Bruceploitation Reviews

[DrNgor]

11 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Are Jim Kelly’s movies any better? I haven’t seen those either. Though Jim didn’t technically do Bruceploitation, right?

I think Black Belt Jones is supposed to be really good. Three the Hard Way is also supposed to be pretty good, too. Tattoo Connection would be good if it weren't so scummy, but mileage on that one varies.

Hot Potato and Black Samurai aren't considered to be very good.

Don't know anything about Golden Needles or its reputation.

[DrNgor]

16 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Though Jim didn’t technically do Bruceploitation, right?

Black Belt Jones is probably the closest he got to Brucesploitation. It was directed by Robert Clouse and choreographed by Bob Wall. I think Kelly does his own "Whoop Whoop"-ing in his fights, too.

[Drunken Monk]

Even though I gave up on it first time around, I decided to give The Dragon, the Young Hero another go this morning. And I'm glad that I did. It's not ground breaking or anything but it is a fight filled adventure that at no point gets boring or frustrating.
The plot is nothing to write home about. There's a silver ninja (he's more white than silver) and he's upsetting the bad guys. That's about it. It does throw in a small revenge tale but we've seen all that before. Point being, it's very straight forward.

The fights, while nothing crazy complex, are very enjoyable. I actually like Korean-style choreography a lot. There are some very goofy sound effects (some of the weirdest I've heard) and some early wire-work but it doesn't ruin the enjoyment at all.

Not very Bruce Lee-ish this one. But a fun watch. I'd recommend it. I wouldn't say it's top tier Bruceploitation but it's a fine, fine watch.

[DrNgor]

32 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Even though I gave up on it first time around, I decided to give The Dragon, the Young Hero another go this morning.

So you have two more Brucesploitation films left for this run? How about New Fist of Fury and Slaughter in San Francisco?

[Drunken Monk]

2 hours ago, DrNgor said:

So you have two more Brucesploitation films left for this run? How about New Fist of Fury and Slaughter in San Francisco?

I actually have one left. My 50th Bruceploitation movies, which I’m halfway through, is New Fist of Fury.

[Drunken Monk]

Well this is ironic. Most people save the beat 'til last. Me? I apparently save the worst 'til last. New Fist of Fury is a bloody nightmare. It's a fight-less, rambling headache of a movie with absolutely nothing going for it. At least other Bruceploitation films have cheese or outright weirdness that entertains to a degree. This has zilch. It's overly serious cinematic dump.
The last ten minutes is dedicated to action and even that's mostly trash. I get that it's an older movie but even Bruce Li's mid-70's efforts have more flare and entertainment than this one.

I'm shocked at how bad this is.

And that is it! My Bruceploitation journey is done. I will very likely return to this sub genre a lot as I certainly found some gems I'll be happy to rewatch over and over. Thanks for everyone that game me film recommendations and encouragement when it came to posting my opinions on here.

Now it's time for me to delve into other unsung heroes of the genre; meaning those movies that aren't widely recognized classics but sit a little under the radar. 

 

[DrNgor]

6 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

And that is it! My Bruceploitation journey is done. I will very likely return to this sub genre a lot as I certainly found some gems I'll be happy to rewatch over and over. Thanks for everyone that game me film recommendations and encouragement when it came to posting my opinions on here.

So now the question: What were Dragon Lee's 5 best films, and how do they compare with Bruce Lee's, Bruce Li's and Bruce Le's Top 5?

[Drunken Monk]

8 hours ago, DrNgor said:

So now the question: What were Dragon Lee's 5 best films, and how do they compare with Bruce Lee's, Bruce Li's and Bruce Le's Top 5?

I’d say Dragon Lee’s top 5 are...

The Dragon’s Snake Fist

The Dragon, the Hero

Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple

Dragon, Bruce Lee Part 2

5 Pattern Dragon Claws

Bruce Li is the only clone I prefer to Bruce Lee. Bruce Le and Dragon Lee, despite having a number of good movies, don’t quite compare. I’d also take Dragon Lee’s best over Lee’s best, I think.

There’s something to know about Dragon Lee, for the fledgling Bruceploitation fan: his better movies are his “different” movies. The ones that stray away from Bruce the list and deliver Korean-style shapes. 
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a fantastic Bruce imitator (maybe the best in terms of performance) but his greatest movies are classic old school stuff.

[ShawAngela]

Movies of the day, all very enjoyable and watched for the first time :

Champ against Champ : I had convinced that this was a movie with Champ Wang, but it was Dragon Lee. A nice one, with him as an ancient time hero with long hair and a different haircut as his usual one. At moments, he looked very much like Pai Piao !

The fists of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee fights back from beyond the grave : I saw that the hero Bruce K Lea played only in this movie on hkmdb, but maybe it's his only Hong Kong movie and he played in other Korean movies, since he is Korean (from his other name). He did a good job in this movie.

Spirits of Bruce Lee

[One Armed Boxer]

On 4/24/2020 at 5:29 AM, Drunken Monk said:

Bruce vs The Iron Hand - Honestly? This might be my favorite Bruceploitation film so far. Bruce Li, Bruce Leung and Ku Feng!? 

Your post inspired me to watch this one, and I ended up giving it the review treatment as well!  Definitely a stark warning to check the side effects of any kung-fu style you may be thinking of taking up.  Check it out via the link -

https://cityonfire.com/bruce-and-the-iron-finger-1979-review-bruce-against-iron-hand/

On 5/13/2020 at 12:40 AM, DrNgor said:

Are there any ninja in this? And does Bruce Le fire an M-16 at any point?

I believe that image (and the ninjas!) is taken from 1987's 'Mission Terminate'.

On 5/13/2020 at 4:11 AM, Drunken Monk said:

My introduction to Dragon Lee has not gone well. I got thirty minutes into Bruce Lee's Ways of Kung Fu and simply had to turn it off. Complete drivel and not a fight scene in sight. This one will not go on "conquered" list.

On 5/16/2020 at 5:15 AM, Drunken Monk said:

Put simply, Dragon Lee vs The Five Brothers is a wretched film. Slow and vapid with fight scenes that range from visual tranquilizer to "Okay, I guess." That's all I have to say on this one. Avoid.

I agree that 'Bruce Lee's Ways of Kung Fu' and 'Dragon Lee vs. the 5 Brothers' aren't all that.  I always refer to these 2, along with 'Champ vs. Champ' as Dragon Lee's Period Kung-Fu Trilogy, since they were made at that time just before he did away with any semblance of a wardrobe, and began wearing a white t-shirt and black slacks in every movie he'd appear in.  As a piece of useless trivia, the Scorpion King Won Jin does some doubling work in 'Bruce Lee's Ways of Kung Fu', specifically for the acrobatic femme fatale's, but I fear you turned it off long before they appeared (and no love for the 'running on air and kicking someone in the head on the way past' technique from '5 Brothers'?  Ironically, 'Champ vs. Champ' actually is entertaining (even @ShawAngela agrees!), featuring Dragon Lee wondering around and kicking the hell out of people with a steel leg.  It was the movie that got me into Dragon Lee, so if you go back and watch just one more of his movies, make it this one!

On 5/14/2020 at 12:55 AM, Drunken Monk said:

This morning I watched Golden Dragon, Silver Snake. This one goes for both Chansploitation and Bruceploitation but sadly, it doesn’t pull off much of either.

On 5/16/2020 at 1:20 AM, Drunken Monk said:

I’ve abandoned two of his movies so far and I’m about to abandon Enter the Invincible Hero.

This breaks my heart! 'Golden Dragon, Silver Snake' and 'Enter the Invincible Hero' are both in my Dragon Lee Top 5!  To echo the words of @DrNgor on the latter...Dragon Lee vs. Casanova Wong!

On 5/14/2020 at 6:12 AM, Drunken Monk said:

I watched Mission for the Dragon this afternoon and I don’t have a lot to say aside from that it’s incredibly dull and has very lackluster fights.

Have to agree on this one, it was strangely lacklustre considering the usual craziness of Korean kung-fu.  Even some of the fight choreography was particularly sloppy, with the camera capturing the obvious distance between blows.  Watch for the mantis fist bleeps and Carter Wong's bizarre aversion to sunlight only.

On 5/19/2020 at 4:34 AM, Drunken Monk said:

This might be my final Dragon Lee movie unless I try to watch Dragon, the Young Master.

Ok, so I take it back, if you go back to Dragon Lee you can't watch only one movie - it has to be 2.  'Champ vs. Champ' and this one.  I reviewed 'Dragon, The Young Master' back when I was on a similar Dragon Lee kick in 2017, it's a good one!

11 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Bruce Lee fights back from beyond the grave : I saw that the hero Bruce K Lea played only in this movie on hkmdb, but maybe it's his only Hong Kong movie and he played in other Korean movies, since he is Korean (from his other name). He did a good job in this movie.

Bruce K Lea's actual name is Jun Chong.  You're right that hkmdb isn't usally reliable for Korean actors, here's his filmography from the Korean Movie Database - https://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/db/per/00037676

He's based in the US, so has also starred in a few Amercian movies, like 'Silent Assassins', 'Street Soldiers' (alongside Hwang Jang Lee, and Hwang Jang Lee's son!). and most recently 'Underdog Kids' in 2015.  We have a dedicated thread for him right here on the forum -

 

[massa_yoda]

Okay, so thanks to @Drunken Monk (and to a long weekend) I have taken a dive into Bruceploitation.  So far, I have watched:

Dynamo, The Lama Avenger, Fist of Fury 2 & 3, Bruce vs The Iron Hand, The Blind Fist of Bruce, and Bruce Lee - The Man, The Myth.  All were very enjoyable.  Bruce Li is officially on my awesome list now.  He did a great job in The Man, The Myth.  Blind Fist may have been my favorite for all-around classic kung fu film.  It also has the welcome presence of Simon Yuen.  This week, I plan to check out these additional recommendations: 

On 5/12/2020 at 2:54 PM, Drunken Monk said:

Can someone please tell me why I didn't have The Dragon's Snake Fist in my life before now? Having just say through it, I'm very comfortable with saying it's an essential classic of the genre.

 

On 5/11/2020 at 12:39 PM, Drunken Monk said:

Now this is a kung fu movie! This afternoon I watched Bruce - King of Kung Fu. So far, I'd say this is the best Bruce Le film I've seen.

Also, Bruce's Deadly Fingers at some point.  I have the Blu Ray, so I should probably watch it. 

[Drunken Monk]

Nice to see someone else freshly diving into Bruceploitation, @massa_yoda. I'm glad you've found some gold nuggets thus far.

@One Armed Boxer, I actually skipped Champ vs Champ and now I feel like I have to go back to it! I'm taking a breather from Bruceploitation but I'll get around to it one day for sure.

[BillyLo]

I was happy to find out that a fairly good widesceen print of The Clones of Bruce Lee has been released as a bonus feature on the German DVD of The Big Boss 2. Although it wasn't the first, I think that it is probably the first Brucesploitation film that people should watch who are just getting into this absurd genre. Jon T. Benn, the actor who played the mob boss in Way of the Dragon, plays the role of a scientist who manages to make three clones of Bruce Lee. He names the three of them Bruce Lee 1 (Dragon Lee), Bruce Lee 2 (Bruce Le) and Bruce Lee 3 (Bruce Thai). None of them resemble each other or the real Bruce Lee but apparently the fighting style is so similar that one gangster in the film makes a comment like, "they fight just like Bruce Lee." Of course we all know that they really don't. The whole purpose of the clones is to serve the interests of Special Branch who send them on undercover missions. Two are sent to kill a mad scientist who has a formula that transforms men into metal Kung Fu killing machines who are happy to obey his orders in helping him take over the world while the other Bruce is sent to bring down a gangster who uses a film company as a front. After noticing the apparent resemblance to Bruce, the gangster-producer gets the idea to make a snuff film, killing Bruce and profiting from his tragic death - is this a comment on the genre itself within a Brucesploitation film?! Overall, the action is great and like the majority of films in this genre, you are not supposed to take them seriously. As Brucesploitation, it certainly delivers and you get lots of comedic moments with a lot of them being the result of Bruce Le's absurd facial expressions and attempts at imitation. 

Here’s my old UK VHS for anybody who is interested:

[One Armed Boxer]

Bruceploitation aficionado Michael Worth posted his COVID-19 Top 10 flicks to watch while we're still in lockdown.  Shamefully (or not, depending on your perspective), I've only seen 5 of them -

https://bruceploitation.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/michael-worths-bruceploitation-covid-19-watch-list/

[Killer Meteor]

I've seen all of them apart from Growling Tiger.

[ShawAngela]

I watched Bruce Li' s magnum fist, yesterday. This is more of a comedy than an action movie.

Shan Kuan Ling Fung has 1,5 fight, Bruce Li has two short fights and Tien Peng has a very tiny fight that takes place in a dark room and we don't see it !

Overall, it's a nice movie that even made me laugh at some funny scenes.

[Duel to the Death]

The True Game of Death What an awful movie from start to finish. Horrible acting, fighting and dubbing. Even the fights at the end in the Pagoda were hideous. I watched it because i think i had seen it when i was younger but i'll never know 100% for sure. Just from a faint memory seeing it once on tv 30+ years ago. My only memory was the Pagoda at the end, him wearing a yellow jumpsuit and grabbing nun-chucks on the way in and fighting a sumo guy. So this was probably it since all that happened in this movie, even though my memory was the sumo guy was bigger. 

As a kid i could not tell a good movie from a bad movie. I thought this was a great movie and just craved any kung fu movie i could see.  

I hate cheap kung fu movies that take place in the actual 70's. They all use cheap film stock and all the colors are faded, cheesy funky music and everybody is driving this small square cars. lol

[Duel to the Death]

Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story aka Bruce Lee's Secret It's a cheapie but a decent cheapie. This was the second movie that i thought i saw when i was younger one time. Only thing i could remember for sure was the fake Bruce getting whipped by guys on horses. But i think this was the movie. Super generic plot and bad guys. But it was fun and i enjoyed it. It felt like it was trying to be Way of the Dragon with the restaurant scene and having Ping-Ou Wei in it.

Spoiler

I liked how no one died in this movie

This was 10 times better than The True Game of Death

I can't believe that as a kid i thought both of these movies were actual Bruce Lee movies. I remember for quite a long time i was trying to figure out which Bruce Lee movie had him being whipped by guys on horses. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Duel to the Death

[DrNgor]

On 6/13/2020 at 11:49 PM, Duel to the Death said:

Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story aka Bruce Lee's Secret

Bruce Lee's Secret (1976) aka Story of the Dragon aka other things, shouldn't be confused with another Bruce Li film, Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (1974) aka Super Dragon.

[Killer Meteor]

Super Dragon is actually also the US theatrical title for Bruce Lee Superstar!

[Killer Meteor]

On 5/17/2020 at 7:48 PM, BillyLo said:

I revisited a film I watched a long time ago called The Fists of Bruce Lee. If I remember correctly, this was a directorial debut for Bruce Li. The plot is very James Bond-like about an agent working for Interpol who poses as an electrical engineer to spy on a criminal organisation. Most of the soundtrack is lifted from Enter the Dragon, which plays over and over. As if that wasn't shameless enough, they even use the main James Bond theme and the song, Live and Let Die! It's obvious that this was made on an ultra-low budget. At times, if it wasn't so bad, I feel like this could have been billed as a sequel to Enter the Dragon since Bruce Li is playing a character called Mr. Lee, who also happens to be working undercover. There's a lot of fight scenes but it's difficult to judge the film overall since the print I watched suffers from a very bad pan & scan transfer. Throughout large parts of the film, I wasn't even able to see the actors on the screen, only hear their voices. I would definitely watch this one again if it gets a better release with a proper widescreen transfer. 

I re-watched this one, first time in 15 years. The music helps a lot, very funky. I can't tell if the plot is overly complicated or whether the dub is just really bad - it seems to have been done by people who don't speak English that well, and half the dialogue seems to be code-words.

Love Chan Wei-Lau's expaserated "Any more talk of pills and I'll kill you all!

 

Here's the title theme

 

 

[Killer Meteor]

FISTS OF BRUCE LEE (1978)

Bruce Li directs himself in this modern day crime thriller (if you can call 1978 modern ) which...actually I'm not entirely sure what is going on here, as the plot seems needlessly complicated, owing in part to the worse-than-usual dubbing, and that the script requires everyone to talk in passwords. It seems Li is an undercover cop hired by a reclusive millionaire as an electronics expert to make his house more secure. As assorted hoodlums and weirdos covert the usual Maguffin, Li finds himself getting entangled with the millionaire's eccentric and shotgun-wielding daughter.

As usual for me, style wins the day, with a truly awesome pirated soundtrack that is late 70s heaven - everything from Bond music to a Henry Mancini cover of an Average White Band tune. The decent fights include an awesome playground setpiece that looks forward to POLICE STORY 2, and the assorted cast includes Bruce Lee veterans Wei Ping Ao (playing someone called Outpus apparently), Lo Lieh swinging a metal hand on a chain, and the eccentric looking Robert Kerver, who is the bizzare result you get if you gene-splice Bruce Lee with Shaggy from Scooby Doo...

6/10

 

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by Killer Meteor

[Killer Meteor]

THE IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE (1978)

A mainstay of public domain releases for years since its early VHS release, this Bruce Li outing has him as a police officer on the trail of counterfeiters...led by The Big Boss himself, Han Ying Chieh, with his son Johnny Cheung (later to cripple Bruce Lee in Dragon The Bruce Lee Story) and his long lost niece Dana joining the family business (oh, and Bolo is along for the ride too as a "Japanese" crook).

This film is certainly entetaining (and not just because Dana and clothing spend a lot of time apart from each other), but for some reason it feels like there are too many fight scenes! Maybe it's the police procedural setting, but the endless fisticuffs (and the three looped fighing cries) do wear one down after a while, before the decent finale. This isn't as funky as other Bruce Li films, but the sight of him attending a suicide attempt decked out in a yellow tracksuit is one for the ages, capped when the scene ends on a wonderfully macabre note.

Ammusingly, the film uses the theme from Taxi Driver but NOT for the scene where Bruce poses as a taxi driver!

6/10

 

[Duel to the Death]

11 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

THE IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE (1978)

I have this on dvd. I'm pretty sure i seen it but i can't remember it. I'll have to watch it soon. 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

My custom of Fists of Bruce Lee, with Ho Chung Tao, Lo Lieh, Yang Kwan Moon and Charles Bonet with an awful blond wig. Pretty good attempt to do a Bond style spy movie with zero $$$ in comparison.