User reviews

Bruce Li turns in one of his best performances in this mostly fictional biography about the life of Bruce Lee. Li does a very good imitation of Bruce Lee but not surprisingly, falls slightly short of capturing the true essence of what made Bruce Lee such a special presence on film.

While this was supposed to a biography about the life of Bruce Lee, it is much more concerned with presenting Kung Fu street fights rumor and gossip, whether based on any true factual reality or not, might have at one time had it said Lee had a penchant for getting involved in. The fights themselves are not badly executed and again Li has most of Lee's mannerisms down pat. Still he always falls slightly short of the mark as you might well expect even from the best of imitators.

In the end, I have to admit to enjoying this film on a pure guilty pleasure level. It really is just using Bruce Lee's name as an excuse for yet another Kung Fu movie and cleverly ties itself to his legacy most likely hoping to cash in on his name. Still, Bruce Li isn't half bad at that and this movie moves at a nice, brisk exciting pace and is filled with decent Kung Fu fighting action. There's certainly worse efforts that this out there that also tried to cash in on the Lee name and legacy.

I imagine that somewhere, somebody has sat down to watch BRUCE LEE - THE MAN, THE MYTH expecting to see a worthwhile biography of the late, lamented martial arts master and instead found themselves sitting through a plot less (though action-packed) fight flick. Bruce Lee's life story is told through action rather than words as its basically little more than one long series of elaborate fight sequences in different locations with only the bare backbone of a storyline that manages to incorporate footage of Lee's corpse at his funeral and even his gravestone (which I presume isn't faked). All is not lost, however, as this is actually a fairly big budget and official-feeling version of the big man's life and times, managing to convey at times his struggle to bring Chinese cinema and kung fu to the western world, and even managing a little foreboding towards the end of the movie as his death becomes imminent.

Production values are good, with crisp, clear photography and great locations. However, where this film really excels is with the action sequences which are exceptionally good. Bruce Li acquits himself beautifully with his imitation of the master and manages to be very close to the man he plays in terms of style, action and characteristics. He fights very well indeed (some of the slickest, fastest, most powerful fighting I've seen in a kung fu film here) and the choreography, being excellent, adds to the experience. About 80% of the movie consists of the action and the rest involves elaborate training sequences and plot filler, wasting time until the next inevitable bout of martial arts mayhem. The only flaw is in the occasional bad dubbing, especially the hilarious interlude with a crowd of British joggers! This is a solid actioner, nothing more and nothing less, that pays tribute to Bruce Lee as it should.

I've watched this movie long time ago, and more recently after watching Young Bruce Lee (2011). It was curious to find that this movie picks up right where Young Bruce Lee ends. Put both of them back to back, and you get a complete story of Bruce's rise to stardom.

While Young Bruce Lee was a recent production and style was of modern people and props made to look like '50s Hong Kong, this movie was made in the '70s, and all the fashion, and hairstyle are authentic '70s style. It was such a different world back then.

Bruce's greatness was he believed in himself when no one else believed that he could be a star. He had to battle his way up both as martial artist and a movie star. Without his pioneering effort, likes of Jackie Chan wouldn't have had the market to thrive in. All the kung fu movie stars of the world owes a lot to Bruce in this sense.

It's amazing that after almost 40 years since his death, his presence has not diminished.I guess that's the true quality of a star. In this sense, he's maybe topped the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford etc. in that they remain as old actors, but Bruce Lee continues to find new audiences.

It would be interesting to see how this segment of Bruce Lee's life would be remade into a movie using modern production.

I bought this movie in a Bruce Lee box set and damn....if I thought I had seen the last of the cinema garbages already, lord knows I was wrong. Damn this movie is bad. This is so bad that it's laughable, than so so bad than you get tired to laugh and you start to swear and pray for the movie to end. I watched it until the end just to say I did it but damn it was hard.

Bruce Lee would surely make a 360 in his tomb to see that thing. Post synchrony problems(common to Kung Fu movies), Bruce doing weird weird stuff with machines in a secret laboratory(he even soaks his hands in what appears to me being Kool-aid) and most of all, no mention of what the true spirit of Jeet Kune Do is about. No mention of his historical meeting with Judo Gene Lebell. Just cheesy fighting...and this kind of cheesy sh*t isn't fun to watch. Avoid this Bruce Lee movie at all costs.

If this is the true story of Bruce Lee, he certainly led a pretty hectic life. All he seems to do is get into fights. But they are pretty well staged, and they make exciting viewing. Li is a good lookalike. And does a good impression of him. But he has neither the charisma or style of the man. What it all boils down to is just another cash-in on the icon's death. The exercise sequences are the most interesting.

This movie is so bad it's actually worth watching once for the hilarious dialogue. Oh and the music is beyond corny too. Lol!

Bruce Li imitates Bruce Lee in a failed biography that makes up a lot of stories (such as a fight in Italy) and gives us a glimpse of how Bruce Lee came to America fought bad guys and then electrocuted himself to make himself faster, and then dies though there are some questions as perhaps Lee will come back in 1983 or killed by muggers armed with swords. Bruce Lee The Man The Myth is about on par with the 1993 biography film, Bruce Lee is depicted as more a super hero martial artist then even as a man, and the film doesn't go into many details about his life or indeed the truth regarding his life. It's basically a chop socky film without much karate chops. Indeed the movie is always ridiculous but the film becomes tedious after a certain point as were forced to watch a movie that has no plot, no narrative flow or indeed that good of action. Sure Bruce Li is a charismatic presence but he's better in the kung fu movies where he fights bad guys and not in a movie where he is trying to portray real life. In the end, Bruce Lee:The Man The Myth is very lame. It just doesn't have the energy to work as camp or indeed the ambition to work as what it sets out to.

* out of 4-(Bad)

I got this movie on a dvd, along with three other Bruce Lee tribute movies, for about $2.50 each. This one beat the lot of them. It has amazing action scenes and lots of em. There were some confusing excercise machines that were shown, but overall it was a good movie. Bruce Li actually did a good job of acting in his part, it was certainly believable (the acting not the plot). If you can find this you have to watch it!

I give it 7/10

I first had the pleasure of seeing this through a 2 volume tape set which included The Chinese Connection and oddly named documentary Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth. Upon first seeing it, I said, "What a bunch of crap! That's not Bruce." However, after watching it again, I really wished they offered this on DVD.

Fast forward to now and this epic (HAH!) tale is available on DVD as Bruce Lee: True Story. Bruce Li tries to play Bruce. To be fair, this is probably his best (not that that's saying much) work in tribute to the late great Lee. It kind of closely follows Bruce's rise to fame, except I don't know if Bruce lost his cool and was always so rash to street fight to prove himself. My favorite scenes include Bruce earning some cash in college (who are you anyway old man??) and Bruce learning to exercise more caution (OUCH!) when jogging. Bruce Li tends to brag a lot putting down any other fighting form other than kung fu. Surprisingly, there are some actual cameos here including Bruce's friend Unicorn Chan and even the guy who takes more than enough nunchuk hits to the head in the Way of the Dragon. Bruce Li does manage to portray Bruce as a likable good-natured guy but really runs on empty in terms of capturing his fighting style. Then again, who can, right?

Now on to the oddities. According to this, Bruce had a really goofy training machine which measured his hits on impact. The finger poking apparatus is just really funny and that beeping sound with the green light. Also, the movie mainly focuses on Bruce and Linda and the kids are shown...barely. Add the crappy dub and lame-o lines like:

"So next time you listen to me, cause I'm not doing the talking here...kung fu is!!"

But the price of admission has to be the rumors of Bruce's demise. Personally, I think he's in seclusion at some remote village in New Guinea.

Regardless, go into this one knowing it's NOT Bruce Lee, but a fun filled homage made during the peak of Bruceploitation films and I can guarantee you'll come to like it too. Still, WAY better than Robert Clouse's botched Game of Death.

This is a biopic of the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee staring Bruce Li. It's actually quite an effective film about his rise to stardom. Li has one half the charisma of Bruce Lee but that's not unexpected. The plot follows his life especially in his epic fights. The action is solid with loads of hand to hand combat. Li is at least competently skilled in that arena. There are some missing story elements and some liberties are taken as always. His family life is mostly in the background. The production value may not be that high but in a way, it matches those Bruce Lee movies of that era. It's a functional biopic and that's more than expected.

Just a few short minutes into this you will wish you were in the ICU ward with COVID-19 compared to having to watch this criminally inept disaster. I've seen Junior High student films that look like a masterpiece compared to this schlock. You are guaranteed to lose several IQ points and about 90 minutes of your precious time. Beware.

The movie opens by giving away the ending - Bruce Lee is dead! Not too much of a spoiler actually. Our hero, Bruce Li, appears and does his Wing Chun dummy routine then talks to his master. He must go to America. Hello Seattle! Bruce is already the big man on campus. He works at the gas station. We are deviating from history again. Two black karate experts attack for the movie's first fight

Looking at Bruce Li's execution, focus, and speed, I would say the fights are good. The stunt men vary from okay to pathetic. The stunt man who hit himself in the head with the nunchucks was in Bruce Lee's movie. This movie is certainly only for fans of the genre. That is it's only entertainment value for back then and even for now. In consideration of that and the year it was made it rates as simply average.

I have been watching martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984 in chronological order and writing my reviews. It is interesting to watch the progression of these movies in that way. Curiously, when I reached 1976, there were three movies in a row starting with "Bruce Lee" in the title. The man had an impact in many ways.

Early in the 1980s, there were four premium channels to choose from on a local cable system, and my family chose all four. HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel, and a channel the presented low budget drive in stuff, called Bravo. Bravo then became, Rendezvous, and I was having a field day with all the low budget films I could handle. New World Roger Corman titles, Crown International (BORING),Film Ventures International, and a slew of other films from one shot companies or small distribution companies that would soon be forgotten

One evening, I was treated to this film, The Dragon Lives, and as bad and most likely, inaccurate account of Bruce Lee' life, this was a hoot! The problem is, I couldn't remember the name of the film. The channel only showed it once or twice. Scenes of Bruce being a homeless dweeb walking around San Francisco, walking off the set of a racist Asian film, getting involved in Mixed Martial arts tournaments, and doing battle with a behemoth African-American martial artist, and bumping into his soon to-be-wife, Linda by accidentally snatching her sandwich while doing hand exercises remained to me to this day. BUT WHAT WAS THE TITLE OF THIS FILM? For years I was looking for this film. On VHS, writing letters to TV hosts of Kung Fu theater programs thinking they would really know the answer, and talking to martial artists who had collections of Bruce Lee films to no avail. Hell, even Joe Bob Briggs didn't recall the film

With the invention of the Internet, I was able to locate fans of bad martial arts film wanting to know if they ever heard of the film, and if so, what was the title? The closest I got via the Internet was a sole person who replied, the movie was Bruce Lee: the Man the Myth. Uh-no, I recalled the film was Dragon Something or other. I had a EP copy of BL:TMTM and there wasn't anything remotely resembling this film. Someone sent me a scan of the film on VHS with the title, Bruce Lee Man and the Myth, and it seemed that was the right title, but my Alpha video with the same title wasn't the film.

Well, thanks to folks of VCI DVD, I finally found the title, The Dragon Lives. It didn't have the Film Ventures International Georgia Peaches logo at the beginning (which I remembered vividly), but upon scanning through the film, I found it. I found my holy grail of Bruce Lee rip-offs and said -to-be true stories of Lee and his life. Widescreen, too! No classic, but hey on a nice Summer eve, this would play great on my HD 52 inch TV placed outside in my backyard and pretending I'm at the drive in.

Bruce Lee, the Man, the Myth and the Legend (1976) was one of the many and I do mean many Bruce Lee rip-offs, knock-offs and wannabe Bruce Lee films that were being cranked out of Asia and parts unknown after the "Master" died in 1973. One of them is this one. It details certain points in the young Dragon's life. Reportedly based upon his life but it's a cheesy, clichéd filled and heavy fictionalized account of his life. But it's perversely entertaining. A companion film to this would be The Game of Death II. which also stars several of the participates and is directed by the same man who directed this schlock.

Watch out for brief cameos from Mars, Yuen Biao, Lee Hoi Sang and Hark Fung-On. The woman co-starring as Bruce's wife looks just like her! Bruce's former buddy Unicorn Chan makes a guest star appearance. Karma would later claim his life a few years later. I would recommend this one for it's sheer lunacy. Check out his "electromagnetic" therapy and Futuristic computerized training!

I would give this film a B+

I saw this film a long time ago and bought it at the video many,many years ago! I loved it that much. The star maybe not Bruce Lee but is very exciting when it comes to the Martial Arts action. If you ever come across this film either rent or if it were possible to buy it then do so because this film is a treasure to have just not for Bruce Lee fans but Martial Arts fans as well! Its a great movie!

Bruce Lee The Man, The Myth is probably the first martial arts movie that I remember seeing. I remember on Saturday afternoons after Saturday morning cartoons channel 29 had "Kung Fu Theater" and played all kinds of old school kung fu movies. This was one that they played a lot and is also my introduction to Bruce Lee. The film is chronologically correct, but for the most part the story and the amount of fights Bruce got in are greatly exaggerated or fiction. If you want to learn about Bruce Lee, there are some excellent documentaries and books to learn about the man and his life. However, Bruce Lee The Man, The Myth is a very entertaining film and everything I want in a classic kung fu movie. Even though Bruce Li is a Bruce Lee imitator, he is really good. While pretty much nobody was in the shape Bruce Lee was in, or had the explosive power that he had, Bruce Li was in great shape and possesses great fighting skills. Plus, he has plenty of charisma and kind of resembles Bruce Lee. The fights are incredible and there is a lot of them here. When watching foreign films, I normally prefer to watch them in its original language and subtitles. This is one notable exception and the ridiculous dialouge put this movie over the top with some truly memorable, hilarious dialouge that I find myself quoting all time. While the film is more fiction than fact, this is highly entertaining and has a larger budget than most of the other Brucespoitation movies that came out during this period. Shot on location in Hong Kong, the US and Europe, this is bar far the most well made of these films as well as a big personal favorite. For anyone that might remember The Headbanger's Ball on MTV in the 80's, you might recall them showing clips from this movie with SOD playing in the background. While I highly doubt Bruce Lee told everyone their martial arts are garbage, laughed at them and beat them up, Bruce Lee The Man, The Myth is a beautiful movie man and if you have'nt seen this, you are truly missing out.

I saw this movie, and it was awesome! I watched it over a million times! I couldn't stop watching it! it just doesn't get any better than this! It's funny! It has wicked cool action scenes! I'm gonna go watch it again!

Bruce Lee: The Dragon Lives carries the legacy of classic Bruceploitation flicks and starring the forerunner of that movement Chung Tao Ho a.k.a. Bruce Li. This one strays far and away from Bruce's life, but that doesn't mean it's not funny!

The film delves into the curse of Bruce Lee, symbolized by lightning, rain, and strong winds. Then, ZIP to the U.S. where Bruce is hassled by the man, does martial arts training at a conveniently found wooden pole park, and tries to hitch a ride. Unfortunately, motorists are very wary of giving Bruce Li a lift, so much so he is almost run off the road by a sadistic hippie. Bruce responds by yelling "BASTARDS, damn you!" I'm not so sure if Bruce Lee was quite so hostile. Then, at the tournament, he sees his cop friend. Gee, thanks Officer for offering me a lift! Maybe Bruce should've just asked him.

The tournament: I swear the thai guy is based on the thai villain in Master of Flying Guillotine; a much MORE credible martial arts film. The battles include no hold barred, blood spilling action and even a Chinese Hitler joins in. Don't forget Sammuel Curtis who has the most 70s jive turkey voice EVER and taunts with remarks like "Look at this kid!" and "Go on home China boy and take your kung fu with you!" Remember, Bruce hates wearing ponytails and anyone putting down kung fu. Not only does he draw boos, laughs, and ridicule from the crowd, he also manages to get beat up during fights and almost knocked into unconsciousness. This is Bruce??

They go through Bruce's rise to fame including shooting Fist of Fury with Bruce sporting a mustache! Eventually, Bruce's training goes extreme and his obsession with his idol from the depths-of-hell punching machine. Man, if he was so worried about being cursed, it'd be wiser not to keep an evil deity apparatus in your home. Oh, and Bruce cheated on his wife and laughed maniacally after doing the nasty.

Watch this one and know this was not even a glimmer of the real Bruce Lee. Not as great as "Bruce Lee True Story", but way better than "Bruce Lee A Dragon's Story". How could I forget the awesome theme song? "He's a Legend, he's a hero" is still emblazed in my mind.

I picked up this DVD version of "Bruce Lee: The Man The Myth" for a mere £4.99 thinking it was going to be some Bruce Lee wannabe rip off...I was wrong.

This movie is a great biography and in depth review of probably the best martial artist to date.

Great little buy, a must see for any Bruce Lee fan

8/10

I would give this movie 2/10 for the acting. 10/10 for the fights. The star (Bruce Li) was much, much better and played the party of Bruce Lee well. The version I saw was of DVD and seemed to have parts missing from it.

I'm not really sure how much was fact or fiction. I would say that most was fiction. It's a shame we did not get to see the real Bruce Lee. It's a shame that he is not alive today. Bruce Lee was more than just a star, but a politician and promoter of peace.

The training scenes were excellent. The fight scenes were excellent. Bruce Lee fans will enjoy this film and so will Martial Arts fans. Regular movie goers should stay away. Overall I gave it 7/10.

I saw this film under the title "Bruce Lee:the Man and the Myth" If this is the true story, he certainly led a pretty hectic life. All he seems to do is get into fights. But they are well staged and make exciting viewing.Li is a good lookalike for Lee and does a good impression of him. But he has neither the charisima or style of the man who meant as much to his generation as Valentino and Dean did to theirs. What is all boils down to is just another cash in on Lee's death. The exercise sequences are the most interesting.