The Real Bruce Lee

Infobox_Film| name = The Real Bruce Lee
imdb_id = 0186483
producer = Serafim Karalexis
Dick Randall
director = Jim Markovic
writer = Larry Dolgin
Dick Randall
starring = Bruce Lee
Bruce Li
Dragon Lee
runtime = 93 min.
language = English

"The Real Bruce Lee" is a martial arts documentary. It begins with a brief biography of Bruce Lee, and shows scenes from four of his childhood films, "Bad Boy", "Orphan Sam", "Kid Cheung", and "The Carnival", each sepia-toned and dubbed to English. Next, there is a three-minute highlight reel of Lee imitator Bruce Li. Finally, there is a feature-length film starring Lee imitator Dragon Lee, which is obviously modeled after Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury".

The version of the film that is commonly distributed in the West (USA) on public domain-type DVD and video labels runs 93 minutes in length. The British VHS-version released in 1979 runs 118 minutes [http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/cgi-bin/cms/Film/36202] .

Curiously, IMDB lists the film as being released in North America in 1979, with a Hong Kong release in 1973 - the year of Bruce Lee's death, and a full year before Bruce Li's first film. It is possible that the version released in 1973 in Hong Kong was composed solely of the Bruce Lee childhood footage, and the Bruce Li and Dragon Lee footage was added by the North American distributor.

References