Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story

Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story
Directed by Shih Ti
Produced by Cheung Tai Wai
Screenplay by Lui Ban Chung
Starring Bruce Li
Cheng Fu-Hung
Yue Fan
Ngai Yat-Ping
Music by Wong Mau Saan
Cinematography Chui Dung Heung
Release date
 1974
Running time
 90 minutes
Country Hong Kong
Language Cantonese

Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (Chinese: 一代猛龍; also known as Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story[1] and Bruce Lee Story: Super Dragon) is a 1974 Bruceploitation film starring Bruce Li. The film is a loose biopic about martial arts actor Bruce Lee and centers on his supposed affair with actress Betty Ting-Pei. The film is notable for being the first biopic of Bruce Lee (it was released the year following his death), the debut film of notorious Lee imitator Bruce Li, and the first film in the Bruceploitation genre.

Plot

The film opens with a pre-fame Bruce Lee (Bruce Li) delivering newspapers in Seattle, Washington. Lee then becomes a martial arts teacher. Lee competes in a martial arts tournament and wins. After match he is offered the role of the Kato in The Green Hornet. He marries Linda Lee Caldwell and they have 2 children together.

Later, Lee goes to Hong Kong. He turns down a contract from Shaw Brothers due to a pay dispute. The wife of director Lo Wei offers Lee a contract at Golden Harvest which he accepts. Lee makes his first film which becomes very successful at the box office. At a celebration event Lee meets actress Betty Ting-Pei. The two later fall in love. Bruce does his second film which is another success at the box office. Lee turns down Lo Wei's next film offer and opts to direct his next film himself. While on set Lee begins to experience severe headaches. Betty reveals to Bruce that she is pregnant. Later Linda arrives in Hong Kong to visit Bruce. Bruce decides to get a divorce and be with Betty. One night while Betty is making dinner Bruce suffers a headache and Betty tells hims to take a nap. Later when Betty tries to wake Lee she finds him dead.

Cast

Reception

Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story is almost universally considered one of Bruce Li's worst movies. Many have lambasted the film for its tendency to stray heavily from the facts of Lee's life, for the poor pacing, the lack of frequent fight scenes, and the soapy love story Bruce Li himself has also spoken about his dislike for this and his other early films: "After my first movie, the films would be crafted around the life and times of Bruce Lee. However I would like to make an important point, I did not like these films. Without my knowledge or consent the producers changed my name to Li Hsiao Lung."[2]

City on fire gave the film 4 out of 10 and said: "Make no mistake, "Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story" is a terrible Bruceploitation movie. The shits and giggles come automatically due to the horrendous dubbing (it's so bad, it's good!) and all that other cheesy retro stuff. At the same time, I enjoy trash-cinema like this; so my rating is based more on the average chopsocky viewer than a Bruce Li whore, like myself."[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Martial Arts Video DVD Release". Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20091028103931/http://geocities.com/many_bruces/brucelizine/index.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.cityonfire.com/hkfilms/ab/bruceadragonstory.html


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