Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
IMDbPro

Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu

Original title: Yong chun jie quan
  • 1977
  • R
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
5.2/10
322
YOUR RATING
Bruce Lee in The Dragon Dies Hard (1975)
ActionDrama

Bruce Li plays a young kung fu expert (and waiter) who is trying to live peacefully in San Francisco with his marital arts-challenged friend. But they run afoul of some American thugs, and t... Read allBruce Li plays a young kung fu expert (and waiter) who is trying to live peacefully in San Francisco with his marital arts-challenged friend. But they run afoul of some American thugs, and the fight is on...right!Bruce Li plays a young kung fu expert (and waiter) who is trying to live peacefully in San Francisco with his marital arts-challenged friend. But they run afoul of some American thugs, and the fight is on...right!

  • Directors
    • Chi Chang
    • Hua Chen
  • Writers
    • Hsin-Yi Chang
    • Hua Chen
  • Stars
    • Bruce Li
    • Carter Wong
    • Kuei Chang
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.2/10
    322
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Chi Chang
      • Hua Chen
    • Writers
      • Hsin-Yi Chang
      • Hua Chen
    • Stars
      • Bruce Li
      • Carter Wong
      • Kuei Chang
    • 14User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos20

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 12
    View Poster

    Top cast25

    Edit
    Bruce Li
    Bruce Li
    • Bruce
    • (as Ho Chung Tao)
    Carter Wong
    Carter Wong
    • Mr. Liu
    • (as Wang Chia-Ta)
    Kuei Chang
    Kuei Chang
    Chi-Min Chin
    Jeong-lee Hwang
    • Ching Yun-Cheh
    • (as Wang Chang-Li)
    Alan Ellerton
    • Red and yellow fighter
    Hsiao-Hu Lin
    Robert Kerver
    • Mr. Grace
    Roy Horan
    • Charlie
    Charles Bonet
    Charles Bonet
    Phil Cohen
    • White and Brown fighter
    Kuan-Hsiung Huang
    Fa-Yuan Li
    Fa-Yuan Li
    Chung Lin
    Fong Lung
    Fong Lung
    Ching Chin Min
    Dan Schwarz
    Chiang Su
    • Directors
      • Chi Chang
      • Hua Chen
    • Writers
      • Hsin-Yi Chang
      • Hua Chen
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    5.2322
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    modius

    Way of the Dragon meets The Big Boss rip-off

    Bruce Lee's death caused a large enough shadow on the kung fu martial arts movie world that, for some obsecure reason, film-makers wanted to continue making films that "had" bruce lee in them - for their own ends.

    Of course this lead to disastrously bad Bruce Lee imitators (i.e. Bruce Li, Dragon Lee, etc) that would some regard as just lambasting and insulting to the Bruce Lee name - fortunately there was one Bruce Lee imitator (Sammo Hung) that would make a film worthy of Lee himself in the film "Enter the Fat Dragon".

    Anyway, to this film. Firstly, if you've seen The Big Boss and/or Way of the Dragon you'll soon draw parallel's to the plot and the general feeling that you've been seen it all before.

    I won't go into the plot, because basically its the same as Way of the Dragon (hero works in resturant that is taunted by some big boss type karate school with all the racial stuff thrown in).

    The general 70s cliche of bad kung fu movies is apparent throughout this film, you don't know whether to laugh or cry at the clothes, the acting and the dialogue. Perhaps the worst possible example is the fact that every other character (barring a majority of the chinese) are called bob - I'm not kidding!

    Admittedly, the fight sequences aren't too bad - but when you consider the only person to make a dent to the hero is veteran Hong Kong Bad guy Hwang Jang Lee you have to question the sanity of this film...why bother remaking way of the dragon when its already done?

    Now of course there are silly moments throughout the film which beggers belief - why does Bob 'Bruce Lee' (the hero) who knows of Bruce Lee's paradigm of "kung fu is like running water" only become to remember of it when he's beaten. Not only that, as soon as Bob finds out what the secret is, he becomes Bruce Lee - doing war cries, doing that thing with his nose - all because he's discovered "kung fu is running water!"

    Another example is this: Bruce Lee tried to step outside kung fu's barriers (this is why he wore the yellow/black jumpsuit in Game of Death) and would follow that philosophy - yet Bob 'Bruce Lee' dresses in a typically traditional kung fu styled uniform and fights the big boss bad guy who wears trainers...

    Anyway, philosophy aside, this is a very bad film that tries to cash in on both Way of the Dragon and The Big Boss - the highlights are no doubt the numerous fight sequences - however they always seem to be the same thing (i.e. bunch of fighters gets hurt - their teacher goes and kicks butt, but ends up half dead - his teacher/pupils go along and fight and get beat up and then their...well you get the idea)

    Perhaps the humorless resturant scenes or the unintentional comedy of a small kid manages to do special tricks with a nunchaka and uses it makes it worth seeing, I dunno - I'd personally rather see the original, enigmatic Bruce Lee in action.

    Overall: 1/10 (avoid...please!)
    7Dartkick

    Surprisingly enjoyable

    Hey, I've seen my share of kung-fu garbage, and this film is something I wasted a good boring Monday night on. Expectingly nothing but garbage, I just popped in the tape and thought I'd just let it run. To tell the truth, it's surprisingly decent. Bruce Li is no Bruce Lee, but he's certainly the best of the imitators, and this film is one of his better moments.

    Another of those bad-yet-enjoyable films. Worthwhile if you're a kung-fu / Bruce Lee fan though.

    7 / 10
    5Space_Mafune

    Bruce Li vs. 70s Disco Thugs

    In this film we see Bruce Lee wanna-be Bruce Li tackle an army of thugs(who just happen to look like a bunch of bad rejects from a 70s Disco special) lead by Mr. Grace(who just happens to resemble John Travolta if he were fat and had a scar on his face). The fights are pretty good but seriously lack credibility. In any case, this movie is very humorous to watch but the humor isn't of the intentional type. Good fun if you like this sort of thing.
    5deluca.lorenzo@libero.it

    "WHY DON'T WE SHOOT HIM?"

    The above-mentioned line is in the italian version of this involuntarily funny movie, I don't know the english or original version, but it's a no-nonsense question one of the badguys ask for. Tons of outdate fistfights between Bruce Li/Ho Tsung Tao, his companion Carter Wong (Big trouble in Little China) and tehe usual mobsters. Korean Hwang Jiang Li pops-up with a ridicolous cloak for a fight against the fake Lee.
    7gtbeast

    It's BRUCE! (Li not Lee)

    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!

    More like this

    Butterflies Are Free
    7.2
    Butterflies Are Free
    Fist of Fury II
    5.7
    Fist of Fury II
    Deadly Hands of Kung Fu
    5.5
    Deadly Hands of Kung Fu
    He's a Legend, He's a Hero
    4.9
    He's a Legend, He's a Hero
    Bruce Lee: The Man, the Myth
    5.2
    Bruce Lee: The Man, the Myth
    Xin si wang you xi
    4.8
    Xin si wang you xi
    Bruce's Secret Kung Fu
    5.8
    Bruce's Secret Kung Fu
    Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger
    5.1
    Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger
    The Dragon Dies Hard
    4.3
    The Dragon Dies Hard
    Wanted! Bruce Li, Dead or Alive
    6.2
    Wanted! Bruce Li, Dead or Alive
    Dai ying xiong
    6.6
    Dai ying xiong
    Da che fu
    6.3
    Da che fu

    Related interests

    Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
    Action
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Connections
      Referenced in Bruce Lee, the Legend (1984)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • 1977 (Hong Kong)
    • Country of origin
      • Hong Kong
    • Languages
      • Mandarin
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story
    • Production companies
      • Golden Sun Films
      • The Eternal Film Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 31m(91 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.