Movie Talk - Bruceploitation Part 5 - Are We There Yet?

Hmm... so this is either Praying Mantis style, "Flipping the Bird" style, or "I'm Trying Not To Step On These  Full Rat-traps" style. 

Well, it’s time to get back into the weird subgenre known as Bruceploitation. It’s been a thing for years during this month. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Wikipedia has a good description. If you don’t like clicking on links, here’s a quick summary. Brucesploitation was a phenomenon that occurred in the 1970’s after Bruce Lee’s sudden death. Filmmakers were trying to milk Lee’s death by putting out movies with look-alikes. Even Jackie Chan, who I’ll get to later, was a “clone.” Even if the movie had nothing to do with Bruce Lee, they’d title it with some related to the dude.

When you get to the movies themselves, they tend to vary in quality. You’d get some that are pretty entertaining movies in their own right. While they’re not awesome movies, they are at least decent. Then, you would also get some that are dull, some that  are dreadful, and some that have pretty ridiculous. If you read previous posts, you’ll know which ones I’m talking about. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything like The Dragon Lives Again, but there is one that is somewhat close. Anyway, here are five movies from that weird genre.

Dynamo

First up is 1978’s Dynamo starring Ho Chung Tao, aka “Bruce Li.” In this outing, “Bruce” plays as Lee Tien-yee, a cab driver who knows martial arts. One day, he gets spotted by a shady businesswoman who’s looking for new talent. Since Lee apparently resembles Bruce Lee, she gets him signed on to be a movie star. He even gets a trainer who’s entertaining in his own right. The rest of the movie revolves around Lee dealing with all of the pressure that goes with being famous. Things get really serious when a rival company starts to come after Lee.

I thought this was actually pretty decent. I’ve noticed that most of the movies starring Ho Chong Tao tend to have a decent story along with the fighting theatrics and this is no exception. In fact, you could almost call this a biography on the Bruce Lee knockoffs with this plot. Some random guy who looks like Bruce Lee gets made into a star. I actually liked how it centered on the businesswoman and her associate at the beginning. Cheung, the trainer, was also pretty entertaining. His “training methods” with Lee were hilarious and had some of the coolest fight scenes in the movie.

One of the cooler moments.

Of course, Tao was pretty cool here even in that yellow jumpsuit. He even sported a white jumpsuit and that looked pretty cool. Even though the movie is weirdly edited at times (apparently, some of it is from other films), you got a sense of what he was going through. He had fame thrust upon him and that included new women, traveling, and, of course, danger. All of the fight scenes here were pretty good. Shockingly, the dubbing and the music was good in this one. I even heard this somewhat cool tune.

It’s not a perfect one, though. As I said before, the movie is edited weird. It gets pretty jumpy and rushed in the second half. That was probably because they felt to need to overload the movie with constant fight scenes. While they were fun, I was actually enjoying the story to this one. Also, I did think the final fight was okay when compared to the rest of the fights. Overall, it is enjoyable but it does have some issues towards the end.

Bruce vs. Bill

Next up is Bruce vs. Bill and it was released in 1981. It stars Huang Jian Long, aka “Bruce Le” and Bill Louie, a lesser-known actor. In the movie, a European mobster (with the fakest mustache ever) is trying to get his hands on money from the Chinese government. An operative gets killed and hands Louie the keys to this vault. The mobster tries to get the keys from him and even sends a fighter named Bruce after Louie. When Bruce almost gets killed by the mobsters, he teams up with Louie and they try to take them down.

I thought this movie was okay for the most art. I actually remember seeing this at Movie Gallery back in the day but I never rented it. It’s a mob story mixed with a kung fu story. There really isn’t much to the plot but you do get a couple of twists here and there. I actually thought it was interesting that “Bruce” was a bit of a bad guy at first. It was nice and funny to see the two team up. Unfortunately, their running scenes needed some Benny Hill music to accompany it. As for Louie, he was alright.

The fight scenes were a mix of fine to okay. They did push what was little story we had along. As I said before, there really isn’t much to this story. Also, some of the dubbing could be a bit bad. Lastly, what was up with the mobster’s mustache? It was like someone got a permanent black marker and drew it on there! Overall, it’s just another “Bruce Le” movie with little story and much fighting.

Fakest mustache ever!

The Chinese Stuntman

Next up, we got another one from Ho Chung Tao. The Chinese Stuntman was released in 1981 and Tao even directed this one too. In this one, Tao plays as Chang Wei, a kung fu expert and insurance salesman. He unknowingly gets involved with a plot where these producers are trying to injure this kung fu actor so they can get the money. In order to protect him, Chang becomes his stuntman and does the dangerous stunts. Unfortunately, Chang and his friend, John, also get folk coming after them.

Dude wanted to take on everyone, didn't he?

I gotta say that this probably one of the best BP movies. It does remind me of Dynamo but it’s much better. It’s another one that has a bit of a true vibe to it. The story was actually quite nice this time around and even had a twist I didn’t see coming. It even had some well-placed comedy. Chang’s first fight with the movie star is actually pretty hilarious. John, a friend of Chang’s, was pretty funny. We even have some folk who were in true Bruce Lee movies: Dan Inosanto (Game of Death) and Paul Wei Ping Ao (the interpreter from Fist of Fury).

The fight scenes from the movie are pretty cool. They’re paced well and have a bit of variety. The fight between Chang and Dan Isosanto’s character was really cool. I didn’t know you could use a phone like that. That fight and the final fight are probably some of the best from this subgenre. The things that could bring the movie down is really the scam the producers got going. It got a little convoluted here and there. Other than that and a couple of nitpicks, this was pretty good.

Dragon Lee Fights Again aka Big Boss 2

Next up, we got Lung Gui, aka “Dragon Lee,” in this 1982 movie. Even though it might seem like a sequel to The Big Boss, just know that we actually have another Fist of Fury knockoff. Apparently, someone thought naming it “Big Boss 2” would be a good thing. In the movie, Dragon plays as Lee Han-sun, a man transporting a list of Chinese rebels to another city. He’s got the “EVIL” Japanese on his tail and that includes Yng Sze (Bolo Yeung) sporting a Hitler ‘stache. During his travels, he runs into some family friends and a Chinese rebel who lost a lot at the Japanese’s hands. Many people die and many fights ensue in this weird one.

"How dare you make fun of my mustache!"

So, this was an alright movie. It wasn’t bad, but I can’t call it good either. If you haven’t guessed yet, it takes bits and pieces from Fist of Fury but it’s not a total clone. The story is okay but a bit bland. There were some characters I liked and I was actually shocked they got straight-up killed. The rebel who we got to know (Lik Cheung) was pretty cool. Bolo, the coolest henchman ever, shows up here and is actually the main baddie. Too bad he had that horrible Hitler mustache. I couldn’t help but laugh at that thing.

The fight scenes are fine for the most part. They’re not too flashy. They’re just there. This movie also gets really jumpy at the end. A random fight scene and Dragon’s training scene from Clones of Bruce Lee get spliced in here. It was pretty hilarious to hear a weird version of the Rocky theme song. It also ends pretty hilariously. Still, it is a bit of a dud in some places. It is a little all over the place and the Japanese are once again evil for evil’s sake. You run into that a lot with these movies. Overall, it’s an okay one.

Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance

Finally, we got another one starring “Bruce Le.” It was released in 1980 and also stars some dude named Jack Lee. In the movie, “Bruce” plays as Peter, a martial arts instructor. His friend, Jack, comes to Manila to participate in a tournament. Jack also has a book that contains Bruce Lee’s secret teachings and hands it to Peter. Meanwhile, another fighter named Miguel is looking for the book and he’ll do anything to get it. When Jack, his school, and his girlfriend are put in danger, Peter must risk it all and fight in slow-motion or something.

I know you can’t tell by the synopsis, but I thought this movie was horrible. I saw the movie’s description on Wikipedia which said it was considered to be the worst of these movies, but I didn’t listen. No, I just had to watch this thing and I almost gave it up on this segment. I know I’m towards the end, but I hope it doesn’t get this bad! I should have called my “Ryellsploitation” double to watch this thing! I should have gotten Tom Turbo and CRRROOOOOWWW to help get me through this!!!

One of the more weird moments of the movie.

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Okay... I’m good. I just  had to get that off my chest. So, pretty much everything is wrong in this movie. The story is really lackluster. The villain is pretty laughable especially with how bad he’s dubbed. In fact, the dubbing and sound effects for this one are really bad. It also has unnecessary, long , drawn-out moments like Peter’s hilarious scene with the book and the rooster fight. We even get weird slow-motion for the final fight scenes. That last fight scene was probably the worst from these bunch of movies.

So, is there really anything good about this one? It does have some merit but the whole package is still bad. Some of the fight scenes are okay. The ones that involve Jack Lee have a little slapstick humor in them, but that doesn’t necessarily help them. The pretty recognizable music was nice though it doesn’t stop at all. I guess someone knew this would be bad, so they just let the music play through everything. Overall, this is a complete dud. It’s definitely something that’s MST3K-worthy since the whole thing is unintentionally funny.

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I hate to end this one on a bummer because most of these movies weren’t bad. Still, I’d say to check them all out. If you do check out Bruce’s Fists of Vengeance, MST3K it up or you’ll regret it. I’m wondering how many BP movies I got left. Wikipedia’s list isn’t an all-encompassing list, so I don’t even know. Hopefully, I can keep this going but I do feel a little burnt out. Next time, it’ll be the last post of the month. It's time to finally go in on a favorite. Until then, Peace and God Bless.