Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave (1976, dir. Lee Doo-yong)
Chose this based solely on the poster because look at it!
A Korean martial arts teacher travels to America to see his old friend, only to find out he's recently died. Now he has to uncover the tangled web of crime his friend was caught in and beat up a lot of criminals. On the way, he also beats up a would-be rapist and saves a manic pixie dream girl who just inexplicably happens to know all about what happened to his friend.
Now how does all this relate to Bruce Lee, you ask? Well, it doesn't. The American distributors filmed a completely unrelated scene and inserted it at the beginning of the movie, showing lightning hitting Bruce Lee's grave and him (or rather someone who kinda looks like him) jumping out of it, just so they could use his name in the movie's title (the original title was Visitor of America). Also, they billed Jun Chong, who plays the lead, as Bruce K.L. Lea in the American release just for the hell of it. They really put the sploitation into Brucesploitation!
The plot is boilerplate, the acting really, really bad (though half of it is the dubbing), and the fights are mediocre at best, but at least there are a lot of them. Can't in good conscience recommend this movie to anyone, but what I can recommend is watching the first 30 seconds on YouTube, chuckling at it for a little bit and then watching something else.
As for many of us today, Brucesploitation is completely new to me. I have by far done the most research for this day than any other this month. Let's give it a shot.
BRUCE LEE SUPERSTAR (1976)
Also known by the alternative title The Legend of Bruce Lee. As for many of us today, Brucesploitation is completely new to me. My pick of this is largely based on the quality of the source material. So many of the options on Tubi are VHS rips with bad dubs. The accuracy of the how Lee’s life is told I cannot comment on, but this version does cover the basics. The dub is decent and the film is well put together. The major weakness is the fight scenes, which tend to lack intensity because they feel more choreographed than real . Bruce Li portrays the fallen star, and Li does sometimes have an uncanny resemblance to him. He definitely studied Lee's mannerisms.
EXIT THE DRAGON, ENTER THE TIGER (1976)
Another Bruce Li joint. The premise of this really takes Brucesploitation to a ridiculous level: Bruce Lee (The Dragon) was murdered, and it is up to Bruce Li (The Tiger), his former student, to discover who did it. The dubbing adds another layer to the ridiculousness and the fun. Though the fight scenes, ranging from adequate to almost good, did get tiresome towards the conclusion, I did enjoy Exit The Dragon. It is evident that the English-dubbed version is cut and had a completely different soundtrack added to it. It would be interesting to see what the original Hong Kong version is like. Tubi has the title backwards, by the way.
THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE (1980) First-time watch. Severin Blu. 8/10. First of all, I'd like to thank FTHISMOVIE for working so closely with Severin Films & the USPS to get the new Brucesploitation box set into my hungry hands in time for this auspicious day. I'm surprised I hadn't managed to see this one before, but there's a lot of movies out there. This is prime grindhouse gunk. Al Adamson mad science mixed with decent kung fu in order to thwart goofball plots: a gold smuggling movie producer, vegetation destruction & (gold-colored) bronze warriors. This almost functions as an anthology, with Dragon Lee (one of the better Bruce imitators) doing stuff while Bruces Le & Lai (Kwok Si-Chi) witness nude girls & feed handfuls of deadly grass to men whose make-up is rubbing off. The real lesson here is merely a reminder: When you see Dick Randall's name in the credits, there gon' be some 'sploitin' goin' on.
Ahhhh the old standby story classic trope: randomly clone Bruce Lee not once, but three times. Then send the clones to assassinate evil film directors, smugglers, and armies of men turned bronze. Also have them casually walk by a beach full of potentially killer nude women. Did I mention the bronze men have one weakness...they eat grass like dogs...and it's poisonous? Cliche stuff, really. Bwahahaha had a blast w this one.
THE FOUR SHAOLIN CHALLENGERS (1977) A martial arts teacher hopes to open his own school in a small village, only to run afoul of the local gangsters. Star Bruce Leung doesn’t look or act much like Bruce Lee to my eyes, but he’s a capable action lead. The fights are more like rough barroom brawls rather than flashy martial arts. Most of the cool moves are saved for the obligatory training montage. This isn’t a standout among ‘70s kung fu flicks, but it does its job.
WEAPONS OF DEATH (1981) Eric Lee plays “Eric,” a martial arts master who ventures into San Fransisco to rescue his kidnapped sister. There are a bunch of other characters and subplots, with a team of tough guys working with Lee, and with the bikers who’ve done the kidnapping. It’s as much of a late-70s counterculture movie as it is a kung fu actioner. Lee’s weapon of choice is a long, curved scimitar, which gives the fights some uniqueness. That’s something, I guess.
Bonus Universal Monster-sploitation: FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1942) In his search for a cure to his wolf-ness, poor doomed Larry Talbot crosses paths with the Monster. These have become cheap B-movies by this point, but seeing the two famous monsters duke it out at the end is nonetheless a lot of fun.
Enter the Clones of Bruce (2023, dir. David Gregory)
Excellent documentary deep-diving the world of Brucesploitation. The only one I have seen before is Game of Death, so learned a lot about what all is out there. Wild stuff!
I have to admit I was not familiar with the Brucesploitation phenomenon until this month, so I decided to go with what seems like a good introduction. I initially thought this was a tacky idea, but hey, I saw Gus Van Sant's "Last Days" and this is a hell of a lot more fun that that was. Although, I'm still confused as to how parts of this movie are even legal.
THE BIG BOSS PART II (1976) First-time watch. Severin Blu. 7/10. Bruce Le takes over Bruce's Lee's role from THE BIG BOSS, but he's stuck in jail. Brother Lo Lieh comes by to learn of the man who killed their father. Lo ends up working for a tough lady-boss in Thailand with designs against the same target. She keeps Lo in the dark while Lo falls for Wang Ping, daughter of his target. This plot is not that complicated, despite feeling so at times. As either a crime or kung fu film, it's not great, but Lo Lieh is a great lead, the interiors are groovy, love is made to a funky Hendrix cover, boats are chased to the James Bond theme & minor sorcery is performed.
Bonus Brucesploitation recommendation: FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH https://tubitv.com/movies/629968/fist-of-fear-touch-of-death
This was my first exposure to today's theme, though not by that name. I picked this tape up from the $10 rack at Suncoast in the mid '90s. My buddy & I watched it with befuddled glee.
Fists of Bruce Lee (1978). Starring Bruce Li. I kind of lost track of what the plot was, but it was entertaining from start to finish with heaps of fighting. The transfer on Tubi was pretty terrible. Blurry, and lots of people faces getting half cut off because of going from widescreen to VHS size. Like there were some fights where we couldn't see the people, only their fighting hands coming in from both sides of the screen. And so so so many scenes where people were at the side with half their faces off screen. Just a terrible transfer I suppose. The original movie couldn't have been like that.
CAMEROON CONNECTION (1985) First-time watch. Severin Blu. 7/10. Alphonse Beni directs & stars as a cop trying to solve the murder of a twin sister. Naturally, he ends up in Paris where Bruce Le jumps in to help him out of a disco tussle. Le shows Beni his beverage plant & then Beni poses as a cab driver. The buddies check out different witch doctors & get into occasional fights. CAMEROON CONNECTION has the cinematic integrity of a Eurocine production, aided by music from Jess Franco collaborator Daniel White. This might raise instant hives for many potential viewers & that's expected. Essentially a hang-out cop flick with a distorted sense of time, a car-on-motorcycle chase, a bubble bath & unhelpful exposition, this is great for fans of passion project action like DANGEROUS MEN, CHAMPAGNE AND BULLETS, LOST FAITH or even the similarly cast DYNAMITE BROTHERS by Al Adamson.
It's basically the same plot as Fist of Fury (1972) but this one has Jackie Chan...so it's kinda like when you get a new Bring It On movie...
Jackie Chan's character also doesn't want to practice kung fu because all the schools are bowing to pressures from the Japanese, which means we don't get a lot of Chan until the end...
THE DRAGON LIVES (aka HE'S A LEGEND, HE'S A HERO -1976) First-time watch. Severin Blu. 8/10. It was a dark & stormy night when Bruce Lee was born. He learned to fight, he got mad as the mischaracterization of his people in Hollywood, he beat a heavyweight champ in front of an audience, he got famous... etc. This "biopic" stars Bruce Li as Bruce Lee, oscillating in tone between light-hearted goofery & utter seriousness throughout. A discofied theme song, montages to jump to action scenes, enough fighting to keep the grindhouse audience satisfied, a training machine & a wonderfully weird finale make for Grade A Brucesploitation. “I don’t like all this deep serious stuff.”
Bruce Leong doesn't look a lick like Bruce Lee, but that's explained with this line: "It so happens when someone dies, their face and their body undergo a change." This doesn't explain Bruce's John Wayne drawl, but I rolled with it, 'cause that was only the beginning...
The Dragon is dead and relegated to a strange circle of the underworld, where he tangles with James Bond, Clint Eastwood, The Godfather, The Exorcist (replete with Maurice Chevalier accent), Emanuelle, Dracula, the inevitable blind warrior, and a gaggle of mummies. Luckily, he's aided by Kwai Chang Caine, Popeye, and the inevitable one-armed character (inevitably named One-Arm). And wait till Bruce breaks out some of his signature moves, including the undead-slaying "Third Leg of Bruce"!
Folks, the hits just keep on coming in one of the most deliriously ludicrous flicks I've ever seen. I've gotta thank the folks at F This Movie! for including the Brucesploitation category in this year's edition: I never would have witnessed this stone classic of craziness if not for y'all!
PS: Forgot to mention the soundtrack, which riffs on popular movie themes and includes sound effects from Rush's 2112!
Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave (1976, dir. Lee Doo-yong)
ReplyDeleteChose this based solely on the poster because look at it!
A Korean martial arts teacher travels to America to see his old friend, only to find out he's recently died. Now he has to uncover the tangled web of crime his friend was caught in and beat up a lot of criminals. On the way, he also beats up a would-be rapist and saves a manic pixie dream girl who just inexplicably happens to know all about what happened to his friend.
Now how does all this relate to Bruce Lee, you ask? Well, it doesn't. The American distributors filmed a completely unrelated scene and inserted it at the beginning of the movie, showing lightning hitting Bruce Lee's grave and him (or rather someone who kinda looks like him) jumping out of it, just so they could use his name in the movie's title (the original title was Visitor of America). Also, they billed Jun Chong, who plays the lead, as Bruce K.L. Lea in the American release just for the hell of it. They really put the sploitation into Brucesploitation!
The plot is boilerplate, the acting really, really bad (though half of it is the dubbing), and the fights are mediocre at best, but at least there are a lot of them. Can't in good conscience recommend this movie to anyone, but what I can recommend is watching the first 30 seconds on YouTube, chuckling at it for a little bit and then watching something else.
I considered this as an option for today. Once I saw the scenes that followed Bruce Lee jumping out of his grave, it was taken off the list for today.
DeleteNow that’s how you end a review!
DeleteAs for many of us today, Brucesploitation is completely new to me. I have by far done the most research for this day than any other this month. Let's give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteBRUCE LEE SUPERSTAR (1976)
Also known by the alternative title The Legend of Bruce Lee. As for many of us today, Brucesploitation is completely new to me. My pick of this is largely based on the quality of the source material. So many of the options on Tubi are VHS rips with bad dubs. The accuracy of the how Lee’s life is told I cannot comment on, but this version does cover the basics. The dub is decent and the film is well put together. The major weakness is the fight scenes, which tend to lack intensity because they feel more choreographed than real . Bruce Li portrays the fallen star, and Li does sometimes have an uncanny resemblance to him. He definitely studied Lee's mannerisms.
EXIT THE DRAGON, ENTER THE TIGER (1976)
Another Bruce Li joint. The premise of this really takes Brucesploitation to a ridiculous level: Bruce Lee (The Dragon) was murdered, and it is up to Bruce Li (The Tiger), his former student, to discover who did it. The dubbing adds another layer to the ridiculousness and the fun. Though the fight scenes, ranging from adequate to almost good, did get tiresome towards the conclusion, I did enjoy Exit The Dragon. It is evident that the English-dubbed version is cut and had a completely different soundtrack added to it. It would be interesting to see what the original Hong Kong version is like. Tubi has the title backwards, by the way.
THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE (1980)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch. Severin Blu. 8/10.
First of all, I'd like to thank FTHISMOVIE for working so closely with Severin Films & the USPS to get the new Brucesploitation box set into my hungry hands in time for this auspicious day.
I'm surprised I hadn't managed to see this one before, but there's a lot of movies out there. This is prime grindhouse gunk. Al Adamson mad science mixed with decent kung fu in order to thwart goofball plots: a gold smuggling movie producer, vegetation destruction & (gold-colored) bronze warriors. This almost functions as an anthology, with Dragon Lee (one of the better Bruce imitators) doing stuff while Bruces Le & Lai (Kwok Si-Chi) witness nude girls & feed handfuls of deadly grass to men whose make-up is rubbing off.
The real lesson here is merely a reminder:
When you see Dick Randall's name in the credits,
there gon' be some 'sploitin' goin' on.
The Clones of Bruce Lee (1980)
ReplyDeleteAhhhh the old standby story classic trope: randomly clone Bruce Lee not once, but three times. Then send the clones to assassinate evil film directors, smugglers, and armies of men turned bronze. Also have them casually walk by a beach full of potentially killer nude women. Did I mention the bronze men have one weakness...they eat grass like dogs...and it's poisonous? Cliche stuff, really. Bwahahaha had a blast w this one.
THE FOUR SHAOLIN CHALLENGERS (1977)
ReplyDeleteA martial arts teacher hopes to open his own school in a small village, only to run afoul of the local gangsters. Star Bruce Leung doesn’t look or act much like Bruce Lee to my eyes, but he’s a capable action lead. The fights are more like rough barroom brawls rather than flashy martial arts. Most of the cool moves are saved for the obligatory training montage. This isn’t a standout among ‘70s kung fu flicks, but it does its job.
WEAPONS OF DEATH (1981)
Eric Lee plays “Eric,” a martial arts master who ventures into San Fransisco to rescue his kidnapped sister. There are a bunch of other characters and subplots, with a team of tough guys working with Lee, and with the bikers who’ve done the kidnapping. It’s as much of a late-70s counterculture movie as it is a kung fu actioner. Lee’s weapon of choice is a long, curved scimitar, which gives the fights some uniqueness. That’s something, I guess.
Bonus Universal Monster-sploitation: FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1942)
In his search for a cure to his wolf-ness, poor doomed Larry Talbot crosses paths with the Monster. These have become cheap B-movies by this point, but seeing the two famous monsters duke it out at the end is nonetheless a lot of fun.
Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (1976)
ReplyDeleteWhat better way to start my journey into brucesploitation than with a flick that literally exploits the man's name and death.
Enter the Clones of Bruce (2023, dir. David Gregory)
ReplyDeleteExcellent documentary deep-diving the world of Brucesploitation. The only one I have seen before is Game of Death, so learned a lot about what all is out there. Wild stuff!
FISTS OF FURY aka THE BIG BOSS (1971)
ReplyDeletedir. Lo Wei
Somehow I managed to watch the right movie on Tubi despite the title confusion over these Fist(s) movie.
It’s hard to say which scene was better: where Bruce munches on chips, or the scene where German Shepards are thrown thru the air repeatedly.
Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (1976)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I was not familiar with the Brucesploitation phenomenon until this month, so I decided to go with what seems like a good introduction. I initially thought this was a tacky idea, but hey, I saw Gus Van Sant's "Last Days" and this is a hell of a lot more fun that that was. Although, I'm still confused as to how parts of this movie are even legal.
THE BIG BOSS PART II (1976)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch. Severin Blu. 7/10.
Bruce Le takes over Bruce's Lee's role from THE BIG BOSS, but he's stuck in jail. Brother Lo Lieh comes by to learn of the man who killed their father. Lo ends up working for a tough lady-boss in Thailand with designs against the same target. She keeps Lo in the dark while Lo falls for Wang Ping, daughter of his target. This plot is not that complicated, despite feeling so at times. As either a crime or kung fu film, it's not great, but Lo Lieh is a great lead, the interiors are groovy, love is made to a funky Hendrix cover, boats are chased to the James Bond theme & minor sorcery is performed.
Bonus Brucesploitation recommendation:
DeleteFIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH
https://tubitv.com/movies/629968/fist-of-fear-touch-of-death
This was my first exposure to today's theme, though not by that name. I picked this tape up from the $10 rack at Suncoast in the mid '90s. My buddy & I watched it with befuddled glee.
Fists of Bruce Lee (1978). Starring Bruce Li. I kind of lost track of what the plot was, but it was entertaining from start to finish with heaps of fighting. The transfer on Tubi was pretty terrible. Blurry, and lots of people faces getting half cut off because of going from widescreen to VHS size. Like there were some fights where we couldn't see the people, only their fighting hands coming in from both sides of the screen. And so so so many scenes where people were at the side with half their faces off screen. Just a terrible transfer I suppose. The original movie couldn't have been like that.
ReplyDeleteCAMEROON CONNECTION (1985)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch. Severin Blu. 7/10.
Alphonse Beni directs & stars as a cop trying to solve the murder of a twin sister. Naturally, he ends up in Paris where Bruce Le jumps in to help him out of a disco tussle. Le shows Beni his beverage plant & then Beni poses as a cab driver. The buddies check out different witch doctors & get into occasional fights. CAMEROON CONNECTION has the cinematic integrity of a Eurocine production, aided by music from Jess Franco collaborator Daniel White. This might raise instant hives for many potential viewers & that's expected. Essentially a hang-out cop flick with a distorted sense of time, a car-on-motorcycle chase, a bubble bath & unhelpful exposition, this is great for fans of passion project action like DANGEROUS MEN, CHAMPAGNE AND BULLETS, LOST FAITH or even the similarly cast DYNAMITE BROTHERS by Al Adamson.
New Fist of Fury (1976)
ReplyDeleteIt's basically the same plot as Fist of Fury (1972) but this one has Jackie Chan...so it's kinda like when you get a new Bring It On movie...
Jackie Chan's character also doesn't want to practice kung fu because all the schools are bowing to pressures from the Japanese, which means we don't get a lot of Chan until the end...
THE DRAGON LIVES (aka HE'S A LEGEND, HE'S A HERO -1976)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch. Severin Blu. 8/10.
It was a dark & stormy night when Bruce Lee was born. He learned to fight, he got mad as the mischaracterization of his people in Hollywood, he beat a heavyweight champ in front of an audience, he got famous... etc.
This "biopic" stars Bruce Li as Bruce Lee, oscillating in tone between light-hearted goofery & utter seriousness throughout. A discofied theme song, montages to jump to action scenes, enough fighting to keep the grindhouse audience satisfied, a training machine & a wonderfully weird finale make for Grade A Brucesploitation.
“I don’t like all this deep serious stuff.”
The Dragon Lives Again (1977)
ReplyDeleteBruce Leong doesn't look a lick like Bruce Lee, but that's explained with this line: "It so happens when someone dies, their face and their body undergo a change." This doesn't explain Bruce's John Wayne drawl, but I rolled with it, 'cause that was only the beginning...
The Dragon is dead and relegated to a strange circle of the underworld, where he tangles with James Bond, Clint Eastwood, The Godfather, The Exorcist (replete with Maurice Chevalier accent), Emanuelle, Dracula, the inevitable blind warrior, and a gaggle of mummies. Luckily, he's aided by Kwai Chang Caine, Popeye, and the inevitable one-armed character (inevitably named One-Arm). And wait till Bruce breaks out some of his signature moves, including the undead-slaying "Third Leg of Bruce"!
Folks, the hits just keep on coming in one of the most deliriously ludicrous flicks I've ever seen. I've gotta thank the folks at F This Movie! for including the Brucesploitation category in this year's edition: I never would have witnessed this stone classic of craziness if not for y'all!
PS: Forgot to mention the soundtrack, which riffs on popular movie themes and includes sound effects from Rush's 2112!
Enter the Dragon (1973)
ReplyDeleteThe winner and still champion. I watched the relatively new 4K disc last night— Bruce Lee actually kicks 4X harder!
i love this 4k. its also in my top 5 favorite martial arts flicks.
DeleteNEW FISTS OF FURY (1976):
ReplyDeleteFine movie. Terrible English voice acting. Why dubs and no subs, Tubi?