Steve
Mostly Harmless
Great point. A testament to his lasting influence. Truly, an historic figure in martial arts.
Bruce Lee wasn't a God
- Thread starter Bill Mattocks
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isshinryuronin
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Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Steve
Mostly Harmless
Fun fact, Jimi Hendrix was from Seattle and went to the same high school I did.
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
do you play guitar left handed too
drop bear
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Chicken or egg.
There was a lot of interest in martial arts at the time. That made Bruce Lee popular.
Or Bruce lees popularity made intrest in martial arts.
Bruce was overlooked for the series kung fu. And David carried carridine got it. But that was a popular show.
There were people promoting martial arts who were not Bruce Lee.
Apparently this was partly down to his poor, English enunciation and his one dimensional acting abilities. The producers felt an American audience wouldn’t be able to understand him and couldn’t imagine Lee playing the mild mannered, gentle and thoughtful Kwai Chang Caine.
For people like me, who were not able to get into cinemas due to being minors and in England, the Kung Fu series was our only exposure to the martial arts…Carradine was an awful exponent too, coming from a dancing background rather than the MAs!
Has anyone seen ‘Silent Flute’?
Steve
Mostly Harmless
Couple of notes.
Bruce Lee was popular because he was the best part of the Green Hornet, a show that jaws always eclipsed by the more popular show Batman.
IIRC, the series King Fu was his idea. But being iced out of that because he was too Asian, and unable to make Hollywood movies, he went ti Hong Kong to work and it was his huge popularity here that broke into the western market and led to him making a Hollywood movie.
All that to say, I am pretty sure Lee was the cause and the huge explosion in interest in martial arts generally was in large part due to him. Not to say he was first but people found their way into martial arts through him.
A modern corollary is the huge explosion of interest in F1 due to the Netflix series drive to survive. Was it popular before? Sure. Of course. But popular within a niche. It broke into the larger zeitgeist. At one point, F1 was the fastest growing sport in the world, and still growing in the USA.
Drive to Survive’s economic and popularity impact on F1
Drive to Survive has made F1 the trendiest sport in recent years, driving major interest & commercial opportunities to the sport. Today we…
Point being, it’s possible for something to have been popular and well developed within a niche and also owe its lasting, widespread notoriety to a person (eg, Lee) or an event (eg, DTS).
Lastly, a lot of people, including our beloved Chuck Norris, owe their lasting fame and success to Lee, at least in part It’s not too much of a stretch to say that Lee’s huge popularity led to a slew of knockoffs and spins. Another example: Jackie Chan may have made a solid living and modest fame in Asia, but started his western career as a Bruce Lee clone.
Wxcuse typos and such. Trying to type in a phone sucks.
Steve
Mostly Harmless
Translation: they wanted someone who was Asian-ish. But not too Asian. This was the same Hollywood era that had whose dudes in red face playing native Americans and black face playing African Americans.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
And Italians as Mexican!
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
I loved the series Kung fu, I can’t help thinking how much better the fight scenes would have been with Bruce Lee as the lead. My favorite parts were always the memory scenes from the temple. “ when you can snatch the nugget from my palm you will be ready to smoke Weedhopper” or something like that.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
I’m surprised there hasn’t been a remake of Kung Fu in an ‘new-idea starved’ Hollywood. They could get Michael Flatly or Ashley Banjo to play Caine
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Bruce Lee auditioned for the lead role in Kung Fu, but the Network had already decided on David Carradine, so that was a no-go, done deal from the get go.
The Network said later that they didn’t feel the American audience was ready to accept an Asian lead role anyway. But they offered (maybe) another project for Lee.
Lee was waiting to see how The Big Boss did, money wise. When it did well he didn’t care about leading roles for TV anymore.
As for Bruce Lee movies, other than Enter the Dragon and about twelve minutes of Return of the Dragon, I couldn’t make it through a Bruce Lee movie with a bag of buds and a fist full of C-notes. And I’m a big fan of Bruce Lee. But I’m a bigger fan of good movies.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
I’m surprised there hasn’t been a remake of Kung Fu in an ‘new-idea starved’ Hollywood. They could get Michael Flatly or Ashley Banjo to play Caine
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
I was referring specifically to the Master Po scene with young Caine trying to snatch the nugget.
Steve
Mostly Harmless
Chris Hemsworth or Henry CavillI’m surprised there hasn’t been a remake of Kung Fu in an ‘new-idea starved’ Hollywood. They could get Michael Flatly or Ashley Banjo to play Caine
He snatched the pebble from Master Kan’s (Phillip Ann) hand.
He was then told it’s time for you to leave.
Poor monk, they burn dragons into his forearms and boot him out the door. Tough dojo.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
No no I’m sure it was a nugget or a 20 rock young weed hopper had to snatch. But you are right it was Kan not Po.
Love it!
