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Bruce Lee

Margin Walker

05:45 / 01.07.02

Despite being dead for a couple of decades, Bruce Lee's as prolific as ever. For starters, he's got a videogame coming out for the X-Box called Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon (there's an article written on the game by one of PATricky's co-workers at Kung Fu Magazine here & a games-chart.com preview here). Also, a bunch of Bruce's notes are being published posthumously. And for those of you 1) in the US that 2) have cable, there's a documentary on AMC (Tues. @ 9 PM CST) called "Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey." For a dead guy, he sure knows how to get his name around town, not to mention the world.

So got any favorite Bruce Lee films? To my shame, I've only seen a few of his film and would gladly entertain any and all suggestions for future viewing. Also, I'd be interested to hear about any documentaries on the man that are good.

grant

14:38 / 01.07.02

Read his book.

Mr Tricks

19:02 / 01.07.02

The 25th Anniversary Special Edition of ENTER the DRAGON is pretty much the only movie you need to see!

videodrome

21:05 / 01.07.02

I'm glad A&E is doing this, because their Biography episode is one of the best films about Lee - I think the only documentary that's better is on either the 25th Anniversary Enter The Dragon DVD or the older laserdisc set - can't remember. But the Biography episode is worth keeping eyes open for - I've got it on tape and have watched it many times.

And yes, Enter The Dragon is certainly the best, though Return of the Dragon has its moments, directed by Lee himself (who is also rumored to have actually directed Enter instead of the credited Robert Clouse. Incidentally, the production team behind both (IIRC) of these films was responsible for one of the early American Jackie Chan pictures, The Big Brawl, which plays very uch like Enter.... That one's not very good.

netbanshee

15:21 / 03.07.02

The abstract says it all...I agree that Enter the Dragon is a masterpiece. Love the fact that when he (I believe) sidekicked that one gentleman during the one sparring routine...the guy he deflected into broke his leg. Lee had some fast legs and those forearms...Jesus...

My friend and I used to rewind the last fight scene as I've never seen a person (or hopefully a dummy for that matter) disappear that quickly from the movie frame from a roundhouse kick. Pheww!!

Utopia

15:54 / 03.07.02

anyone ever see the shaw bros. movie Enter the Tiger, Exit the Dragon (or vice-versa)? i found a dvd copy, and when i returned to purchase it, sadly it was gone... i'm sure it's a terrible film, but is it good-terrible or terrible-terrible?

Lord Morgue

11:16 / 13.04.04

Nonono. If you want the ultimate Necro-Bruce experience, beyond even "Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave" or "The Three Clones of Bruce Lee", check out "The Dragon Lives Again". Lee awakens in the Chinese afterlife, and must team up with Popeye, One Armed Swordsman and David Carradine to defeat Dracula, the Godfather, Clint Eastwood, Emmanuelle, Yojimbo, James Bond and The Exorcist.
And mummies wrapped in toilet paper and guys in skeleton costumes going "Booga booga!". I swear I'm not making this up! Grant Morrison couldn't take enough drugs to make this up. It's like someone filmed one of James Sorge's (Nightmare James/RyogaMKN/Degeneration James) fanfics come to life.
Speaking of our Patron, doesn't Morrison practice Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do? I hear Mike Baron is a Kung Fu man, maybe they could team up to kill Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell...

Char Aina

11:43 / 13.04.04

everyone has a shot of doing jeet kune do.
its like martial arts lite.
y'know, for kids.

its a good philosophy, but badly taught in many places. its often the physical side that lets it down, with not enough emphasis put on versatility. i guess not enough teachers know enough moves to tailor the classes to the pupils, which was always kinda the idea.

you are much better off learning pure muay thai and then adding specific techniques from silat or kali, and some good grapples from somewhere like the gracies' jiu jitsu or krav maga. i did some wing chun too, but thats just because i like the way it looks.

its a bit like chaos magick... its really easy to pretend you are into it, but to actually do something clever you'll need to go elsewhere for the techniques. i think chaotes and JKDers who go to those two first will find that their discipline suffers, among other things.

THREADROT OVER.

Mr Tricks

16:13 / 13.04.04

Read his books...

JKD is more of a philosophical treatise forged in a martial context. The truest way to fight effectively is to express one's body honestly... or something to that effect. However if you don't already KNOW how to fight, then the rheories aren't really going to help. It's like learning the rules so one know's how to break them.

As far as "JKD training" goes... unless you're learning from one of Bruce Lee's inner circle of friends you'll probably just be learning a hodge-podge of whatever one's teacher has picked up.
Might as well seek out some traditional methods and mix and match to suit your own bodytype & temperment. If you can do this to the point of insight it would essentially become JKD.

t h e o r e t i c l y . . .

A fair read on the topic

Getting back on subject:
Bruce's daughter Shannon is now in charge of the... er, Bruce Lee Media Empire.

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