With the attainable exception of James Dean, no actor left an even bigger affect on the world of movie in fewer onscreen appearances than Bruce Lee. Whereas Lee headlined solely 4 martial arts films throughout his lifetime, these movies — particularly the fourth, Enter the Dragon, which Lee completed only some months earlier than his loss of life — grew to become so phenomenally widespread all over the world that they basically created a world marketplace for kung fu cinema that had not existed earlier than.
However there was an issue: Lee had proven there was an viewers for his films simply as he handed away. That left a legion of followers hungry for movies that didn’t exist and couldn’t be made — which in flip impressed a legion of imitators to make movies that traded on Bruce Lee’s picture in methods huge and small. A few of these movies overtly claimed to inform the “actual” story of Bruce Lee whereas that includes look-alikes engaged in outlandish battles with the Mafia or supernatural enemies. Inside just a few years time there was a reputation for these films: “Brucespoiltation,” absolutely the one time within the historical past of movement photos that there was a whole class of exploitation movies devoted to exploiting the recognition of 1 man.
The historical past of this sordid sub-genre types the premise of the brand new documentary Enter the Clones of Bruce from director David Gregory, whose earlier work as a documentarian consists of the extremely entertaining Misplaced Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau. As in Misplaced Soul, Gregory considers this absurd story with a bemused eye and a gentle contact for mixing nice showbiz tales with archival footage.
READ MORE: The Most Ridiculous Motion Film Cliches
To get the complete story of the Brucesploitation period, Gregory speaks to administrators, producers, movie distributors, critics, followers, and most significantly a number of of the actors who portrayed “Bruce Lee” — and sometimes adopted Bruce Lee-esque stage names in an try and dupe unsuspecting prospects out of their hard-earned {dollars}. In Taiwan, there was Bruce Li, who advised Gregory that whereas he admired Bruce Lee and appreciated the chance to share Lee’s martial arts strikes and philosophy with the world, he strongly disliked taking up his identify.
There’s additionally Bruce Le and Bruce Leung, two completely different individuals each type of pretending to be a 3rd. We additionally meet Dragon Lee, a South Korean martial artist who appeared in The Actual Bruce Lee. (Think about the extent of chutzpah you’ll want to give your film that title.) For my cash, Dragon Lee bears the closest resemblance to the actual Bruce Lee — if Bruce Lee had taken a ton of steroids and gotten into absurdly beefy form.
A number of of the largest Bruce Lee knockoffs even teamed up as soon as, in The Clones of Bruce Lee, a few mad scientist who creates clones of Bruce Lee — i.e. Dragon Lee and Bruce Le, plus two extra gents named Bruce Lai and Bruce Thai, who then group as much as take the scientist down. Think about The Avengers for films with guys pretending to be Bruce Lee and also you’re in the suitable ballpark of what’s happening right here.
As that description suggests, whereas these movies had been unabashed money grabs, they had been additionally not essentially with out their very own quirky charms. If cult movies enchantment to you, there’s no strategy to stroll away from Enter the Clones of Bruce with no entire listing of titles to trace down. (The highest of my very own must-see listing: The Dragon Lives Once more, a 1977 thriller starring Bruce Leung as “Bruce Lee,” the well-known martial artist who dies after which goes to the afterlife, the place he he encounters knockoffs of different popular culture icons, together with James Bond, the One-Armed Swordsman, Zatoichi, and even Popeye the Sailor Man.)
The interviews and backstage tales in Enter the Clones of Bruce aren’t fairly as juicy as those Gregory collected in Misplaced Soul; few can dwell as much as the gonzo silliness of the Brucesploitation movies themselves. It additionally would have been good if the movie included extra perspective from Lee’s household, and the way they reacted to the shameless mass exploitation of their misplaced cherished one.
What’s right here, although, is enjoyable and engaging. The period Enter the Clones of Bruce chronicles wasn’t that way back, and but it feels completely alien to our personal. Consider a film star who has handed away in the previous few years The think about indie producers had made their very own films buying and selling on his or her likeness with out permission for a fast buck.
Then once more, as of late when an actor dies, they’re not gone endlessly both. Current Star Wars movies have featured appearances from the likes of “Carrie Fisher” and “Peter Cushing,” conjured with computer systems and synthetic intelligence. The “ghost” of Harold Ramis helped his previous buddies in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. So I could be giving our present period extra credit score than it deserves.
Enter the Clones of Bruce will probably be taking part in in Alamo Drafthouse theaters across the nation; discover a full listing of playdates right here. Severin Movies is releasing a field set that features Enter the Clones of Bruce and 14 Brucesploitation movies. For extra data, try their official website.
The Worst Motion pictures of the twentieth Century, In keeping with Letterboxd
In keeping with the customers of the social media website Letterboxd, these are the worst films launched over the course of the complete twentieth century.
