From troubled teenagers in street fights to global icons in Hollywood, Bruce Lee's punches and kicks not only changed the world image of Asians, but also created the kung fu genre of Western movies, changed the audience's physical requirements for the protagonists, and even inspired the affirmative political movement of Asian Americans in the 1970s...
In August 1973, "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" premiered in Los Angeles, USA, and two Chinese dragon and lion dance teams walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame to Grauman's Chinese Theatre to promote the event. The night before, fans who had heard the news began to gather and surrounded the entire block. John Saxon, who plays Rubell in the film, recalls: "I sat in the back seat of a limousine and saw the crowd waiting outside the theater and queuing up to buy tickets. I asked the driver, 'What's going on?' He said, 'They all came to see your movie.' ’”
John Saxon isn't the only one who was blown away by the success of Dragon Quest. Even New York film critics, who have historically disliked violent scenes, feel its power. According to The New York Times, "The film is well-made, the plot is fascinating, the action scenes are lightning fast, and the light and shadow flow and the colors shine." You have never seen such a fierce, fierce, and ruthless oriental hero in any film, and without the help of firearms, you can fight a world with your fists and feet alone. William Paul confessed in The Village Voice magazine: "From the point of view of my own upbringing, I think the film is repulsive and full of grotesque male fantasies." But I must admit that in the darkest corners of my subconscious, this fantasy resonated with me. ”
"Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" has caused great repercussions around the world. The film cost only $850,000 to produce, but in 1973 it grossed $90 million worldwide. Over the next 45 years, it is expected to reach $350 million. Fred Winterlaub once joked that the film was so profitable that the production company wanted an extra penny for him. Screenwriter Michael Allin recalled: "Warner's lawyer wrote me a letter saying, 'This movie is going to make a lot of money' — one of my favorite phrases — 'In every way.'" This movie made them a lot of money, and they couldn't hide it. ”
Poster of "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight"
The Hong Kong film industry behind Bruce Lee
Less than a month after Bruce Lee's two funerals, "Dragon Fight and Tiger Fight" was officially released, and the box office reputation was double-harvested. It allowed the late Bruce Lee to successfully achieve what he called his "clear goal" of becoming the nation's highest-paid Oriental superstar. It also allowed him to surpass Steve McQueen in one fell swoop. During the filming of Dragon Fight, Bruce Lee told Fred Winterlaub that his goal was to make the film more successful than The Getaway, which was produced by Steve McQueen at the same time. "If I could send a telegram to Bruce Lee in Heaven," fred Winterlaub said, "it would say, 'In every way, 'Dragon Fight' is far superior to 'Outlaws.'" ’”
The March 21, 1973 tv series Kung Fu and Shaw's First Punch opened the door for Western audiences, but Bruce Lee kicked the door away with his superb performance in Dragon Fight – introducing a whole new genre of cinema to the West. Since then, the Hong Kong kung fu films, once considered shoddy — what Variety called "chopsocky" — have gradually become a cultural phenomenon, moving from the city's mill theaters to the suburban multi-screen cinemas. "Everybody's playing kung fu," carl Douglas, a magical kid who became a hit, sang in the song, "they're as agile as cats, as fast as lightning." The 1974 kung fu fighting sold 11 million copies. In New York, there are as many as 30 Hong Kong films released during the same period.
Bruce Lee's previous series of films for Jiahe ("Big Brother Tangshan", "Jingwumen", "Raptor Across the River") were all released in the United States, accumulating about $50 million at the box office. In addition, the production company also edited the three episodes of "Green Hornet" together, opening with a Bruce Lee audition clip, and officially released in theaters in November 1974 as a big movie. "Mr. Lee's Kato is a loyal employee of the Green Hornet and a kung fu master. Due to the popularity of kung fu films made in Hong Kong before his death, a year later, he enjoyed star status and became the star of "The Green Hornet". Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times.
Bruce Lee: Myth and Truth, by Matthew Polly, translated by Shi Xuguang, Tiandi Press, June 2021
After Bruce Lee's death, he instantly became an international superstar, and fans were extremely eager to learn the details of his life. "I didn't know much about him before, but now I want to know more about him." A young woman from New Jersey wrote in a letter to Black Belt magazine: "All of a sudden, he died, and I couldn't take it. It was like I had just met him and never had the chance to see him again. Hundreds of magazines competed to publish articles about him, and several commemorative books and biographies were published and listed. There was even a shoddy biopic, The Dragon Dies Hard, released in 1975. In this film, Bruce Lee's martial arts practice is said to be in response to several maliciously provocative while he was working, who tried to preempt his Washington Post delivery route.
After Bruce Lee's death in 1973, the products associated with it began to be introduced, and even gradually formed a complete industry, selling pendants, dolls, T-shirts, sportswear and various Bruce Lee posters - hanging on the dormitory wall along with Che Guevara. Martial arts magazines also got a piece of the pie. Martial arts magazines like Black Belt and Fighting Stars, once a niche newspaper, have become glossy publications with Bruce Lee's East Wind, with mail-order ads ranging from $132 stainless steel tridents to $5.95 Bruce Lee punch puppets. Even Bruce Lee's younger brother, Lee Chun-fai, made an album called "The Ballad of Bruce Lee" for profit. "Since james dean died in a car accident, no Hollywood star has had such high commercial value." Film critic Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
Bruce Lee became the patron saint of kung fu and was worshipped by everyone. Japanese teenagers have the same hairstyle as him, the British call him the "King of Kung Fu", and the Australians consider him "the fastest martial artist in the East". Elvis Presley, after watching Dragon Fight dozens of times, began self-financing his own martial arts film, but failed to finish it. India has a top disco song called "Cheers to That Amazing Guy, Bruce Lee!" 》。 Over the next 10 years, "Dragon Fight" was re-released, and each time it ranked among the top five at the Box Office on Friday. There was a theater in Iran that showed the film every day until the government was overthrown in 1979. The videotape of "Dragon Fight" was also smuggled to Eastern Europe in the 1980s, where they saw Bruce Lee as a symbol of resistance.
Bruce Lee's role in different movies
Bruce Lee, with missionary enthusiasm, promoted his martial arts philosophy through the medium of film, and achieved results far beyond his imagination. Before Bruce Lee's death, there were fewer than 500 martial arts centers in the world; by the late 1990s, because of his influence, there were more than 20 million martial arts practitioners in the United States alone. In the United Kingdom, the demand for martial arts is large, but there are few martial arts, so there will be groups of students queuing at the entrance of a few martial arts halls, rushing to pay the tuition fees to the teachers to ensure that there will be a seat in the next class. A boy from South Carolina, USA, wrote to Black Belt magazine: "Bruce Lee has always been a role model for me on the road to martial arts, and always will be, he will inspire me to reach my peak." ”
After Bruce Lee's death, it caused the world to go crazy, and only Hong Kong fell into a myth. With the national spirit represented by the characters in the play and his own unique charm, Bruce Lee became a superstar in Hong Kong. But his sudden death was mired in a scandal that left Hong Kong people devastated and deeply disturbed. "A lot of people still like him," said W. Wong, president of the Bruce Lee Club. Wong Yiu Keung said, "But because his death was disgraceful, many felt cheated." Suddenly losing an idol, they feel empty. ”
"Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" was dismal at the Hong Kong box office, earning only HK$3 million, the same as "Big Brother Tangshan", 2 million less than "Raptors Across the River", which is a manifestation of disillusionment. Although Bruce Lee is still the most appealing actor in Hong Kong, his fame has reached its peak before his death and is now beginning to decline. "He's dead," one Chinese fan said, "and what's the point of all this?" ”
For Hong Kong filmmakers, the point is that Bruce Lee's punches and kicks broke down barriers in the international market. Before Bruce Lee, the Hong Kong film industry was equivalent to today's Nigeria, which was profitable, but narrow and closed, and belonged to doing business behind closed doors. "After Bruce Lee, we had a chance to get noticed by outsiders, especially Hollywood." Director Wu Yusen said that he has directed "Change of Face" and "Mission Impossible 2". "Bruce Lee opened this door for us to really start paying attention to Chinese kung fu films and Chinese filmmakers."
Bruce Lee saved Jiahe and broke Shaw's monopoly. "Run Run Shaw has deep pockets and controls a large number of theaters. His strategy is to use litigation to strangle Jiahe in the initial stage and squeeze us out completely. "Bruce Lee worked hard to bring us into the international market." This is something that I could not have imagined before. We could eventually release the film to Europe, South America, North America, and even the Middle East. Zou Wenhuai thus opened up a new funding channel. Because we've done Dragon Fight, other production companies are interested in working with us in a collaborative way. ”
Jackie Chan established himself in Hollywood with "Rush Hour."
Soon, people began to look for the next Bruce Lee. Everyone who was involved with him got a film contract and was pushed in front of the camera. Chuck Norris plays the white Bruce Lee, Hong Jinbao plays the chubby Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan plays the funny Bruce Lee. However, no one can truly become Bruce Lee, and it is impossible to surpass him as the new international icon and box office champion. Jackie Chan tried to break into Hollywood, making a 1980 film, The Big Brawl, also directed by Golos and co-produced by Zou Wenhuai and Fred Winteraube. Unfortunately, the box office was dismal and returned home. It wasn't until 25 years after the release of "Dragon Fight" that in 1998, Jackie Chan established his position in Hollywood with "Rush Hour", becoming the second model in Hong Kong to successfully break into Hollywood.
Some opportunistic independent producers in Hong Kong, unable to afford the salaries of Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and Hong Jinbao, specially hired a group of special actors who looked similar to Bruce Lee and changed their stage names to deceive the audience and wait for the opportunity to make money. For example, Li Xiaolong, Lü Xiaolong, Lai Xiaolong, Giant Dragon and Tang Long. These imitation dragon movies even try to get closer to Bruce Lee's original works in the title to confuse the public opinion - "Raptors Across the Sea", "Tangshan Second Brother", "Dragon and Tiger Battle", "Death Tower", "Zhonglie Jingwumen". By the end of the 1970s, they had gradually formed their own genre, turning Bruce Lee into a comic book superhero in movies such as "Three Feet of Lee Shocks the Gates of Hell" (in the movie, Bruce Lee goes to Hell and fights with James Bond and the vampire) and "Three Dragons of Shenwei" (in this movie, Dragon, Little Dragon, Little Dragon Lu and Little Dragon Lai play the clones of four Bruce Lee, fighting together to punish evil and save the world).
One of the best dragon movies is Game of Death, released in 1978. Mr. Zou claimed that he had never intended to expand Bruce Lee's 1972 pagoda scene into a full-fledged film, but distributors around the world pleaded with him to finish the film. Zou Wenhuai had to find someone to make up for it. The director he found was Golos, who was also the director of Dragon Fight. The film features two Bruce Lee special actors – one focused on acting and one focused on fighting. Because Bruce Lee failed to complete the script before his death, the whole story can only be like a jigsaw puzzle game, from the scenes to the finished scenes to develop the storyline, and then pieced together into a complete movie. The final story revolves around a kung fu movie star named Rubili who refuses to work with a mysterious gang leader. The gang leader sent someone to shoot him in the face while he was filming, and the crowd thought he was dead. He will make a plan, pretend to die, undergo plastic surgery, and finally succeed in revenge. Zou Wenhuai cut real footage of Bruce Lee's Hong Kong funeral in 1973 into the main film. From the beginning, the film seems fragmented and illogical, making the viewer feel like a needle in a haystack, until the last scene, Bruce Lee and Dan Iruzando and Abdul-Jabbar appeared, which made the audience ecstatic and loud. Suddenly, the tedious film became glamorous, and it was also a reminder of why no one could replace Bruce Lee.
"Game of Death" is a patchwork, but fans around the world are talking about it. "The Rio premiere was grand and was one of the biggest they've ever had." Andrew Morgan said, "It broke records in São Paulo. Germany also sold very well, making $8 million at the top five at the Box Office in Japan last year. Linda Lee initially objected to the use of the word "death" in the title, but was eventually forced to agree. On June 7, 1979, at the premiere of the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles, Linda attended with 14-year-old Li Guohao and 10-year-old Li Xiangning. More than 1,000 fans dressed in traditional practice clothes held aloft banners for their martial arts halls. Mayor Tom Brady declared the day Bruce Lee Day. Li Guohao stepped forward to unveil the ten-meter-long exhibition, which displayed the costumes and weapons his father had worn in his life. Bruce Lee's last film, no matter how bad, was finally finished.
Classic clip from Game of Death: The Knuckle Stick
Family members after Bruce Lee's death
In 1973, after Bruce Lee's funeral in Seattle, Linda left the child in the care of her sister in Calgary and returned to Hong Kong alone to attend the death inquest. She immediately discovered that Bruce Lee had never made a will before. This oversight caused his family great emotional and financial trouble, and the death of an American citizen in a British colony would be morally and legally unsatisfactory. Moreover, when Bruce Lee died, he not only did not have much savings, but also owed a lot of debts. Linda spent seven years probate Bruce Lee's estate. During that time, Linda and her lawyers had to negotiate with Zou Wenhuai and the insurance company to maximize their own interests. "My mom used to travel back and forth to Hong Kong for the first year after my dad's death, dealing with a lot of business matters." Li Xiangning said.
After things stabilized a bit, Linda took the children to live briefly with her mother in Seattle. During the months at home, she missed spending time with Bruce Lee in Southern California. So, after receiving the inheritance proceeds, she moved with her children to Rancho Palos Verdes, an upscale residential area in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Chuck Norris also lives there, just two blocks away. However, he was not there for long. Lee often plays with Chuck Norris's two sons. Linda sent Li Guohao and Li Xiangning to the Rolling Hills Country Day School, a private school. In addition to childcare, Linda attended night school at California State University in Long Beach to pursue political science to complete her college degree. After graduation, she became a kindergarten teacher.
A year after Bruce Lee's death, the reaction of the majority of fans to "Dragon Fight" gave Linda a big surprise. "When Little Dragon died," Linda told the Los Angeles Times, "we didn't expect him to be a legend like he is now." After Bruce Lee's death, the industry associated with him began to grow rapidly in 1973, and Linda also made a lot of money, trying to protect Bruce Lee's legacy and fight for the best interests of her children. She signed a contract with Warner to finish a book and a movie. In 1975, her biography Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew sold well, but plans for that biopic were canceled before it could be made. She then signed an agency contract with Ziv International to license Bruce Lee's image and portrait to manufacturers of posters, T-shirts, beach towels, stationery, trophies, lamps, men's cosmetics, karate clothing, tableware, glassware, jewelry, games, and toys. Zebra Books received an exclusive publishing rights to Bruce Lee Books, including bruce Lee's basic skills training manual and martial arts training guide for kickboxing. After Bruce Lee's death, his family's financial income was guaranteed.
Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew by Linda
The children lived a quiet upper-middle-class life, largely unaffected by their father's reputation. They didn't touch martial arts. Linda said to them, "Don't go around saying you're Bruce Lee's child, let people know who you are first." ”
Li Xiangning is more like her mother: hardworking, sensitive, shy. She was exposed to musical theater in high school and saw it as her future direction, then attended Tulane University in New Orleans, majoring in music, graduating four years later.
"Curse of the Dragon": The death of Bruce Lee's son, Lee Kwok-ho
Li Guohao has largely inherited his father's genes. When he was 8 years old, he told his mother that he would become an actor when he grew up. "He loves to joke, he likes to play pranks, he has a lot of courage, he likes to perform," Li Xiangning said, "his physical coordination is very good." One day, he wanted to complete a backflip that he hadn't done before, and he only tried twice, and the third time he succeeded. Mr. Lee was a charismatic rebel and, like his father, had been expelled from school. In high school, he attended Chadwick, California's top private high school, before being expelled for spearheading anti-government protests. "He mobilized the students to strike." Li Xiangning recalled. Although he earned a GED diploma at Emerson College in Boston, the equivalent of a high school degree, he spent all his time traveling to New York to look for acting opportunities. A year later, Mr. Lee resigned and moved back to Los Angeles.
Bruce Lee with his family
Linda has repeatedly tried to dissuade Lee from pursuing an acting career, but ultimately failed. Mr. Lee went to Silver Lake, where he was a gathering place, to rent a small bungalow, buy a Harley and a Cadillac hearse in 1959, and began to hold small performances in the town.
One of his girlfriends teased him: "You're not doing the same thing as James Dean, are you?" ”
"Baby, I'm more creative than James Dean." He responded.
Li Guohao, 20, does not want to be like his father and go to make action movies. He wanted to be a theatrical actor, but no one would hire Bruce Lee's son to play serious literary drama. In order to officially enter the show business circle, he agreed to take over several low-cost martial arts films. He went to his father's assistant teacher, Dan Irushandu, to learn boxing with him.
Ironically, the first role he received was that of The Son of Kim Kwai-hsiang, the protagonist of Kung Fu: the Movie, released in 1986, playing a role with David Carrading. Over the next five years, he made several shoddy kung fu films, the most brilliant of which was Twentieth Century Fox's 1992 "Rapid Fire." During filming, Li Guohao invited his sister Li Xiangning to serve as his personal assistant. She became the lead singer of the band after graduation and has been performing everywhere in New Orleans, and her life is very unstable. She also wanted to enter the show business circle and asked her brother for advice. "It's an unsympathetic industry, it's very realistic," Mr. Lee told her, "people don't see you like a woman, you're just a commodity." However, if you really plan to do so, I will do my best to help you. ”
The Dragon: The Story of Bruce Lee poster
That same year, Universal Pictures began filming Bruce Lee Story. The film is based on Linda's 1989 republishment of Bruce Lee's biography. Universal Signed Linda for millions of dollars to exclusively buy out the film and television adaptation rights to the book, including the development and sale of video games and merchandise. The film is directed by Rob Cohen, played by Jason Scott Lee, who has the same surname as Lee but is not related. Based on facts, Rob Cohen restores Bruce Lee's image in life to the greatest extent possible, based on Linda's recollection of her late husband. The film is a great love feature film about a young immigrant to the United States who is positive and optimistic and who adores his wife who struggles to overcome racial discrimination and eventually comes together as they wish. Huang Zemin is portrayed in this film as a sinister Guoshu person who is sent to Bruce Lee's martial arts hall to provoke, because Bruce Lee teaches white Chinese kung fu, which is intolerable to them. And in the movie, the idea for the Kung Fu TV series came from Bruce Lee, whose ideas were later stolen and given to white actor David Carradin.
With public controversy over the cause of Bruce Lee's death, Rob Cohen came up with the idea of adding a ghost in black samurai armor to the play, constantly appearing in Bruce Lee's dreams. In the third dream, the ghost begins to chase after Xiao Guohao, forcing Bruce Lee to decide to face it bravely, pick up the double knuckle stick, and defeat it. The ghost is like a devil haunting his heart, which Rob Cohen believes is a metaphor for Bruce Lee's struggle for inner peace, but it caters to another legend of Bruce Lee's death, the Curse of the Dragon.
Before filming began, Universal approached Lee to play his father, but he quickly rejected the offer. He didn't want to live under his father's aura all the time, which was a great psychological burden for him. Over the years, every time I came into contact with my peers in the show business, people thought he was the son of Bruce Lee, followed by Lee Guohao. It wasn't what he wanted. And, just at this time, he got the dream role, starring as the protagonist in "The Crow". It's a story based on a comic strip that tells the story of a rock musician who, after his death, reincarnates his soul and returns to avenge himself. Li Guohao hopes to get himself out of the mold of inferior kung fu films through this film and officially enter the mainstream film circle.
However, the filming of "The Crow" continued to twist and turn. First, an unusual storm in Wilmington, North Carolina, destroyed some sets, then a carpenter was electrocuted and badly burned by a crane connected to a wire overhead; then a construction worker accidentally pierced his hand with a screwdriver; and a disgruntled worker drove a truck into a makeshift studio made of plasterboard in a fit of rage, and the situation was terrible. Entertainment Weekly even posted an article asking if the movie was evil! "I don't think there's anything out of the ordinary," replied Jennifer Roth, the production coordinator, "and we have a lot of stunts and special effects, and besides, I've made films about dead people before." ”
Lee Kwok-ho's styling wallpaper in "The Crow"
A month later, as the film was nearing its finale, Lee was shot dead on set.
According to everyone, including the police investigation, this was an anomalous accident caused by mistakes — the result of inexperience, negligence, and cutting corners. "The movie budget was $30 million, but they only wanted to spend $12 million." One crew member who quit the crew said he no longer had any illusions about the film.
In the previous scene where the film was filmed, the second film crew asked the prop department to provide a 0.44 caliber revolver and six prop bullets for close-ups. The inexperienced prop crew found that there were no prop bullets at the scene. In order to save valuable shooting time, he decided to convert live ammunition into prop bullets. The six live bullets were removed first, the gunpowder was poured out, and then the shell was loaded into the cylinder and the trigger was pulled repeatedly to release the primer and remove the gunpowder residue. After that, the warhead is re-attached to the shell casing, and it becomes a prop bullet without gunpowder.
However, what the prop department did not know was that one of the bottom fires failed to detonate. When the crew was testing guns on the spot, prop bullets with warheads triggered gunpowder residues, which were just strong enough to push the bullet into the chamber without firing out. After that, the gun was sent directly back to the prop department for storage without inspection.
Two weeks later, on March 30, 1993, while filming the flashback scene in which Eric Draven, played by Lee, was being killed, the crew retrieved the revolver with bullets in its chamber. The .44-caliber revolver was filled with empty cartridges— with gunpowder and primer in the casing, but no warhead. No one checked the pistol. The bullet was stuck in the chamber of the gun, and the empty package was in the barrel, so in fact it was already a loaded killing weapon. The crew handed the pistol to Michael Massee. He played Eric Draven's killer in the film. The director shouted, "Start shooting! Michael Massey picked up the pistol, aimed it at Lee's body, and pulled the trigger.
Li Guohao fell to the ground in response. For the first few minutes, no one realized that a big mistake had been made.
Ambulances rushed Li to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Despite several hours of first aid and more than 30 litres of blood transfusion, the surgeons were unable to revive him. The wound was too big, and the .44 caliber bullet was stuck right next to his spine. Lee died of internal bleeding at 1:04 p.m. on March 31, 1993, at the age of 28.
Mr. Lee had planned to marry his fiancée, Eliza Hutton, after filming "The Crow," in Mexico on April 17. As a result, Li Guohao died unexpectedly and was buried in Seattle on April 3, next to his father. This is the cemetery that Andrew Morgan bought for Linda 20 years ago. "It's beyond my comprehension, maybe that's what it was destined for." Heaven first took away the little dragon, and now snatched the national hero from me. Linda said, "It just happened, and I wasn't ready. I just think we're lucky that he stayed with us for so long. Some people say that time can heal everything, but this is not the case. You can only learn to accept it and live strongly. ”
Lee and his girlfriend and personal assistant Eliza Hutton
On April 28, 1993, before the premiere of "The Dragon: The Story of Bruce Lee", Bruce Lee was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which was also an important part of the film's promotional activities. At the unveiling ceremony, Linda, who had just experienced the pain of losing her son, stood firmly on the stage and spoke, urging the film industry to take safety measures to ensure that what happened to Lee Guohao would not happen again. "Guohao really wants to come here," Linda continued, "and he especially wants to come back for this ceremony." Because, he said, this is what his father deserves. Today, we are gathered here to celebrate the life of Bruce Lee. Although we regret the absence of Guohao, this movie can meet you tonight, which makes us feel a little relieved in addition to our grief. ”
Lee's death became part of Bruce Lee's legacy. He contributed groundbreaking performances in The Raven – sensitive, twisted, ferocious. The famous film critic Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone magazine: "Lee Guohao's performance in this film is very good and very touching. His performances are full of passion and he is very athletic. The film became a classic Gothic film, grossing as much as $50 million. But that wasn't enough to get him out of his father's shadow. Alex Ben Bullock, author of the first Bruce Lee biography, said: "If Lee Guohao is still alive and has made 50 great movies in a row, then no one will care about his relationship with Bruce Lee except for a few small footnotes, but it is because of his sudden death that he is forever bound to his father." From this point on, the story of the son became a footnote to the father's legend.
After Li Guohao's death, Li Xiangning also followed in his brother's footsteps and prepared to enter the show business circle, first going to an acting class, and then learning boxing with Bruce Lee's disciple Huang Jinming. "It was really difficult," Li Recalled, "because it all happened so suddenly." "Most female stars debut from horror movies, but as Bruce Lee's daughter, Li Xiangning, like her brother, starts directly from inferior kung fu movies." I'm lucky, but at the same time have certain limitations. Li Xiangning said.
In 1994, her first official film, Cage II: The Arena of Death, was directly converted into a videotape and did not appear in theaters. In 1997, she co-starred in "High Voltage," which was a bit of an improvement. "It's hard for me to put my mind entirely on acting," Li Xiangning said, "and because of this, I don't perform well in these films." I haven't come out of the grief of my brother's death. ”
In 1998, she starred in Jiahe's action film Enter the Eagles, an English title borrowed from Enter the Dragon. They shot in Prague, without a script in shape, and the shooting was chaotic. The director told her, "Just do it like your dad did." "I'm under a lot of pressure, I'm Bruce Lee's daughter and I have to be like him." Li Xiangning recalled, "I went back to my hotel room and cried a lot. After that movie, Li Xiangning's acting career fell into a low ebb.
Produced by Jiahe Entertainment Co., Ltd., the martial arts shootout film "Full of Guts" is directed by Yuan Kui and starring Wang Minde, Li Xiangning, Yuan Yongyi and so on.
Bruce Lee's Estate Management: From Lin to Li Xiangning
In 1968, Bruce Lee regretted naming his martial arts experience "Cut Boxing". One paradox he can't avoid is that his evolving "invisible form" has actually become a well-organized fighting system with its own specific technical and technical principles. Bruce Lee grew worried that boxing would be dogmaticized and stylized, leading to the enslavement of students and away from the original purpose of liberation. So on January 29, 1970, he closed the martial arts hall in Los Angeles' Chinatown and had his three assistant teachers—Dan Irusando (Los Angeles), Yan Jinghai (Oakland), and Takeyuki Kimura (Seattle)—promise him that he would never open a commercial martial arts center in the name of boxing. They could only teach a small number of senior disciples informally in their own backyards.
As a result, Bruce Lee became an international icon after his death, and thousands of fans wanted to be like him, desperate to learn his boxing, but there was no way to learn. So they had to rush into other dojos to learn karate, judo, taekwondo, or other kung fu. At the height of martial arts development, Dan Iruyamado and Takeyuki Kimura kept their promise and taught only privately (Yan Jinghai died of lung cancer in December 1972). Other Bruce Lee students, such as Jesse Glover and Joe Lewis, used their teacher-student relationships with Bruce Lee to hold workshops across the country. Later, Dan Irusando opened his own commercial martial arts gym, teaching him his personal martial arts lessons— a system that blended Bruce Lee Boxing, Philippine Kali and Muay Thai. Because Dan Irushandu starred in Game of Death, he soon became the most recognized kickboxing instructor in the United States with his own "Jeet Kune Do Concepts".
Linda, who inscribed the words "Founder of Trunkaku" on Bruce Lee's tombstone, was not ambivalent about the martial art created by her husband, she was just anxious to protect it. Over the years, some people who had nothing to do with Bruce Lee tried to profit from it, claiming to be authentic boxing and opening martial arts halls to recruit disciples. Linda felt they were destroying Bruce Lee's legacy. On January 10, 1996, she invited bruce Lee's first generation of disciples to a meeting in Seattle to discuss the formation of organizations to protect Bruce Lee's art. The initial participants included Linda, Li Xiangning, Takeyuki Kimura, Zhou Yuming, Li Kai, Huang Jinming, Jerry Bautit, Herb Jackson and others, and later became known as the "Zhen fan truncated boxing core". Dan Irusando also attended the first meeting, but he decided not to get involved. This created a divergence between the original concept of truncated boxing and truncated boxing. The former supported the core organization, strictly adhered to what Bruce Lee taught during his lifetime, and was considered conservative; the latter favored the organization of IruShandu, trying to continuously develop the art, calling itself reformist.
Most martial arts instructors have high self-esteem, impulsive personalities, short-tempered tempers, and will not be easily convinced. Linda's ability to unite a large number of Bruce Lee students at different times is mainly due to the respect they have for her and her experience as a kindergarten teacher, which has allowed her to know how to balance and coordinate all people with different opinions. After the establishment of the core, Bruce Lee Magazine was regularly published and a large-scale boxing workshop was held every year. Boxing enthusiasts can receive hand-in-hand instruction from Bruce Lee's disciples at the workshop. Despite the popularity of the workshop, the bickering within the core members was exhausting.
Bruce Lee Magazine
After four years of infighting, Linda was overwhelmed and decided to retire and hand bruce Lee's legacy into Li Xiangning's hands. "She was very careful to talk to me about it because she didn't want to impose it on me and say, 'It's your responsibility.'" Li Xiangning agreed, and was very enthusiastic. Her acting career has been slow to pick up, and she feels she can do more to promote Bruce Lee's spirit and art, get it on track, and bring higher financial returns. Elvis Presley Estate Management has annual revenues of more than $50 million, while Bruce Lee Estate Management has annual revenues of less than $1 million.
Li Xiangning hired lawyers for Elvis Presley's estate management firm at a high salary and took a more radical approach to dealing with the business of the deceased celebrity. She successfully disbanded the core of Zhen Fan's boxing and, through a ten-year struggle, regained the right to develop and sell Bruce Lee's image and portrait from Universal Studios, including the right to adapt the film and television drama. In addition, she founded a production company called LeeWay Media Group to develop Bruce Lee-related projects: documentaries, biopics, TV series and Broadway musicals. In addition to bringing Bruce Lee back into the public eye, keeping him in the spotlight and maximizing the dissemination of his art, one of Li Xiangning's main goals was to enter Forbes' late celebrity income list.
Forbes' late celebrity income rankings are a measure of whether an idol star still has sustained influence. The top five and their revenues have been stable over the years: Michael Jackson ($150 million), Elvis Presley ($55 million), Charles Schulz ($40 million), Elizabeth Taylor ($20 million), and Bob Marley (Bob Marley, $18 million). In 2013, Bruce Lee made the twelfth-best list with a revenue of $7 million, the first Asian celebrity to make the list. He's only one behind Steve McQueen ($9 million) — and the competition continues after they die. The following year, an endorsement deal with Mazda put Bruce Lee tied for ninth with Steve McQueen for $9 million. One can imagine them joking with each other in heaven about who is the biggest star.
Bruce Lee hugged Li Xiangning when he was a child
Bruce Lee: Reinventing the image of Asians and inspiring affirmative action
For decades, the Hong Kong government paid little attention to Bruce Lee. The kung fu superstar's less decent behavior has disturbed Hong Kong citizens who have always attached importance to their personal image. Fans have proposed to the government that Bruce Lee's former home in Kowloon Tong be converted into a museum, but several proposals have been fruitless. The Former Residence of Kowloon Tong was turned into a clock hotel. In desperation, Bruce Lee fans will raise $100,000 to make a statue based on the image of Bruce Lee's "Jingwumen". Under pressure, government officials agreed to place it on Hong Kong's Walk of Fame, which has become a famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong's port. On November 27, 2005, Lee personally unveiled the 2.4-meter-tall statue of his brother to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Bruce Lee's birth. It is a belated recognition of Bruce Lee's extraordinary achievements in his short life and the enduring cultural influence after his death.
In the United States, most Chinese actors can't get important roles and have to play meek assistants on their own, like Hop Sing in "Bonanza" ( Bonanza " . Bruce Lee broke through obstacles and was determined to break down Hollywood's discrimination against Chinese faces. Eventually, he became the first Chinese to play a leading role in a Hollywood film and the first Asian film star since the advent of a sound film. Another Chinese actor, Jackie Chan, took 25 years to achieve such extraordinary results.
Bruce Lee's films establish a new image of China in Western pop culture: kung fu masters. Before Bruce Lee, there were only two Chinese figures in Western pop culture: Fu Manchu, a fictional character, the representative of the "Yellow Peril", the main villain; and Charlie Chan, a fictional character, a Chinese inspector, and a rare positive character. However, both screen images appear too pedantic and rigid, and in some ways reinforce Westerners' stereotypes of Chinese men: submissive, unintended, physically weak, lacking in masculinity — weak personality, crying and crying; cunning and sinister; frigidity or homosexuality. The appearance of Bruce Lee, with a spirit of not fearing power and self-improvement, with excellent fist and foot kung fu and excellent physical performance, established a new Chinese image. He was the first Chinese actor to embody Hollywood's definition of a classic star— men wanted to be him, women wanted to be with him. The angular Bruce Lee gave Chinese a lot of courage with his confident smile, provocative gestures, and elegant but deadly movements.
Classic image of Bruce Lee
After the release of "Dragon Fight" and "Tiger Fight", Bruce Lee's sharp fists and feet immediately changed the way Westerners viewed Asians. "We lived in Alameda, right next to Oakland, and that's where the Black Panthers grew up," recalls the famous martial arts coach Sherion, "Before the release of Dragon Fight, when people met chinese, they usually greeted, 'Hey, Chinese guys!'" When Bruce Lee's movie was released, it immediately became ' Hey, bro! "Even people who didn't like Bruce Lee thought his films had a big impact." He's very self-righteous, but because of his movies, no one dares to rob the Chinese children of their lunch money because they don't think they can beat them. Mark Chow, Zhou Mashuangjin's son, said.
Thus, Bruce Lee's films helped Asians change their self-perception. If Bruce Lee could beat Chuck Norris in the movie, maybe they could do something similar in reality. Bruce Lee's popularity inspired the Asian-American political movement of the 1970s, which called for racial equality, social justice, and political empowerment. In Asia, his films herald the rise of a stronger and more confident Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China as a whole. Chinese is no longer the "sick man of East Asia", China is a powerful country.
The bridal pose in Kill Bill is a typical imitation of Bruce Lee
Not only that, but Bruce Lee also changed the production of Western films, introducing a new genre of film, kung fu films, which allowed this genre to continue to flourish in the West. The Matrix, Kill Bill, and Rush prove it. His influence on motion design was even greater. "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" not only changes who can star in action movies, but also changes the way the protagonists behave in fighting. John Wayne's punching style was gone, and after Dragon Fight, we asked every action actor— from Batman to Sherlock Holmes, from Mel Gibson in Deadly Weapons to Matt Damon in Inside Out — to become a kung fu master and be able to use his feet as skillfully as he could with his fists.
The audience's requirements for the protagonist's body have also changed. Bruce Lee popularized fitness. Before his films, thick pectoral muscles were the ideal type for men to pursue. After that, Hollywood action stars first swept the way Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone behaved — muscular, tough, serious — and now, back to bruce Lee's well-proportioned, six-pack abs standard.
Bruce Lee's classic look
Bruce Lee was not only an entertainer, but also an evangelist. Through the popular medium of film, he single-handedly promoted Chinese culture to the world. Because of Bruce Lee, millions of Westerners began to learn martial arts. "In the United States, there will be churches and beauty salons in every town," fred Winterlaub said, "and after Dragon Fight, there was an extra kung fu dojo with a portrait of Bruce Lee." Many martial arts students continue to explore the kung fu schools based on Chinese philosophy, and the Taoist theory of yin and yang has become a word they often talk about.
Dana White, the founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, called Bruce Lee the "father of mixed fighting." There is no doubt that the sport would never have succeeded without Bruce Lee's drive and inspiration. Truncated boxing is a product of early martial arts cross training. Bruce Lee's pragmatic philosophy laid the foundation for the movement: "Absorb the useful, discard the useless, and add your own peculiarity." Bruce Lee incorporated the concept of "mixing" into mixed combat (MMA).
Statue of Bruce Lee in "JingwuMen", Hong Kong
But in an era of severe polarization and ethnic conflict, perhaps most importantly, he set an example by setting an example. As a Eurasian mixed-race, he faces discrimination between East and West, but he never lets it stop him. He preached racial unity. "I consider myself a member of humanity because under the same sky we are one big family." Bruce Lee said, "That's the way it is, it's just that people in the family are a little different." "He's been following this philosophy all his life. He accepts anyone who wants to learn from him, and really does it without class. His first disciple in the United States, Jesse Glover, said, "If he feels you're sincere, he'll teach you." Takeyuki Kimura also mentioned: "He doesn't care what race you are." ”
The Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong is the second statue in the world to be erected. The first statue was unveiled a day earlier in the city of Mostar in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the 1990s, during the Yugoslav Civil War, there were fierce clashes between Catholic Croats in the west of Mostar and Islamic Bosnians in the east of the city. When hostilities were officially lifted, the city decided to erect a new peace monument. A poll of residents showed that Bruce Lee was the only one respected by both sides, as a symbol of unity, justice and racial harmony, along with the nomination of popes and Gandhi, among others, from which Bruce Lee stood out. "We will always be Muslims, Serbs or Croats," said Veselin Gatalo, a member of the youth group Urban Movement Mostar, "but we have one thing in common, and that is Bruce Lee!" ”
Matthew Polly, Chinese Baumeth, graduated from Princeton University, is a famous American writer and Chinese kung fu enthusiast who studied kung fu at the Shaolin Temple in Henan for two years. He has published American Shaolin ("Shaolin is Busy") and Taped Out ("Shoot The Ground", tentative translation), and his works have been published in the Washington Post, Gentleman, Stone Slate, State and other magazines all year round. He is currently a Yale University Fellow and lives in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. This article is an excerpt from Matthew Polly's Bruce Lee: Myth and Truth, published with permission from The World Press.