The Real Bruce Lee

Oh man, this movie is the reason beer was invented! Seriously, although it is a total cheap cash-in on the death of a true legend, it nevertheless entertains, and at times, fascinates. The early section of the film, featuring clips of Bruce Lee as a child actor, in several different, very rare films, should be a great treat for fans of Lee. There is even a scene from his first film, "The Kid" where he acts with his real-life father. These obscure, shadowy black and white images provide proof that Bruce had the star quality and acting skills, even at age 5, and up, where he portrays a mean bully, a scared orphan, a silly carnival performer, all with amazing ability; he was a natural from the beginning. These are followed by a short look into his life, beginning with his journey to California, and showing him working in the school he opened there. The film noticeably skims over his iconic films, as they probably didn't have the rights to use clips from them. The shots of his huge funeral in Hong Kong are sad and moving, but the solemn feeling shifts gears quickly, when the film takes a look at the Bruce imitators. some brief shots of Bruce Li segue into a FULL-ON CRAPFEST FEATURE starring an imitator called Dragon Lee. to Dragon Lee's credit, the man had the moves, as well as an amazingly chiseled physique, but he did lack the physical beauty/grace of the original Bruce Lee, and the fact that while Bruce could act, Dragon really can't, makes this surreal film a disorienting freak show of riotous proportions. you'll be reaching for the remote control to replay the scene where the old man thrown across the cardboard room by Dragon, is plainly NOT the stunt double who goes flying, and is about 30 years younger and 40 pounds heavier. You will be wondering why most of the guys that Dragon fights are fat old slobs that were probably found under a bridge and paid in moonshine to perform. The sets and costumes are adequate, and Dragon Lee has a frenetic energy and there are some great fight scenes. nice touches and small details make this one stand out though, and this (un-named) film somehow possesses a noble and nostalgic quality all it's own. I have to admit that i enjoyed it from start to finish. Between the fits of laughter and the jarring visuals, this is a fascinating time capsule. Finally available in a decent print in an awesome box set called "Martial Arts Masters" This strange film is actually presented in widescreen! I just have to wonder how many suckers were duped into seeing this movie in the theater, lured in by the name of Bruce Lee. This kind of exploitation is a bit sad, but morbidly fascinating, like a train wreck...

If your painting your house, and don't want to watch it dry, then this is the movie for you. It is so bad, it's good. The English dubbing and the fighting sound effects are the best things about the movie. It's a classic diamond in the rough, the way they use to make them.....bad. The Japanese bad guy with the Hitler mustache is a must see.

There's very little of the "real Bruce Lee" in this film, its title notwithstanding. The brief clips of four of the movies he made as a Hong Kong child star ("Kid Cheung", "Bad Boy", "Carnival", and "Orphan Sam") are mildly interesting, but they don't really have anything to do with Lee's later career as a martial arts practitioner/teacher/writer and kung-fu film luminary. The rest of "The Real Bruce Lee" consists of a handful of clips of Bruce Li, the first and most watchable Lee impersonator, followed by a (way too) long mini-feature which the narrator calls 'The Ultimate Lee'. Said mini-feature stars Dragon Lee, a rather graceless Korean martial artist who was by far the LEAST adept of the three major Bruce Lee imitators! There are no credits for 'The Ultimate Lee', and I suspect that it is an edit of a longer film which has never been seen in its complete form in the United States. It appears to have been shot in Korea, rather than Hong Kong or Taiwan, and the fight choreography is--as in most Dragon Lee films--very clunky. The dubbing and sound effects are standard (which is to say terrible) for a low-budget chopsocky movie. The most laughable thing about 'The Ultimate Lee' is the narrator's claim that it was Bruce Lee's next scheduled project, and that Dragon Lee had to be brought in to replace him! Bruce Lee had already starred in "The Chinese Connection"; he wouldn't have gone anywhere near this sordid, clumsy little ripoff of his own classic film. Avoid.

After Bruce Lee died in 1973 and as a way of exploiting his international fame, there seems to have been several south-east Asian films released with his name emblazoned in their titles. The Spirit of Bruce Lee (1973) and The Image of Bruce Lee (1978) being a couple of infamous examples, the films themselves had nothing to do with Lee whatsoever and were merely cashing in on his name. The Real Bruce Lee is yet another in this ilk, except that it justifies the use of the Bruce Lee name in its title by actually featuring him and being about him. Sort of.

It compromises of three sections. Rare footage from the first four Lee screen appearances, a short documentary section and finally a look at the Bruce Lee imitators. The only part that was vaguely interesting was the documentary part and that only lasted ten minutes tops. The rest of it just compromises of very lengthy clips from those old Lee films and newer copycat features featuring Dragon Lee and Bruce Li. Sometimes it is bad enough watching cheap old chopsocky movies in their full versions but to watch extended , long sections but minus any context is almost unbearable. This film is only for the most committed Lee aficionados but even they might struggle with this one.

The Real Bruce Lee? Mmm, well, not quite, unless you are a vastly forgiving sort, or chronically myopic! In vino veritas, this is in actuality the three, 'not-quite' Bruce Lee's!: Bruce Li, Dragon Lee and some scratchily spliced-in archival footage of the immortal one! Admittedly, the more ardent aficionados of 'Enter the Dragon' may care to look elsewhere for their authentic Bruce kicks; but, should anyone share my lurid yen for crass, cash-in Brucesploitation, they will most certainly dig on the kinetic high-kicking lunacy of 'The Real Bruce Lee'. A delirious squall of gloriously old school Kung Fu is generously unleashed, with nary a shred of cogent plot to impede all the relentlessly ridiculous, strangely edifying chop-socking action! Personally, I can't get enough of this much-maligned martial arts micro-genre, and spurious titles aside, the dynamic duo OF Dragon Lee & Bruce Li were ALWAYS eminently watchable pugilists, and their bravura performances in this hysterically 'Ham Fisted Fury' are certainly not without merit to avid Kung Fu freaks. 'Young Bruce Lee and the Last Fist of Fury' remains some epic kung Foolishness, dude!