Zhong lie Jing wu men

RETURN OF BRUCE is a solid chop socky film from the tail-end of the kung-fu crazed 1970s. This one sees Bruceploitation regular Bruce Le travelling to the Philippines for a Manila-set adventure made with a Filipino crew and a largely Chinese cast.

The plot is nothing special; Le plays a kind of fish-out-of-water character who ends up befriending a cheeky orphan and a pretty girl and subsequently getting involved with some local gangsters who have been making people's lives hell. The second half of the film disperses of the plot entirely in favour of one over the top fight scene after another, and they're great fun; Le does his best Lee impressions and the bad guys are a memorable bunch, if not particularly skilled.

There's some goofy humour included here, as well as some nudity for the grindhouse crowds and a soundtrack that constantly samples the ENTER THE DRAGON theme. The familiar faces of James Nam and Lo Lieh show up in support. The last twenty minutes is like a video game in which our hero battles one bad guy after another, fighting towards the big boss. RETURN OF BRUCE isn't as crazy as something like CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER, but it certainly provides ample kung fu entertainment.