tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15283666.post6213583429539966031..comments2024-03-14T03:15:28.803-07:00Comments on The End of Cinema: Running Out of Karma: Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury and The Way of the DragonSean Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16124894627028920508noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15283666.post-40592498811640756122014-05-05T09:31:23.553-07:002014-05-05T09:31:23.553-07:00Yeah, it's one of cinema's great what ifs....Yeah, it's one of cinema's great what ifs. Lee was such a big and influential star, everyone in the Hong Kong industry seemed to revere him, it's really hard to say how long that would have continued had he lived. If he would have continued to lead the industry, or if others (Lau, Hung, Chan) would have relegated him to a lesser status over time. We can't do, but it is really rare for a ingle person to have such a major driving impact on an industry for very long.<br /><br />I do think he would have ended up in Hollywood though. Perhaps his presence would have driven the industry towards more diversity in its action heroes. More likely he would have found himself following the Richard Roundtree career path, ending up back in Hong Kong by the early 80s.Sean Gilmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124894627028920508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15283666.post-40177219441184299242014-05-03T14:58:33.937-07:002014-05-03T14:58:33.937-07:00The last time I watched Way of the Dragon is quite...The last time I watched Way of the Dragon is quite some years ago, but I do remember that that time the comedy didn't gel with me at all, making your favorite scenes my least favorite in that movie. But I've seen a lot more HK cinema since, including comedy that I loved, so maybe I oughtta give it another shot.<br /><br />I've been doing some reading and watching into Lee's exploits in his last year, it seems he wanted two things out of his film career: make as much money as possible and show his ideas on fighting on film. You can see that second one working out the best in the re-edited footage of the Game of Death fight scenes in the 2000 documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (also nice because it contains some early rushes of him and Abdul-Jabbar going too fast for the camera to capture accurately). He doesn't fight ugly white guys there! Especially the fight with the Korean hapkido master might point to him being open to collaborating with others like you mention, but I kinda doubt he'd be interested in Lau's traditionalism or Hung's showmanship unless he could learn some new techniques from that or use it show off how his ideas on combining techniques and styles is superior to any particular style... He did promise Jackie Chan a part in every of his movies after accidentally hitting him for real twice on the set of Enter the Dragon though... But it seems to me the fighting increasingly came first to him, and entertaining next. So the acrobatics of the Three Dragons or the dances of Lau seem like something he wouldn't be interested in. Kurzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395753235850078152noreply@blogger.com