The Ultimate Bruceploitation Countdown

2024 has truly been The Year of the Clones. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Michael Worth and the resources of Severin Films, Bruceploitation fans have been treated to the long awaited Enter the Clones documentary, the beautiful Martial Art: The Art of Bruceploitation Movie Posters book and perhaps most importantly Severin’s box set of restored Bruceploitation flicks, The Game Of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1 (with another volume already in the works).

We decided we would celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Bruceploitation as part of our own 10 Year Actionversary and is customary we invited some special guests to this celebration…

• Matthew Whitaker: Co-host of The Clones Cast alongside Bruceploitation expert, Michael Worth.
• Shaun from Fu for Thought: Genre expert and host of the Fu for Thought podcast.
• AJ Richardi: Martial artist and host of The Martial Arts Mania podcast.
• Shawn Cavender: Friend of the site and a big Bruceploitation fan and collector.
• Mike Leeder: Action film historian, handy with a shovel and our man in Hong Kong.

I asked our special guests and members of the Bulletproof Action staff to send me their personal top ten Bruceploitation movies. Over 40 movies ended up being nominated in this process and after plugging in the individual lists in my trusty spreadsheet, I was able to whittle it down to a Top 15…

Fu For Thought: In my eyes, there’s something special about 1979’s Fist of Fury III (original title: Jeet Kune the Claws and the Supreme Kung Fu). I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think it’s that it walks a very thin line between Bruceploitation flick and traditional old school kung fu flick. For me, it ticks a whole bunch of boxes and, as the kids these days say, “it’s a vibe.”

We’ve seen it all before: Bruce Li channels Bruce Lee and takes on the scummy Japanese. It could feel generic. It could feel lazy. But it doesn’t. The fantastic cast – familiar faces like Paul Wei, Hon Kwok-choi, San Kuai, Fong Yau, and Ku Feng all appear – really elevate the film, and the fight choreography, courtesy of “Big Little Eye” himself, Addy Sung Gam-Loi, and Wong Mei, is a superb blend of Bruce Lee basher-style action and old school shapes. Bruce Li’s best work? Perhaps not. But I dare you not to enjoy the fantastically atmospheric finale where Li and Ku Feng go toe to toe during a booming thunderstorm. It might be my favourite Bruce Li fight, simply due to its feel. Appropriate I think, since Bruce Lee did tell us to feel rather than think.

I doubt Fist of Fury III will make many kung fu cinema fans’ top ten lists. But for me, it just works. I’m enamored by its simplicity. It’s a rare example of a kung fu film that builds and builds and then delivers a climax well worth waiting for.

If you’ve watched Dynamo, Bruce Lee – The Man, the Myth, and Challenge of the Tiger a million times, give this one a go. You might very well be surprised.

Chris the Brain: In a sub-genre that was notorious for deceptive advertising, Bruce Le’s Greatest Revenge actually delivers on its promise. It really is one of Bruce Le’s greatest movies AND it is chock full of revenge!

Against his teacher’s wishes, Chin (Bruce Le) keeps finding himself standing up against the growing Japanese oppression of the Chinese people. But when Chin’s teacher is murdered all bets were off and Chin gets to dish out all the revenge he can against the Japanese tyrants led by Ku Feng. It is one fight scene after the next as Chin battles the Japanese and their allies, most notably The Mongolian played by Bolo Yeung. Chin ends up ripping an earring out of The Mongolian’s ear and the pony tail off The Mongolian’s head!

Bruce Le’s Greatest Revenge eliminates a lot of the goofiness that was found in many of Bruce Le’s other films and instead delivers a hard hitting tale of vengeance.

AJ Richardi: No Retreat, No Surrender passes all the criteria of making it an 80’s cult classic. Troubled teen who just moved to a new town? Check . A handsome bully who beats him up constantly and tries to steal his girl? Check . The ghost of Bruce Lee coming back to life to teach him martial arts so he can avenge his honor and defeat a Soviet foe? Wait what?!…

If you’re like me and you love the craziness of No Retreat No, Surrender, then you KNOW this is just a small taste of the awesome insanity that is featured in this 1985 entry of our beloved subgenre of martial arts cinema- Bruceploitation. A time capsule for the 1980’s, with lovably goofy dialogue and a colorful cast of characters that feel like they belong in a Saturday morning cartoon, this Hong Kong/US collaboration delivers in a multitude of ways. However, one of its strongest points is the phenomenal martial sequences choreographed by the late, great, Cory Yuen, who managed to bring the fast-paced, hard-hitting, intricate Hong Kong style to this Karate Kid knockoff. Throw in a rocking soundtrack, Jean-Claude Van Damme in his breakout role, and my very own sensei Peter ‘Sugarfoot’ Cunningham, and what you’ve got is a hell of a good time and one of the most unique entries in the Bruceploitation genre!

Chris DePetrillo: If there was a list of Bruceploitation requirements, this film checks all the boxes. We’ve got Bruce Le doing his best “real Bruce” routine, complete with the famous yellow tracksuit and sneakers despite the fact that this film is supposedly taking place prior to World War II. We’ve got Bolo Yeung back as a baddie, putting in a bit more time than in other Bruceploitation flicks (meaning he shows up in more than one scene). We’ve also got an obvious Kareem Abdul-Jabbar replacement to stand still and look imposing while inducing some jump-cut kung fu pain upon our hero. They even give Bruce Le the same wounds suffered by Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon!

Some people might find the glaringly obvious attempts this film makes at making you think you’re watching a Bruce Lee vehicle nothing more than a hilariously bad knockoff ripe for the mocking, but to me this movie is just fun. As a young kid yearning for anything that involved Bruce Lee (which led to a little self-teaching about the Bruceploitation sub-genre), Enter The Game of Death was a film filled with familiar faces and fights that entertains me to this day. Who cares if the tiniest bit of plot they provide us with doesn’t make any sense, or that the villainous turn was as obvious as grass being green? It’s fight after fight in a setting that feels more like a video game world than the real world; defeat one enemy, move onto the next. Lather, rinse, repeat until only Mr. Ang (Le) is the last one standing. There are some Bruceploitation movies I might not ever go near again, but Enter The Game of Death is one that will continue to get repeated viewings any time I want to turn my brain off and watch people get their asses kicked.

Shawn Cavender: For me, one of the most appealing aspects of Bruceploitation is its frequent weirdness.  Well, The Dragon Lives Again dials the weirdness up to 11 and rips the knob off!  The story of this movie is… unique!  It begins just after Bruce Lee’s untimely death, as Bruce wakes up in the afterlife.  This Underworld is occupied not just by people who have died, however; it is also home to lots of pop culture icons of the 20^th Century.  Bruce finds himself embroiled in a battle for control of The Underworld, joining forces with Popeye, Caine from Kung Fu, and The One-Armed Swordsman to prevent a group of villains from overthrowing the king of The Underworld.  This alliance of evil-doers includes Zatoichi, The Godfather, The Exorcist, James Bond, and Emmanuelle.  

Bruce Leung plays Bruce Lee in The Dragon Lives Again, and while Leung’s resemblance to Lee is minimal, he does a great job in the action scenes (which he also choreographed, with the help of his father, Leung Siu-Chung).  Leung was one of the best kickers of classic Kung Fu cinema and his kicks look very similar to Bruce Lee’s in this movie.  While the fight scenes are entertaining, I also really enjoy the humor in the film.  I know the film’s style of comedy doesn’t appeal to everyone, but it’s right in my wheelhouse. 

Mike Leeder: I always loved Bruce Li’s Chinese Stuntman aka Counter Attack, a young insurance agent and martial artist finds himself unwillingly drawn into martial arts movie making, where Producer’s and Director’s don’t give a shit about the safety of cast and crew if they get the shot!   Bruce is in fine form, and gets to showcase the full range of his skills battling some familiar faces including Dan Inosanto who looks like he just stepped off the set of Game of Death, and joining him on his mission is someone who became a friend of mine when I arrived in Hong Kong, the late great John Ladalski aka Kung Fu John!

Like Caine from Kung Fu, the late John Ladalski was the Kung Fu Movie Journeyman, a lifelong martial artist he wandered the world in search of martial arts and movie making, working for and with everyone from Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, Jackie Chan, Panna Rittikrai, Tony Jaa, Chow Yun-fatt, Yasauki Kurata, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Joseph Lai and Godfrey Ho, Klaus Kinski to Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. in Air America.

But THE CHINESE STUNTMAN is a movie I’ll always remember him for, not only does he play pretty much himself, Kung Fu John an American martial artist who has come to Hong Kong in search of martial arts truth and finds himself caught up in the evil machinations of certain people in the movie industry when he teams up with Bruce Li/Ho Tsung-tao.

Ladalski came up with the original idea for the movie, and pitched the concept to Bruce Li, who Produced and Directed the movie through his own company, and felt John’s project would work for both the local and international market, especially when John confirmed that he would able to bring his own former teacher and longtime Bruce Lee associate, Dan Inosanto to the movie, playing a villainous Kali/Escrima master who works as both fight choreographer and enforcer for the mobsters producing the movie. I’m a big fan of Dan as a martial artist and a human being, and always wish Inosanto had gotten to showcase his skills as a screen fighter more often,  but outside of his role of Game of Death and moments where he got to show his stuff in Out for Justice and Big Stan, too often when he did appear in films he didn;’t get showcased the way he should have. And while his role and especially his costume homages his turn in Game of Death, he gets to look great apart from some totally unnecessary and obvious doubling where it feels perhaps they didn’t get the coverage with Inosanto they needed, and while Ho Tsung-tao/Bruce Li began his career as a Clone of Bruce Lee, and b y this stage in his career he was trying to step away from the Bruce Lee persona in his movies and despite the Bruce Lee inspired presence of Inosanto, it’s a cool look at movie making and the rumoured “Triad” involvement in the Hong Kong Film industry, and the relationship between Ho/Li and John is fun, and John’s pretty much playing himself in the movie and come on man, from the opening of John rocking up to the Chinese YMCA and managing to piss off the various Chinese Kung Fu stylists, through the 5 Styles of Kicking and come on Dan Inosanto wailing on John Ladalski and Bruce Li, its great fun! I’m hoping to see this turn up on the next Clones of Bruce Lee boxset!

Shawn Cavender: Challenge of the Tiger reigns supreme as my favorite Bruceploitation movie.  I first saw it when I rented it at my local mom-and-pop video store under the title Gymkata Killer.  I might have been 12 or 13 at the time; WAY too young to see all the sleazy goodness in this movie.  It wasn’t the first Bruceploitation movie I saw (that distinction goes to Bruce Lee, We Miss You), but it made a huge impression on me. 

Seeing Bruce Le team up with future ninja icon Richard Harrison is a lot of fun, with Bruce doing most of the fighting and Richard doing all of the James Bond-style romancing. As with many of my Bruceploitation favorites, there’s some weird stuff in this, like Bruce fighting a bull and Harrison’s character Richard Cannon playing slow-mo tennis with a topless lady.  There’s also some good martial arts action, particularly Bruce Le’s climactic battle with Korean super-kicker Hwang Jang-Lee.  To quote Richard Cannon, “What a party this is!”

Chris the Brain: What’s not to love about Golden Dragon, Silver Snake!? The movie is chock full of Kung Foolery… you’ve got tricks with eggs, a motorcycle riding mobster with an afro, a mysterious cat loving boss, booby traps, some of Herbie Hancock’s Death Wish score, a speed boat, enhanced sound effects, a killer with a drill and Golden Dragon (Dragon Lee) showing off his baseball skills… The story is a simple one with the mob looking to take away a family’s farm so they can build a resort… the same mob responsible for the death of Golden Dragon’s brother! Golden Dragon, with some help from Wang Dae-wi’s Silver Snake (a friend of the farmers) and the Rickshaw Man (a friend to all) take the fight to the mob at every turn… including the big action finale that takes place at a resort and makes great use of the wide variety of attractions!

Golden Dragon, Silver Snake is at the top of my Favorite Dragon Lee Movies list. It is also at the top of my Game of Clones Vol. 2 wishlist, although I will forever cherish my DVD copy of the movie, complete with a broadcast engineer’s cues for when to go and come back from commercial break.

Shawn Cavender: Many of my Bruceploitation favorites are Bruce Li (Ho Chung-Dao) films which are set in modern times, such as The Lama Avenger, The Gold Connection, and Dynamo.  In those three films, he plays a working-class Kung Fu hero who struggles against forces in the world which threaten him and the people he cares about.  This is also true in Soul Brothers of Kung Fu, but I think this is the best of that kind of Bruce Li film, particularly because of its characters, the way their relationships with each other evolve, and their often-tragic fates. 

This film was actually shot with two different endings, and the unhappy ending pushes the tragedy even further.  The Kung Fu action in Soul Brothers is pretty good, with the martial arts choreography overseen by Yuen Cheung-Yan (of the esteemed Yuen Clan) and Hsu Hsia (who was fight coordinator with Yuen Woo-Ping on the classics Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow, Drunken Master, and The Invincible Armour).  By this point of his career, Bruce Li had become a skilled film fighter, and he is joined in this film by Lo Meng (who would go on to become one of the five famous Venoms for Shaw Brothers and director Chang Cheh) and legendary Kung Fu star Ku Feng (who appeared in dozens of Shaw Brothers films and later co-starred with Bruce Li in two more movies, Dynamo and Bruce and the Iron Finger). 

Chris the Brain: To put it simply, Dynamo is dynamite! Dynamo is also a little bit meta as Bruce Li’s Lee Ting Yi is a cabbie in the right place at the right time and as a result is selected to be “The Next Bruce Lee” by the shrewd Miss Mary!

Of course this offer that is too good to be true, ends up being too good to be true. Along with the fame and fortune of being “The Next Bruce Lee” comes trouble as he becomes a pawn in a battle between two big advertising agencies. Lee Ting Yi finds himself a target as he has to fend off attackers in a dojo in Japan, on ski slope in Seoul and even in his own hotel room when he ventures to the United States. Things really get bad when Lee Ting Yi’s girlfriend is kidnapped before Lee Ting Yi’s big fight in Chicago!

With a story featuring elements of reality, some great martial arts action and the great Ku Feng in a supporting role, Dynamo is definitely deserving of a spot on this list.

Matthew Whitaker: The Dragon, The Hero is my favorite Bruceploitation movie because it actually doesn’t feel like one. The story, the lead, the comedy, is all very traditional Kung Fu; yet, it almost feels like psychedelic parody. We have Philip Ko who is amazing with his “dog style” and really keeps things weird in a good way, Bolo as a gorilla fighting monster with tufts of hair glued to him, John Liu is sly and badass, and Dragon Lee just to ham it up and bring the Bruce.

This is one of those top shelf Bruceploitation flicks, great choreography, fun fights, slick styles. Special shout out to the scenes with the gambling idiots. Top notch! If you haven’t seen it, get to it.

Chris DePetrillo: Not one, not two, but THREE of the supposed successors to Bruce Lee, together in one film? The Clones of Bruce Lee is equal parts sheer exploitation and sheer insanity. First of all, the beginning of the film features a fictional twist on the death of the real Bruce Lee, a tragedy so great that it forced a scientist to take samples from him and create three brand new Bruce Lee’s to take his place! Once the clones have been cooking in the lab long enough, they’re unleashed upon the world to do…stuff. One goes “undercover” on a film set, and despite being a clone of Bruce Lee, no one on the film set thinks to cash in on this “uncanny likeness” (my words, not theirs) to fill the void left by the real Bruce? I guess Bruceploitation wasn’t quite ready to go meta way back in 1980. Besides that particular clone’s misadventures on a movie set, the clones are utilized as a trio of spies who end up battling guys in gold body paint that make clanging sounds when struck (as if they’re actually metallic).

Even though it boasts an all-star team up of Bruce wannabes, The Clones of Bruce Lee goes HARD with the nonsense to the point where it feels like you’re watching one of those wacky El Santo luchador movies and not a kung-fu cash-in. The one thing that the film did that I always enjoyed was that it introduces Bolo Yeung’s character as a good guy who trains the clones to fight, except that it turns out he’s really a bad dude helping the turncoat scientist. Spoiler alert, I know. We’d have to wait for Shootfighter and TC 2000 to get Bolo’s babyface turn. As silly as The Clones of Bruce Lee may sound just reading about it, I have to say that if you want peak Bruceploitation in regards to seeing just how far these films would go, I don’t know that it gets any more insane than this one.

Chris the Brain: Bruce Li movies usually had more steak than sizzle. Bruce Li movies didn’t have as many of the over the top elements as the movies featuring Li’s fellow Clones… with that said this one did have a completely unexpected freestyle dance competition, although Li wasn’t directly involved. I have to imagine the more serious tone and roles as his career went on, were likely a conscious decision by Li, or more appropriately Ho Tsung-tao, to separate himself from the whacky world of Bruceploitation and blaze his own trail as an actor/action star.

In The Three Avengers (aka The Lama Avenger) Li’s Hong and Chin Yuet-Sang’s Mo Cai are acrobats with a Chinese Opera Troupe, who find themselves out of a job and homeless after they tangle with some thugs… the fight scene in and around Mo Cai’s shanty is a standout for me. The duo manages to pick up the pieces of their lives, thanks to the kindness of Hong’s aunt. The duo ends up becoming a trio after John from America, smugly challenges Hong and when it is all said and done, he accepts the defeat Hong handed to him and asks to become his student. But trouble keeps finding these friends with businessman Li Tong trying to force Hong’s aunt off her land.

Things take an unexpected turn when Mo Cai ends up in prison after he and Hong are set up by Li Tong. While Mo Cai is serving hard time for six months, Hong ends up a movie star!?! To Mo Cai’s credit he doesn’t hold a grudge… unlike the evil businessman Li Tong, who sends in the dreaded Guo Lie to take care of Hong and his friends once and for all and it is going to take all three avengers to stop him!

Matt Spector: Bruce Li stars in The Iron Dragon Strikes Back in one his serious attempts to set himself apart as an actor and not just a clone of Bruce Lee. An engaging story with stolen Vietnamese gold and the gangsters trying to get it could have anyone in the lead. Luckily we do get Bruce Li playing Ah Wai, a proprietor of a martial arts school, so there is still lots of fighting involved. Ah Wai’s friends are not the most responsible which leads to the bad guys chasing Ah Wai and friends all over Hong Kong and it is about this point I am glad Bruce Li is doing what he does best. And speaking of the best, it is hard to top the fight scene at the quarry so expressively coined “Quarry Quarry Hallelujah” by Chris the Brain that steals the show… except for the poor guy trying to get on the bus.

Chris the Brain: Of all the embellished facts that are contained in Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth, the one that I hope is 100% true is that Bruce Lee had kung fu computers in his home to help with his training.

Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth, starring Bruce Li as the titular Bruce Lee, holds a special place in the hearts of many Bruceploitation enthusiasts, as is evident by it taking the top spot in this countdown. But even if you wouldn’t rank it that highly on your personal list, it’s tough to argue that it isn’t the best of the numerous Bruce Lee biopics that were produced in the years immediately following his untimely death.

There is a reverence and respect in the depiction of Bruce’s life and death in the film. The movie also lives up to The Myth portion of the title, as it does not shy away from some of the rumors and conspiracies that surrounded Lee’s death in 1973. If anything Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth probably helped fuel the speculation over the years.

Thank you to all that contributed to this post and stay tuned to Bulletproof Action tomorrow for a special Bruce Le Deep Cuts feature courtesy of Mike Leeder!