Bruce Lee and Kung Fu Mania

bought as a gift

If YOU GREW UP IN THE SEVENTIES OR EIGHTIES ON A STEADY DIET OF BLACK BELT/KUNG FU THEATRE, THEN THIS IS THE TAPE FOR YOU! THIS TAPE IS FILLED WITH MOVIE TRAILERS AND SCENES FROM A WIDE RANGE OF MOVIES FROM THE SEVENTIES MARTIAL ARTS EXPLOITATION GENRE! YOU WILL WITNESS BRUCE LEE IN ACTION FILLED CLIPS RANGING THE ENTIRITY OF HIS CELLULOID CAREER:GREEN HORNET, BIG BOSS, WAY OF THE DRAGON,ETC. REMIND YOURSELF OF BRUCE LEE'S LEGACY BY VIEWING THE COUNTLESS IMITATORS TO HIS MARTIAL CROWN:BRUCE LI, LE,AND MORE! RELIVE THE WONDER OF THE CLASSIC SHAW BROS. CREATIONS SUCH AS "THE ALL POWERFUL WHITE HERMIT", "THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM", AND THE INIMITABLE "FIVE DEADLY VENOMS"! DON'T WAIT. STEP INTO THIS VIDEO TIME CAPSULE AND REOPEN THE CURTAINS OF KUNG FU THEATRE THROUGH VIEWING OLD MEMORIES OR JUST MAKE SOME NEW ONES. OSU!

Somewhat interesting "documentary," but mostly for the collection of US trailers for some classic Hong Kong films. The movie starts out with some behind-the-scenes footage from a spot called "Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon." It lasts about 10 minutes and has some footage of Lee directing scenes and some action choreography work. This is followed by a brief history of Lee's films with 5 minute clips and trailers from a few of his films. What you get from the 25 minute mark or so for the rest of the film is an hour of original US trailers for Hong Kong and Japanese films from the 70s. The voice-over is always entertaining and it's a nostalgic look at this period in film. The complete list of trailers is as follows, with original title and trailer title (if different) in parentheses:Bruce Lee Fights Back From the GraveDuel of the Iron FistsThe Black DragonThe Magnificent Boxer (Shadow of the Dragon)Tough Guy (Kung Fu Master - Bruce Lee Style)Bruce Lee: the Man the MythLady Whirlwind (Deep Thrust)The Stranger & the GunfighterThe New One-Armed Swordsman (Triple Irons)Lightning Swords of DeathChinatown KidThe Five Venoms (5 Deadly Venoms)The Deadly AngelsThe Flag of Iron (Spearmen)Marco Polo (The Four Assassins)Ten Tigers of KwantungThe Lama Avenger (The Three Avengers)Five Shaolin Masters (5 Masters of Death)The Tattoo ConnectionRage of the Wind (The Ninja Warlord)The Savage FiveThe Executioners of Death (Executioners from Shaolin)The Kid with the Golden ArmThe Big Risk (Kung Fu Conspiracy)The Delinquent (Street Gangs of Hong Kong)Yellow Faced Tiger (Slaughter in San Francisco)The Tattooed DragonWhen Taekwondo StrikesBoxer from Shantung (Killer from Shantung)Heroes of the East (Shaolin Challenges Ninja)The Flying GuillotineChallenge of the MastersFour InvinciblesBruce Lee and I (Bruce Lee... His Last Days)A little tiresome after while, but not a total waste of time.

This is a collection of trailers and garbage. It is an insult to the memory of Bruce Lee and to the martial arts in general. The minimum rating in the Amazon system is one star. If it is one star then the star would be a black hole.

Goodtimes Video released several movie trailer compilations in the 1980s that are just now being rereleased on DVD. "Bruce Lee and Kung Fu Mania" is one of them. Like the other compliations, this one starts off resembling a documentary but quickly turns into what it is - a collection of dozens of movie trailers. This time around, the focus is on Bruce Lee and his imitators and followers from the early 1970s.There's ample footage from both "Fist of Fury" and "Chinese Connection" since those films are in the public domain. "Return of the Dragon" is represented by a movie trailer and "Enter the Dragon" is represented by a very grainy publicity film. There's also the trailer to the "Green Hornet" compliation of TV episodes. From that point on, we see a dizzying array of trailers (mostly in their entirety)which range from rather tacky tasteless films that exploited Bruce's death (such as "Bruce Lee Fights Beyond the Grave")to some classy work totally unrelated to Bruce Lee (such as "Five Deadly Venoms"). After roughly an hour of trailers, the DVD ends quite suddenly and the credits roll.Video quality is mostly acceptable. Most of the films here were cranked out quickly by the Shaw Brothers or Harvest in the 1970s and were shown in American drive-ins or late-night TV, and have accordingly heavy grain and a mono soundtrack. Better quality versions of the footage here does exist (just look at the special editions of "Enter the Dragon" for example) but this video isn't really intended for the serious collector. Rather, this is a fun video for fans with a relatively casual interest in 1970s martial arts movies. Purchase it with that in mind and you will not be disappointed.

I'm a Bruce Lee fan, but ironically enough, it wasn't the clips of him that I enjoyed the most about this tape. (Like most Bruce Lee fans, I've already seen "The Green Hornet" & clips from his child-star days.)What I enjoyed most about this tape was the trailers from several of the 1970's kung-fu classics. Their exploitive b-movie sales approach is hilarious!I was also pleased to see the trailers from several of my favorite films put out by the Shaw Brothers. You get to see the trailers from "The 5 Deadly Venoms", "Duel of The Iron Fist", "Ten Tigers of Kwangtung", "The Flying Guilotine", "Killer From Shantung", "The Kid With The Golden Arm", "Five Masters of Death", "The Chinatown Kid", & many others. (I just wish they had the trailer for "Master Killer"!)This isn't a feature film or a documentary in the conventional sense. It's a compilation tape. Some of the clips have lost their picture quality & they haven't been enhanced for full clarity (that's why I give it 4 instead of 5 stars), but it's still a comfortable & enjoyable expeirience nonetheless.If you're a martial-arts fan & a collector of memorabilia, then this tape is definately for you.