Bullet Points: Fists of Bruce Lee
This week we are opening up the Bulletproof Action Suggestion Box and allowing friends, fans and followers of the site to select the movies that we cover over the next five days.
First up Shawn Cavender, a fellow martial arts movie fanatic that you can follow on X @cavendershawn, suggested a Bruce Li movie I had never seen before.. 1978’s Fists of Bruce Lee. And it truly is a Bruce Li movie, because not only did Bruce (or Ho Chung Tao for those in the know) star in the movie, he directed it as well.
- Bruce Lies: Let me start by addressing the elephant in the room, that being the blatant false advertising of the posters for Fists of Bruce Lee… which was par for the course in the wonderful world of Bruceploitation. Bruce Li does not portray Bruce Lee in the movie, he actually portrays “security expert” Lee Min-Chin. Another version of the poster has the tagline “What the law cannot do, he can”… this is also misleading because *SPOILER ALERT* Lee Min-Chin is an undercover cop with Interpol. You may question why the movie would be named Fists of Bruce Lee if it did not star Bruce Lee or feature the character of “Bruce Lee” and the answer is to sell tickets.
- Pick Up the Pieces: After a cold open that introduces us to the cantankerous Master Lo and a view at the Lo compound, we go into the opening credits that feature a Bruce Li training montage accompanied by the Henry Mancini version of “Pick Up The Pieces”. While I did appreciate the symphonic funk, I was not wild that the footage was all jammed in a box and not full screen, screwing with the aspect ratio… but that is nitpicking. At the end of the opening credits, we see Bruce Li’s Lee Min-Chin receive an invite from Master Lo seeking his security expertise and just like that Lee Min-Chin is off to Hong Kong.
- Welcome to Hong Kong: When Lee Min-Chin arrives in Hong Kong he is greeted by an Octopus… not an actual Octopus, although a Bruce Lee Clone vs. a Sea Monster is a movie I would definitely watch, but a man known as Octopus (played by Wei Ping-Ao, who will always be Interpreter Wu from Fist of Fury to me) Octopus tries to pass himself off as some sort of emissary for Master Lo… but after asking a few questions Lee Min-Chin smells a rat and starts whooping ass. After the Octopus incident, Lee Min-Chin finds himself at a nightclub, where he finds a dead body and it was at this point that I felt that I lost the plot or maybe the movie did.
- Don’t Trust Anybody: Lee Min-Chin does eventually make it to Master Lo’s estate… where in addition to being hired by Mr. Lo to install a new state of the art security system, Lee Min-Chin meets Master. Lo’s head of household affairs Poochie Chan, Master. Lo’s hunting club director played by Lo Lieh of King Boxer fame and last but not least, Master. Lo’s daughter who Lee Min-Chin eventually begins to romance (much to the chagrin of the always nervous Poochie Chan). Master Lo’s daughter also has a spike shooting doll in her bedroom… so like her father, she’s into security too, which makes sense that she falls for a security expert. So at least one thing in this movie made sense.
- Listless: The reason Master Lo (who I assume is a very bad man) wanted to beef up his security is because there are some other very bad men after a list of names (of very bad men) that he is in possession of and this is why very bad men like Octopus, Lawyer Shen and countless thugs who engage in battles at amusement parks after hours and empty playgrounds pop up in the movie with really no rhyme or reason. Eventually the bad guys figure out if they can get to Master Lo’s daughter they can use her safe return in trade for the list of names… and that’s about the time they figure out Lee Min-Chin is in law enforcement and much to their surprise and mine, Lee Min-Chin wasn’t the only one.
I have to wonder if Shawn suggested Fists of Bruce Lee to see if I would be the one person on the planet who actually liked it or if it was some sort of test of my Bruce Li fandom… because if you can still call yourself a Bruce Li fan after seeing this one, you are the real deal. Over the years I have certainly enjoyed some Bruce Li movies more than others, but thanks to 1978’s Fist of Bruce Lee, I officially have a least favorite Bruce Li movie. The movie seemed to be lacking in fun, it certainly was lacking in story and oddly enough it was lacking in Bruce Li, which could have been due to the fact that Bruce was pulling double duty as an actor and director for the first time in his career.
One suggestion I always make is to read the Bonus Bullet Points…
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Lo Lieh play bumper pool, then Fists of Bruce Lee is the movie for you.
- Name That Tune: The soundtrack for Fists of Bruce Lee kicked ass… in addition to the aforementioned Henry Mancini opening, music from Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, Death Wish and even Enter the Dragon was used. It was like Now That’s What I Call 70’s Soundtrack Hits Volume 1.
- AKA: Fists of Bruce Lee was released as Secret Agent Sang-Yang in Korea, which I suppose is proof they were going for a James Bond vibe in the movie and just failed miserably at it.
