Search - Way of the Black Dragon/Death of Bruce Lee on DVD

A Ron Van Clief fan's dream come true. And it's a budget re

morgoth | omaha, NE | 03/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WAY OF THE BLACK DRAGON-Carter Wong and Ron Van Clief team up to take on villains who are involved in slave trading. You will also recognize other old school stars like Hoi Meng, Chan Lung, and Chan Lau, but nobody does anything noteworthy. Seriously, usually I have something to say about someone, but nobody did ANYTHING good in this movie! And that brings me to the movie iteslf which is dreadful. It is a very bad movie and it is obvious they didn't even have a script when filming started. And, the director doesn't really have a clue what to do. It is just pitiful. The best fight scene is between Van Clief and Carter Wong. Charles Bonet shows up for a very forgettable finale. It only took about 20 minutes to start asking myself if this movie was ever going to end. 1.5/5

Bonus features include some behind the scenes footage of the making of the film with an audio commentary on it(8 minutes long). The commentaries are the real reason you should buy this 2 disc DVD set. Ron Van Clief and George Tan give all the info you could ever ask for on this movie. As good as a commentary gets.

DEATH OF BRUCE LEE-First off, don't go into this expecting to find out about Bruce Lee's death(the commentary will probably surprise a lot of people though). The movie is less than B-grade and should not be taken seriously whatsoever. All that happens is people walk around and get into fights. So if you can get past that, then you can just enjoy the Bruce Lee imitations by Charles Bonet and all the mindless fighting. At least the movie has star power and the action is good at times. Van Clief ALWAYS looks good. I will try to name most of the guys who I spotted in this. Starting with Ron Van Clief of course, Charles Bonet, Jason Pai Paio, Wong Chi-sang, Charlie Chin, Qui Yuen(old lady landlord in 'Kung Fu Hustle'), Chan Lau, San Kwai, and Bai Sai Ngai(AKA big eye little eye). The guy with the bald head and mustache is the same villain from 'Black Dragon'(at least I think it was called Black Dragon) which was another Pai Paio/Van Clief movie. It is just as bad as this and Van Clief isn't in it much and just runs around with a gang beating people up. It was actually a gang of good guys if I remember correctly. This movie is directed by Lu Chun Ku who made a ton of great movies. This is not one of them. It is absolutely horrible. 1/5.

Special features again are outstanding and a real dream come true for any Van Clief fan. There is 22 minutes of behind the scenes on this disc with commentary. It includes one of those behind the scenes fights you always hear about. It's a fun little match. The commentary on the movie is AMAZING!! They did a good job filling up 91 minutes on 'Way of the Black Dragon', but if you are a Bruce Lee fan, you may want to at least rent this somewhere if possible. 'Death By Misadventure' was a very good documentary and has a great commentary also, but this is magnificent. Since it is a Van Clief movie, they do talk about his career. So it is really worth hearing for fans of both martial arts masters and it's loaded with plenty of other information to ensure that any fan of kung fu cinema will enjoy it.

I should give this a 4/5 star rating, because the audio quality is bad and both movies are full screened. Nothing near as bad as some of the other audio commentaries Gerorge Tan has done in terms of sound though. Definitely listenable. I can't take any points off because the 3 1/2 hours of Van Clief commentary is just so awesome."

Good bonus features

Twister Kicker | New York | 01/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just got a hold of this double feature.
Have to say I'm not a real big fan of the Black Dragon films in general but I gave this set a peek.
Both films are `modern day' but feature many actors from traditional kung fu films such as Carter Wong.
The action (and clothes)is very very 1970's so if that's not your bag then look elsewhere.

Death of Bruce Lee has Ron Van Clief and Charles Bonet trying to find out how Bruce Lee died and getting into al kinds of fights along the way.
What's real interesting is spotting the actual stuntmen who worked on Enter the Dragon and other Bruce Lee films appearing in this one.

Way of the Black Dragon is shot mostly in Thailand and Ron doesnt even appear for the first half hour or so.

Now the bonus features are real good and make up for the quality of the films.
Audio commentary with Ron Van Clief and George Tan for both films and it's really packed with information.
Nothing is wasted there.They talk about the making of the films and also Van Clief's life and career before and after each film.
Listen for a bit where Ron starts to talk about doing bodyguard work for James Brown and then it seems to cut off.Too bad!
There's also a lot of behind the scenes footage from both films.
That's greast material and there is commentary on that section too.
So I give 2 stars for the bonus features,1 star each film and 1 star for the audio commentary."

Finally a collection of Grandmaster Van Clief

FANattic | Los Angeles,Ca USA | 12/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Grandmaster Van Clief is one of the top masters in the world and it's about time he gets the respect deserved with his own collection.

Death of Bruce Lee is the second film he made in Hong Kong after the Black Dragon which launched his career.

Way of the Black Dragon came after this film.

Looking forward to the audio commentary and behind the scenes footage!
I read there's tons of bonus extras all endorsed by Grandmaster Van Clief.

"