Tag Archives: Bruce Lee

Capsules, It Came from the Reader-Suggested Queue

IT CAME FROM THE READER-SUGGESTED QUEUE: KUNG FU CONTRA AS BONECAS [KUNG FU AGAINST THE DOLLS] (1975)

April 29, 2025 Shane Wilson 2 Comments

AKA Bruce Lee versus Gay Power

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DIRECTED BY: Adriano Stuart

FEATURING: Adriano Stuart, Maurício do Valle, Helena Ramos, Edgard Franco, Nadir Fernandes

PLOT: When Chang, a wandering warrior of mixed origin who is well-versed in the skills and philosophies of kung fu, returns home to find that his family has been murdered by a gang of outrageous bandits, he vows to seek vengeance.

Kung Fu Contra As Bonecas [AKA Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power] ()

COMMENTS: No one associated with the making of this film ever called it Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power. This is important, because that extraordinary title seems to be at the heart of its lingering reputation. If some enterprising videocassette huckster hadn’t decided to employ some savvy attention-getting branding, combining an extreme example of Bruceploitation with a thematically unexpected opponent, then Kung Fu contra As Bonecas might never have made it out of Brazil. As it is, I’ve had to take a crash course in Brazilian history and film trends just to wrap my head around exactly what’s going on here, to say nothing of stoking a passing familiarity with poorly aged 1970s American television. Even with that, I have my doubts as to whether I’ve gotten it all. It is often said of art that if you have to explain what your piece means, then it has failed. Kung Fu contra As Bonecas has this problem to the nth power.

Let’s start with the part that was closest to my wheelhouse. The movie is, in large part, an outright spoof of the David Carradine vehicle “Kung Fu,” the popular American TV series in which a distinctly non-Asian itinerant warrior made his way across the Old West confronting various forms of oppression and bigotry. (Depending upon who is telling the story, the real Bruce Lee either devised the premise for “Kung Fu” and had it stolen by unscrupulous producers, or was first in line for the lead role but was bypassed by studio execs who couldn’t fathom making an Asian actor the star of a prime-time TV series.)

Playing the lead role himself in a ludicrous oversized jet-black wig, Adriano Stuart deliberately mocks “Kung Fu”’s conventions, with flashbacks that directly parody the hero’s education in some dark monastery, turning the show’s innocent boy into a privileged young man in a graduation cap and gown and bearing the sobriquet “mosquito” (in place of the series’ “grasshopper”). He is instructed in the ways of Zen calm, which he consistently fails to maintain. In case that’s not obvious enough, this Chang sports a pink tank top featuring a glittery illustration of Carradine’s character hovering above the words “KUNG FU,” a garment that one suspects he picked up in a Hot Topic. It’s either unrestrained commitment to the bit or desperate flailing to make sure everyone gets the joke.

Chang’s enemies are the cangaceiros, outlaws who brutalize the region, engaging in robbery, rape, and murder. Scenes in which the gang terrorizes innocents almost seem to be aping Sergio Leone, depicting their violence graphically and unblinkingly and setting a serious contrast to the ridiculous hero. However, the feminine habits Continue reading IT CAME FROM THE READER-SUGGESTED QUEUE: KUNG FU CONTRA AS BONECAS [KUNG FU AGAINST THE DOLLS] (1975) →

List Candidates

APOCRYPHA CANDIDATE: THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN (1977)

April 15, 2025 El Rob Hubbard Leave a comment

Li san jiao wei zhen di yu men; AKA Deadly Hands of Kung Fu

Still from The Dragon Lives Again (1977)

DIRECTED BY: Lo Chi

FEATURING: Siu-Lung Leung (as Bruce Leong), Ie Lung Shen, Ching Tang, Alexander Grand, Jenny, Wong Mei, Eric Tsang, Bobby Canavarro, Hsi Chang

PLOT: Martial arts superstar Bruce Lee dies, winds up in the afterlife, and soon butts heads with the King of the Underworld, the Godfather, the Man With No-Name, Zatoichi, 007, Emmanuelle, the Exorcist and Dracula—but he’s still Bruce Lee, and he’s got Caine the Wanderer, the One-Armed Swordsman and Popeye the Sailor Man backing him up…

WHY IT MIGHT JOIN THE APOCRYPHA: There are many, many films in the wake of Bruce Lee’s death made to capitalize off of the death and his fame. Very, very few of them pull off the feat of being entertaining and imaginative enough to surpass their crass origins to become something that stands on its own.

COMMENTS: The Bruce Lee Phenomenon is unfathomable to someone who didn’t grow up in the mid-70s. You had to experience it firsthand. There’s no one in the present day who comes close to Lee: cultural icons all have their share of imitators, but few can spawn an entire subgenre after their death.

The “Bruceploitation” phenomenon encompassed all aspects of Bruce Lee’s short life and ongoing legacy, from biopics and docudramas to variations on his most popular films to total fantasies on his death (or faux death) and afterlife, all with a variety of imitators/wannabees/clones presented to the still Bruce-hungry public. Some were unapologetic cash grabs, while some genuflected some modicum of respect towards Lee.

The Dragon Lives Again occupies its own niche. It’s the most bonkers Bruceploitation movie and probably the most entertaining of the bunch, making good on its opening “Dedicated to the Millions Who Love Bruce Lee” title. It’s one of the best examples of a theory what experimental filmmaker Craig Baldwin would encapsulize years later in his motto, “Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value.” It’s actually kind of wild that it works as well as it does, bringing such disparate characters together. (Lee is as much of a brand character as the others, fighting Dracula and his minions in his Kato wardrobe from “The Green Hornet”.)

The Dragon Lives Again (1977) Kato The comedy is good, including moves named for films Lee appeared in and talking skeletons. At times it’s naughty: a running gag involving Lee’s rumored sexual prowess and the Underworld King’s wives attempting to find that out firsthand; a joke involving nunchucks and “Bruce Lee’s Third Leg,” which was snatched subsequently for other kung-fu comedies. And just the idea of bringing together Popeye, Emmanuelle, 007 and others is brilliant, especially since such a thing wouldn’t even be possible in today’s corporate climate unless it were a no-budget ultra-underground project that maybe 30 people would even be aware of existing.

The Dragon Lives Again has been available in various dodgy versions for years, but I doubt that anyone is going to better the Severin Blu-ray in their box set “The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Vol. 1.” The original negative was deemed unusable, so they utilized a 2K scan of a print from the AGFA Collection. It’s not immaculate, but it’s much better than what’s was previously available. The disc has a commentary by Bruceploitation experts Michael Worth and Frank Djeng, an audio essay by one Lovely Jon, and 7 minutes of deleted/extended scenes from the French release.

The Dragon Lives Again (1977) The Third Leg of Bruce