Bruce Lee Story

Bruce Lee, the Legend (1984)

*** (out of 4)

Good, 90-minute documentary taking a look at the life, career of death of martial arts legend Bruce lee.

BRUCE LEE, THE LEGEND is without question a good documentary that features some wonderful stuff but there's no question that it falls well short of being the definitive film out there. I will be the first to admit that I don't know too much about Lee and while this documentary answered many questions, it still left me wonderful a lot more. I think the strengths of the film include some of the wonderful footage we get of various movies from Lee's childhood. We learn that his father was a professional actor and we get to see some terrific clips from some early Hong Kong movies. Even better is that we get to see a lot of behind-the-scenes footage to his films including THE BIG BOSS, THE Chinese CONNECTION and THE WAY OF THE DRAGON.

There's a lot of good information given about the actor's personal life, his rise to fame and why even Steve McQueen was amazed by his talents. The documentary does have some very weak spots including the direction, which is just all over the place. While the stories being told are entertaining, there's no doubt that the way they're told is a bit off and the overall film just doesn't have a very good pace to it. Still, thanks to the footage, fans of Lee will still want to check this out.

This is Golden Harvest doing their tribute to the legendary martial arts movie star from Hong Kong. There are some interviews, some film stock, and many old photos.

Of course, Golden Harvest is heavily favored and that's well deserved although Raymond Chow is the executive producer. It's a lot of old footage and that's its main strength. I love his Hong Kong films as a child actor. It shows the amateur energy and Bruce's innate charisma. Mostly, this is a filmography of Bruce Lee. It's a lot of film clips like a greatest hits album. It does try to address the contraversy around his death. My main suggestion is to get one of Bruce's famous Hollywood star friends to do the narrations. The actual narrator sounds like all those old style documentary voices.

This documentary included footage from movies Bruce Lee made as a child. I didn't know he started making movies when he was 6 years old. The movie definately shows him in a very positive way; they only mention some of the rumors in passing. There are film clips throughout which made it more interesting. If you like Bruce or martial arts films, this is a movie worth seeing.

The film that would make me a life long fan of Bruce Lee, who died two years before my birth. Although my further studies would later prove this documentary to be a little underdeveloped and one-sided, but those who are willing to suspend their disbelief might find this to be an interesting watch. Golden Harvest truly knows how to immortalize its former star.

An older documentary but surprisingly watchable. Really dives deep into Bruce's early years. But also inadvertently throws more mystery on his death.