THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE


The Clones of Bruce Lee



Year: 1977
Starring: Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, Bruce Lai, Bruce Thai, Wang (Bolo) Sze, John Benn, Chang Tao, Alexander the Awesome One
Directed by: Joseph Kong
Running time: 87 minutes


"Hey, that looks like...you know!"
"Bruce Lee. I heard they brought him in"


This is Bruceploitation with a capital B! You get not one, not two, but three Bruce Lee imitators for your pleasure. The plot starts with the death of Bruce Lee and departs to the wildest extremes imaginable. Following the Little Dragon's death, a scientist creates three Bruce Lee clones. "For what purpose," you ask? Why to help the S.B.I. (Special Branch of Investigations) track down a few errant criminals. Bruce Lee 1 (Dragon Lee) infiltrates a movie studio that serves as a front for gold smugglers, while Bruce Lee 2 (Bruce Le) and Bruce Lee 3 (Bruce Lai) attempt to take down Dr. Nye, Science Guy. The logic being that Bruce Lee was the best fighter in the world, so obviously his clones can stamp out crime with one swift sidekick. But they didn't count on the scientist being a power hungry MAD scientist (cue maniacal laughing).

"Ouch, you're hurting my arm!"


Easily one of the most outrageous entries in the Bruceploitation genre, CLONES OF BRUCE LEE is unlike any flick you will ever see. Overflowing with bizarre scenarios and schizophrenic execution, it is one of those films you wonder how it ever got made. For example, Dr. Nye's diabolical plan creates men made of metal who look like the 18 BRONZEMEN'S anemic second cousins and are impervious to everything but poisoned weeds. Can you imagine the meeting where this idea was brought up? Or, better yet, imagine you are one of the producers and you decide to show up on the set and see a bunch of guys painted gold running around in their underwear with weeds hanging out of their mouths!

"What we need now girls is a man!"


Dragon Lee spends most of the film by himself, while Bruce Le and Bruce Lai team up to find Dr. Nye. Dragon's portion in the faux movie studio features fights aplenty and minimal dialogue from Lee himself. When Le and Lai show up in Thailand, they meet Chuck, an agent who looks a bit like Bruce Lee (a bonus fourth Lee-a-like!) and shows them the town. Of course, that entails a nude beach where a bevy of completely naked vixens topple an emaciated guy. Gratuitous would be too kind a word to describe this needless nudity. Not that I am complaining though. It only helps pump up the film's wacky factor. Bruceploitation fans should take note that this film is one of the rare occurrences where two champions of the Bruceploitation field (Bruce Le and Dragon Lee) actually get to square off. Their end fight scene is worth the price of admission alone.

Reviewed by William.



Read Keith's review of the CLONES OF BRUCE LEE.