Bruce Lee, the Legend
- Year:
- 1977
- 152 Views
More ancient than the earliest records
of Chinese civilization...
are legends--
legends of great warriors,
of knights and wizards...
and mysterious monks
who can perform wondrous feats.
was embodied...
the essence of good and evil.
They had the power to fly...
and the strength
These fables thrived
Then a new legend was born.
According to the Chinese
astrological calendar,
1 940 was the Year of the Dragon.
Bruce Lee was born on the 27 th
of November of that year.
The place was San Francisco.
His father, Lee Hoi Chuen,
a leading comic actor in Hong Kong,
was appearing in a touring
Cantonese opera troupe,
something like the Chinese equivalent
of a vaudeville show.
His wife, Grace, who was half German,
was accompanying him.
The tour over, the Lee family
returned to Hong Kong...
A family portrait
shows Bruce at the center.
Bruce considered his first film role
was in The Beginning Of A Boy,
which he made when he was 6.
Two years later, he played
a leading role in My Son Ah Cheung.
Much of the material written
about Bruce Lee states...
with his father.
These rare scenes from My Son Ah Cheung
prove the opposite.
Interestingly, this was
the first of their films together...
in which Bruce had a more important role
than his father.
The theme of this film
was fairly typical...
of many of the more than 20
he appeared in...
before returning
to San Francisco in 1 958.
In Ah Cheung,
Bruce Lee is an orphan...
whose only education is what
he can find on the street.
You little brat!
Put that down, you!
Uncle.
In what is almost a preview in miniature
of a scene in Enter The Dragon...
Bruce picks up a broomstick
and attacks.
- What'd you hit me for?
- Why did you steal?
It's not your business.
You're a thief.
I'll get you, you pig!
Tell me the truth.
Where were you last night?
You little devil, you!
Well, are you going to
tell me the truth, are you?
Come along. Speak up, I say.
Tell me the truth, you little devil.
You've been nothing but trouble
ever since you came here.
I'll see that you
get a good hiding. Ohh!
Ohh! Ohh!
You've beaten up my brother.
I'll chop off your head.
Ohh! Ohh!
Why, you devil!
I'll kill you!
How much of his own character
did Bruce bring to these roles?
And how much were
his screen characters...
beginning to infuse
into his own personality?
As time went on, Bruce would play
more and more the kind of role...
that could be described
as a problem youth.
Many of these reflected
the themes of films...
popular in the United States
at the time,
films like Blackboardjungle.
One of Bruce's films is
called Boys On The Street.
If we watch him closely
in the many street brawls
with which these films abound,
we can already see the beginnings of the
trademarks of expression and gesture...
so very much his own.
Yes, I got a big mouth,
but I can back it up with my fists.
- You want to pick a fight?
- You said it, you asked for it.
- Stop it, will you.
You kids shouldn't fight here.
This is my place. Get out of here.
I dare you to follow me.
- He took my box.
- Get him!
Come on!
Hey, you!
- Yay!
- Yay!
- Yay!
- Yay!
- Yay!
- Yay!
Those kids really have guts.
You want some more?
I took your shoe shine box
to get you here for a square off.
Now you know
I mean business.
Come on, kids.
Come on, kids. Let's go.
Come on. Let's go.
Snapshots from the Lee
family photo album...
with a normal interest
in girls and motorbikes.
Although he was bright,
Bruce was not a good student,
at least not in the scholastic sense.
He was more interested
Bruce always maintained that
his first teacher was his father...
who was a devotee of the fighting forms
known as Tai Chi.
But his first real teacher
was Yip Man,
a master of
the Wing Chun style.
The roots of Wing Chun
reach back to the famed Shaolin Temple.
As this demonstration from
the film Warriors Two shows,
it emphasizes
lightness and quickness...
rather than power and strength.
Stretch out two fingers.
You must try to catch it
when I let it go.
Pick it up. Do you realize why
you can't catch it?
Because when your eyes
see it fall,
your brain signals
your hand nerves to react,
but there's a delay.
So we're aiming
to minimize that delay.
That's why Wing Chun concentrates
on touch and speed.
Practice.
There's no other way.
The wooden man is
a Wing Chun training aid...
used to develop quickness
and flexibility in attack.
Your enemy will not
stand still.
Your reactions must be
one step ahead of his.
Otherwise, you're dead. Therefore,
your fists have got to strike...
with the speed of light.
Try again.
But Gung Fu was not Bruce's only
interest outside movies at that time.
He was quite a snappy dancer...
and in 1 958 won a Hong Kong
cha-cha championship.
But somehow, even his achievements
on the dance floor led back to Gung Fu.
This is Siu Hon Sung, another of
Bruce Lee's Gung Fu teachers.
He explains how Bruce
negotiated a deal with him.
One day...
Bruce took me to a coffee shop.
He said,
''You're a master of Gung Fu.
''I'm a pretty good cha-cha dancer.
Why don't we do a deal? Teach me
Gung Fu, and I'll teach you cha-cha.''
Now, an average person...
would take three to four weeks
But Bruce took only three nights
to master the moves.
So much for
my cha-cha lessons.
Bruce didn't even give me time
The Orphan
was the second-last film...
Bruce would make
before leaving for America.
In it, he played the most extreme
of his delinquent loner roles.
His final film in Hong Kong was
a complete contrast to The Orphan...
and to any role
before or after.
The Thunderstorm is
probably the only film...
in which he doesn't have
Although there are confrontations
in the film...
all the emphasis
in The Thunderstorm...
is on the character's refusal to be
drawn to fight under any provocation.
This reluctance, at least initially,
was a character device...
in all of Bruce's later films.
Mary.
Can I help you, Mr. Chan?
It's hard to find jobs these days.
She wants me to give you $1 00.
Thank her for me, please,
but I just can't take her money.
My brother didn't mean it.
He's sorry.
I promise he won't
do it again.
That's what he told me
to tell you.
Don't apologize, Mr. Chan.
Well, anyway,
I'm not your maid anymore.
Mary, I've never
treated you like a maid.
- I'm your friend, Mary.
- Leave her alone!
Mr. Wong.
Sorry about today.
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