The Clones of Bruce Lee
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| Bruce Lee's Clone | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Joseph Kong |
| Produced by | Dick Randall Chang Tsung Lung |
| Starring | Bruce Le Dragon Lee Bruce Lai Bruce Thai Bolo Yeung John Benn Bruce Liang |
| Distributed by | Newport Releasing (United States), Ambassador Film Distributors (Canada). |
| Release date(s) |  1977 (Hong Kong), 1980 (United States), 1981 (Canada) |
| Language | Cantonese |
| IMDb profile | |
The Clones of Bruce Lee is one of the most notorious clone films in the world. It gathers together several of the Lee clones who sprang up after Bruce Lee's death (including Bruce Le and Dragon Lee), and ties it all together with an insane plot. It has been called "The Mount Rushmore of Bruceploitation films".
[edit] Synopsis
After Bruce Lee arrives DOA at the hospital, Collin of the Special Bureau of Investigations uses technology to create three clones of Lee, played by Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and Bruce Thai. They are trained in martial arts by Bolo Yeung.
One of the clones starts work as a movie star for a corrupt producer who plans to have him die on camera. Meanwhile, the other clones go to Thailand, where they meet up with Bruce Lai (not a clone). While there, they happen upon a beach that is loaded with completely naked lovelies for no particular reason.
The Professor who perfected the cloning technology goes off the rails and programs the clones to destroy each other. Although they fight, the Professor pays heavily for his betrayal.
[edit] Reaction
On the website Kung Fu Cinema, Mark Pollard sums up much of the appeal of the film, writing:
" Clones of Bruce Lee is the Plan 9 from Outer Space of Hong Kong cinema. It's the very definition of bad filmmaking and sleazy exploitation. Expect to witness mad scientists bent on world domination, death rays, bronzemen, and naked women frolicking on the beach. Despite some decent kung fu action, particularly with Bolo, it's so bad you'll laugh or turn it off."[1]
A review on the website The Bad Movie Report finds it less enjoyable:
"Although the Lee-alikes are in superb shape, and certainly know their Lee chops, there is a deadening sameness about the fight scenes that eventually robs the movie of all joy; this flick is, after all, 95% fight scenes. I've always preferred the swordplay-oriented kung fu movies- the more weapons, and the more bizarre, the better. Let's face it, the numerous styles notwithstanding (and there are several on display), there are only so many ways to aim a blow at your opponent and only so many ways to block that blow. Without a good fight coordinator, like Lee himself, Jimmy Wang Yu, Samo Hung or a host of others, after forty-five minutes of the same fight over and over, each subsequent fight becomes the kinetic equivalent of white noise: your mind more or less goes on vacation."[2]
[edit] Trivia
- Contains the only fight scene between Bruce Le and Dragon Lee.
- John Benn, who plays "Colin", recently appeared as an American businessman in Jet Li's film Fearless.
- Another Bruce Lee imitator, Bruce Liang, appears in the film, but oddly enough does not play a clone.
