So, what is Bruceploitation? Although the term Bruceploitation was coined many years after these movies were made, it is a word that is now used to describe a whole sub-genre of martial arts films that were produced to exploit Bruce Lee’s name, image or likeness. Whilst some of these movies may have been made with good intentions, the ultimate goal was to capitalise on the sudden popularity in both Asia and internationally of Bruce Lee. It is not unusual when the death of a celebrity occurs that a biographical film may hastily be rushed into production but never in the history of cinema has the death of an actor sparked a whole sub-genre of films based around the life, death and characters that he has portrayed.
While fans were still mourning the loss of their legendary screen hero, movie producers took the opportunity to capitalise on the situation to cash-in on the demand for more Bruce Lee. Film productions began whilst the ink on the newspapers reporting Bruce Lee’s death was still wet. They detailed all aspects of his life and death, often fictionalised or taken from tabloid rumour. Simply putting an image of Bruce Lee on the front cover of a publication was enough to guarantee more sales. So imagine, what sort of financial return could be recouped by having him return on screen in a movie? At least that was the mindset of producers post-Bruce Lee’s passing. The criteria wasn’t very strict. As long as the actor had enough resemblance to Bruce Lee that a pair of large sunglasses could fix, then they could get a chance to make a leap into leading man status. Actors and former stuntmen using pseudonym names, and even co-stars who had appeared alongside the Little Dragon himself, all tried to gain fame in the search to find the ‘next Bruce Lee’.
Enter Three Dragons
The most famous stars of Bruceploitation are Bruce Li, Bruce Le and Dragon Lee and they are undoubtedly the three kings of this sub-genre with most of their filmographies making up the bulk of the movies discussed in reference to this. Their brief shine into stardom ultimately came with a price as they could never shake off the shadow of the man that gave them a step-up into the industry.
Taiwanese actor Ho Chung-Dao was the first star to emerge and began his movie career as a stuntman and background character roles before making the transition to leading star after a friend told producers about his resemblance to Bruce Lee. He was billed internationally under several different names before being given the monkier Bruce Li by producer Jimmy Shaw in an attempt to fool unsuspecting audiences into believing they were paying to see a real Bruce Lee movie. It was left to the movie theatre owners to deal with the repercussions when disgruntled viewers demanded their money back, leading them to add signs stating that the film does not feature actual footage of Bruce Lee.
Although it began as a great opportunity to portray his idol on screen, Ho Chung-Dao hoped the chance would lead onto other roles outside of the ‘Lee’ image. This proved to be more difficult than expected. Even when his films had little to do with Bruce Lee, they would often be re-titled internationally to include his name somewhere in the title. He also tried to insist that he would be credited by his real name but the alias Bruce Li continued to be plastered all over the advertising.
As previously mentioned, biographical films are a regular occurrence, especially when a high-profile celebrity passes away in more unusual or untimely circumstances. Ho Chung-Dao starred in the very first of several bio-pic’s based on Bruce Lee’s life that was produced in Taiwan, The Bruce Lee Story (1974), released in the US as The Dragon Dies Hard. “How he lived! How he loved! How he fought! How he died!” the poster exclaimed. The film focused more on the drama that had been filling the Hong Kong newspapers and the alleged love affair between Bruce and Betty Ting-Pei but was a template for the countless bio-pics that were soon follow. He later signed a contract with The Eternal Film Company to begin work on another bio-pic, Bruce Lee – True Story (1976) (released internationally as Bruce Lee The Man The Myth). What sets this apart from his earlier films is the scale and budget of the production. Unlike some of his previous bio-pic’s, their were clear attempts to be as close as it could be to replicate the work of Bruce Lee by filming in some of the same locations that Lee himself once tread and also by using some of Bruce Lee’s real-life friends and co-stars.
When Bruce Lee died, Producer Raymond Chow told newspapers that Bruce had collapsed at home and later died at the hospital as there was an urgency to try and cover up the fact that he had passed away at the home of his alleged mistress, Betty Ting-Pei. This led to another popular theme of Bruceploitation movies involving the mysterious circumstances surrounding Lee’s death and an attempt to discover the “truth” behind it. Was he poisoned? Did a Kung Fu master give him a secret death touch? Was he involved with gangsters? Was it foul play? There were a few films that covered some of these subjects including The Black Dragon Revenges the Death of Bruce Lee (1975) starring Ron Van Clief, and both Bruce Lee We Miss You (1975) and Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (1976) with Ho Chung-Dao.
It wasn’t just dubious low budget or independent film studios that got involved in Bruceploitation. The mighty Shaw Brothers studio had lost the chance to sign the real Bruce Lee when he returned to Hong Kong to their rivals at Golden Harvest but following Lee’s death, they signed Betty Ting-Pei to play herself in a forthcoming exploitative film detailing the alleged relationship. After several years of being under contract at the Shaw Brothers studio, Danny Lee Sau-Yin was chosen to star in Bruce Lee and I (1975) (aka Bruce Lee His Last Days and Nights). Danny would later become more famous for his roles as a Hong Kong policeman and for the John Woo classic, The Killer, opposite Chow Yun Fat. When interviewed about taking on the role of Bruce Lee, Danny said “when they called me to act in this, basically I didn’t have interest to act in this sort of movie. I felt basically, how could I compare myself with Bruce Lee” and continued by saying “Then at the time of filming, I also felt that I wouldn’t be able to play the part well, or to what extent. So I just did it…”.
Following hot on the trail of Bruce Li was another former Shaw Brothers contract actor, Huang Kin-Lung. Unlike the aforementioned Danny Lee Sau-Yin, Kin-Lung did not get the chance to move into leading man status whilst he was signed with the studio. An independent studio offered him the chance to star in The Big Boss part 2 (1976), a sequel to the Bruce Lee movie and starred Lo Lieh in the leading role. It was quickly followed by Bruce’s Fingers (1976) and was his first colabaration with director Joseph Kong Hung. features an appearance by Bruce Lee’s Wing Chun grandmaster Wong Shun Leung, a senior student of Ip Man who helped with train Bruce Lee. Huang Kin-Lung was now being credited as Bruce Le to follow the new trend of Bruce Lee exploitation movies being produced. In the movie, Bruce Le plays a student of Bruce Lee who is bequeathed the Kung Fu finger technique book by his master. The secret Kung Fu book of Bruce Lee was another common theme used in several other Bruceploitation movies including Kung Fu Fever (1979), They Call Him Bruce Lee (1979) and Bruce’s Fist of Vengeance (1980).
Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco on November 27th, 1940 in the year of the Dragon. His father, Li Hoi-Chuen, was a Cantonese opera singer and film actor. Bruce got his first glimpse into the Hong Kong film industry as a young child actor. The role as Kato in in the short lived US television show, The Green Hornet (1966), exposed him to a wide audience but it didn’t see him hit the heights of stardom until he returned to Hong Kong as an adult to break all box-office records across Asia with The Big Boss (1971). His sudden and shocking death on July 20th, 1973, at the young age of 32 and only a few weeks before the release of his most internationally recognised film, Enter the Dragon (1973), earned him legendary icon status to join the likes of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley… READ MORE >>>
Bruce Li was born on June 5th, 1950 in Pingtung, Taiwan. After graduating from High School, Chung-Dao went on to college and majored in physical education whilst studying various styles of martial arts including Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, and also gymnastics. After winning high praise from his coaches, both of his parents had hopes of him becoming a physical education teacher. However, after two years of study, Li decided to give up his chosen career path and peruse a career in the film business… READ MORE >>>
Bruce Le was born on March 10th, 1956 in Burma. His parents are Chinese and he started studying martial arts at a young age. The story of his early training was like something out of a movie. He met a monk who became his master who was in his 70’s with a long beard but moved like a youngster with great agility. Training was hard and he hit boards, sand bag’s and trained the iron hand technique until his bones cracked and bled often. By the early 1970’s he was competing in tournaments… READ MORE >>>
Dragon Lee