I might've cared. And why does the Green Hornet squad wear red pajamas? What's even the point of including the red superhero tights? Or the opening scene with Bruce Li as Kato?  Or in making the actual movie?

Have you seen the alternative Chinese language version that's around? Very different movie!

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Killer Meteor

Call Me Dragon (1974)

Interesting serio-comic basher starring Bruce Liang and Yasuaki Kurarata. Great fights, but a truly bizzare subplot involving the sentient (or haunted?) motor scooter belonging to the comic relief really makes this stand out...as an example of the terminally daft. Probably the only film with Hon Kwok-choi I've seen

Spoiler

where he doesn't die!

6/10

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Been home mostly, so I've been digging through my closet for some good ones.

 

Game of Death II - I still love this movie to this day. Among the top tier of the Bruceploitation imo.

Dynamo- Finally watched this, and I actually enjoyed it! I just found it funny how Bruce Li fought Kong Do in his dojo and he didn't do any karate lol.

Fist of Fury II - Amazing. I think I was on a Bruce Li spree last weekend

Bruce Lee- The Man The Myth- Need I say more?

The Kid with the Golden Arm - The fight scenes in here still amaze me. I'm not sure if I was sold a bootleg or not, but the picture seems a bit blurry at times. It's Tokyo Shock but the smell of the box and DVD label spell bootleg to me

Enter the Dragon - I love watching this movie on a nice big screen with the audio up. Just a movie that you watch over and over.

Challenge of the Masters- Probably my favorite Gordon Liu movie ever.

Dirty Ho - My favorite scene has to be the pre-final fight scene. Umbrellas vs archers 

 

come at me bruce lee GIF

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Last Fist Of Fury

Dragon Lee, playing a Chen Zhen type role, goes up to defend his school against the evil japanese and get revenge for his murdered friend. A bit of an oddity, what you assume is the main villain is out of the picture halfway through to be replaced by another main baddie. Oh there's also a white ninja in here. Dragon Lee really goes all out on the Bruce impersonation front here, probably a little too hard. He's decent with his nunchuks though.

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5 minutes ago, saltysam said:

Last Fist Of Fury

Dragon Lee, playing a Chen Zhen type role, goes up to defend his school against the evil japanese and get revenge for his murdered friend. A bit of an oddity, what you assume is the main villain is out of the picture halfway through to be replaced by another main baddie. Oh there's also a white ninja in here. Dragon Lee really goes all out on the Bruce impersonation front here, probably a little too hard. He's decent with his nunchuks though.

That one was weird. It has a character who's introduced as the "Karate Champion of Germany of 1942" (or something), and you have to wonder if Germany even had karate tournaments back then.

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It's been a long time since i watched it but i think this movie made up a lot of The Real Bruce Lee movie

Edited by saltysam
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One Armed Boxer

While many are getting excited about the Criterion Bruce Lee boxset, for those who dwell in this thread, we patiently await the definitive Bruce Le or Bruce Li Collected Works remastered in 4K for a little while longer.

Until that day, COF has 4 hot off the press Bruceploitation reviews for your enjoyment (click on the title to be taken to the review) - 

Bruce - The King of Kung Fu (1980) - How is this flick only getting mentioned in this thread now?  Bruce Le plays Bruce Lee for the first and only time in his career, marking his sophomore effort in the directors chair, in a flick that sees him playing the Little Dragon in his teenage years.

First of Fear, Touch of Death - Anniversary Edition (1980) - The revered @mpm74 takes a look at The Film Detective labels new limited edition release of this travesty.  Featuring a newly commissioned half hour documentary with the director and 'stars'.  Is it enough to make it warrant a purchase?

Jackie and Bruce to the Rescue (1982) - COF's latest minion @Killer Meteor proves that he's a man of delectable taste with a review of this South Korean slice of Bruceploitation and Chansploitation, as the fictitious pairing must unite to face the evil villain of the YMCA!

Dragon Lee Fights Again (1981) - What's a Dragon Lee flick without the sound of electronic bleeps when he's throwing his kicks?  Probably a genuine HK production is the answer, of which this just might be.  Obligatory appearance by Bolo included.

 

 

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Killer Meteor
11 hours ago, DrNgor said:

That one was weird. It has a character who's introduced as the "Karate Champion of Germany of 1942" (or something), and you have to wonder if Germany even had karate tournaments back then.

If they did, you'd bet they'd rigged it so the champion was more Aryan.

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5 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Bruce - The King of Kung Fu (1980) - How is this flick only getting mentioned in this thread now?  Bruce Le plays Bruce Lee for the first and only time in his career, marking his sophomore effort in the directors chair, in a flick that sees him playing the Little Dragon in his teenage years.

Excellent review. I kind of want to this now. Darn you!

 

5 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

First of Fear, Touch of Death - Anniversary Edition (1980) - The revered @mpm74 takes a look at The Film Detective labels new limited edition release of this travesty.  Featuring a newly commissioned half hour documentary with the director and 'stars'.  Is it enough to make it warrant a purchase?

Fantastic write-up. Fascinating how crap like this somehow gets made, while so many good ideas fall to the wayside.

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4 hours ago, DrNgor said:

Fantastic write-up. Fascinating how crap like this somehow gets made, while so many good ideas fall to the wayside.

Thank you for reading. Further proof that every shitty movie has an amazing backstory! 

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Drunken Monk

Bruce Lee - The Man, the Myth - I bloody love this film. I’m only gently dipping my toes into the ocean that is Bruceploitation and I’ve found some duds so far. But this one is fantastic. It keeps away from the truly absurd and gives us a fun (if exaggerated) telling of Bruce Lee’s life. Great fights too. Bruce Li truly shines. I hope to find more like this.

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Drunken Monk

Deadly Strike - I think I’m officially a Bruce Li fan. Enjoyed this one a lot. Very little goofy comedy, blistering fights and a nice bevy of characters. Great stuff.

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NoKUNGFUforYU
On 4/16/2020 at 12:31 PM, DrNgor said:

That one was weird. It has a character who's introduced as the "Karate Champion of Germany of 1942" (or something), and you have to wonder if Germany even had karate tournaments back then.

Highly unlikely. There were no instructors in Europe until the 1950's and the JKA only went official in 1965. Judo or Jiu Jitsu, maybe, but people most likely wrestled or boxed. Believe it or not, there were European fighting systems that were pretty vicious, but people using guns for protection made them pretty obsolete. The Germans taught the Japanese their bayonet techniques in the early 1900's. It is a fallacy that people had to go the East to get the deadly secrets of combat. Of all the arts, Judo was the most internationally impressive. French fencers, for example, thought Kendo and the Samurai swords were slow. There's no records of people seriously looking at Chinese Martial arts as an effective form of fighting before Bruce Lee. 

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22 minutes ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Highly unlikely. There were no instructors in Europe until the 1950's and the JKA only went official in 1965. Judo or Jiu Jitsu, maybe, but people most likely wrestled or boxed. Believe it or not, there were European fighting systems that were pretty vicious, but people using guns for protection made them pretty obsolete. The Germans taught the Japanese their bayonet techniques in the early 1900's. It is a fallacy that people had to go the East to get the deadly secrets of combat. Of all the arts, Judo was the most internationally impressive. French fencers, for example, thought Kendo and the Samurai swords were slow. There's no records of people seriously looking at Chinese Martial arts as an effective form of fighting before Bruce Lee. 

I wonder how the French fighting art of Savate stacked up to TKD or the sport of Kickboxing which seemed similar as well.

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7 hours ago, saltysam said:

You've all got it wrong on Fist Of Fear Touch Of Death. It's cinematic genius.

Surely you jest sir, or maybe you were extremely high at the time which enhanced the viewing experience. :wink:

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NoKUNGFUforYU
4 hours ago, CT KID said:

I wonder how the French fighting art of Savate stacked up to TKD or the sport of Kickboxing which seemed similar as well.

There are matches on youtube. Tae Kwon Do sort of falls apart when you start punching to the face. Sure, there are guys like Cung Le that can use some of it, but it's pretty hard for them to go up against a boxer type, cold and only using Tae Kwon Do. In the 60's and 70's many of the TKD masters had done boxing. That dropped once it became "Olympic TKD".

 

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