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By the year Bruce Lee passed away in 1973, I was not even a clump of cells in my mother’s body. He was highly popular at that time and ever since he has become a mythical character. Before stepping into action movies in the early 70s, he was a child star in Hong Kong. Lee had a particular charm that attracted people, something that could never be copied. Or could it? Following his death, producers hunted down actors that could play the part of the icon. This led to the creation of a subgenre of exploitation films called “Brucesploitation.” Numerous martial artists who bore even the slightest resemblance to Bruce started getting opportunities to star in films while impersonating Bruce Lee.
Such performers as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Tai, Dragon Lee, and even Bronson Lee would garner plenty of attention, but their fame would only last a few years before the genre started to die. As a child who saw Kung Fu Theater, I was perplexed watching all those films with Bruce Lee, but in some form, I understood that it could not possibly be him. With age and more information, I started to learn about the impersonators and how it was purely a money making scheme for some of the Hong Kong studios. Who were these faceless people impersonating Bruce Lee? Of course, these were not their names, and so I was curious to know who they really were. My answer came from filmmaker David Gregory in his documentary Enter the Clones of Bruce (2023). He managed to cover the subject in a manner that was very entertaining and fun.
I do not mean to sound biased because I admire both martial arts movies and Bruce Lee, but he is what introduced me to the world of martial arts. It was really mind blowing watching stars give in-depth interviews. They all give very insightful answers to questions that we the audience are dying to know. For me the most interesting are Bruce Li and Angela Mao because I just recently watched some of her films such as Hapkido and Lady Whirlwind from 1972.
A number of specialists have been interviewed, including Mike Leeder and Michael Worth, who is in fact an action movie star, which makes them some of the most important people in the industry. Every single detail of their movies is analyzed in all its aspects. After watching Enter the Clones of Bruce, you will definitely be more appreciative of these classics. You might be eager to dive deeper into Severin’s enormous box set, Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection vol. 1.
Among the extra content in the Blu-ray edition is an audio commentary track with David Gregory, Frank Djeng, Vivian Wong, Jim Kunz, and Michael Worth. There’s a plethora of outtakes that serve to go deeper down the rabbit hole. The most interesting is the talk on how the prints of the film were handled, courtesy of Frank Djeng and his tour of the sites of Bruce Lee’s films in Hong Kong. There’s an intro of sorts by Worth and Gordon, besides a random collection of trailers.
One such brilliant workshop is that of David Gregory, an impressive documentarian whose work includes the modern day classic Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014). Enter the Clones of Bruce is a must watch for fans of classic martial arts cinema.
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