Enter the Bruceploitation madness

BRUCE LEE: THE MAN, THE MYTH (1976)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When I first saw the perversely entertaining Bruce Lee biopic "Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth" on TV back in 1983, I was excited about an unexpected renaissance: Bruce Lee might come back. Towards the end of the film, a theory is proposed that Bruce Lee not only faked his untimely death at the age of 32 but that he would return in 1983 as Southeast Asia was awaiting his return. Of course, that was not to be since Lee really did die. If he had been a recluse, he might have returned sooner had he known his name would be exploited in so many cheap, amateurish Bruceploitation flicks ready to cash in on his name, his legacy. "Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth" is one of the better flicks (though clearly cheaply produced) and it distinguishes itself by paying some measure of tribute to the late martial arts master. Of course, it is about as fictionalized as you can imagine.

Bruce Li (aka Ho Chung Tao, James Ho) plays the iconic Lee, from his days of training with his master Yip Man, to his San Francisco days in college where he would perform tricks with students such as grabbing a coin from someone's hand in lightning fashion, to various challenges from many different martial-arts fighters while operating his own martial-arts school, to his days on the set of his famous films ("The Big Boss" shows some of the same actors from that film) where he was consistently challenged by fighters who thought he was all show and not a real fighter. Bruce Lee has to continue to prove himself as he trains harder and harder, then starts developing headaches and then he dies, though the film suggests there may have been more to his death than a simple ingestion of a painkiller.

If you have never read a book about Bruce Lee, then you might accept some of the biographical material as fact: please don't! For one, the various fight challenges he endures in this film are hogwash (only 3 to the best of my collection are probable, though none resemble what is on display here). Though there is a mention of Lee's dismissal of karate or any style as inferior to his Jeet Kune Do, there is no real discussion other than lines such as "Kung-Fu is!" Well, that settles that debate. Bruce Lee, a philosopher at heart, would've expounded on such issues. Also, I am not sure his strict protein diet included a piece of chocolate but I can't say for sure.

"Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth" has the likable Bruce Li at its center who captures the legend in most of his glory, including the mischievous smiles. Li is also a hell of a charismatic fighter though he doesn't quite capture the balletic grace, the hesitation in Bruce Lee's fighting skills - the initial reluctance to fight is what made Bruce Lee more positively human than any one-dimensional clone. Of course, there is only one Bruce. The actress Lynda Hirst (her sole role) who plays Linda Lee, Bruce's wife, is uncanny though she barely has any lines. The movie itself is a fun, if sloppily made, chop-socky flick - just don't take it as gospel.