Bruce Lee's 10 Most Memorable On-Screen Moments

With the new documentary I Am Bruce Lee about to hit theaters, it's a good time to recall these amazing Bruce Lee scenes:

10. Bruce vs James Garner's office (Marlowe)

One of Bruce's celebrity students was screenwriter Sterling Silliphant. Silliphant, who won an Oscar for In the Heat of the Night, became good friends with Bruce and wrote a part for him in the 1969 film Marlowe. Bruce plays a heavy sent to warn private investigator Phillip Marlowe (James Garner) off a case. Bruce does this by demolishing the guy's office with a flurry of kicks and chops and a flying kick that takes out an overhead light. This scene was Bruce's first appearance in a feature-length Hollywood picture.




9. One on one against The Boy Wonder (Batman)

This one makes it purely on the novelty factor. The second season of the Batman TV series featured a crossover episode where the Green Hornet and Kato fought and later teamed up with the Batman and Robin (Burt Ward.) On the day this was filmed, Bruce (as a joke) pretended he was pissed off and intended to fight Ward for real. Ward repeatedly backed away from Bruce and tried to remind his opponent that it was “only a TV show”. Only after Bruce could no longer keep a straight face did he let the terrified Ward in on the gag.




8. Battling Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum (The Way of the Dragon aka The Return of the Dragon)

A classic fight against the world's second most famous martial artist, filmed in an incredibly unique and exotic location.



7. Nunchaku showdown against Dan Inosanto (Game of Death)

In Game of Death, Bruce plays a retired martial arts champion forced to infiltrate a heavily guarded pagoda. Bruce fights his way up the five-story structure, facing off against a different martial arts master on each level. Incredibly, Bruce never had extensive training with “nunchucks” and had only learned to use them a few years earlier.




6. 1965 screen test

Hollywood “discovered” Bruce at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships, where a producer saw him performing his famous “one-inch punch” and two-finger push-ups. This eventually led to this famous screen test where Bruce charmingly converses with his director and then explains and demonstrates kung fu. (By the way, couldn't they have found someone under the age of 80 for Bruce to demonstrate his moves on?)




5. Taking on an entire Bushido school (Fist of Fury aka The Chinese Connection)

In Fist of Fury (previously known in the states as The Chinese Connection) Bruce seeks revenge against a Japanese school that has insulted his people and poisoned his master. Here, Bruce takes out every last student and their sensei. The victory despite overwhelming odds, as well as the overhead camera angles and intermittent dance-like choreography in this scene is emulated in The Bride vs The Crazy 88 battle in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1.



4/3. Tie: Owning Bob Wall (Enter the Dragon)...

In Enter the Dragon, Bruce warns his opponent, “Boards don't hit back.” Still I always feel bad for Bob Wall. He gets housed in several Bruce Lee movies but is particularly humiliated here. Look at him... face all cut up, kicked square in the nuts, can barely stand or defend himself, and then he gets stomped to death... Sheesh!

and Bruce vs Kareem (Game of Death)

Before he was “Roger Murdock” in Airplane, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of Bruce's students. When shooting wrapped on The Way of the Dragon, Bruce learned that Kareem was in Hong Kong and quickly arranged a meeting to film fight scenes for the yet to be scripted Game of Death. Bruce gave Kareem his first movie role playing the villainous Hakim, and from a physical standpoint alone, the fight between the 7' 2” Abdul-Jabbar and the 5' 7” Lee is astounding to watch. (You've gotta love that seated snap kick that leaves the giant footprint on Bruce's chest!)


The iconic yellow and black track suit Bruce wears has been replicated and paid homage to in everything from video games, to SpongeBob Squarepants cartoons, Sugar Ray's “When It's Over music video, and numerous films including Revenge of the Nerds, Kill Bill, and The Last Dragon.

2. "Be water my Friend" (Longstreet)

Bruce's friend screenwriter Sterling Silliphant was executive producer of the 1971 crime series Longstreet, about a blind insurance investigator played by James Franciscus. Silliphant got Bruce a recurring role on the show as Li Tsung, an antiques dealer and martial arts expert. Much of the dialogue in the scenes between Bruce and Franciscus incorporates the principles of Jeet Kune Do, a new, less formal, more eclectic and flexible approach to martial arts that Bruce had recently developed. The “Be water” quote from one of the Longstreet episodes was later recalled in this interview Bruce did with Canadian reporter Pierre Berton and is now considered central to Bruce's ideaology and philosophical legacy.




1. Final fight against Han (Enter the Dragon)

The slashes across the face and chest, tasting his own blood, and of course all those cool mirrored reflections... It's Bruce's signature scene and still one of the best in any martial arts movie.



Related Links
Bruce Lee on IMDB

Defining Films of the Decades - The 60's

Continuing the "Defining Films of the Decades" series I started some time ago, here are the selections for the 1960's. As a reminder, these films were chosen based on popularity, excellence, timelessness, and relevancy as it pertains to the decade in which it was released. This means it should in some way reveal or reflect the decades' current events, social issues, trends, tastes, mores, creative sensibilities and artistic styles.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Gregory Peck gives the performance of the decade as Atticus Finch, whom the American Film Institute named as the single greatest American movie hero of all-time. This film opened the eyes of many to what the power of dignity, principles, and forthrightness can accomplish in the face of oppression, ignorance and racism. In this regard, To Kill a Mockingbird provided inspiration for the American Civil Rights Movement that was moving toward critical mass at the time.

Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

The Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, and high command of the US political and military infrastructure, all perfectly satirized by Stanley Kubrick and Peter Sellers.

The Sound of Music (1965)

With perhaps the most cinematic opening shots ever, The Sound of Music is the third highest grossing film of all-time (after adjusting for inflation) thanks largely to its sweeping, majestic photography, Julie Andrews angelic singing voice, and the masterful songwriting of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Goldfinger (1964)

There were two earlier screen adaptations of Ian Fleming spy novels (Dr. No and From Russia with Love) but Goldfinger was the first to really zero in on the formula for a successful James Bond film -- girls, guns and gadgets. The result: a huge hit at the box office (the fifth highest grossing film of the decade) that propelled the popularity of the 007 character to all-time highs. Gert Frobe as Auric Goldfinger remains one of the most memorable villains in film history and Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore is still the ultimate “Bond Girl”.

THE Defining Film of the 1960s:

The Graduate (1967)

The sixties saw the rise of counter-culture and railing against traditional thinking, lifestyles and conventions. Films like Easy Rider, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Bonnie and Clyde celebrated this and perpetuated the idea of the antihero. But in its own, more subtle way, The Graduate also had a lot to say about bucking prevailing mores and rejecting America’s “plastic” society. 

Related Posts:
Defining Films of the Decades - The 50's
Defining Films of the Decades - The 40's
Defining Films of the Decades - The 30's

Happy Anniversary Leaping Winged Horse

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Where the Boys Are '84, which was a remake of a popular 1960 beach comedy featuring Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin (best known as The Riddler from TV’s Batman series) and Connie Francis, who also sang the hugely successful title track. 

Where the Boys Are '84 had an equally eclectic cast that featured actress turned country singer Lisa Hartman, figure skater turned actress Lynn Holly Johnson, Lorna Luft (daughter of Judy Garland), Wendy Schaal (now the voice of Francine on American Dad), and Christopher MacDonald (Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmour.) The film wasn’t nearly as successful as its predecessor but will forever have a place in cinema history as the very first theatrical release from Tri-Star Pictures. 

Tri-Star was a joint film production and distribution company formed in 1982 by HBO, CBS, and Columbia Pictures. The company went on to produce and/or distribute a number of successful (Rambo: First Blood, Part II, Glory, Sleepless in Seattle, My Best Friend’s Wedding) and not so successful (Meatballs 2, Night of the Creeps, Nothing in Common, Jawbreaker) features before it was eventually folded into Columbia (and later into Columbia's parent company Sony Pictures.) And though Tri-Star’s still around today, it’s a much smaller player than it used to be. 

 

Related Links:

Where the Boys Are '84 at IMDb