The Image of Bruce Lee

This was the last one I watched from a bruceploitation dvd box I got some time ago. "The Man, The Myth" was maybe the most interesting because it was more in a documentary style, "Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave" was somewhat funny because of its wild directing. "Fist of Fear, Touch of Death" should have been interesting because Fred Williamson is in it but it ended up boring I and I already forgot what happens in it. "The Image of Bruce Lee" was also quite boring. But not terrible. In some way I was surprised that none of these movies was completely awful.

Considering how much action is in "The Image", it's strange how can it be boring. There's a lot of kung fu fighting and the choreography is not bad. The fighting moves are generally more real martial arts than in many western action films. But I guess it's the (lack of) directing in the long shots where the fights just go on, and the camerawork is home video style. Sometimes the fights look good but there's hardly any real excitement unless you're a martial arts maniac.

Among the endless legions of fighting men there is one female character, Donna, played by Dana (just Dana?). She was the highlight for me. Whenever she was on the screen it brightened up my mood and got my eyes fixated back to the screen. She's very attractive, the character has a witty personality (best acting?), she has cool clothes...and also likes to take them off multiple times.

It is what it is... not a terrible film but it's a bit too monotonous. Recommended only to those who have aqcuired taste for not-so-good martial arts flicks.

Dragon (Bruce Li) is a respected police investigator in HongKong. He's frustrated failing to save a jumper. He and his partner are assigned a tough counterfeit ring. Han Tin Lung is the head of the criminal organization. His son Han Chin Wei has used his Japanese friend Kimura (Bolo Yeung) and stolen paper from London to create perfect counterfeit money. Donna is the beautiful daughter of a criminal colleague who arrives with plans of her own.

This is a HongKong Bruceploitation. There is a lot of hand to hand combat and female frontal nudity. It's pure B-movie. The problem is that Bruce Li is a blank and he adds little to the movie. The best parts come from the villain side. I'm fascinated with the Hans and Donna. They could be the Godfather but Bruce Li keeps interjecting himself into the movie. The hand to hand fighting is good at first but after awhile, the choreography is repetitive and it gets boring. This may be better than most Bruceploitations but that's not saying much.

The print of "The Image of Bruce Lee" that I watched didn't list any credits for either the cast or the crew. After watching the entire movie, I can understand why apparently no one connected to the movie wanted to be identified. It should come as no surprise that despite the title, the lead actor (played by Bruce Li) looks nothing like Bruce Lee. He's pretty bland and forgettable here, despite getting into a ton of fights. Maybe that could have been forgiven had the fights been good, but they are really not. While the fight sequences are choreographed in a way to look somewhat more realistic than usual, they are simply not exciting, and are completely interchangeable with each other. The plot is also nothing special as well, except maybe that it's more convoluted and confusing than usual. The only interest the movie has is showcasing a pre-fame Bolo Yeung in a key role, and that the movie has a surprising amount of nudity... though I feel I should point out that the nudity is presented in a surprisingly unerotic way.

This film can be taken in two ways. First, it is indeed a "Bruce Clone" film, starring Bruce Li, the best of the Bruce Lee imitators. On that level, it can be enjoyed for the usual "swinging arms" chop-sock 'fu film nonsense we loved so well in the late 1970s.

However, oddly enough, the cast and crew seem to be quite aware that their whole effort is blatantly absurd.

Consequently, their are subtle but undeniable elements of self-parody in throughout the film. I will only describe the opening sequence: A man looking like a minor business executive is standing on a roof top, threatening to commit suicide. Bruce Li, dressed in the yellow-and-red gymnastic jump-suit long associated with Bruce Lee through publicity photos for his uncompleted last film (Game of Death) , climbs up five stories and jumps out to grab the exec by the arm. Unfortunately, it's a prosthetic arm. The force of the grab tears off the arm and inadvertently sends the exec five stories to his death. Bruce Li stands there looking at the prosthetic limb with an expression like, "hey, this never happened to the other guy!" Final underscore for this self-parody is when another character looks at Bruce Li and says: "Has anyone ever told you you look like Bruce Lee?" - Well, I'm not!" Bruce Li responds.

This is all pretty much 'in-joke' stuff; to appreciate the humor of this film, one has to have seen all of the real Bruce Lee films, and a good many Bruce-Clone films as well. But I have, so I had a blast.

(1977) The Image OF Bruce Lee ENGLISH DUBBED MARTIAL ARTS ACTION

After Bruce Lee died, there were a stream of Bruce Lee imitators coming out throughout Hong Kong and this happens to be one of them, which is not bad. Plot has two interpol agents uncovering a counterfeit ring, one of those agents happen to look and fight like Bruce Lee name on the credits as Bruce Li!!!. Also star is actual martial artist David Chiang of many chop sockey movies and "Police Story" Part II playing the main bad guy's son and a young Bolo Yeung from "Bloodsport" playing the other bad guy who carries the plates. It has nudity and some well staged martial art fights.