Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu

This review is for BRUCE'S DEADLY KUNG FU aka BRUCE LEE'S SECRET. This is the one where he is a waiter at the beginning of the movies, 3 guys at a table hassle him and another employee, he pours lots of pepper on thier chicken, and a fight breaks out.

The movie is cheesy, the fight scenes mediocre, and the acting is poor. Add in many annoying characters such as the woman who owns the restaurant, the children of the shipyard owner, a very whiney kid, and buffoonish rivals and the film just drags on.

If you are looking for a biopic this is not it. No accurate information about Bruce Lee. It is basically a play on his name to sell a bad movie.

NOTE: This review is for BRUCE'S DEADLY KUNG FU aka BRUCE LEE'S SECRET. The previous one I wrote below was for BRUCE LEE: A DRAGON STORY. Apparently, lots of Bruce Li's films have several names for some reason....

Hmm, this movie's is in middle of the road. Sure it's nothing as sloppy as FISTS OF BRUCE LEE, but not up there with CHINESE STUNTMAN or BRUCE LEE: TRUE STORY. Poor jobless Bruce is down on his luck looking for work. The restaurant scene has Bruce utilizing the Deadly Pepper attack. Very odd. Bruce kills time working out at home much to the dismay of his friend. The biggest laugh in the film comes when the two try to avoid their neighbor referred to endearingly as the `Dragon Lady'. Bruce becomes Bruce the Box Mover and is berated by a toddler. You've got lots of scenes of thugs pulling the "run away!" technique and scenes of dojos, storage docks, and lots of low budget locations. Carter Wong shows up and actually plays a decent role.

Overall, BRUCE LEE'S DEADLY KUNG FU is not bad, but not Bruce Li's best. Will Bruce sell out to Mr. Grace? Who is the guy wearing that FABULOUS cape? See it yourself to find out.

The man martial-arts filmmakers could never let go! How many Bruce Lee "wannabes" have there been? This time around Bruce LI explodes onto the screen portraying, who else, BRUCE (not Lee, nor Li, just Bruce)! Sure there have been many to copy the frenetic and amazing Bruce Lee - few have succeeded, many have failed. In "Bruce Lee's Secret" (as it was titled when I saw it), at least the director(s) had the sense to make it about the fighting; the more involved, the better! Bruce Li is a waiter in San Francisco, minding his own business, when, out of nowhere, American kung fu thugs want to make trouble for Li and friends. Who cares - watch this one for the plentiful martial arts action. If you are a fan of the bad dubbing found in most of these films, you will get a 'kick' out of the insanely poor vocal choices. Lots of action, lots of fun - just enjoy!

Aw man. I kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting... ...and I yelled, "That's it??"

Man, this one hurt. Like walking in the dark and ripping a fresh wound on your shin off the corner of the living room coffee table. I kept anticipating final fight or climactic scene...or someone bumping into Bruce Li and sending him into a rage by yelling, "You look nothing like Bruce Lee!!" Instead, it's like a really bad soap opera and seeing Bruce negotiate movie contracts. Will Bruce mingle well with others at the gala party? Plus, it really makes Bruce Lee seem like a two timing sleaze because he revels in his affair and has no remorse whatsoever. Besides the fun seeing Bruce do his paper route or his phony TV kung fu demonstrations, Bruce Li; you have done better.

This movie contains some of the best fight scenes I have ever seen. The plot is typical, but it contains twists that differ from many of the Kung Fu movies from the era. This movie is packed with fighting, and has a great range of martial arts techniques. The soundtrack is unbelievable, although impossible to find nowadays. The English translation is way above par for the era.

The DVD I purchased contained no credits, or any sort of menu at all. The editing is very shaky at times, but I'm sure the equipment in those days was very difficult to use. It appears that this movie could have been filmed anywhere, as there are only a select few scenes that actually show famous places in San Fransisco.

This movie is a must see for any martial arts fan.