Kung fu cinema hit one of the worst stalemates it possibly could in 1973 with the death of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, leaving the fate of the industry in the hands of creators and producers desperate to appease markets and somehow magically bring the dead back to life. Thus, Bruceploitation was born, giving rise to a raft of newcomers all operating under a moniker that would bolster capital in some form or fashion as artificially contrived screen essences of the late film legend. And, it worked. Aplenty.
Documentarian David Gregory’s Enter The Clones Of Bruce collates and chronicles just how all of this was possible, produced over several years and featuring interviews with some of the very notable Bruceploitation stars of their time, including Bruce Li, Dragon Lee, Bruce Le and Bruce Liang to name a few. Other featured segments take from current interviews from industry laureates like actors David Chiang, Godfrey Ho, Angela Mao, living stunt legends Phillip Ko and Cheung Wing-fat a.k.a. Mars, and the late Roy Horan to name a few.
At ninety-four minutes, Gregory assembles a spectacular, informative and energizing feature that ventures into one of the deepest dives ever taken about a bygone era that was as full of electricity for filmmakers as it was the stars and even the stunt players that made the movies possible. Some of the best highlights defer to the overall impact of Lee’s legacy as the driving force for Bruceploitation, how the films were made, how the stars were cast, and the lasting effect of the Bruceploitation subgenre on the world at large with so many titles in demand, and so little control over their distribution and treatment, and even how it affected Lee’s family, including wife and widow Linda Lee Caldwell.
Other more grim and shocking aspects were much ado with how Lee’s death was treated, and the degree to which his tragedy was capitalized on as much as possible for filmmakers and their partners to profit. For this, there are several shots referencing Lee’s funeral to highlight all the numerous ways the vultures chipped in, creating narratives that often bent and manipulated reality to craft storied and oblique expositions and sagas about “Bruce” in all his adventures, delving frequently into the fantastical and at times downright gonzo.
The studios are another major highlight in Enter The Clones Of Bruce as the film also deliniates how Golden Harvest and other independent studios operated and performed against a titan like Shaw Brothers Studios. Bruce Lee-adjacent stars like Ron Van Clief and Jim Kelly, as well as Sammo Hung are supplemental in the era’s cultural and creative succession, with a specific nod to how a nascent Jackie Chan proceeded beyond his failed attempt at heroic bloodshed in New Fist Of Fury (1976) with the magnanimous move into action comedy, collaborating with Yuen Woo-Ping to propel his career.
Actor and author Michael Worth is also on the roster for this aptly packaged lookback into the last fifty years of how Bruce Lee changed the industry, ultimately paving the way for bringing Asian movie stars into public appeal. It’s worth reminding that Worth’s hopeful feature project, House Of Fangs, was revving up its crowdfunding campaign earlier this year and it’s currently closed as of this post, and time will tell if that particular project comes to pass.
As for Enter The Clones Of Bruce, Gregory’s documentary places its focus squarely on a key topical matter for genre fans with an educational lens that welcomes all with a keen interest on history. Just short of any mention of Jason Scott Lee or even Steve Oedekerk, or even actors like Aarif Lee or Danny Chan or even Donnie Yen in their contributions and homages to the legendary trailblazer, Enter The Clones Of Bruce is the most admirable scope into martial arts movie history yet, one that brings accountability into the frame while still commemorating the aspiring stars and minds that, for better or worse, made it possible to keep the legend alive.
Screened for Fantastic Fest.
