Bruce Lee revolutionized martial arts cinema by combining his philosophy of Jeet Kune Do with authentic fight choreography, creating a new standard for action films; his 1973 film 'Enter the Dragon' became the most influential martial arts movie in history, introducing Western audiences to kung fu cinema and establishing templates that continue to shape action films today, while his earlier film 'The Big Boss' (1971) demonstrated his raw talent but lacked the confidence and creative control he achieved in his later works.
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I Welcome You to Kung Fu Ep. 11 - Enter the Dragon & The Big Boss (Feat. MovieShark)追加:
I know kung fu.
Show me Hello and welcome to another episode of I Welcome You to Kung Fu, the show where I have a guest who is not just always surrounded by martial arts and kung fu cinema and have them pick any movie from the genre that sparks their interest. I then pick a movie that I think compliments their choice. We watch both movies, we talk about them, and I get to just introduce somebody to a genre that I love very, very much. My guest this month is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps who likes three things that are not named wife and child, expensive looking watches, movies, and sharks. He is also the co-host of the good of Goodwill podcasting uh and the final one from that podcast for me to talk to. So that's right, I am Thanos and I have collected the Goodwill podcasting infinity stones. The first choice I will make with this great power is to watch kung fu movies. Connor, I welcome you to Kung Fu.
>> Wu Tang Marshall expert. There's not many who can match up with him.
>> Dude, that was a phenomenal intro. I need to steal some some of your juice for Goodwill podcasting going forward. I wrote it in about five minutes.
>> That was fantastic.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Uh, so before we jump into anything, what do you have going on on all the socials and everything? The podcast, the Tik Toks about movies and sharks. What you got going on?
>> Yeah, I actually have two social media pages now for my personal self. Uh, Movie Shark, where I talk about a lot of things, mainly movies and watches, right?
>> Uh, throwing some sports from time to time. And then I have the Daily Shark now. uh where I'm just talking about sharks, which is the funniest page to me because it's all factual and people will still tell me I'm wrong or like that my opinion is dumb even though there's no opinions involved.
>> Yeah, just facts >> mostly.
>> Yeah. Um and then obviously Goodwill podcasting which I've started and now it is my co-host Dan and myself moving forward.
>> So I'm going to ask an opinion here.
What is the best shark?
That depends on what you're asking. Me personally, my >> my favorite shark is the tiger shark.
>> Right. Right.
>> You could argue the best shark is the hammerhead, >> right? Why what makes the hammer What makes that possibly the best?
>> They've adapted so well. Um, sharks have a six sense that they used to hunt the most. So, ampli Laureni uh allows them to detect electromagnetic frequencies with their wide head. They have the most um out of any shark like her or body size and they have 360 degree vision which is why their head's built that way when they're moving. So I think Hammerhead is maybe the best shark.
>> Understood. Understood. Uh another question here. How soon can we see you uh hosting your own show or segment on Shark Week?
>> I'm trying to wiggle my way in there now. Uh through another mutual of ours.
I got to do Shark Week interviews last year. Yes. uh which was super fun. Uh and I believe I'm doing it again this year. They're currently filming Shark Week, but one of the people I interviewed, I've stayed in pretty good contact with, uh King of Phillips, fantastic woman.
>> She was the first ever female Shark Week host in 2015.
Um I'm going to try and welcome my way in there somehow. She said I can go shark diving with her sometime if we just find the right time. So, >> I'd love to see it. Uh what is your experience or history with martial arts cinema?
very little. Um, one of my favorites, as we were talking before we got on, is what you consider not a kung fu or a martial arts movie, uh, with Kill Bill volume one and two.
Um, Kung Fu Panda, that's up there.
>> Yeah. No, it comes up all the time. Kung Fu Panda holds up. It's great.
>> Yeah. I've actually only seen the first one, so >> I've never seen the second. I've only seen one and three, and three is a banger.
>> Dan is a massive Kung Fu Panda fan.
Yeah, I've I've talked to him a little bit about it.
>> Uh, outside of that, really not a lot.
Um, funny enough, one of the movies we were talking about today, Enter the Dragon, it with my dad and stepmom, we always celebrated Christmas with them on December 26th and I remember in like middle school coming downstairs and my dad was watching some Bruce Lee movie and I had never seen anything like it before. He's like, "This is one of my favorite movies of all time." And it's my dad's big stick is like mafia movies.
Like he can recite you the godfather.
>> It's like maybe the only book I've ever seen him read, but it was Enter the Dragon. And so the only scene I've ever seen from a Bruce Lee movie up until these two this week was the entire ending in the mirror room, >> right? And every action movie since then that has copied the mirror room. Uh based on that little experience, uh what are some I guess preconceived notions regarding the genre that you may have?
I don't know if I have like a ton. Um, I'd say like one, and I was going to talk about this when we talk about uh one of these movies today.
>> I'm not a big fan of I think it's called the trampoline jump in these kind of movies. Um, >> I don't know. I I'm not a huge fan of it.
>> Yeah. Uh, so like that kind of fight style has always maybe like not drove me away but kept me away a little bit just cuz I'm not crazy about that in fights.
Other than that, not a whole lot. I know that Bruce Lee is like a pioneer if not like the pioneer for these type of movies.
>> Um, >> I mean, if it helps, Bruce Lee doesn't like Trampoline Jumps either.
>> Really? Okay.
>> He hates that [ __ ] Uh, what is like the typical imagery that comes to mind whenever you've heard me in the past say kung fu cinema or heard anybody say it?
>> It's literally just like Bruce Lee.
>> Bruce Lee.
>> Um, yeah. And like Enter the Dragons one that's been on my watch list for the longest time because I know the like history and I know how many movies I've stolen from it. Uh, that's always been high up there which is why I picked it.
Um, I did almost pick Kung Fu Panda 2 this week though, just to tell you that since I could knock it off the list, but Um, >> would you consider any part of the Rush Hour movies martial arts movies?
>> I mean, yeah, absolutely. Um, I'm not going to say that they're up there as Jackiechan's greatest and best. Uh, they're they don't it Rush Hour doesn't probably reach my top 25 Jackiechan films, at least definitely in terms of of martial arts and action quality. Uh, but I think Jackie Chan would probably agree with me on that. Uh, but yeah, I mean, you know, the fights in them are usually fun. Like the last time I watched the first one, I put the first one on as just background noise. I was writing or I was editing. I was doing something and I was like, I just need background noise. So, I put on the first Rush Hour. And what ended up happening for the next two hours is I just ended up watching Rush Hour because it's entertaining. It's very entertaining. I couldn't look away.
>> It's my third favorite comedy of all time.
Uh what what do you typically look for in your action?
Like what excites you with with action movies? What gets you going?
>> It depends on the style.
>> Yeah.
>> Like cuz I really like war movies.
>> Mhm.
>> So that I'm looking for a much more serious tone, but I'm coming to find out like in movies with like I guess what I'll call standard or like more traditional martial arts. Yeah.
>> I kind of like comedy movies as well.
like it. Like I said, I like the Rush Hour. Um I mean, I'm trying to think. I feel like there's one more I'm missing that I didn't tell you that I've seen. Um I can't think of the name of it, but I like that. Um one thing I do love about both of these are obviously a little older. Um than me in both of us, I believe, >> is that a [ __ ] I >> I didn't check the year that Enter the Dragon came out.
>> 1973.
Oh, Jesus. All right, my bad.
>> Your boy was born in 96. I >> was say that's almost older than my parents. All right.
So, um, one thing I really like about them and like older school action movies, too, is just like the ex exaggerated punching sounds that they throw in. I love that.
I So, I'll tell you what, one thing one thing with martial arts and kung fu nerds. It It's not so much with like lot of the old school stuff because a lot of the old school stuff has like the exact same sound effects because it's just like it's it's all it's canned. They they have it on file. But there are a handful of movies that depending on the punch sound effect, I know exactly what you're watching.
>> Really?
>> Yeah. I know when you're watching I know when you're watching The Matrix. I know when you're watching The Raid or Ifman like if I if I hear a certain punch sound effect, I'm like I know what you're watching. I got you.
>> Does The Matrix fall into a martial arts movie?
>> 130 billion.
>> I would imagine it would.
>> Abs freakingutely. Which is, you know, it you'd think because both The Matrix and Kill Bill have the same fight choreographer and Yuen Wuing that I would make the argument for Kill Bill to Yes. be a martial arts movie. But I but Marsh but The Matrix definitely 100%.
>> Okay. What about John Wick?
>> John Wick the first two films are action movies with martial arts in them but John Wick three and four are martial arts films.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> So I guess I've seen uh franchised martial arts films.
>> Yeah. And you know what they and and they're great. They're some of my favorites. I love The Matrix. I love John Wick very very much. Uh before we jump into our movies here, do you have any questions or anything?
>> I don't think so. I think all my questions are going to come as we go.
>> Cool. Well, let's go ahead and jump into our first movie and your choice, the 1973 film, Enter the Dragon.
>> Abbert, I want you to shave my head. If you refuse to help, I swear I'll burn this temple down.
Roer, Williams, and Lee, the deadly three penetrate the secret chambers of an evil island empire.
>> What do you know about Han?
>> He lives like a king on that island.
Totally self-sufficient.
>> A fortress without walls, protected by an invincible army that needs no ordinary weapons.
Enter the Dragon directed by Robert Klouse starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Kenshi, Bob Wall, Bolo Young, Angela Mau, and way, way more. Uh, the studios of course coming from both Warner Brothers and Golden Harvest collectively. Uh, Bruce Lee plays a fighter from the Shaolin Temple, recruited by British intelligence to infiltrate a secret martial arts tournament run by the criminal mastermind, Mr. Han. He is joined by the gambler Roper and Williams, a fighter on the run after defending himself against the police. Uh, the three of them must survive the tournament and bring down Mr. Han's criminal organization. Connie, you have sort of already said so. Why?
But why did you choose Enter the Dragon?
>> High on my watch list. Um, also, I mean, I knew I wanted to check off some Bruce Lee movies in the near future, so this just felt like the right place to start.
I probably could have asked you where to start, but you told me to choose a movie and you would compliment mine. So, uh, I mean, the Bruceley movie I've heard the most about >> in the grand scheme of it all, so I was like, I should probably get that one.
>> Yeah, it's the one with the legacy.
Well, yeah. What were your thoughts on your choice here?
>> Um, I didn't know what to expect like at all going in. Uh, it did cover one thing that like I even thought about before entering this world of martial arts with you. Uh when Bruce Lee asks I forget who it is, it's one of the intelligence officers and he says why don't we just or why what if they have like a 45 or why don't we bring a 45? And I'm like that that's a great question.
>> Yeah.
>> Um obviously explain Mr. Han just runs this like fighting tournament.
>> Yeah.
>> No real >> no guns are allowed >> firepower. Yeah.
>> So that's like a nice little loophole for the movie.
>> Yeah. Absolutely. Some of the best martial arts movies that take place in like a modern setting like will find a good way of getting rid of guns. Like the one of the my favorite things I remember when the first when the first Raid film first came out. I remember one of my favorite things about it was there. It doesn't immediately go martial arts. It's they're going to use their guns until they can't use their guns anymore. Either they lose them or they run out of ammo. After that, knives and nightstick. And once they lose the knives and nightstick, then it's all hands. So like everything it had an excuse for like why can't we have a gun here? Well, we lost the guns. So that's a lot of a lot of good modern martial arts films do that.
>> I just both of the movies we're talking about today like well respected among martial arts fans.
>> Uh yeah, I would say so. Um Enter the Dragon is possibly like the most respected martial arts film in history. Um and that's that's the legacy. It is Bruce Lee's final film he had before he made before he passed away. He passed away about a month before the movie came out.
He pulled the Heath Ledger with it.
>> Dude, like here's the thing about me.
I'm awful with history and like when people lived and everything. I That's why I was like I didn't know when Enter the Dragon came out. I thought Bruce Lee like died in the late 90s, early 2000s.
>> 1973, a month before the movie came out.
>> Damn. All right.
>> Yeah. Uh but yeah and and it's it's the movie that it's not the first movie that blew up in the west but it is like the movie that blew up in the west. The first one was uh was was five fingers of death. Um but this is the one that really like solidified that it is going to be a popular genre throughout the early 70s a little bit into the 80s. Uh and of course it was Bruce Lee. Like even if it wasn't the first like Hong Kong kung fu movie to blow up in the West, it was it's Bruce Lee's like like charisma was just undeniable.
Like people were like depressed that like this was their introduction to Bruce Lee and then they find they're like, "Oh, who is this guy? He's so great. Oh, he's dead. That sucks." Like people were getting like upset so upset about it.
>> Yeah, I'm sure. Um, it's it's kind of crazy to me that has a 3.8 average star rating on that.
>> Yeah. And and look, I will say it's it's not my favorite Bruce Lee film. I'd say it ranks as like my third favorite Bruce Lee film. I I And and I >> feel like that's still pretty high.
>> Yeah. I mean, well, there's only five or Well, four. Five. Four and a half.
There's four and a half. But like it's it's very American and I say that as like the action style, the way it was filmed and everything, the way Robert Klouse directed it. There is a vast difference between how he directed this movie and how Bruce Lee even directed himself just a year before in Way of the Dragon. And I don't think Robert Klaus was completely up to it. I I'm not a big fan of the fight scenes in this. I think some of them are okay, but it's mostly just the directing, the camera placement. I'm not a big fan of. Uh, what do you know about Bruce Lee?
>> Not a lot.
>> No.
>> Um, no. And funny enough, when we when I started watching this, my like first thought when I heard Bruce Lee speak was I was like, man, the guy in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood did an excellent job in matching his voice.
There's a great interview um about two years before this that like if you go to like if you go to that interview and you go to Mike Moe's performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, it's like oh yeah, he just he clearly just watched that interview a thousand times and was like do that voice.
>> Yeah. I mean it was great.
>> Do what?
>> Uh are you getting an echo at all?
>> No, not really. Okay.
>> Okay. They died. Um, so I'd say outside of that, my kind of knowledge with Bruce Lee is the fact that like what I did for the research on my recent video about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
>> Um, and that some people kind of thought he was an [ __ ] or depicted him in that type of way.
>> Right.
>> Other than that, I don't know a lot. So my I I've the one reason I've never seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is I was just exhausted already. Like I was hearing the complaints of of the portrayal of Bruce Lee. I was I saw like an interview that that Tarantino did with Joe Rogan talking about Bruce Lee and I just got exhausted from it already and I was like I have no energy to watch this movie. And really what it came down to is none of it matters.
I Every point I heard Tarantino make was just so much him talking out of his ass because like I've done like the research. I've read the books. I've seen like 20 documentaries.
You can piece together which ones are like just someone bullshitting and which ones like you can corroborate the stories and make it all make sense. The only way I would say Bruce Lee was an [ __ ] is Bruce Lee needed to be the most confident man in the room. Had to sell himself. Had to make himself look good, presentable. He wanted to be a star. He not only wanted to be a star, he wanted to be a star in 1960s white America.
And to be a star in 1960s white America, white Hollywood, he needed to be an [ __ ] He needed to get in front of people, be an [ __ ] and get attention.
I don't know how you're going to do that in racist 1960s Hollywood.
>> Yeah. I mean, you make a phenomenal point.
>> Yeah. Um that and also like there was one thing of like Tarantino saying like if if if Bruce Lee were to fight um what whatever the the the Brad Pit character's name is. He was like >> right he was like Bruce Lee is losing to Cliff in this street fight but if this was like a competition with rules Bruce Lee would win. And the moment I immediately was like you're just talking out of your ass is just because I'm like Bruce Lee was never a competitive fighter. Bruce Lee did not fight when competitions. Bruce Lee actually in fact was a street fighter. He >> really >> had to leave Hong Kong because he is the original Fresh Prince. He got in one little fight and his mom got scared. In fact, no, he didn't get in one little fight. He got in like 50 million fights and he like had to leave Hong Kong. But no, Bruce Lee like 100% was a street fighter. Like Tarantino's whole thing of like, well, if it was a competition maybe Bruce Lee would win. You you he just had no idea what the [ __ ] he was talking about.
So, what's Bruce Lee's background with martial arts?
>> Uh, a little bit of Tai Chi, very small amount of northern kung fu, which he really only did that so he could learn a few flashy moves to get attention, and then Wingchun. And then from Wingchun, he then starts learning and studying styles from around the world to combine into his own martial art that is Jet Kundo.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. So like one of the OGs in in mixed martial arts like >> J Kundo means way of the intercepting fist. Honestly G Kundo is mostly in from what I can tell it's not necessarily a style. It's kind of more a philosophy and that philosophy is be yourself to make it your own.
>> You know >> also while we're on this topic of Bruce Lee and his martial arts, how legit is like the one inch punch that he would do? I mean, yeah, he was like he was knocking dudes back with it. He was he he could knock a dude back like a good eight feet with it.
>> So that's like all legit.
>> Oh yeah. Like he un he so understood how to use his body. He knew how to shift his weight and everything into one small position. There's a there's a video uh of him on this Hong Kong talk show and he's on this Hong Kong talk show with like these two other kung fu guys and he wasn't like a big star in Hong Kong yet, you know, relatively famous but nothing crazy. And he sees these guys like doing their forms and breaking boards and just like how in N of the Dragon he says boards don't hit back. He kind of just is like he because Bruce came from like it's weird to say he came from the streets. He loved taking his skills onto the street and fighting. And that's what got him in trouble as a teenager. But he he didn't care about forms. He didn't care about styles. He cared about what worked. And he studied, he practiced to make sure what what could actually work for him. So he's on this talk show with these kung fu guys breaking boards and breaking ice. And someone asked him like, "What do you think of that?" And he goes, "Means can break boards and they could break ice."
And they're like, "Well, what can you do?" He's like, "I don't I don't do demonstrations like that." And so he starts getting booed by the audience. So he's like, "All right, let's try this."
And he tapes together three boards and he wraps they wrap them in tape. And he's at this point [ __ ] And he's like, "I don't even know if this is going to work. I've never done this before." He then proceeds to put all of his weight, all of his focus into one kick and shatters the three boards. They go flying, they shatter, and he's just seriously just like, I don't even know I can do that.
So, like if that's what he could do with a kick, having no idea he could do it, putting all his weight and focus into like one point with a punch real fast, like yeah, he he could do that [ __ ] 100%.
>> Uh, what are there any moments or anything that stood out to you in Enter the Dragon here?
>> Um, well, actually, that is one thing I want to bring up too to you because we just brought up 1960s racist America, white America.
>> Yeah.
Uh, did you feel at all like in the close to the final scene? Um, I'm blanking on the big guy's name.
>> Yeah. When it was Bolo and Roer and Lee all out there cuz Lee and Roer wouldn't fight.
>> Is it Do you think that was like kind of a bit of Hollywood stepping it? Is this a Hollywood movie or is this a foreign film? This is primarily a Hollywood film. Yeah.
>> Okay. Do you think that was at all a bit of like a white savior complex from Roer >> or just him?
>> No, I think >> accepting Hans's punishment, I guess.
>> I think that Roer did need a you know, if he's going to be one of your like main characters who gets to survive to the end, he's going to need a good final fight. So, they gave him a decent little final fight there at the end.
>> Okay. That was like one of the things I was thinking about as we got to that part of the movie.
>> No. and I like him. Um, it's he he's he's a good enough actor and his actions fairly solid. I don't mind his fight scenes. Um, it's it's it's no it's no worse or no better than most the other fight scenes in this movie.
>> Yeah.
>> Um, yeah. I wish we would have got more from God, I am awful with names.
Jackie Chan is in this.
>> Yes. So is every major Hong Kong action star of the 80s.
>> That's crazy. as a stunt man. Yes.
>> Um I wanted to get a little bit more of Williams.
>> Yeah.
>> But his storyline made, you know, a lot of sense.
>> Yeah. No. And he's he's a big black exploitation actor, action star as well.
>> Oh, really?
>> Yeah. He's got some like he's got his own like he's he's a leading man in his own right. He's got a handful of films.
>> Okay. Um, no. I mean, I think like one of my favorite things watching this was just like not only Bruce Lee, you know, just out, for lack of a better term, outgunning people in these fights, outfisting them in these fights, whatever.
>> I just also outsmarting them. Like when he just hides under the glass and is like just watching them all jump out.
>> That kind of things in movies entertain me heavily >> if it works for the character they're doing it for.
>> And it is uh you say sort of outgunning everybody in all the fights. there is just such a not I mean it's it's yes there's a vast difference in like skill but again he just knew how to present himself in the action in the fight scenes and that's what he spent so much of his career figuring out is how can I make myself look as good as I can throwing a kick or throwing a punch like he's the electricity of his movement like like I'm sure you've heard a handful of things of like oh he's you know this charismatic guy like did it like whenever he was on screen like Did it ever like stand out? You're like, "Oh, that's that's got that's freaking Bruce Lee right there."
>> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Uh biggest moment probably when him and Han first go inside >> uh after the courtyard fight.
>> Yeah.
>> And he's just kind of standing there.
And then especially in the mirror room >> after they finished their fight, uh he just kind of walks out. Both those were like very, you know, he had a massive on-screen presence.
>> Yeah. Ever. And I remember the first time I watched a Bruce Lee movie, like I could feel I don't remember how old I was, like 11 or 10, but like I just remember like saw Bruce Lee on screen and I was like, "Wow, I noticed that. I noticed Bruce Lee just stepped on screen." Like it was it was crazy.
>> Um >> Yeah. It made me think about like other movies where I'm like who has that much like an on-screen presence.
>> Yeah.
>> And like there's certain scenes that came to me in like The Matrix with Neo, but I'm like that's like where he's this like super powered being that's like flying down. He's meant to have that kind of aura. Like it's not just a man standing in a room, >> right? Yeah. He could just stand in a room and it's like, "Yeah, that's freaking Bruce Lee standing in the room."
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Uh Bruce Lee in this movie got to dispense a lot of his uh philosophy, a lot of his Bruce Leeisms. Uh did did any of them stand out to you at all?
>> Probably not.
>> Um >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Because I want I don't really want to know what you're talking about or like what to look for.
>> Yeah.
>> Because this is my first Bruce Lee movie.
So >> this is like the only one that he really got to dispense his own like some of his his his wisdom in it. Like because he's So Bruce Lee was a philosophy major. He loved philosophy. This man had like a library of like hundreds of philosophy books. And so like like I said when I say Jeep Kundo was more of a philosophy than it was a style. Like truly like the the Dow of Gundo that book like there is just so much philosophy in that. And uh it's like the one that I always loved that I see it in different things that I'll be like I I can watch something that will have some sort of message in it and I'll be like, "Oh, that was Bruce Lee. I hear that." And uh and honestly, at the end of the day, it's probably just talism. But um just with the student at the beginning when he tells the kid uh emotional content because he tells the kid, "Throw a kick." The kid throws a kick. He's like, "No, no, you're just throwing a kick. We need him." And he so he said, "Give him more more feeling." And he throws a kick and he's like he throws it kind of angry and he's like, "I didn't say anger. I said feeling emotional content. Put emotional content into the kick." And in saying that, he's just saying, "Let's just mean like just put like do everything like you care. Don't just throw a kick to throw a kick. Throw a kick because you mean to throw a kick."
And that's not just, you know, when I say the his like philosophies, it's not just martial arts. Like I've I've taken some things he says like that and be like, how can I make sure I I do that going to work or anything in my life of like make sure that I do this with emotional content.
[ __ ] like that.
>> That's a good way to look at it.
>> Makes you feel good.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh let me see. Let me see. I noticed one thing. Do you like The Karate Kid? You ever seen The Kid? I've seen the OG.
>> I was gonna say I've seen the OG and then I've seen the one with Jaden Smith, but I haven't seen any of the sequels to the OG and I haven't watched any of Cobra Kai.
>> Oh, Cobra Kai is so good. Uh I noticed a guy that I hadn't noticed before and that is uh in Roper's flashback because all of our heroes get flashbacks. Uh one of the thugs that tries to shake him down is the referee from uh The Karate Kid who who also was like the who was also like the fight coordinator on that movie as well. Interesting.
>> Yeah, >> I haven't watched The Karate Kid in probably like the original probably since high school and I actually watched the Jaden Smith one I think last year again like rewatched. Um I still like that movie. I feel like a lot of people hate on it.
>> I love it until the final tournament. I think it's it's it's a solid even great movie and I just don't think the Final Tournament is filmed very well. But everything else leading up to that again I I think all of it's a good movie. Um, I rewatched all of them last year so that I could do a uh a ranking video where I get to rank every single movie in the series. And let me tell you, those those 80s sequels, they are some stinkers.
>> So, I'm not missing much.
>> No, no, you are not. Uh, let me see. Let me see. Let me see here. Uh, yeah. So, let me hit you with a uh a kung fu fun fact here.
Good for a kung fu fun fact. always >> kung fu fun fact. All right, so uh that entire opening scene that I was talking about with uh with him philosophizing with the with the with the student there, his whole fight scene at the at the temple like that opens the movie against Samo Hung and like the M MMA gloves and everything. Uh the only reason that is in this movie is because Bruce Lee started to get insecure.
Bruce Lee saw what they were doing with the roper character and Bruce Lee thought he was going to be playing second fiddle.
So like before Bruce Lee was a movie star in the 60s he did the green hornet the TV show >> and he played Ko which Ko is Ko is the sidekick >> and so he was like they're making me Ko again. So he added that opening scene to show people to make sure people recognized and were like, "Oh, this is our protagonist. This is our hero." So the only reason that whole scene is in the movie is because he was getting a little bit insecure.
>> Interesting.
>> Yeah. Even >> the only Green Hornet I've seen is the one with Seth Rogan.
>> Yeah. You know, it's like I like Jay Chow. Jay Chow is serviceable as KO. I've seen a handful of J Chow movies, but you can't do Bruce Lee. And I'm I'm excited for them to try it again because I've got a handful of people that I'm like, if you cast any of these like five guys as KO, you'll have a solid movie.
>> Yeah. I mean, like that's an impossible task to ask someone fill in Bruce Lee's shoes.
>> Well, you don't That's where you don't you don't make him Bruce Lee. You just least least got to make him a good fighter and some or something.
>> Yeah.
>> But also, it's the direction. like you know you can make >> that movie's got a lot of problems and it's not just that you can't recast Bruce Lee.
>> It's fair.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> So that was a kung fu fun fact. What you got?
>> They got Kristoff Waltz though. I like him.
>> They did have Kristoff Waltz. Uh let me see what else I got in my notes here. Uh so what did you think of the little bit we got to see of like Roper fights or even like uh Jim Kelly Bob Wall? Bob Wall as uh Ohara.
>> Uh I liked Will or I like Roper's fights. Um I did it felt weird. Um again I'm getting reference back to that like fight in the courtyard.
>> Yeah.
>> Um just I mean that's his biggest fight in the movie >> obviously. Uh it felt strange how easily the other guy just like walked through everyone >> prior like all the guards >> and then Roer was giving him his like toughest battle.
>> Um I guess we don't know too much about Roer. We do and we don't. But it just felt like Roer was kind of walking through there in the beginning a little too easily for me.
>> Well, I mean, let's be honest. Han uh needs to up his hiring process with those guards because the whole movie he spends complaining about those freaking guards. Like when Bruce Lee gets into the like the the base and he takes out a bunch of them and he's like, "Oh, it seems my guards aren't up to like don't deserve to be here and all this stuff."
And then it's like, "Yeah, your guards are clearly getting beaten by everybody.
They get beat by Bolo. They get beat by Roper. They get beat by Bruce. Like they're just they're not like all those like prisoners that you had down there get out and they take out all your all your guards. You got some [ __ ] guards, homie.
That's a fair point.
>> But they all are played by pretty much like all when I say like when you said Jackie Chan is in this and I'm like yeah like almost every like 80s Hong Kong action star is in this movie. I like I must not have been paying attention or it's been a while since I've watched this. But as I was watching this like two days ago, I was like, "Okay, yeah, I know Som's at the beginning and I know Jackie Chan's right there. There's there's Jackie Chan." And then like at one point like they start throw up throw an apple in the air and his his girls throw darts at him. One of the guys who catches an apple is like one of the greatest uh Hong Kong action villains. I saw a guy named Lamb Chingyang, Yuen Bao, Cory Yuen, like every major 80s Hong Kong action star is a stunt man in this movie.
>> Can you like visibly like or I'm sorry, is it like blatantly obvious if you rewatch this if you see Jackie Chan?
I won't say it's blatantly obvious.
There are a lot of pictures where people will like circle a background guy and they'll be like Jackie Chan in this movie and I'm like no it's just a guy who kind of looks like Jackie Chan. The only time you really like see his face he's so contorted you can't really tell it's him and there it's when he's the big fight in in the base when he's got the nunchucks and and the the screa sticks and everything.
a guy like runs up on him and he like ducks him and he's like holding his arm back and he's like holding his hair back. That's Jackie Chan right there.
But then like you see him like sort of like making a face like >> and then it zooms in on Bruce Lee's face. You can't really see him anymore.
And then he snatches.
>> Yeah. But Jackie Chan has a fun story where uh because you know he he I'm sure he plays multiple henchmen as they always do and uh Bruce hit uh Jackie in the head with the nunchuk uh too hard and like Bruce Lee could tell and he stopped and he was like oh my god are you okay? I'm so sorry. And Jackie loves Bruce Lee. And so Jackie was like Jackie told the story pretty much saying like, "Yeah, it hurt, but it didn't hurt like that bad." But now Bruce Lee is like hugging on me and apologizing. So I just kept acting like it really really hurt.
He was like, "Oh yeah, no, it's okay. It hurt. It's fine." He's like, "It hurt.
It wasn't that bad, though."
>> That's funny. Yeah.
>> Jackie Chan seems like such a wholesome guy.
Yeah. Yes.
>> Yeah. Sometimes >> in some elements of his life. In some elements of his life, he is >> there's there's a handful of things about him that it's like you are are >> kind of a sleazy jerk. But then other elements of his life is he's pretty nice. Then I mean like I I guess the nicest thing about him is that he loves his fans, >> but there's a lot of other stuff in his life that I'm like, you should have tried a lot harder there.
>> Oh.
>> Like his history with women, >> his treatment of his kids, >> uh a bit of a traitor to his people.
It's some stuff there. He's like the son of Hong Kong, but now he's like a puppet of the Chinese government, and Hong Kong hates him.
>> Really?
>> Yeah. The >> interesting I'm going to have to do some research when we get off here. there was like Hong Kong protests um with like because Hong Kong is under China but they're not under China and they have a lot more freedoms than people in mainland China do but also not really and so there was a bunch of protests and there's always protest but there was like massive protests and Jackie Chan was telling people like hey guys everyone just go home calm down it's okay and everyone in Hong Kong was like [ __ ] you Jackie yeah >> thank all right Yeah. Uh, do you have any more uh any any final questions or or thoughts on Enter the Dragon here?
>> I don't think so. Uh, I was really happy to knock this off my list. I think I'm probably sitting at like a four star on it. Um, >> okay. Okay.
>> I'm still thinking I've been really bad at just like letter box in general and rating movies in general. Like I still haven't rated um Mortal Kombat 2, what we talked about on Goodwill podcasting last weekend. Uh, >> that's one thing I was I was going to ask you bring up Mortal Kombat 2. the plot feel vaguely similar to uh to something like a Mortal Kombat.
>> It did.
>> It definitely did.
>> Yeah. The uh this is like this is the template. This is what every fighting game that's about a tournament, what you know, a a blood sport, a kickboxer, any any martial arts movie that's about a tournament, any action movie that anything that's a fighting tournament pretty much comes from Ender the Dragon.
>> Interesting.
>> Yeah. Like I saw a Tik Tok of a guy a couple years ago who was like, "Did you ever think it's weird that Mortal Kombat is like Ender the Dragon?" And I'm like, "No, dude. It's one comes first and then everything else that comes after that is like what if we did Enter the Dragon?"
Like, calm down, guy. You're not like you're not uncovering a secret here.
>> Now, is there some like deep lore pool of Enter the Dragon actually was an idea from something else?
>> Not that I'm aware of. Um, I know the original title was called Blood and Steel and Bruce Lee had to argue and fight to get it called Enter the Dragon, but the the big reason that he wanted it to be called Ender the Dragon was because it would be his introduction to America to Hollywood audiences and he's like that, you know, if people enter the dragon, I'm the dragon. But then also he Bruce Lee always Bruce Lee knew how to market.
And so Bruce just desiring wanting so badly to be a movie star was planning for sequels in his head. So he was like, "Well, >> enter the dragon. I'm the dragon. This is my introduction to people, but also if we have a sequel, then you call the sequel return of the dragon." So like he just he always had a thought in his head of like what's the next thing?
>> Interesting.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh does he have something I know in modern Hollywood like guys like Staithm, Vin Diesel, The Rock, they have like in their contract that like they can't take more damage than they deal.
>> I've never heard anything like that with him. Um, a lot of the times his thing was after he after he made a big enough name for himself, his thing was just I'm in charge of the fights.
He didn't want anybody else in charge of how he performed. He didn't want anybody else in charge of his choreography.
He was in charge of the fights and that's all that mattered.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. Because Bruce knew how to Bruce and Bruce didn't want anybody else to bruise for him.
>> Yeah.
>> What do you like better, this or Fist of Fury? because that's another one that's high on my Bruce Lee list or martial arts movie, any type of movie list.
>> So, this one, Enter the Dragon, is my third favorite Bruce Lee movie of the of the four and a half. And I say four and a half because Game of Death is an unfinished product. He he shot about 30 minutes of footage in 19 early 1973 or or late 1972 and then the movie he dies in 1973, so he never went back and finished it. He he he shot 30 minutes of footage for Game of Death and then was offered Ender of the Dragon and was like, "We're putting Game of Death on hold so I can go make a Hollywood movie." He goes and makes End of the Dragon, he dies. Never finishes Game of Death.
They then in in Golden Harvest in Hong Kong then for some reason, not for some reason, money is the reason, decides to finish Game of Death in a sloppy, shoddy, disgusting way.
It's terrible.
And that movie then comes out all the way in 1978, 5 years after his death.
>> I'm saying that.
>> So that's why I say four and a half four and a half movies. Uh but of the four and a half movies, End of the Dragon for me is number three.
Yeah.
And then Fist of Fury is number two.
Yeah. Fist of Fury is number two. And I almost gave you Fist of Fury. Like when when I had a lot of movies cross my mind. And then I was like, well, if he's going to watch a an American Bruce Lee movie, I I should probably give him a Hong Kong Bruce Lee movie. And I thought Fist of Fury, but I figured somewhere down the line someone's probably going to ask for Fist of Fury. So, I'll put that one on hold. Uh, but so I went with the first one.
>> Big boss is your number one.
>> No.
>> Oh, okay.
>> That one's probably number number four.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. Uh, but if uh if I mean Yeah. So, my thing with End of the Dragon, I think I said a little bit of it before we move on.
It's a fine movie. I gave it three three stars on letter boxed. It's okay. I understand that it is the legacy film.
It is the one that has the legacy, the reputation. It is the one that introduced many people to Bruce Lee and to Kung Fu, not just in movies, but as a physical exercise and that Bruce Lee means a lot to a lot of people and this was their introduction. So that is why Ender of the Dragon is so highly acclaimed as such an amazing one of the greatest kung fu movies ever made.
But I look at it and I see, yes, Bruce Lee is great. Roer's a fun character.
Williams is good. Bolo, Bob Wall, all these fun things are here. But the director, Robert Klouse, did a really poor job in my opinion. Like there, the fact that we get a Bruce Lee fight scene and the only thing we see of him is from like waist up.
>> Zoom out, homie. Zoom out. He's clearly kicking somebody off screen. Zoom out and show me him kicking somebody off screen, dude.
It's just a lot of stuff like that. Like there's a lot of moments like that.
>> Okay. I might pick up on that my second watch through >> and you know it's it's good. I've seen it a good solid like five times or so.
But let's go ahead and move on to our second movie and the one that I have chosen to pair with yours, the 1971 film, The Big Boss.
My tiger kung fu is better than yours.
The Big Boss directed by Low Wei and starring Bruce Lee, Maria Yei, James Tien, and Ying Chi Han. Uh, a Chinese man sworn an oath on sworn an oath of nonviolence moves to Thailand to work with his cousins in an ice factory. But when his cousins start going missing, he must break his oath to uncover the truth and avenge his family.
So, I chose this. I I struggled with this when I so I said earlier that the first movie that really broke out in America from Hong Kong action kung fu stuff was uh Five Fingers of Death. So I considered Five Fingers of Death and I decided against Five Fingers of Death. Uh there is a character Bruce Lee's sister in Enter the Dragon is played by Angela Mao. So I considered picking an Angela Mao film because she is a massive kung fu star in the 70s.
Uh, but I c the one I wanted I couldn't find streaming anywhere. So, I again had to go against that. I even considered a Brandon Lee film. I considered Bruce's son. I considered uh Rapid Fire. Uh, but again decided against that. Figured I'd pick, you know, you picked the Hollywood Bruce Lee movie. I should show you a a Hong Kong Bruce Lee movie. And why not go from his last completed film to his first completed film with The Big Boss.
Uh, so Connor, what did you think of The Big Boss?
I'm still trying to decide that. Um, I actually did far more research on this movie than I did Enter the Dragon following my watch.
>> Um, and I think I want to see the Criterion cut of this one.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh, because I found out how much is like taken out of this movie.
>> Where did you watch it?
>> I rented it on Apple.
>> Okay. So, I I I never really intend for people to have to spend money or anything. When I Googled it, it said it was on Tuby and then So, but the problem is I then decided to click on that and this was like yesterday. I clicked on that just to see what would happen and it took me to a movie that was definitely not The Big Boss.
>> So, for a moment I did get confused.
>> It was just something. It was It was I don't know what it was, but it was just something else.
>> Well, because I almost watched a movie that was called The Big Boss, but it was BI GG.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> I have no idea what that is. It It's giving me like a like a hip-hop themed action movie or something >> maybe.
>> But yeah, so then I got concerned. I was like, "Oh god, I hope Connor's watching the right movie."
>> I got scared.
>> Yeah, I just watched this one today, too.
>> Yeah.
>> Um but yeah, I I'm still trying to decide. It's I definitely don't like it as much as Enter the Dragon.
>> Okay.
>> Um I think I answer me this. This one was not made for Hollywood. So, it's defin So, it's a foreign language film.
>> This is a This is a fully Hong Kong film.
>> I think the thing that hurt me the most in this movie is I watched the English dub version.
>> Okay.
>> So, I didn't watch it. So, like that's taking me out a lot that nothing is lining up with the movement of their mouth.
So, I'll tell you something is something with the a major difference between people who are new to kung fu cinema and like hardcore kung fu cinema veterans, fans, nerds is most of us really don't mind that whatsoever. And it's probably just because we've seen hundreds of movies where at the time when we first watched it, that was the only way for us to watch it. Like I've before I ever watched even old boy in Korean, I watched Old Boy dubbed.
>> I watched Yeah. I I watched like Angb Bach dubbed. I watched 36 Chamber. Every single Bruce Lee film, Drunken Master 2, Drunken Master 1.
Every single one of those movies, the first time I watched them, they were dubbed. So like it's it's something that we're just so used to that I don't care whatsoever.
>> Interesting. See, the first like foreign language film I ever saw and I watched it English dubbed was Life is Beautiful, >> which I think is the greatest movie I've ever made. Um, >> yeah, >> I think that's the pinnacle of movies.
And I have not been able to find an English dubbed version since.
>> So, and my eighth grade English teacher showed us that in school, which is a crazy movie to show middle schoolers.
>> I was thinking, so you said Life is Beautiful.
>> Yeah. My I got confused for a second because I was like, "Isn't that movie in English?" Because I was thinking of a beautiful mind.
>> My wife showed me that >> Russell Crow speaks English. What are you talking about?
>> Yeah, the Big Boss.
>> What's up?
>> So, the Yeah, the dub the dub threw you off a bit.
>> Yeah, that definitely threw me off a bit. Um, but I mean like what I could kind of gather or critique from watching it with the dub, I think Xiaomé is like the best performance in the movie.
>> Which one? I'm totally blanking on which which character was that one?
>> She's Maria Reed.
>> Okay, gotcha. The the his cousin love interest. Yeah, that's >> I was every time I watch this I'm like well because like the only real moment they have is like the first time they meet she's kind of like googly eyed at him but then like she runs away from a guy creeping her out into his arms and then they kind of look at each other and they back up real quick and then like it really only hit me this time that I was like I think you two are cousins.
>> Yeah, it's a very strange concept there.
>> Yeah. Uh, and then one of the things that I learned when I was researching about this is one of the original cut because apparently there was two directors involved, but they needed to make so many cuts because of some violence and then because of some other scenes.
>> Um, and it that was like too sexual or whatever. And apparently one of them was that scene where Bruce or Chang is getting drunk and he sees Maria Yei instead in the original cut it was uh what's her name? Misswoman >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> naked or topless >> the prostitute essentially. She was a >> prostitute. Yeah.
>> Yeah. And so they ended up just taking that out entirely and putting >> instead of instead of seeing the the brothel lady naked, he sees Maria Ye naked. No, not in the actual cut. He sees Marie Ye just clothed.
>> Okay.
>> And then like that's when he kind of like goes after her while he's drunk, which that's also kind of >> this cut right here.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> I don't know if that's >> I don't know if that original one's in a cut anywhere. It was just in like director notes.
>> There's definitely things that I've never seen in the full movie. Like I've seen glimpses of the first really big fight scene with Bruce Lee at the uh at the ice factory >> and he gets a he gets a a a saw, not even a chain, not like a whatever, a saw. You know what a saw is >> and he fully hacks somebody in the head and you like see like the blood and everything and like I've never seen that in the full fight scene or in the full movie. I've only seen like small bits of that.
>> Interesting.
Okay. Um, yeah, I know in the Do you do your podcast like we do ours where like we do spoiler-free talk spoilers or since this is a 1971 movie, we can just, you know, go ahead and talk about everything.
>> Go for it.
>> U, apparently in the final fight scene two against the big boss, he like puts his hands like basically in his wounds and is like pulling and there's more blood rushing.
>> Yeah. I've never seen that.
>> Yeah, that's crazy.
>> Yeah. Uh, and so the um this so what you say in this movie had two directors. I don't remember who the first director was. I I heard about him. I I've I've I've read Bruce Lee's biography or yeah biography from a there's a there's a great biography that came out about three four years ago five maybe six seven years ago uh from a the author was Matthew Polly very in detailed very good read and uh he does talk about that. I can't remember what the guy's name was though. But his real big issue is that he just simply did not like Bruce.
Did not like him. Didn't get along.
And so, you know, when the when the stu when the studio head Raymond Chow, it's either this director or it's my new my new big star that I just signed a contract with. And he chose the big star and so he got a new director in there.
He's like, "Get the [ __ ] out of there."
>> Probably a good choice.
>> Yeah. Uh, so what are some major differences that you felt between Ender the Dragon and The Big Boss?
>> As confident as we've talked about Bruce Lee being, I think you can definitely see an uptick in it in Enter the Dragon versus this being his first, you know, fulllength movie. Correct.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> So, he was a child actor, so I usually say like it's his first like fulllength movie as an adult, but Yeah.
>> Okay. So, I still think like you can see an uptick in the confidence come enter the dragon.
>> Um, trying to think what else were like the big differences.
>> So, now that uh Yeah, go ahead.
>> I was now that you're pointing out like Enter the Dragon and they didn't show his full body. I'm like trying to I'm like thinking of the comparison the fight scenes like that because like Enter the Dragon felt a little more fluid at points during those fight scenes, but you don't see as much.
>> Um, >> so one thing I'll say about like the confidence I guess >> I think Bruce I think I think he's playing a bit more of a character in this movie. His character in this is a bit of a country bumpkin kind of guy.
But also, Bruce Lee is so confident on Ender the Dragon because at this point, I think Bruce Lee was fully aware that he was so in control. Like, in in in Big Boss, he's he's he hasn't cemented himself as the guy yet. This is his first big Hong Kong action production. Whereas with Enter the Dragon, Hollywood came asking him. Hollywood came to him.
So he's like, "Oh, I didn't even I didn't even cuz he he pitched movies all throughout the 60s and they all got turned down because he was too Asian."
But like I mean the idea of like we can't we can't have a leading man as an as as an Asian actor. No one's going to buy a ticket to that. But the fact that he was doing so good in Hong Kong that Hollywood came crawling back and asked him, "Do you want to make a movie?" He was like, "Oh, I'm this shit."
It was. So, there was that confidence there.
>> Oh, yeah. That's 100% fair, too. Oh, God. It's just ridiculous to think about like that era.
And then also one reason that the the action probably feels a bit more fluid in Enter the Dragon is because Bruce so the the fight choreographer of this movie is also the guy who plays the bad guy in this movie and he along with all the stunt performers and both directors were like classic Hong Kong kung fu cinema guys. What I mean by that is so much of old kung fu movies stemmed from peaking opera. So a lot of old a lot of 60s kung fu movies the style is so flowy and and and dancy and Bruce Lee wanted none of that. Bruce Lee was like I don't have that same training as you guys. My training is I'm a fighter as I fight and I want to make my fights in a movie look just like they would in real life.
So, he pissed people off, especially on this movie. Like, the first director pretty much just said like, "Why'd you get me a guy who can't fight?" Because he couldn't onscreen fight the way everybody else oncreen fought. And he even like he made fun of Bruce and called him like three kick Bruce because he just kept doing the same three kicks.
And he's like, "You got me a guy who all he knows how to do is throw a the same three kicks." And it's like, "Well, that's all he needed to [ __ ] do, dude."
Is it like a trope in martial arts movies? Because I'm thinking about some of the kicking scenes now and like the like big fight at the mill where Bruce Lee kind of steps in after his necklace is broken and he's like I got this and then there's like what five or six guys surrounding him and they just come one at a time.
>> Is that >> a martial arts like movie trope? Is that like an honor thing in the martial arts?
I I think it's a trope in almost every action movie. It doesn't matter if it's a Hollywood action film, Hong Kong, Thai, whatever. Uh hell, if you watch I remember everybody when The Dark Knight Rises came out, everybody made fun of it because there's a fight scene on a rooftop with uh with Batman and Catwoman. And so what's what it is is you just want you just want all your background stunt guys to look busy. If you ever look at them, they're they're backing up, they're going forward, they're strafing side to side. Maybe someone's doing a flip until it's their turn to enter. And I remember there's this there's this guy at the in in the rooftop fight scene of uh The Dark Knight Rises where all the everyone's strafing around looking busy and then one guy just like falls and acts like he's knocked out. Never got touched. He was in the background the whole time and everyone who saw that just made fun of the movie for it. So really it's it's it's an it's an action movie trope from all over the world. It sounds like the throne room fight from was it The Last Jedi?
>> Yeah, it happens all the time. Happens everywhere.
>> Okay. I mean, I guess that's fair. Uh maybe I just haven't paid attention as much just cuz it's not as in your face as this one is.
>> Yeah, I don't mind it as I mean again, it's one of those things that if if you've watched hundreds of thousands of kung fu films, it's just like it's going to happen in all of them. Whatever.
>> Yeah. I mean, I'm not like I'm not bringing my score down for that reason.
Plus, it allows me more time to be entertained by watching Bruce Lee fight more concise.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh, what was your favorite fight with him in this one?
>> It might be that song fight.
>> Yeah.
>> I I just I thought it I don't know. I didn't love the whole like I can't fight because of this necklace and then the necklace gets broken and now I can fight, >> right? I honestly I kind of like that [ __ ] >> Which I understand the premise of the promise to his mother that he's not going to fight anymore. Which also kind of makes >> this movie a little more funny or like in the grand scheme of things is why you just said he left Hong Kong because he kept fighting his mom took him away.
>> Yeah, very similar. So, um, but outside of that, I like that that it was like just this chaotic fight at the mill, like you don't really know what's going on. Everyone's getting punched somewhere on screen and then Bruce Lee just touched he's like, "No, no, no. Just fight me."
>> Did any of the fights before Bruce Lee can fight, is allowed to fight, uh, stand out at all, or were you just waiting for Bruce Lee to fight? the very first one um when we meet his cousin at the like food cart out in the middle of the street >> um he takes on those I don't know what do you want to call them you know >> hoodlams >> whatever thugs hoodlams >> rascals speaking of uh speaking of that I will I'll throw the kung fu fun fact at you for this movie so let's go into another kung fu fun fact uh and that is something that every kung every Bruce Lee kung fu man knows and will tell you is that Bruce Lee, let's say, was not initially intended to be the protagonist of this film.
Uh, this movie was I won't say well into production, but they like were getting started on making this movie when Bruce Lee signed with Golden Harvest and they immediately just they threw him on this movie and it became a competition between him and his cousin who gets those first few fights, James Tienne. And so the directors were pretty much trying to decide who's going to be the lead of this film. So, the the first 30 minutes of this movie, I guess maybe not 30, but the first like 20 or so minutes of this movie is fully those two actors competing for who's going to be the lead. And I remember there's a story from uh from from way low, the director, Lowi, Wayo, Lowi, I'm freaking out. Uh Lowi, who uh he said that to get in in Bruce's mind because Bruce Lee was kind of being a bit of a diva and wouldn't fight one day. So Lowi sits Bruce Lee next to him and he's like, "All right, you don't want to fight today. Just go ahead and sit right here." And he then proceeds to film like several fight scenes with James Tienne. Stuff he probably didn't even plan on using. But because James Tienne was getting to fight on camera, it got in Bruce Lee's head and was like, "Oh [ __ ] I need to get to work." And apparently Bruce Lee like once he kind of figured out that Low Way was [ __ ] with him, he was like, "I respect you."
He was like, "You were messing with me and I get it." So that lit a fire into Bruce's ass, and he's like, "Okay, I really need to get to work and start pulling my load here." Uh, but they ended up going he ended up going with Bruce, not even just because the fights, which yes, he probably was like, "Yeah, those were great." But he just he felt his presence, his the electricity he had on screen. He was like, "This is the guy.
Can't deny it." So James Ten gets killed off.
>> Okay. Let me ask you this. What's your least favorite fight in the movie?
>> Um, you know, I honestly never loved the final fight. I don't know if it's my least favorite, but I don't love it. Uh, I So, Bruce Lee had to struggle to get to do things his way in this. And and it's one reason why this is probably my least favorite Bruce Lee film.
Because what I love so much about a Bruce Lee movie is I love seeing the authenticity in Bruce Lee.
I love my favorite one is is Way of the Dragon. The one that just before he did Enter. And it's because Bruce Lee is not only the star, he's not only the fight choreographer, he's also the director.
It is the most Bruce Lee movie there is.
Bruce Lee's fingers are all over it. So with this, his first film with Golden Harvest, his first Hong Kong action movie, everybody on set does this paking opera style action. Bruce Lee comes in and says, "I don't know how to do any of that. I'm going to show you what I can do and you're going to like it."
But the fight choreographer and who his opponent in that final fight is like, "You're pissing me off because you're not doing what I'm telling you to do."
So that's why it maybe feels a bit disjointed. You see those trampoline jumps that you know you talked about that again even Bruce Lee hated that [ __ ] Bruce Lee liked his [ __ ] grounded.
He wanted a good proper fight scene and Bruce Lee didn't like doing that stuff but he had to do it.
So, I think that's kind of all over that fight scene that that difference between his fight choreographer and opponent in that scene telling him to get on the same page and Bruce Lee saying no and that final fight there just kind of I think you feel that tension.
>> Yeah, I was going to say I mean I think the worst trampoline scene in this entirely is the dogs.
>> Mhm.
>> That's so bad.
>> Yeah. And I think that even goes into the final fight, doesn't it?
>> Yeah. Well, and like it's like right beforehand, but also or no, does it?
>> I believe. Maybe I'm wrong.
>> No, he the dogs are when he first visits him. Then he goes home after that.
>> Yeah, you're right.
>> And that's when he finds out about the drugs, goes to check on the mill, finds them, finds the bodies.
But also, I just think one, it's strange that the dogs aren't around in the final fight, >> right? And you know, speaking of the drugs, nothing would have happened in this movie if the bad guys just kind of would have done nothing.
Like because when his cousins who first die, when they find the drugs, the like the the foreman immediately takes it away from him and is like, "Get back to work." And they think nothing else of it. They even say so. They like they get pulled into the manager's office and they're like, "Well, so what you saw today was heroin and they're just like, "What?" Like if you would have just not told them anything, not paid them the money and then immediately killed them. No, you you would have been going about your merry drugdeing business if you'd have just shut the [ __ ] up.
>> Yeah. I also feel like even after you offered to bribe them, told them what it was and just sent them on their way, I feel like it wouldn't have caused any issues going >> and maybe don't kill them immediately.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. So, just every every problem that the bad guys face in this movie is not only their fault because they're dealing with drugs, it's their fault because they just ratted on themselves the entire time.
>> That's a funny point.
>> It really bothered me this time around.
I was like, "What are you doing?"
>> Yeah, that manager at the actual mill just pissed me off the entire movie, too.
>> Yeah, >> he was. So, I mean, >> the actor played well cuz he just annoyed the [ __ ] out of me. But, >> uh, let me jump into this this book here. Look at some uh what what So, this is a book I I I enjoy quite a bit. It is The Essential Guide to Hong Kong movies right here. I like it a lot. Uh, and of course there are some thoughts here on both of our movies here that we have today. So, I'll start with the with the Big Boss one here. Uh, let me get to the bottom of this one here. So, it says, uh, despite its low budget, The Big Boss rocketed Lee to fame beyond his wildest imaginings. Uh, on reflection, The Big B the Big Boss is the weakest of the four completed Lee films. Perhaps due to a change of direction, Wua Shang, who was the original director, uh, being replaced by Lowi. This is the reason some extra footage can be found in certain trailers but not in the finished movie. Where am I looking at? Uh such as the scene which showcases Bruce naked.
Didn't know about that.
Uh as he visits a second prostitute.
There's more prostitutes. Uh let me see.
Uh Lee's martial arts persona had not yet been perfected, but his screen presence and charisma blasted off the screen and boosted an otherwise no hope picture into the annals of Hong Kong history. So, even in this book, they agree with you. The action is not the best.
>> I'm happy to know I got that much.
>> Yeah. And, you know, I I don't mind a lot. I I I as soon as Bruce Lee pops out and starts throwing them kicks.
It's still pretty fun.
>> Yeah. I mean, like I said, the male fight's probably my favorite fight. Um, actually, I make the argument that the fights get worse as we go.
I like uh the of course that mil fight.
I honestly I liked even the first time I watched it I liked James Tien's fight when he dies. I was just like it it seemed it was so dramatic and like the tension was so high and I thought the performance was also really good in that fight as well that I was I remember really liking that fight a lot. I I also feel like a lot of this like tonally just shifts so much >> uh like up and down like especially you know their cousin goes missing Chang gets promoted to the foreman they come marching home singing acting like they're on a drill field >> and then all of a sudden they're like well what about our cousin they're all sad again >> flaring their emotions were going crazy also something I noticed in this that I was like That's weird. Uh, Maria Yei's character, the the only girl cousin they have, does she live in the shed out back?
I >> think so.
>> Did you notice that?
>> Yeah.
>> Cuz like at one point Bruce is telling like it's late at night. They're waiting for their cousins to come home who are dead, so they're never going to come home. And Bruce Lee tells everyone like, "All right, guys. Let's just come inside and go to bed." All the guys go into the house and she walks around the back and goes into the shed. And I honestly didn't even think much about it until the morning when she walks opens the door and walks out of it and walks around the front of the house. I'm like, why is the only girl living in the shed >> cuz it's 1970s.
>> 1970s. We're >> no one respected women.
>> Jesus Christ. And we kiss and we apparently had had our our love interest was our cousin >> who lives in the shed. who lives in the shed. Jesus Christ. Uh, let's see here.
Do you have any more final thoughts? Any final questions here on The Big Boss? I think I got everything covered I needed here.
>> I I don't think I have anything else.
Um, I'm happy I watched it. Trying to decide where I want it, but I think I'm sitting somewhere around like a two and a half on this one.
>> I gave both this and Enter the Dragon a three. Um, I mean, like I said, it's just so clearly not Bruce Lee so clearly did not have like a lot of control at the time, but the moments where he does get to do Bruce Lee things, it's still like so much fun.
Like, you can't help but enjoy that. Uh, but just the even the even the the low way as the second director, even though he picked Bruce Lee over James Tienne, he still wasn't completely bought in like the fight choreographer who is the final villain, he's not all bought in on Bruce. He still thinks he's full of [ __ ] Now, the only thing that gets Bruce Lee, as Bruce Lee's career goes on, he gets more freedom to do whatever he wants.
And like even in the sequel in Fist of Fury, not even sequel, in the next movie, which is not a sequel to this at all. Um, in Fist of Fury, which is also directed by Low Way, Bruce essentially put like so this movie ends up making so much money. This movie ends up becoming the highest grossing movie in Hong Kong ever at the time.
So Bruce Lee uses that leverage and is like, "All right, low ways directing my next movie. That's fine. I'm the fight choreographer.
He's like, "I'm not going to have anybody else tell me what to do here.
This movie made bank because of what I did in this movie. What I did in this movie worked and I'm going to do it in the next one and no one's going to tell me otherwise."
>> It's fair.
>> And then he carries it over again into Way of the Dragon, which again is my favorite. It's the most Bruce Lee movie there is. He directed it. He fought choreog fight choreography. He's a lead star. We get Bruce Lee versus Chuck Norris, which is amazing. It's my favorite one. I >> don't think I've ever seen a Chuck Norris movie.
>> You don't need to. They're bad.
Really?
>> I've I haven't seen all of them. I've seen like five of them and they were all bad.
They're all [ __ ] And like it's not like I just watched some random ones. No, I watched some of his biggest ones.
>> I watched freaking The Octagon. I watched Good Guys Wear Black. I watched Bradock missing an in action. Invasion USA. It's all [ __ ] It's all bad. One of the things I love about my co-host on Goodwill Podcasting, who was I believe your first guest >> for this is just like I'll like, you know, there's always been the jokes about Chuck Norris, you know, how he beats everything and all this and it's like a funny thing. So like in my mind as someone who doesn't a care that much about Chuck Norris, has never seen a movie, like I don't know much about him.
Like I just think he's this well-beloved guy. And then my co-host will just come out with a 10 minutee long video about why someone who I've never put a second thought to is just like the biggest piece of [ __ ] ever. And it's hilarious every time.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. He's uh I I'm not the biggest I'm not a big Chuck Norris guy either, but uh my favorite Chuck Norris joke is Chuck Norris has all these jokes and memes and all these things about him, but you know why Bruce Lee doesn't have any jokes about him? Because Bruce Lee is no joke.
That's it. It's not even a joke. It's just a fact. I like it. Uh so let's jump into uh some final thoughts, some final questions. Uh which you sort of already said so here, but which Bruce Lee film did you prefer?
>> Uh definitely Enter the Dragon.
>> What uh what sort of between those differences, what what what made you think have that choice there?
>> Biggest one is probably like I said, the confidence on screen. Um, you know, like you had inform me, Bruce Lee became a bigger star, kind of got more say in the movies he had going forward. So, I think just him having that confidence on screen really does show a lot more. And then to the dragon, uh, I like the final fight a lot more or I'd say collectively I like the fights more in Enter the Dragon.
>> Um, and I think the story for the most part I like better. Um, and I like that they just addressed something that I thought about prior to even watching a martial arts movie was just what if you had a gun. So, I I think just pretty much almost every aspect I liked better about it.
>> I heard a a story that I thought that makes a lot of sense from uh it may have been it wasn't the director. It was I don't know. It was probably like the director of photography or something, but uh one of those guys was in the mirror room at the end of the movie and it's like that move. You can even just tell from some of the shots, it's a lot of freaking mirrors.
>> Yeah.
>> And the guy's like, "I was in there for about 40 minutes and it really started to get to me." And he's like, "So, I had to like I just had to leave and I just had to go stare at a wall for like 10 minutes."
He's like, "He just I get just sensory completely overload >> and he was like, I got to get out of here."
>> Uh, but I'm going back to my book here because I forgot to go to it for uh End of the Dragon. So, since we're coming to the end here, I'll go ahead and talk about it here. Uh so in this book here which there's a probably the longest section for any of the movies here is on Enter the Dragon. Uh and so for this they said still considered to be the greatest martial arts movie of all time.
Don't agree. Uh and certainly the most widely seen Enter the Dragon is endlessly rewatchable with a good screenplay a superb score by Lo Shiffren. Uh Kelly Jesus. Okay. I'm just so I that name threw me off completely.
Endless watchable with a good screenplay and superb score by Lo Shiffren. Kelly Saxon and she and Ken and Ken are fine form and anchoring it all. A charismatic stra performance by Bruce Lee. He is utterly electric, demanding the viewers attention whenever he's on screen. Bob Wall, Angela Mau, and Bolo Young are a brilliant supporting cast and the fighting is crisp, all adding up to a kung fu action adventure classic James Bond Hong Kong style. For those of you watching this movie for the eenth time, a good exercise to test your Hong Kong cinema knowledge is to see how many of Hong Kong how many of Hong Kong's leading stars you can recognize in early roles. Jackie Chan, Samo Hong, and Yu Bao are the obvious ones, but many other youthful faces are hidden in the crowd.
Uh, so how do how do you feel about uh all that there? The supporting cast.
What do you think of all that stuff?
I think it's something I can't have an appreciation for right now because it is something, you know, I mean, maybe I only know Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.
>> Well, just like, you know, the Even the the score is pretty solid as a game.
>> Oh, no. The score was fantastic. I thought you were Yeah, the score was fantastic. I'll agree with you there. Um I mean, it's no me and Sebastian's theme, but >> what Oh, dude. You know, nothing can be me and Sebastian, but um the What am I thinking about here? Uh, I I do love how much like in his biography and all the like interviews and everything I've seen where they're pretty much just like even the writer was just like, "Oh, I just made a Bond I just made a James Bond movie.
I just made a James Bond movie that had martial arts in it."
>> You know what's funny is I've actually never seen a James Bond movie.
>> That is pretty crazy that you've never seen at least one when there's like 50.
>> Yeah, I uh told myself I was going to start that in January. I got about five minutes in. Uh, my wife had to go to the hospital and I never picked it back up.
>> Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. That's okay. I've never completely finished like one of like the really old ones. I've never I've only seen like two Brozen movies and I did watch all of the Daniel Craig movies.
>> See, I started with the like OG OG.
>> Yeah. I feel like I might be a mistake in a way. One of my like grail watches that I want one day is the James Bond Omega C Master 300.
>> Oh, the the watch you said.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh because of Pierce Brosman. Every James Bond going forward wears Omega from there. Uh which is also I don't have they announced James Bond yet? I don't think they have because I think the next one will be Aaron Taylor Johnson because he's Omega's newest brand ambassador.
>> Well, then that might be the hint right there.
>> Yeah, we'll see.
Uh, where do you think you may go next on your uh on your journey into kung fu martial arts cinema?
>> Maybe Fist of Fury.
>> Yeah, you know, that's that's I' I've got some I've got written down here pretty much just saying like, you know, you've you've already got two out of four >> finished Bruce Lee films out of the way.
You may as well just knock out the other two.
>> I was going to say and then I might just have to finish out Kung Fu or Kung Fu Panda.
>> Yeah. And then finish out Kung Fu Panda.
No, but uh yeah. Well, it's funny because I didn't know Bruce Lee only had like four, you know, feature length films.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh so yeah, I'll probably finish his filmography then. Should I consider watching the Game of Death?
>> Just Google like Game of Death final 30 minutes.
>> Okay.
>> Because that's all that's the only thing that's actually Bruce Lee in that movie.
Some people will say like because so Bruce exploitation is is a subgenre in itself like where they did they just got guys who looked like Bruce Lee and made fake Bruce Lee movies. Some people will say that Game of Death is one of the best Bruce exploitation films ever made.
I disagree. Game of Death 2 though, it's pretty freaking good. Uh, but the final 30 minutes of Game of Death, it's just there is such a drastic difference in quality between Game of Death and the final 30 minutes of Game of Death. As soon as Bruce Lee steps on screen and you see his final four or five fights in that movie, it's like, yeah, that that's he's this is so good. And it's like it there's a documentary coming out soon where they sort of talk about like the what could have been and how and why the movie got finished. And just like the ending of that movie is so good that it just truly makes you wonder like what did he have planned for the rest of this movie?
>> How old was he when he >> 32?
>> What?
Jeez.
>> 32 cerebral edema.
Okay.
>> Like flooding and swelling of the brain.
>> Is that from all the fights?
>> No. Bruce Lee just was not a very healthy man. Like even as a child, like as a child, he was a sick kid. Like there's stories of uh there's stories from his his students in America saying like we would train in the park but we couldn't train in the park for very long because Bruce Lee would get overheated and get heat exhaustion and like he'd get clearly start getting dizzy and so we'd have to stop. So like he clearly had something going on there.
And even there's a there's a story of like three weeks before he died, he was in a sound booth doing dubbing for a movie and he the AC is not on, it gets hot, he throws up and he passes out.
So like clearly there's already something going on with him.
>> And then like it doesn't help that again like he clearly has some sort of aversion to getting overheated which is probably not good for someone who does so much physical activity. But then he also had his sweat glands surgically removed from his armpits because he thought he didn't he he thought him him persspiring on screen looked bad. So this guy who has a problem with overheating and passing out in the heat got sweat glands removed.
Like >> he's also probably like severely dehydrated because of how like I mean he's like got what 2% body fat if that in all.
>> I like >> I almost got disturbed knowing what I know about Bruce Lee and seeing especially that first fight with him and Samo Hong where I'm like bro like your skin is hugging your body like it is your your skin is glued to every single muscle on you and it looks kind of disturbing. Like do some put on a little bit of of fat or something dude. you're dealer not looking good.
Drink some water. Um, and then he just he was so I guess I don't know about cocky, but he he he just wouldn't really he wouldn't really express when he was uncomfortable or not feeling well. He would just kind of push on. Uh, and then also something that we only figured out a handful of years ago that nobody ever likes to talk about. Bruce Lee like cocaine.
>> Really?
>> I mean it was 60s and 70s. Yeah. So, like I don't know. I don't know a lot about cocaine, but a dude who clearly already has some sort of aversion and like gets heat stroke and heat exhaustion really easily. It clearly was also by the time like again those last three weeks where he passed out in a sound booth. Clearly, there was something going on with him.
if he's doing this drug that's making him all energized and [ __ ] I'm like, there's a lot of things here that when you put them all together, like there's there's all these theories of like, oh well, Chinese masters poisoned him because he was teaching kung fu to foreigners or the triads or the Yakuza did it. There's all this. No, he just wasn't a very healthy guy. And there's just all these factors added up and it all just killed him.
interesting.
>> Are they going to have beef with Bruce >> Lee? Yes. There was all these like >> as soon as he died, there was like rumors and speculation and and like, you know, oh, there's a there's a especially after Brandon died, you know, on the crow. Then it's like there's a curse on the Lee family. They killed all like this curse killed all the men in the Lee. Like there's no curse. [ __ ] happens.
>> Doesn't he still have two daughters that are alive and well? Uh, >> one daughter, but yeah.
>> Oh, okay.
one daughter, probably a couple grandkids now. But yeah, just, you know, the dude who was the picture of health was not that healthy.
>> Interesting.
>> It's kind of what it was. Uh, do you have any final thoughts here on your journey into kung fu martial arts cinema?
>> No final thoughts, just a thanks for giving me a reason to finally enter the world.
>> Yeah, I did want to recommend you a few things here that are not Bruce Lee, and it's mostly just from you telling me that you like war movies a lot. Uh, and those would be uh there's a Jet Lee film called Warlord, which is honestly a lot more of a drama, but it's got some really good action in it. Um, so Warlord there. There's a Jackie Chan movie that is uh a bit of a mix of some drama, some some comedy. Um, but it is, you know, this sort of classical war film called uh Little Big Soldier from about 2013, 2010 maybe. But solid one I really you think you might enjoy a lot. And then of course, you know, it's a war movie. You like war movies. Uh, what is it? Uh, Eastern Condors. The one I've recommended everybody a thousand times.
>> The one that's the other martial arts movie that I've seen that like I couldn't think of.
>> It's a good one. Well, it's not a good one. It's one I like.
>> I didn't like it. You don't like it?
What did I not like about the one?
>> You know, it's funny. I can't remember what I didn't like about it, but we talked about it on a podcast episode and this was pretty early on to like I did watch that episode >> knowing who you were on social media and you were commenting back. I It's been so long and honestly it's it was like a movie I think I think my biggest issue was it made me feel stupid because I feel like I didn't understand a lot of it >> and I'm also not a huge Staithm fan so I think he was kind of like a >> Is it bothering you?
>> Yeah. So I it was like one it was kind of similar to Enter the Dragon. I finished it and I was like I want to rewatch. I feel like I missed a lot.
>> I just I think some of the kung fu really holds up. I think the the storytelling in the choreography is actually really beautifully done. And then I'm a child of the early 2000s. I like new metal. So you give me a kung fu film with some new metal in it, I'm probably going to have a pretty good time. Uh yeah. So the the three re three movies I'd really recommend to you there that are not just Bruce Lee films but uh Warlord with Jet Lee, the Jackiechan film uh Little Big Soldier uh and the Sama Hong film Eastern Condors, which at the end of the day, I just really recommend that to everybody because it's great. Uh my last question here for you is simply, did you have fun?
>> I did.
>> Sweet.
>> On the podcast with these watches, even though I gave it a two and a half star, I still had fun with the watch.
>> Look, you can enjoy a two and a half star. At the end of the day, I do like the one. Uh, so Connor, where can everyone find you?
>> Uh, for my movie takes, it'll always be Movie Shark, whether that's Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Tik Tok. Uh, my Shark content, The Daily Shark, on all of the same platforms. And then, uh, my podcast that I have with my other co-host Dan at Real Takes. We can be found at Goodwill Podcasting on all the same socials.
Don't forget to head over there and uh subscribe, watch all their stuff.
Subscribe on Apple Music, Apple Music, Apple Podcast, uh Spotify, all those things that they're available at. I will have all those links down below. And definitely check out last week's episode because I was on there talking about Mortal Kombat 2. Uh, of course, you can find me on all the regular places, Martial Arts Film Freak on Instagram, Facebook page, Tik Tok, all of those things. Blue Sky as well. Uh, don't you don't forget to comment down below what you think of these movies and let us know what your favorite Bruce Lee film is. And of course, if you have been watching this since the beginning, if you've been subscribed for many years, if you just joined me here today because you wanted to see Connor talk about some kung fu movies, whether it is your first, your 50th, or your 30th millionth episode, I welcome you to Kung Fu.
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