Yes, children, an actual super-being walked this Earth.
And, we only got 4 and a half good movies out of him.
You'd think it'd be more, but...nope.
The Green Hornet
The series-
A.K.A. "The Kato Show".
Yes, it was, yes, it was....
They marathon-ed this on SyFy when the movie came out.
Oh! So much better than 60's Batman, it ain't funny.
Foremost, Green Hornet kills.
They ain't gotta put up with a Riddler every week.
The history-
See above.
Fists of Fury
The film-
A.K.A "The Big Boss".
Bruce's breakthrough role.
The one where he does the hypnotic hand rotations that gets parodied in other stuff.
The history-
The legend of this one (and it's acted out in the biopic) is that the premier audience was dead silent, and audiences in Hong Kong usually aren't, and Bruce thought that meant they hated it, and he tried to skulk out, but then the credits came up, and everyone cheered, and carried him around.
The Chinese Connection
The film-
A.K.A "Fist of Fury", not to be confused with Fists of Fury", but I don't fuggin' see how not.
Bruce must avenge his master, and we get some "star belly Sneetches", behavior among the Japanese vs. Chinese.
Also, Bruce's "teeeacheerrrr!!!!!", meltdown over his dead master gets spoofed in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka".
The history-
You can watch this at Hulu!
Return of the Dragon
The film-
A.K.A. "The Way of the Dragon".
Released stateside after Lee's death as "Return...", to market it as a pseudo-sequel to "Enter the Dragon".
Whatever....
The history-
This is the one where he kills Chuck Norris.
*Happy smile*
An atheist making mincemeat out of an evolution-denying fundie-Christian.
You're damn right I cackle at that scene every time.
'Specially with all this goofy Norris worship going on on the 'net lately.
B-)
Enter The Dragon
The film-
Considered by many, if not most, to be his masterpiece.
Well, it gets the double-disk treatment when the rest don't.
Sadly, he died before he got to see it released.
This is the one where all the Bruce Lee visual references are typically pulled from.
Him with the nunchucks.
Him with the scratches on his chest.
Him fighting in the hall of mirrors.
All that stuff, in this flick.
Also, the one with John Saxon (Nancy's dad) as Ken to Bruce's Ryu.
*Looks it up* Roper, right.
Also, also, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan debut in this.
The history-
Only one I've really seen all the way through.
Something I've got to amend.
Game of Death
The film-
He intended this to be his masterpiece, but....he died midway through, and there have been various sloppy cuts of it to "finish", it, and Herculean quests for lost footage, and yeah...hasn't worked out as far as being his vision.
It's the one where he fights Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Good fight.
And, the one where he wears his yellow track-suit that gets copied in "Kill Bill".
The history-
These four little flicks inspired an entire industry, well, several.
Karate schools, martial arts films, parodies, thousands of pop culture references, hundreds of video games, Bruce Lee is all over the friggin' place.
China even finally recognized him with a statue, and a million hour miniseries.
Well, not million, but it was pretty meticulous....
Guess I better also throw in...
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
The film-
The aforementioned biopic.
It's a nice little movie, even though it dances a disturbing tightrope in playing up the whole Bruce/Brandon "death curse", bullshit.
Critics seemed to like it.
Got nominated for some little awards.
Jason Scott Lee puts in a great performance....even though he looks nothing like Bruce Lee...
The history-
Cable.
Sorry, wish there was more.
I ain't alone.
Up next....whelp, the list is chipping away....how 'bout Hercules?
Bruce must avenge his master, and we get some "star belly Sneetches", behavior among the Japanese vs. Chinese.
Also, Bruce's "teeeacheerrrr!!!!!", meltdown over his dead master gets spoofed in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka".
The history-
You can watch this at Hulu!
Return of the Dragon
The film-
A.K.A. "The Way of the Dragon".
Released stateside after Lee's death as "Return...", to market it as a pseudo-sequel to "Enter the Dragon".
Whatever....
The history-
This is the one where he kills Chuck Norris.
*Happy smile*
An atheist making mincemeat out of an evolution-denying fundie-Christian.
You're damn right I cackle at that scene every time.
'Specially with all this goofy Norris worship going on on the 'net lately.
B-)
Enter The Dragon
The film-
Considered by many, if not most, to be his masterpiece.
Well, it gets the double-disk treatment when the rest don't.
Sadly, he died before he got to see it released.
This is the one where all the Bruce Lee visual references are typically pulled from.
Him with the nunchucks.
Him with the scratches on his chest.
Him fighting in the hall of mirrors.
All that stuff, in this flick.
Also, the one with John Saxon (Nancy's dad) as Ken to Bruce's Ryu.
*Looks it up* Roper, right.
Also, also, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan debut in this.
The history-
Only one I've really seen all the way through.
Something I've got to amend.
Game of Death
The film-
He intended this to be his masterpiece, but....he died midway through, and there have been various sloppy cuts of it to "finish", it, and Herculean quests for lost footage, and yeah...hasn't worked out as far as being his vision.
It's the one where he fights Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Good fight.
And, the one where he wears his yellow track-suit that gets copied in "Kill Bill".
The history-
These four little flicks inspired an entire industry, well, several.
Karate schools, martial arts films, parodies, thousands of pop culture references, hundreds of video games, Bruce Lee is all over the friggin' place.
China even finally recognized him with a statue, and a million hour miniseries.
Well, not million, but it was pretty meticulous....
Guess I better also throw in...
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
The film-
The aforementioned biopic.
It's a nice little movie, even though it dances a disturbing tightrope in playing up the whole Bruce/Brandon "death curse", bullshit.
Critics seemed to like it.
Got nominated for some little awards.
Jason Scott Lee puts in a great performance....even though he looks nothing like Bruce Lee...
The history-
Cable.
Sorry, wish there was more.
I ain't alone.
Up next....whelp, the list is chipping away....how 'bout Hercules?
5 comments:
. . .
Aaah, shoot.
I was gonna try and make some sorta 'finger', 'moon', 'all that heavenly glory' crack that would've been an off color butt joke . . .
But I couldn't put my finger in it. ON IT!
(rimshot)
D'oh!
(Comedy trumpet)
Woh-wohh!!
No thoughts on Bond?
24 flicks, and no special memories??
Hey, now. What's with askin' after Bond in the Bruce Lee comments!
I'll get to double-oh-whatsisface, don't you worry.
;)
Very well, share your Lee expertise then.
I've got big honkin' gaps, that Wikipedia couldn't fill for me today, cuz Congress are douche-pumps.
Well, shoot. You knew (or dug up) more about Bruce Lee than I did . . . and I have some of those books of his.
Never could finish 'em. They're . . . messy. Spotty. Mostly compiled after his death and all. Still interesting, though.
And, shit, I've only ever seen Enter The Dragon and Chinese Connection. Still haven't gotten around to the other ones!
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