Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth

Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth
Directed by Ng See-yuen
Produced by Pau Ming
Written by Ng See-yuen
Starring Ho Chung-tao
Unicorn Chan
Chiu Chi-ling
Lee Hoi-san
Fung Hak-on
Fung Ging-man
Music by Chow Fook-leung
Cinematography Wing Chen
Edited by Mike Harris
Hung-yao Pan
Ming Sung
Distributed by Eternal Film Company
Release dates
  • 28 October 1976 (1976-10-28)
Running time
 92 minutes
Country Hong Kong
Language Mandarin

Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth (Chinese: 李小龍傳奇, also known as Bruce Lee: The True Story) is a 1976 Hong Kong semi biographical martial arts film starring Ho Chung-tao and directed by Ng See-yuen. The film was released in the Hong Kong on 28 October 1976.

Plot

The film chronicles Bruce Lee's life beginning with Lee leaving China to go to University in Seattle. Most of the benchmarks of Lee's later life (cast in Green Hornet television series, marriage to Linda Lee, stardom in Hong Kong, death) are covered, with a somewhat less tenuous relationship to the truth as in previous Lee biopics.

Cast

Production

Linda Lee was played by Lynda Hirst, an English women who was an army wife stationed in Hong Kong at the time of the filming. The director, having searched unsuccessfully for some time for a suitable 'Linda Lee' among available actresses, came across Lynda Hirst whilst out shopping in a local market and remarked on her resemblance to the late star's wife. On learning she was a 'Westerner' he immediately cast her in the (small) role. Lynda's real life sons can also be seen, very briefly, in the movie as Lee's children.

Release

On 22 May 2000, DVD was released by Mia in the United Kingdom in Region 2. Two years later, Martial Arts Films Box Set DVD was released on 23 December 2002, at a 4 disc set that includes Black Friday, Legacy of Rage, and Rumble in Hong Kong.

Reception

In his three part Bruceploitation essay for Impact Magazine, Dean Meadows writes: "This was a bigger and better production, providing a larger budget, international locations and the name Ho Chung Tao on the opening credits. Upon its release, earlier, scandalous elements of the exploitational deluge had all but disappeared. Overlong scenes of the Little Dragon "in action" with Betty Ting Pei were absent from the production and the full contact fury that people had been waiting to see from a Bruce Lee bio-pic was finally realised. Every director can of course be afforded a little artistic license and whilst a number of fight scenes were completely fictionalised, Ng See Yuen had undoubtedly created a fitting tribute to the memory of the undisputed "King of Kung Fu". With first class choreography, Ho Chung Tao mirrored the Little Dragon in a number of standout fights."[1]

The Time Out Film Guide, for example: "Numbingly unimaginative and exploitative biography. Would you trust a film that opens on a '70s street scene and captions it 'Hong Kong 1958'?"[2]

References

  1. ↑ Meadows, Dean (November 2002). "Bruce Li - The Manufactured Master of Bruceploitation". Impact (MAI Publications) (131).
  2. ↑ "Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth". Time Out London. Retrieved 17 July 2014.

External links

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