Bruceploitation Triumphant: My Review of Enter the Clones of Bruce
Bruce Lee’s death in the summer of 1973 shocked the world: he was a ground-breaking, transcendent martial arts star who had captured the imagination of theater-going audiences all over the world, and in the process made a lot of money for the movie studio which produced his films, Golden Harvest. After Lee’s passing, movie studios in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea scrambled to find new martial arts stars who could pick up where Bruce Lee left off.
The search was on for “the next Bruce Lee”, leading movie executives to select several young and hungry martial artists who looked a bit like Bruce Lee. These actors were given stage names such as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, and Dragon Lee to capitalize on the deceased actor’s name. These men were directed to imitate the distinctive way Bruce Lee moved, the way he dressed, and the way he fought. They were then cast in a plethora of martial arts films, many of which were either Bruce Lee biopics or sequels to Lee’s iconic movies. These films came to be known as Bruceploitation.
For decades, Bruceploitation films have been condemned by many critics as disrespectful to the memory and legacy of Bruce Lee. Serious scholarship about the sub-genre has been somewhat scarce. Now, that has begun to change. After many years of hard work, filmmaker David Gregory has brought us Enter the Clones of Bruce. This feature-length documentary is a fascinating journey into the strange and often-controversial Bruceploitation sub-genre and the people who helped create it.
Before I get into my opinions on the doc, I feel like I should explain something: I went into my viewing of Enter the Clones of Bruce as a longtime aficionado of Bruceploitation. Watching Kung Fu movies on television was a staple of my childhood in the 1980’s, and that’s how I was introduced to Bruceploitation. I saw my first Bruceploitation movie on USA Network’s Kung Fu Theatre; it was Bruce Lee, We Miss You, in which a die-hard Bruce Lee fan (played by Bruce Li) tries to unravel the mystery behind Lee’s death. The story, combined with the charisma and fighting prowess of Bruce Li, made a distinct impression on me, and Bruceploitation has been a part of my life ever since.
I mention this because I want to be fully transparent; I know that my affection for this strange sub-genre probably colors my opinion of Enter the Clones of Bruce. I went into my viewing of the doc predisposed to love it, and guess what? I loved it.
The doc is beautifully photographed and edited, which came as no surprise to me. I’ve watched a lot of David Gregory’s documentary work over the last 25 years, from his featurettes on various disc releases of Jess Franco’s films to his excellent The Spaghetti West from 2005. Gregory is an exceptional documentarian, and Enter the Clones of Bruce confirms it.
Enter the Clones of Bruce is jam-packed with information, delivered by experts in martial arts cinema like Mike Leeder, Christophe Champclaux, and Michael Worth. Their expertise is supplemented by interviews with directors Godfrey Ho and Lee Tso-Nam, as well as actors and stunt performers like Phillip Ko, Mars, Don Wong, Lo Meng, and Roy Horan. It was a pleasure to see the documentary give special attention to several of my favorite Bruceploitation films, especially The Dragon Lives Again, The Clones of Bruce Lee, and Challenge of the Tiger.
In-depth interviews with the three main stars of Bruceploitation — Bruce Li, Bruce Le, and Dragon Lee — are the heart and soul of Enter the Clones of Bruce. The viewer gets to know the real men behind these personas and learn about their personal struggles. It’s great to see that, all these decades later, these former “Bruce Lee clones” seem to be doing well.
Other Bruceploitation stars like Bruce Liang, Angela Mao Ying, Sammo Hung, and Ron Van Clief are also interviewed in the documentary. Again, all of them appear to be going strong after all this time. I highly recommend Enter the Clones of Bruce for fans of martial arts cinema in general and of the Bruceploitation sub-genre specifically. It will be available to watch via Video on Demand on April 30, and the Blu-ray can be pre-ordered from Severin Films, either on its own or as part of Severin’s “Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1” box set.
