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Bruce Lee, the legend


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Recently watched Enter the Dragon after a long time .... What a movie! It is like the whole film is a stretched out version of the final act of a Bond/Spy film. Has an iconic background score .... Mingles Bruce Lee's philosophy with martial arts as well. 

 

The film was released after the death of Bruce Lee and was a mega hit almost everywhere. Even in India, it was one of the rare overseas films to celebrate silver jubilee. Adjusted for inflation, it is probably a >$1B film as it grossed $350M in 1973! 

 

Despite being talented enough to change the industry, Bruce Lee struggled to get key roles in Hollywood. He went to Hong Kong to attain unmatchable successes with back to back global hits such as the Big Boss, the Fists of Fury, and the Way of the Dragon (also directed by Bruce Lee iirc). Hollywood finally had to cast him in the main lead and thus came Enter the Dragon. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee died before its release. Who knows if he were alive and with the leverage of Hollywood's finance and technical expertise, he could have made more great action films! 

 

Bruce, the pioneering Asian global superstar :hail: 

 

 

 

 

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Hate how he was portrayed in Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', because of that one scene the movie is my least favorite QT flick. Despicable, just shows the shallow/cheap mentality of the creative heads. 

 

Overrated martial artist and too many silly myths about his prowess but he had great screen presence and was a pioneer. 'Enter the Dragon' and 'Fist of Fury' are my favorite Bruce Lee movies. Omar Sharif and Bruce Lee enjoyed cult following in Calcutta theatres in the 70s from what I heard, both outsiders as well. 

Edited by Gollum
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Bruce Lee’s Game of Death original footage, 10-12 mins of which was used in the 1978 film shot after his death using a double and clips. That 10-12 mins footage was enough to make the film a hit: 

 

 

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16 hours ago, Gollum said:

Hate how he was portrayed in Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', because of that one scene the movie is my least favorite QT flick. Despicable, just shows the shallow/cheap mentality of the creative heads. 

That was dumb by QT. 

 

 

Quote

Omar Sharif and Bruce Lee enjoyed cult following in Calcutta theatres in the 70s from what I heard, both outsiders as well. 

 

Omar Sharif enjoyed success by staring in some good films but he his presence did not necessarily turn the film into success at least in many of the international markets. On the other hand, Bruce Lee was in the league of his own - with films made for him. 

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On 7/9/2020 at 7:59 PM, Gollum said:

Hate how he was portrayed in Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', because of that one scene the movie is my least favorite QT flick. Despicable, just shows the shallow/cheap mentality of the creative heads. 

 

Overrated martial artist and too many silly myths about his prowess but he had great screen presence and was a pioneer. 'Enter the Dragon' and 'Fist of Fury' are my favorite Bruce Lee movies. Omar Sharif and Bruce Lee enjoyed cult following in Calcutta theatres in the 70s from what I heard, both outsiders as well. 

Went to see Big Boss in a theater in Calcutta when I was a teenager. The theater used to screen B grade English movies in a poor Muslim neighborhood which was gang infested. Most of the audience did not understand a lick of English, just came for the fights and the sex. Bruce Lee movies were a big draw among the rickshaw and chai wallas. 
 

So we are watching a fight scene in Big Boss and the audience is revved up, and then suddenly the power goes out. The generators kick on and the theater lights come on, but the movie is interrupted. The crowd goes wild, yelling choice Bengali gallis at the projectionist. The guy in the row right in front of me gets so angry that he rips the cushion from his seat and throws it down the aisle. Then, as suddenly as the power went out, it came back. The theater lights dimmed and the movie was back on. But the idiot in front of me now does not have a seat to sit on. As he attempts to watch the movie standing, not only did he had gallis hurled at him, but I noticed a couple of chappals whizz past my ears towards him. Poor chap was forced to watch the rest of the movie sitting on a hard seat frame squirming frequently. He must have had a sore auss for the rest of the day. :rotfl:

 

Oh man, there are some days in your life you will always remember and this was one of those!

 

 

Edited by Audiophile
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On 7/10/2020 at 11:15 PM, Audiophile said:

So we are watching a fight scene in Big Boss and the audience is revved up, and then suddenly the power goes out. The generators kick on and the theater lights come on, but the movie is interrupted. The crowd goes wild, yelling choice Bengali gallis at the projectionist. The guy in the row right in front of me gets so angry that he rips the cushion from his seat and throws it down the aisle. Then, as suddenly as the power went out, it came back. The theater lights dimmed and the movie was back on. But the idiot in front of me now does not have a seat to sit on. As he attempts to watch the movie standing, not only did he had gallis hurled at him, but I noticed a couple of chappals whizz past my ears towards him. Poor chap was forced to watch the rest of the movie sitting on a hard seat frame squirming frequently. He must have had a sore auss for the rest of the day. :rotfl:

 

oh boy, that is a nightmare watching experience but I guess that the action in the film esp. in that period made up for the troubles 

Edited by zen
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9 hours ago, zen said:

oh boy, that is a nightmare watching experience but I guess that the action in the film esp. in that period made up for the troubles 

Now looking back, the actions look a bit comical and the acting pretty horrendous, but I was a huge fan of Bruce Lee and kung-fu & karate growing up.

Edited by Audiophile
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1 hour ago, Audiophile said:

Now looking back, the actions look a bit comical and the acting pretty horrendous, but I was a huge fan of Bruce Lee and kung-fu & karate growing up.

Bruce Lee’s films by and large still look good (apart from old production values) esp. Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury, which I watched recently. His films are generally serious (unlike HK’s action comedy) with excellent combats which are timeless. Recent films like John Wick try to follow that too.  I haven’t rewatched Big Boss and Way of the Dragon yet. Game of Death is what it is i.e. 10-12 mins of Bruce Lee and John Barry’s score so will not comment on it much. 

 

 

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14 minutes ago, coffee_rules said:

Back in 70s and 80a movies, a lot of Indian movies copied him. Karate was big , every hero started apeing him. 
 

Yeah, esp. the style where Mithun, Jeetendra, etc., would wipe blood from their lips and then beat the goons .... Rajesh Khanna tried such an action movie too in Chaila Babu, which is a decent time pass film though  :lol: 

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