Search - A Tribute to Bruce Lee on DVD

Hilariously Awful Bruceploitation Epics

Mary | Toronto | 07/01/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"After Bruce Lee died, the Hong Kong film industry wasted no time making movies with lookalikes. Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce KL Lea, Bruce Leung, Dragon Lee, Conan Lee, Bronson Lee, Rocky Lee, and Bruce Ly are but a few of these imposters. The results were almost always abominable, and this set includes four of them.
"Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth" is often considered one of the best fake Bruce Lee movies...which really shows how bad these things got. It's a cheesy biopic starring Bruce Li in which our hero travels around the world, makes movies, gets married (a passionless romance, apparently, as displayed here), and dies. The high point of the movie is that several different deaths are shown, including Bruce being mugged and Bruce going into hiding.
"Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave," contrary to popular belief, only shows Lee resurrected in the short pre-credits sequence. The rest of the movie is about an obnoxious man (Bruce K.L. Lea) moving to America and investigating the murder of his old friend. It's perhaps the worst movie in the set, but its hilariously awful dialogue (including the unforgettable interrogation scene) make it worthwhile.
"The Image of Bruce Lee" once again stars Bruce Li, this time as a secret agent investigating a diamond smuggling ring...I think. Kung-fu legend Bolo Yeung also stars, as well as the frequently nude Dana Lei.
"Fist of Fear Touch of Death" may very well be the most evil movie ever made, but it's sure hilarious. Set at a Madison Square Garden tournament, future Oscar nominee Adolph Caeser hosts a retrospective to Bruce Lee. Interviews with minor stars like Fred Williamson and Ron Van Clief are here, as well as a wildly innacurate Bruce Lee biopic and some completely faked interview footage. A must-see.
Only "Fist of Fear" is presented in widescreen (roughly 2.35:1), while the others are in rather scratchy and blurry pan and scan. (1.33:1). "Fist of Fear" looks the best, but with its muted colours and grain, that's not saying much. "Fist of Fear" has a few irrelevent extras (an old short film, a "DVD Dictionary," and a quiz about movies in general). The rest of the movies have the exact same menu and "kung-fu info" as their Front Row Entertainment discs."

One great bio-pic of Lee plus three Bruceploitation films

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 10/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A Tribute to Bruce Lee is more for Bruceploitation fans than Bruce Lee fans, with the exception of the excellent Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth. None of these four movies actually feature Bruce Lee at all, and three of them basically have nothing to do with him whatsoever. The aforementioned Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth, however, is arguably the finest biographical film of Bruce Lee's life ever made, and it stars the most famous of the Bruce clones, Bruce Li, in what is almost surely his finest role. Li manages to capture some of the essence and fighting style of the Dragon, and Bruce Lee's life is portrayed in a quite positive manner. The film steers clear of innuendoes of any kind until the very end, when it dramatizes a couple of speculative and rumor-based hypotheses concerning the mysterious death (or, in one case, disappearance) of Lee at the young age of 33. Whereas Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth is a five-star look at the real Bruce Lee's life, the abominable Fist of Fury, Touch of Death stands as its polar opposite. This film is nothing short of the worst Bruceploitation film ever made. The story, surrounding the 1979 karate championships where Bruce Lee's "successor" will be determined by the winner of the welterweight fight between complete no-names, is atrocious. The greatest sin of this film, however, is its presentation of a completely fictional and error-riddled biography of Bruce's early years. Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave is a travesty of a title , and the plot summary of this film that you will find on the back cover detailing Bruce's return to battle the Dark Angel of death is patently false and woefully inaccurate. This movie is really too weird to go into here, but the captivating Deborah Chaplin who plays opposite our hero Wong Han (played by Bruce K.L. Lea) helped make this Bruceploitation film much better and enjoyable than the plot could ever have managed to be on its own. Image of Bruce Lee is another film salvaged quite nicely by an amazing actress ? in this case, the gorgeous Dana Lei. Bruce Li plays a pretty lousy detective whose inability to remain out of sight on reconnaissance missions leads him to face a number of kung fu challengers along the way. Bruce Lee fans should get a kick out of seeing Yin-Chieh Han, who played the bad gay in Fist of Fury (aka The Big Boss), as well as Bolo Yeung from Enter the Dragon, spot important roles in the film. The amazing Dana Lei, though, makes this otherwise crackpot film a Bruceploitation favorite of mine ? not only is she gorgeous and talented, she also supplies the late plot twist that elevates this film a step above mediocrity.Any Bruce Lee fans should see Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth, but many such fans will be turned off by the other three Bruceploitation films rounding out the four movies included in this release. If you inexplicably love the Bruceploitation films as much as I do, though, Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave and Image of Bruce Lee are two of the more memorable knockoff films which you will not want to miss. No Bruce Lee fan can possibly find a single bit of enjoyment in Fist of Fear, Touch of Death, but it is worth a look for anyone who wonders just how low a Bruceploitation film could possibly go in order to make money off a dead hero's name. As long as you know what you are getting here and don't have a problem with Bruceploitation films, A Tribute to Bruce Lee is actually a very affordable, entertaining purchase."

A sweet and sour movie

DH | Mesa, AZ USA | 05/02/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

""Image of Bruce Lee" [was bad] and "Fist of Fear"
[was bad] because the lack of story. The best part
of four movies are "Bruce Lee fights Back from the
Grave" is a classic movie. "The man, The Myth" is a
good documentary if you don't know about Bruce Lee."