One wonders if Bruce Lee might have laid off the painkillers, if only he could have known how sullied his good name would be by the Bruceploitation wave that took hold soon after his untimely passing in 1973. Take The Dragon Lives Again, for example. It’s one thing for a film to dedicate itself to … Continue reading The Dragon Lives Again (1977)
As Bruceploitation pictures go, Enter the Game of Death is hardly the craziest, but it still is semi-“out there.” Bruce Le (Challenge of the Tiger) dons Lee’s iconic yellow jumpsuit to play Chang. After winning an arena kickboxing match (a nearly unbearable sequence at seven minutes), Chang is offered a job as a bodyguard. When … Continue reading Enter the Game of Death (1978)
Of all the post-death Bruce Lee cash-ins — and Lordy, there are many — Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave is among the most notorious, all likely because of its title. That and the 15 seconds that open the movie are all it has going for it. In that quarter of a minute, a … Continue reading Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave (1976)
From Brave Young Girls’ Bong Luk, Blind Fist of Bruce represents Bruceploitation at its most basic! And of course it stars Bruce Li, arguably the most prolific / infamous Bruce Lee imitators / wannabes barfed out by the Hong Kong film industry after the icon’s death. Li stars as a banker who needs to defend … Continue reading Blind Fist of Bruce (1979)
This very website serves as an extension for a DIY magazine I produced for a dozen years, beginning in 1993 around the height of zinedom. Titled Hitch: The Journal of Pop Culture Absurdity, the more-or-less quarterly specialized in reviews of films — the more outré, the better — which took up the better part of … Continue reading Fatal Visions: The Wonder Years 1988-89