There is a fine line between the "best" and "worst" in Bruceploitation films, sometimes it's like they're both the same. William and I give you the ones to watch and the ones to record over.
Keith's Top 5 BEST Bruceploitation Movies
- Bruce Lee, The Man, The Myth - Bruce Li travels the globe in the best Bruce Lee bio-pic made. Cheesy, yet good, and lots of fights make it fun to watch.
- Enter the Fat Dragon - Wicked fights from the incredible Sammo Hung. A funny movie too, Sammo doesn't make fun of Bruce Lee, only himself.
- target="right">Tower of Death - Love the look of this movie with it's cheesy sets. Great fight scenes put Bruce Le to shame. Kim Tai Jung kicking through the crate to that guy's head will have you hitting the rewind button.
- The Chinese Stuntman - Destructive end fight is awesome. Throw in Dan Inosanto and John Ladalski in a movie starring and directed by Bruce Li, how can you go wrong? Simple, you can't.
- The Clones of Bruce Lee - So bad, and I mean bad, it's good. Hilarious movie, so ridiculous that if you don't laugh at it, what will you laugh at?! Nothing!
Keith's Top 5 WORST Bruceploitation Movies
- Fist of Fear, Touch of Death - I
- Fist of Fear, Touch of Death - really
- Fist of Fear, Touch of Death - hate
- Fist of Fear, Touch of Death - this
- Fist of Fear, Touch of Death - movie!
William's BEST Picks:
- Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth - Hands down the best Bruce Lee biopic ever! The production valiantly recreates Bruce's life by filming all over the world and on some the actual locations Bruce Lee himself did. So what if it is highly embellished, it is still entertaining as hell.
- The Chinese Stuntman - Bruce Li's masterpiece! As both star and director, he proves himself very capable and manages to comment on the crazy nature of the HK film industry circa 1970s. Co-stars Dan Inosanto and John Ladalski add to the mayhem. The end fight scene on the studio set is a classic.
- The Ming Patriots (aka Revenge of the Patriots) - Another Bruce Li vehicle that allows him to step outside of the shadow of Bruce Lee. Great period piece that features some excellent fights (choreographed by the Lau Brothers) and a stellar supporting cast (Judy Lee, Chang Yi, Chan Wai Man, Carter Wong and Roy Cheung).
- Deadly Strike - Yet another Bruce Li period piece flick (is this a coincidence?). This time he is a newly appointed sheriff who uses criminals a la The Dirty Dozen on a mission. Excellent fights and some great drama to boot. The ending is a classic downer.
- Dragon Claws - Dragon Lee and Hwang Jang Lee...need I say more? The story ain't great, but the fight scenes are fantastic and they happen about every 5 minutes or so. Probably the best of the Dragon Lee films that I have seen.
William's WORST Picks:
- Magnum Fist - Man, what a piece of trash. Bruce Li is barely in the thing and a majority of it centers on the madcap antics of some evil Japanese soldiers complete with goofy sound effects. Ugh!
- Enter the Panther - from the director of Magnum Fist come the second worst Bruceploitation title. Boring as all hell and completely indecipherable. If someone ever makes out the whole plot, let me know.
- Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave - Leave it to them Italians to jump in on the Bruceploitation craze. Bad, bad, bad!
- "Hey! Where's the rest?!" - Keith