The Dragon Lives Again

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The Dragon Lives Again
Directed by	Law Kei
Produced by	Alex Gouw
Written by	Ke Shek, Leung Wai
Starring	Leung Siu-Lung San Yat-Lung Tan Ching Eric Tsang Alexander Grand
Release date(s)	March 25, 1977 (Hong Kong)
Running time	90 min.
Language	Cantonese
IMDb profile

The Dragon Lives Again, originally released as Li san jiao wei zhen di yu men and also known as Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, is a martial arts fantasy comedy in which the soul of Bruce Lee (played by Bruce Leung Siu-lung goes to the Underworld. The deceased Lee meets a number of pop-culture icons, including Dracula, James Bond, Zatoichi, Clint Eastwood, The Godfather, The Exorcist, and even 1970s soft-porn character Emmanuelle. Lee befriends The One-Armed Swordsman, Caine from TV's Kung Fu, and Popeye. The film begins with the grammatically-challenged announcement, "This film is dedicated to millions who love Bruce Lee."

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After his untimely death, Bruce Lee (Bruce Leung Siu-lung) wakes up to find himself in the "Underworld." He meets the King of the Underworld and questions his power. The King demonstrates his displeasure by shaking a pole that can cause an earthquake through the Underworld. Bruce ditches his cocky attitude.

Bruce goes to a restaurant, where he meets Caine from the TV show Kung Fu and noted sailor-man Popeye. He also runs into Dracula, James Bond, Zatoichi, and Clint Eastwood, and they don't hit it off. Those pop-culture characters, along with The Godfather, The Exorcist, and Emmanuelle are planning a coup to take over the Underworld. Among their schemes, the characters send Emmanuelle to have energetic sex with the King (a womanizer) in the hopes that he will have a heart attack.

Bruce defeats the bad guys, but is angered by the King's repeated use of his dangerous earthquake-inducing pole. Bruce threatens to kill the King unless the King lets him go back to Earth, which he does. Viewers may be left confused by the possibility of being able to kill a person in the afterlife, but never mind.

[edit] Reaction

Many contemporary critics have shown affection for The Dragon Lives Again. Nobody calls it great filmmaking, but most applaud it for its ridiculousness and surreality. In his three-part essay about Bruceploitation for Impact Magazine, Dead Medows said:

"The Dragon Lives Again was one of the greatest and craziest of all Bruce Lee exploitation movies. Featuring the lesser known Bruce Liang, this was tongue in cheek from start to finish with a synopsis that was and still is unbelievable. The Little Dragon has passed over and is in purgatory anticipating judgement from the gods. Whilst there he tangles with a vast array of fictionalised and popular characters, all awaiting their individual fate. Bond is there. That¹s right, James Bond, along with "prince of darkness" Dracula and erotic icon, Emmanuelle. Now if that wasn't wacky enough, Bruce teams up with his good friends, Kwai Chang Caine and wait for it ... Popeye to defeat the enemy! Of course the Little Dragon does have a secret weapon, known simply as "the third leg of Bruce" (ouch!). The movie was dedicated to all fans of the great master, but whilst hilarious today, audiences would fail to see the humour at the time of its release."[1]

In a review for Film Threat, Phil Hall awarded the film a generous four stars out of a possible five:

"What any of this has to do with Bruce Lee's legacy is never entirely clear. But when you have a scenario when Clint Eastwood and James Bond are trying to take over a Chinese purgatory and Bruce Lee calls on Popeye the Sailor to help save the day (not counting the interlude for the cast to talk about Bruce Lee's penis!), it would seem that cogent and coherent thought is not high on the priority list. The Dragon Lives Again will probably annoy enthusiasts of martial arts films and the diehard fans of Bruce Lee, but it will provide endless amusement for those who enjoy watching crazy films while filling their systems with endless mugs of beer or puffs of weed."[2]

[edit] Trivia

Eric Tsang, who played the illustrious role of Popeye the sailor, now has an extremely successful acting career in the Hong Kong film industry. He has won a Golden Horse Award and two Hong Kong Film Awards. He gained popularity in the Lucky Stars series (My Lucky Stars, Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars), and has appeared in a number of films with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. More recently, he won acclaim for his role in the Infernal Affairs trilogy.