Bruce Lee and his legacy in today's USA

[dusters]

Bruce died more than 40 years ago. He had opened several martial arts schools at the time he died.

His then friends Chuck Norris ( a world karate champion) and Dan Inosanto ( a Kali sticks master) still teach martial-arts today in USA.

What do you know about Bruce Lee? Is he important? Who are the young boys from USA looking up to nowadays? Which martial arts actors are popular now in USA?

Discuss.


Link to video.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Gotta admit, I watched this more for Pierre Berton than Bruce Lee. Berton was a journalist and author, and one of Canada's national treasures.


All I know about Bruce Lee is that his son, Brandon Lee, starred in The Crow - and died during the filming of that movie, due to an on-set accident with a prop gun. Hard to believe that happened over 20 years ago! One of Brandon Lee's friends, Mark Dacascos, later starred in the TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. Both the movie and the TV series featured a lot of martial arts sequences by the lead actors.


Canadian figure skater Elvis Stojko won a silver medal at the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994, performing his long program to Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.


Link to video.


That's the sum total of what I know about anyone connected to Bruce Lee.

 

[dusters]

I didn't even know Pierre was from Canada, oh my

I almost feel obliged to say thanks for any response to the thread at all.

My point of this thread is many-fold and actually I would be interested to hear what martial arts movies have been popular in Canada as well (despite the fact I know very little about Canada and have no pen-friends there).

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I didn't even know Pierre was from Canada, oh my

I almost feel obliged to say thanks for any response to the thread at all.

My point of this thread is many-fold and actually I would be interested to hear what martial arts movies have been popular in Canada as well (despite the fact I know very little about Canada and have no pen-friends there).

When waiting for responses, it's good to take time zones into account. My post above was at 5:43 am, MDT. North America is still waking up.

Dunno if you watched the figure skating video I posted, but Elvis sure made headlines here with that performance. One of his non-skating activities is martial arts (not sure which ones), so this program was perfect for him.

 

[dusters]

When waiting for responses, it's good to take time zones into account. My post above was at 5:43 am, MDT. North America is still waking up.

Dunno if you watched the figure skating video I posted, but Elvis sure made headlines here with that performance. One of his non-skating activities is martial arts (not sure which ones), so this program was perfect for him.

oh, I thought the internet nerds are awake all night (sorry for offending anyone who doesn't feel like that and haven't ever stayed up all night browsing 20 tabs)

I did watch the video. I'm fond of figure skating, although I usually watch female skaters and didn't know about Elvis. (sounds like an oxymoron, I DO know and adore Elvis Presley)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

oh, I thought the internet nerds are awake all night (sorry for offending anyone who doesn't feel like that and haven't ever stayed up all night browsing 20 tabs)

I did watch the video. I'm fond of figure skating, although I usually watch female skaters and didn't know about Elvis. (sounds like an oxymoron, I DO know and adore Elvis Presley)

I'm not offended. I'm just adjusting my wake/sleep cycle so I can watch the season premiere of Doctor Who tonight. The Space Channel is running a marathon of older episodes and specials in addition to the new story.

It's been some years since I followed the elite figure skating events, and don't have a clue who the top skaters are now. But you should have seen me clapping and cheering in front of my TV back in 1994!

Anyway, on the topic of martial arts movies, I don't have a lot of suggestions other than to google Mark Dacascos, since I know he's done a few.

 

[jackelgull]

I've heard of Bruce Lee, but I didn't know half the stuff you posted about him. I think Jackie Chan was more influential in the martial arts movie scene.

 

[Borachio]

Bruce Lee should have been the star of "Kung Fu". But instead the role went to Carradine, who isn't even Chinese.


Link to video.


Link to video.

This seems dreadfully slow and dated, now.

 

[Omega124]

One area where Bruce Lee's legacy is extremely apparent is the realm of video games. As fighting games are one of the most popular genres of video games, and Bruce Lee is one of, if not the most iconic martial artist ever, it makes sense that a lot of fighting games have a bunch of characters after Bruce Lee.

For example, both Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter both contain a character that uses Jeet Kune Do (or at least Jeet Kune Do with magic abilities) and have a physical appearance based off of him. In Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang isn't just the resident not-Bruce Lee, he's the main character of the entire series. Granted, they took some liberties with the hair, but it's still supposed to be Lee. His background as a Shaolin Monk who is mysteriously invited to participate in an unknown fighting tournament that ends up being a corrupt sham is basiclly the same plot as Enter the Dragon, execpt with a lot more demons and magical abilities.

Spoiler Liu Kang :

Fei Long, from Street Fighter, has a IMO more faithful appearance to Lee than Kang does. He practically is a cartoon version of Bruce Lee, and his back story, instead of referencing one movie like Liu Kang, is instead based off of Lee as an actor. Fei Long is a movie star from Hong Kong (only character from Hong Kong in the entire series, too), who enters a fighting tournament to show he is the best martial artist ever. Like Bruce Lee, at the end of his story he deicdes to go create his own style of fighting. Also, Fei uses the one inch punch as one of his ultra attacks, and his dialogue in the 3D games purposely do not match his lips, just like if he was from a Hong Kong dub.

Spoiler Fei Long :

Lastly, although this only applicable in the English translation, but a Pokémon is named after Bruce Lee. Hitmonlee, one of the the three Hitmons, is a Fighting type Pokémon that focuses on using one extremity for combat. In the case of Hitmonlee, it is his legs. While his legs-above-all-else is something Lee would never advocate, and is more reminiscent of Taekwondo than Jeet Kune Do, it isn't as if Bruce Lee isn't known for his kicks. Plus, this means that Bruce Lee is so iconic/a household name, that he even gets a monster in a children's video game named after him.

Spoiler Hitmonlee :

 

[Traitorfish]

I think Bruce Lee's ultimate cinematic legacy, both in Asia and in the West, is the current crop of MMA-inspired films.

In Hong Kong, his brutal, efficient style was pretty quickly overshadowed by more visually elaborate styles- first the stunts-heavy style pioneered by Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, then the wushu-influenced style represented by Jet Li- while in the US, martial arts films stagnated almost immediately after his passing, becoming little more than action films with punches instead of machine guns. It's only really in the last decade or so that we've seen a return to the sort of realist styles found in Lee's films. I think that Donnie Yen is largely to thank for this, because although he came out of the same wushu style as Jet Li, he's a massive Lee fan and MMA enthusiast, and his work not just as a martial artist but also has a choreographer has done more than anything to revive and elaborate upon this style.

The impact of this hasn't entirely filtered through to the West yet, though. Films in this vein are still quite niche, bar a few crossover hits like The Raid; there's been no MMA Enter the Dragon or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Donnie Yen could have taken a crack at breaking the market, but he's not on very good terms with Hollywood. We might yet see a major Western MMA film, although it will require a director willing to let go of the shaky-cam and let the fighting speak for itself.

 

[Borachio]

Link to video.

Ballet, pantomime, puppetry. All three, I think.

And a bad haircut.

 

[cybrxkhan]

For some of us Asian-Americans, Bruce Lee is a kind of an Asian-American role model of sorts, and one who is so for Asian-Americans of different backgrounds and generations. He was one of the few Asian-Americans (particularly Asian-American males) who has had enduring fame and legacy in mainstream American media, and one who is viewed favorably, so there's that.

Personally, I don't care about him too much, but I think he's cool. My father, however, has quite a bit of respect for him, partly because my father took some martial arts when he was younger, and also because, I suspect, when my father first came to Ameica, Bruce Lee was one of the few Asian stars in Hollywood so it's easy to feel connected to him.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Dont know how good fighter was BL in real life. No doubt he knew a couple of things about martial arts but i doubt he was sooooo good as he said of himself, never fought in any competition or something either AFAIK, so that will be always up to speculation. However he was a naturally gifted showman. Look how he moves and speaks in that interview, he loved TV sets, lights cameras and all the stuff!

 

[dusters]

Can't give a cookie, but if i couild, I just love how TF explained BL's impact.

A superb film of sorts is Donnie Yen's portrayal of Ip man, a master of Bruce Lee who taught him some wing chun.

Thanks to Valka, i will do some research on Mark Dacascos. Always nice to hear a new name in the scene.

As for the thread - maybe i'm totally wrong, but i expected some posters who have sons and who are USA citizens to share the information, how popular are the martial arts in schools now.

Maybe it's all about soccer, baseball and basketball just like before?

 

[warpus]

Bruce Lee is someone who didn't deserve to die as early as he did. He had a lot to teach all of us, and not only things related to martial arts. He was the most humble and one of the most amazing humans I've ever seen on the big screen. The control that he had over his mind and body are inspirational.

 

[Berzerker]

Dont know how good fighter was BL in real life. No doubt he knew a couple of things about martial arts but i doubt he was sooooo good as he said of himself, never fought in any competition or something either AFAIK, so that will be always up to speculation.

I heard Bruce Lee was told by a director to slow his moves down so they could see what he was doing, but Jean Claude Van Damme got beat up by a NYC bodyguard and member of the Hell's Angels. So, you never know who's got a thick enough skull or whatever it takes to withstand blows to the head.

I grew up on Kung Fu, it wasn't so much about the martial arts and the slo-mo didn't help but I liked the philosophy and spiritual insights. Enter the Dragon is a classic - with John Saxon and NFL RB Jim Kelly. I'm a fan of Jackie Chan, his acrobatics jump off the screen at you and then during the credits they'll run his bad out takes where his stunts dont go as planned.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I dont see anyone surpassing Bruce Lee.

 

[Old Hippy]

@ OP

dusters, if you like bruce lee I recommend checking out the two Chinese films 'based' on his teacher and his journey to hong kong and finally setting up his school...


Link to video.

and don't forget to seach out his Green Hornet 'kato' stuff, years ahead of anything for western fight scenes

 

[FriendlyFire]

Dont know how good fighter was BL in real life. No doubt he knew a couple of things about martial arts but i doubt he was sooooo good as he said of himself, never fought in any competition or something either AFAIK, so that will be always up to speculation.

Real Martial Arts tournaments in China have been banned by the government due to (too many) serious injury and deaths. Regulated tournaments still exist.

While it is pretty common for boxers to beat martial arts due to nature of fighting coming down to stamina. I'd imagine it would be different if lethal hits to joints, groin, face, neck, eyes were allowed.
A young Bruce Lee did street fighting, as well as fight against other martial artist. Most of Ipman best students are all well known, many are competitive tournament fighters known within the Martial arts community.

 

[PhroX]

I think Bruce Lee's ultimate cinematic legacy, both in Asia and in the West, is the current crop of MMA-inspired films.

In Hong Kong, his brutal, efficient style was pretty quickly overshadowed by more visually elaborate styles- first the stunts-heavy style pioneered by Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, then the wushu-influenced style represented by Jet Li- while in the US, martial arts films stagnated almost immediately after his passing, becoming little more than action films with punches instead of machine guns. It's only really in the last decade or so that we've seen a return to the sort of realist styles found in Lee's films. I think that Donnie Yen is largely to thank for this, because although he came out of the same wushu style as Jet Li, he's a massive Lee fan and MMA enthusiast, and his work not just as a martial artist but also has a choreographer has done more than anything to revive and elaborate upon this style.

The impact of this hasn't entirely filtered through to the West yet, though. Films in this vein are still quite niche, bar a few crossover hits like The Raid; there's been no MMA Enter the Dragon or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Donnie Yen could have taken a crack at breaking the market, but he's not on very good terms with Hollywood. We might yet see a major Western MMA film, although it will require a director willing to let go of the shaky-cam and let the fighting speak for itself.

Yeah, this is pretty much my thoughts on Lee. I'm a big fan of HK martial arts films, but, as you say, while Bruce Lee might've done a lot to popularise the genre, his influence on the style later films is not that significant, with only some quite recent films really picking up on it. His (relatively) realistic style never really took off, instead more flashy and eloborate films became the mainstream. Not that I dislike that kind of stuff - on the contrary, I love it - but seeing more Lee-esque films would be interesting.

Speaking of Brandon Lee, I did enjoy Legacy of Rage. Not outstanding, but both pretty good, and it's worth a watch if you like HK action films. And, while I'm not going to claim Brandon would've gone on to be a great actor, he did fit well as the lead in that kind of film.