Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Happy Bruce Lee Day!


Yes, the holiday season is upon us, which means it's time to celebrate the birthday of the father of mixed martial arts and general badass: BRUCE LEE.Whaaa!!!


Three minutes of Bruce Lee kicking ass and yelling in people's faces.

Once you're done revisiting last year's Bruce Lee Tribute at Cage Potato, here are a few choice cuts from Netflix to help you fill in the gaps in your Bruce Lee hagiography:


The Big Boss
 Okay, the voiceover is hokey and the opening scenes look like they were shot by a high school student (not to mention the bored translators apparently thought it would be funny to throw in some names like "Chow Mein," "Old Wang," and "Shu Shine.") But Bruce Lee's first movie is worth a watch, if only to see how much more star power this guy has in his little finger than the entire rest of the cast put together. Also, the all-out-brawl between ice house workers and chain-wielding strike breakers - which forces Bruce's country-ass character to break his vow of "no fighting" - is a classic.


 Game of Death
Billed as Bruce Lee's "last movie," this was actually released posthumously by the director of "Enter the Dragon," who took 20 minutes of footage, cobbled together a story around it with a Bruce Lee lookalike (or two or three), and started an entire category of Bruceploitation films.  There are actually quite a lot more Bruceploitation films on Netflix than there are actual Bruce Lee films. Be that as it may, you should at least fast forward to the scene where Bruce Lee fights Kareem Abdul Jabbar while wearing his iconic yellow track suit, which is one of the scenes Lee directed. (It's also worth mentioning that Sammo Hung makes an appearance here, and is credited as fight choreographer on the reshoots.)


Ip Man 2
I have to confess: I still haven't seen Ip Man 1. Maybe you haven't either. THIS WILL IN NO WAY IMPACT YOUR ENJOYMENT OF IP MAN 2. The continuing story of Bruce Lee's mentor, the creator of the Wing Chun style of boxing, is super entertaining and features some of the best martial arts sequences in recent memory as Ip Man defends his school against every other style of kung fu in postwar Hong Kong, and some arrogant Western boxers, as well.

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