On July 20, 1973, the news of the sudden and violent death of a generation of kung fu superstar Bruce Lee caused an uproar in the world.
After his death, many film companies in Hong Kong and Taiwan certainly refused to give up the opportunity to continue to "consume" Bruce Lee, and for a time, a large number of martial arts films with the nature of imitating Bruce Lee, biopic films with the so-called "secret Bruce Lee" nature, and follow-up works in the name of "Bruce Lee film sequel" continued to emerge, and the audience also paid the bill.
Later, even shaw films, which regarded Jiahe, who praised Bruce Lee as a sworn enemy, also made a "bruce Lee and Me" with "wild history" and used "the past between Ding Pei and Bruce Lee" as a gimmick, thus attracting a large number of audiences to obediently enter the cinema.
Looking at the batch of film and television works related to Bruce Lee at that time, many of them were shoddily made, and there are not many that can really be said to be of excellent quality. In contrast, "The Legend of Bruce Lee", directed by the famous Hong Kong director Wu Siyuan in 1976, can be said to be one of the few works of sincerity and intention in this batch.
This film is the first biographical film in the history of film to seriously portray the life experience of this legendary kung fu superstar, and some of the most important and crucial events in his life, such as following Ip Man to learn Wing Chun, founding his own Zhen Fan GuoShu Gym in the United States to teach boxing, being warned by the San Francisco national art community not to accept foreigners as apprentices, including his return to Hong Kong to fight in the world and become famous in one fell swoop, until his final untimely death, etc., the film is shown one by one.
The author secretly believes that if we talk about the narrative structure and the fullness of the story, it is still considered to be "the best of Bruce Lee biographical films" (of course, excluding the 2008 TV drama version of "Bruce Lee Legend").
The biggest difference between film and documentary is that it does not have to be rooted in everything.
Like Bruce Lee, the focus is not on the familiar experiences of Bruce Lee and the men, but on anecdotes about Bruce Lee's films, such as the challenge posed by Japanese karate masters to Bruce Lee;
During the filming of "Big Brother Tangshan", Bruce Lee specially observed the Muay Thai competition and finally defeated the Muay Thai master who came to provoke; during the filming of "Raptors Across the River", he encountered the mafia to find three masters to compete with...
The above plot has both real parts, but perhaps also fictional places, but it is this seamless combination of virtual and real, on the one hand, can fully satisfy the audience's curiosity for Bruce Lee outside the play, and on the other hand, it can also be put into the commercial attributes of the film.
Although a biographical film, martial arts remained a top priority for Bruce Lee (mainly because audiences at the time enjoyed watching martial arts too much).
To this end, Wu Siyuan invited Taiwanese actor Ho Chong-dao, who has been practicing martial arts since he was a child and has imitated Bruce Lee several times in movies such as "New Game of Death", "Wing Chun Big Brother" and "Raptor Conquest", to provoke the beams of this movie.
Although He Zongdao's appearance is not as close to the real Bruce Lee as the later Chen Guokun, he has a solid kung fu foundation, coupled with the rich experience of "imitation dragon" that has been accumulated before, whether it is Bruce Lee's kung fu moves, or his self-confidence and arrogance personality characteristics, he Zongdao can be interpreted by He Zongdao.
In order to create a realistic atmosphere for the film, the crew of "The Legend of Bruce Lee" also revisited the footprints of Bruce Lee, using the places where he once lived and filmed as the main filming locations, such as the University of Washington, the Crane House, the Colosseum, and the locations when Bruce Lee filmed "Big Brother Tangshan", which were once again included in the camera.
It can be seen that Wu Siyuan created this film with the attitude of respecting Bruce Lee and respecting Bruce Lee fans.
What is even more rare is that many people who have a relationship with Bruce Lee appear in this film, including his former friends Xiao Qilin and Ding Pei, as well as Feng Jingwen and Feng Yi, who have cooperated with Bruce Lee, etc., and Among them, Ip Man's eldest son Ye Zhun personally played his father, which is also the most precious and greatest value of this "Legend of Bruce Lee".
Feng Jingwen, Zhao Zhiling
Bruce Lee's good friend Little Kirin
Feng Yi, who worked with Bruce Lee on "Jingwumen"
However, this film is not without regrets: because it is too inclined to show Bruce Lee's various "legends" and martial arts scenes, it has lost a lot of necessary details that can reflect Bruce Lee's inner growth and changes, in addition to the relatively sophisticated production, other aspects are generally the level of ordinary martial arts films in Hong Kong at that time, if it were not for the protagonist is Bruce Lee, the film may be buried forever.
If you're going to see a documentary, you're going to end up disappointed, but you might as well see it as an "add-on" to understanding Bruce Lee. (Mike Crazy Says Movie Sha Muhong)