Nowadays, many people do not know a man named Bruce Lee.
Jackie Chan's eldest brother was successful and prestigious; Bruce Lee was gradually forgotten 46 years after his death. In fact, Bruce Lee broke into Hollywood and promoted Jackie Chan to Hollywood, a trick that was later tried and tried by Chinese filmmakers.
Including Jet Li, Zhou Runfa, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and Liu Yifei, who now stars in "Mulan", the same is true. They were all following the path bruce Lee had walked, and even using the resources that Bruce Lee had left behind.
Luckily, even if they didn't make a name for themselves in Hollywood, there are still people who remember them.
Bruce Lee name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Bruce Lee was forgotten so quickly.
Maybe there is no draught in the world and the truth of the people who dig wells. No, it really shouldn't.
01
When Jackie Chan first debuted, he ran a dragon suit in Bruce Lee's "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" scene. Jackie Chan hugged Bruce Lee from behind, only to be directly countered by Bruce Lee and dragged his hair.
He gave the Japanese samurai a stand-in, and was kicked by Bruce Lee, directly falling out more than three meters, and the door was broken!
Bruce Lee is very aura, as soon as he comes to the set, others are afraid of him. The eldest brother pretended to be beaten by Bruce Lee, but he could get Bruce Lee's care all day.
For this reason, the eldest brother was proud and proud for a lifetime. (Big brother, it turns out that you are so clever!) ）
When Jackie Chan first entered the martial arts circle, One of Bruce Lee's royal directors, Luo Wei, wanted to position Jackie Chan as the second Bruce Lee.
"Because in that era, everyone was imitating Bruce Lee."
Because at that time, the standard for the success of kung fu films was Bruce Lee.
Jackie Chan tried very hard to imitate Bruce Lee, but he was ridiculed and did not look like anything at all. The eldest brother carefully studied the movies "Jingwumen" and "Raptors Crossing the River", studied and pondered, and walked out of the road of "comedy kung fu" without a teacher, going higher and higher.
Jackie Chan was on fire, and many people called him "Bruce Lee's second". Big Brother is very opposed:
Bruce Lee was the only one, and no one could replace him.
Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee wax statues in London's Chinatown
Even more because Big Brother is grateful to Bruce Lee for leading the way, Bruce Lee is Big Brother's big brother:
"I don't think anyone would have heard of Jackie Chan without him."
So, what did you learn from Bruce Lee?
Two, two that Jackie Chan agrees with.
First, great success goes hand in hand only with great ambition. Second, Bruce Lee is not a myth or a god.
On the day that the Japanese were "beaten" three times by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan got five dollars at checkout.
Hard work, very little pay, almost earth to moon distance to become a superstar like Bruce Lee.
However, Jackie Chan was diligent and down-to-earth, and Bruce Lee saw the pearls and brought Jackie Chan into Hollywood.
Therefore, Jackie Chan recalled with emotion:
"To me, he's not, he wasn't a little dragon now, he wasn't a little dragon, he was a dragon. He was, and will be, Bruce Lee, a great teacher, a kind man, a good man. ”
It was the movie "Dragon Fight" that set off a fire in the United States.
Poster of the American version of "Dragon Fight"
Bruce Lee became the embodiment of Chinese kung fu, and Bruce Lee's name was written into American pop culture.
As long as other countries talk about Chinese, many foreigners will automatically associate "Chinese people can do kung fu" in their minds.
Great? kindness? Good?
A man who makes the world re-acquainted with China!
It was such a person who was insulted in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" directed by his fan brother Quentin Tarantino.
In the short five-minute plot of the movie, Bruce Lee is on his toes, with no one in sight, boasting that he can easily knock down the boxing king Ali. He was then punched in the face by brad Pitt's down-and-out stuntman, and was taught three or two times to find teeth on the ground.
Bruce Lee became an "arrogant, braggarted fool."
Such a plot setting is constantly controversial, tarnishing the image of Bruce Lee in the hearts of the Chinese people, and the film is forgivable to be withdrawn.
Foreign media have also questioned the movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Forgetting Bruce Lee and smearing Bruce Lee went almost simultaneously.
Various questions on the Internet about Bruce Lee Kung Fu. Many fitness people, thinking that their muscles are very large, think bruce Lee is so thin, how strong can his kung fu be?!
Xu Xiaodong, the "fighter against fakes," even threatened that Bruce Lee's kung fu was a fist embroidered leg and had no actual combat significance.
But as long as Bruce Lee's photo is posted on Instagram, countless foreign friends will still shout: Bruce Lee!
Could it be that in the next ten, twenty, thirty years, Bruce Lee will be insulted and fade out of our sight?
Will we in the future not remember the meaning of the name at all, what this person looks like?
Would it be to turn Bruce Lee from a superstar into a passerby in our eyes?
02
In the summer of 1970, Bruce Lee suffered a serious lumbar spine injury during a weightlifting exercise.
Doctors diagnosed him with paralysis and the inability to practice martial arts for the rest of his life.
Bruce Lee shouted:
"If you don't let me practice martial arts, I'd rather die!"
The next week, he ignored the hospital's advice and rehabilitated from his hospital bed.
“Walk on”“Walk on”“Walk on”……
Every day he wrote one such note and pasted it on the bathroom mirror, on the door, on the wall, encouraging himself to persevere.
One cannot set limits on oneself.
There will always be moments of stagnation on the road, but you can't stop there.
Half a year later, Bruce Lee miraculously recovered, and he walked into the practice room to practice martial arts.
What Bruce Lee needed was extreme speed, extreme strength, extreme acumen, extreme endurance — to support his filmmaking.
He grew up with a weak body, two legs one long and one short.
However, he did push-ups on hard ground with his fists;
He hit the sand and gravel in the basin;
He poked his finger into the unopened can;
He elbows heavy sandbags to exercise crotch strength;
He looks for a sense of balance in the turn.
In the fitness exercise, it ranks in the top three of the abdominal muscle training action difficulty list: Dragon Flag. The Dragon Banner was created by Bruce Lee because of its name.
His thirty-two years of life were more creative than people who lived twice as long.
When a person lives with vitality, he is not afraid of death.
As a young man, he was particularly mischievous and domineering, short-tempered and irritable.
When you meet someone who doesn't like it, a thought will immediately appear in your mind to compete with him.
What to challenge him with? The first thing that comes to mind is the fist.
What is the first challenge?
When he was 5 years old, Japanese fighters bombed Hong Kong, climbed up to the top of the building, and waved their angry fists at the gray sky.
In 1945, Japanese warplanes flew over the skies of Hong Kong, carrying with them the last vestiges of illusion of "greater East Asia co-prosperity."
5-year-old Bruce Lee climbed to the top of the building, swinging an angry fist fight, determined to drive away the invaders.
But he did not expect that a few months later, the devils surrendered their guns and surrendered, and the people of Hong Kong finally got rid of the bitter days of "greater East Asia co-prosperity".
He thought he would never wave those anti-colonial fists again.
He believed that as long as the fist could achieve the ultimate speed, the ultimate strength, the ultimate sharpness, the ultimate endurance, the unpleasant things could become smooth.
Once my brother went to open the door and found Bruce Lee hiding in the doorway, it turned out that one of his eyes was dark blue and swollen, and the younger brother laughed.
Bruce Lee scolded: "If you think it's funny, you should go and see the guy who is doing it with me, he's still looking for teeth on the ground!" ”
It's just that as he grows older, he needs to fight but doesn't recognize his opponents.
In an era when Chinese looked down upon, Bruce Lee constantly challenged his opponents — those who looked down on Chinese.
At first, Bruce Lee and his kung fu were ignored and discriminated against, and various masters thought it was three-legged cat kung fu.
So, at the age of 20, Bruce Lee went out of college to defeat world karate champion Okao Yamamoto. At the age of 21, he went to defeat the black market boxer Sandniem. At the age of 22, he went to defeat world taekwondo champion Lee Joon-joo. At the age of 27, he went to defeat boxer Joe Fraser. The 29-year-old swept through the kung fu masters of various countries with his boxing at the World Fighting Congress, and killed the Muay Thai king Nai Fo who came to challenge...
Bruce Lee hates not being recognized, and if he is despised, he will win back respect with his fists.
(It seems that it is more scientific and healthy than Pushkin's duel with a gun to fight a love enemy))
Perhaps the legend is a bit exaggerated, saying that he defeated 500 world boxing kings, but those boxing kings, champions, and martial artists were all satisfied after being defeated by him, exchanging martial arts and martial arts with each other, and helping Bruce Lee to open martial arts.
(Bruce Lee demonstrates kung fu, look at the desperate expression of the black brother)
This is why Bruce Lee completely gave the Chinese an identity in the white world.
"Maybe I can't talk about you, but I can knock you down with my fists and make you respect!"
03
At the age of 21, Bruce Lee was admitted to the University of Washington.
He was a good student, but also a martial artist.
He went crazy and competed with people, and he was also a teacher and friend of American martial artists, and he also opened martial arts halls everywhere.
(Bruce Lee demonstrated kung fu with Inosando, who later became a disciple of Bruce Lee and was also the most famous martial artist in the United States.) ）
In order to strengthen his muscles and bones, Bruce Lee took a lot of nutrients and ate raw beef.
Specially customized to foreign countries a "high-voltage electric shock muscle shock", in today's terms, it is energized for five minutes, and the effect is all day.
(Bruce Lee demonstrates a one-finger Zen stunt in public)
In the short term, the effect is amazing, but it leads to excessive exercise and harms physical function.
Bruce Lee couldn't take care of that, he wanted "faster, higher, stronger."
He can punch as fast as 1 second and 4 times. Although he weighs only 140 pounds, he can easily knock down people who weigh 350 pounds.
Bruce Lee began to make a name for himself, and in 1965, Hollywood's Twentieth Century Fox Signed him for an interview before signing.
Extreme courtesy and modesty, very different from the bragging clown image in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".
He is such a person: I would never say that I am the number one in the world, but I will never admit that I am the second.
A year later, he got the opportunity to participate in the TV series "Green Hornet", playing the supporting role of Kato.
The name is Japanese, the costume is Chinese, and the hat is American driver style. It's the strange Asian Americans imagined.
Bruce Lee's performance can be described as a big show, and the director and screenwriter forcibly cut his role in the next few episodes in order to keep the starlight of the white protagonist from being hidden.
The success of "The Green Hornet" made him hesitant, and he wrote the famous "My Clear Goal" in English on a note:
"I, Bruce Lee, will be America's highest-paid oriental superstar." In return, I will dedicate the most exciting performances and use my talents as an actor. Starting in 1970, I will be famous all over the world. From then on, until the end of 1980, I would make more than $10 million. Then I will live as I please, with inner harmony and happiness. ”
Some businessmen came to Bruce Lee, hoping to package him as a realistic version of Kato, wear a "Kato mask", wear a "Kato costume", and open a "Kato" chain of martial arts.
Bruce Lee refused, giving it for a simple reason:
I'm Chinese, I only wear Tang costumes!
His Asian identity allows him to participate in film and television works such as "Invincible Iron Detective", "Scandal and Blood", "Lovely Woman" and other film and television works as a supporting role, and his influence is not tepid.
When the cameo in "Lovely Woman" was completed and his daughter Li Xiangning was born, he was somewhat disappointed in his career prospects.
In order to stay in Hollywood, he spent all the money he earned from opening a martial arts gym and borrowed thousands of dollars, making it difficult to maintain his livelihood for a while.
He found a place to hide the note, anxiously thinking about where his career should go.
Despite his existential difficulties, Bruce Lee refused to play any degrading or national role.
He told the invitees:
I'd rather starve to death than sell myself cheaply!
Hollywood can't tolerate me, so go back to Hong Kong!
Back in Hong Kong, he filmed three films: "Big Brother Tangshan", "Jingwumen" and "Raptor Across the River".
(At the end of "Jingwumen", Chen Zhen walked out of the gate of Jingwumen, flew into the air, sacrificed himself in exchange for the peace of Jingwumen, the gunshots were loud, the patriotic heroes were killed by reactionary forces, and the picture was frozen)
1972's "JingwuMen" tells the story of Huo Yuanjia's poisoning by the Japanese, and his high-footed Chen Zhen avenged the snow hatred for his master.
This story can't be more classic, and it is the most characteristic film of Bruce Lee.
Many years later, in Taiwan, a young man named Jay Chou paid tribute in the song: "The sign of the sick man of East Asia has been kicked away by me." ”
The movie also left the classic emoji of "I read less, you don't lie to me".
The ministry created a box office miracle, Bruce Lee rose to fame overseas, and many people in the American public already regarded this fast-moving yellow-skinned boy as an idol.
Hollywood saw this and collaborated with Bruce Lee in 1973 on Dragon Fight.
The american script was written in the name of "Blood and Steel", Bruce Lee was very dissatisfied, he changed it to "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight", saying that this would have an oriental flavor.
I want you to see the real Oriental Kung Fu!
For this reason, the screenwriter made extensive revisions, but was still killed by Bruce Lee.
He put the American gold medal screenwriter scolding the dog's bloody head:
"It's a layman, a fool's hat."
He was also very dissatisfied with their "hands and feet" and yelled at them:
"Why are you Shaolin masters?"
"Why add two new male characters to the script?"
American capital wanted the effect of a Hollywood-style blockbuster, which was far from Bruce Lee's expectations.
Even if all Bruce Lee can do is compromise, shame, compromise, shame... That being said, as Bruce Lee famously said:
"There's no room for negotiation, baby. Unless you kill me before you do. ”
On the set of "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight"
Even if the Hollywood bigwigs have made so many small moves, Bruce Lee's "Dragon Fight" is still raging in the United States.
A year after its release, there were so many people learning Bruce Lee's double stick dance that street fights often broke out, and New York City had to issue a special ban on double knuckle sticks.
It wasn't until 2018 that the brooklyn federal court lifted the ban.
With a pair of hands and a pair of feet, Bruce Lee opened the way to Hollywood.
No wonder Zhou Xingchi once said: "Kung Fu is a head drop!" ”
Bruce Lee went to the United States and broke through Hollywood, and this road was later walked by Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and now Liu Yifei.
In the future, more Chinese film stars around the world will learn from it! Perhaps the significance that Bruce Lee brought to the Chinese and the world has long been underestimated by us.
Maybe Europeans and Americans love Bruce Lee more than we do, and pay more tribute to Bruce Lee.
And this is not our sorrow.
04
Bruce Lee filmed Game of Death, inspired by the Buddhist allusion to the "Seven Levels of Floating Tu":
A supreme master, in order to seize the legendary rare treasure and broke into the seven-story pagoda alone, after a desperate fight, finally reached the top of the tower.
Years later, the plot was borrowed by the TV series "Tai Chi Grandmaster" starring the young Wu Jing.
In fact, there are no rare treasures at the top of the tower, but only a note with an old saying written on it: "Life is a process of waiting for death." ”
NBA superstar Abdul-Jabbar came to pay homage to Bruce Lee as a teacher after watching movies such as "Dragon Fight" and guest starred in the performance of "Game of Death"
From birth to death, a word becomes a proverb.
Between shots, on the evening of July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee fell asleep in bed at the home of movie star Ding Pei, and when he woke up, he called painkillers.
People around him saw that the situation was not good, called an ambulance, but eventually died at the age of 32 years and 8 months.
Game of Death ended in a hurry because of the loss of Bruce Lee.
The main characters in Game of Death and Kill Bill. Quentin Tarantino imitated Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee's life, brilliantly alive, died quietly. Official cause of death: Brain edema caused by allergies from taking painkillers, which leads to death.
He came, with the splendor of the Chinese light; he was gone, not seeing his legend playing out all over the world every moment.
After he left, more and more healthy boys could not see more and more strong boys winning glory for the country, and perhaps more and more "mother cannon" artists brushing traffic and hyping the box office;
Less and less kung fu is used to strengthen the body, more is the tai chi master Yan Fang and quantum fluctuation speed reading of the demagogic people. Unfortunately, his punches and kicks, which can hit 350 pounds, stayed in 1973.
Statue of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong
The next ten, twenty, or even forever, should be commemorated from generation to generation. Follow his kung fu, follow his footsteps, and push Chinese culture and Chinese kung fu to the world.
It doesn't matter if Bruce Lee is not on the hot search.
Maybe if he hadn't died so young, he would have had a greater Bruce Lee era and more and more people's love.
It's just that he's gone and we miss him a lot.
When the emperor came, Lao Tzu was called Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee, as the only Chinese, was selected as one of the "Top Ten World Idols of the Twentieth Century", just like Stephen Chow warned us in the movie, although he has left, he will continue to be righteous.
If you want to be immortal after death, you must first live wonderfully.
Don't be competitive, don't do your best, how do you know what kind of sky you can reach.
In fact, everyone can be Bruce Lee.