gtbeast
The man martial-arts filmmakers could never let go! How many Bruce Lee "wannabes" have there been? This time around Bruce LI explodes onto the screen portraying, who else, BRUCE (not Lee, nor Li, just Bruce)! Sure there have been many to copy the frenetic and amazing Bruce Lee - few have succeeded, many have failed. In "Bruce Lee's Secret" (as it was titled when I saw it), at least the director(s) had the sense to make it about the fighting; the more involved, the better! Bruce Li is a waiter in San Francisco, minding his own business, when, out of nowhere, American kung fu thugs want to make trouble for Li and friends. Who cares - watch this one for the plentiful martial arts action. If you are a fan of the bad dubbing found in most of these films, you will get a 'kick' out of the insanely poor vocal choices. Lots of action, lots of fun - just enjoy!
rokerij
You really have to give it to these guys. The copy I saw was called "Bruce Lee's Secret" starring Bruce Li. Gotta love that. This is perhaps the best rip off of Bruce Lee, not because it's well made, but because it's so bad you can't but help to laugh. Bruce Li (or Bob Lee) takes on the entire kung fu school and yet no one can take him out. They should have never of insulted him at the restaurant.You have wonder, for a place like San Francisco, they could have used more locations than the wharf and some grassy valley (those mountains look great in the background), probably because it was never shot in San Fran nor did it try really hard to convince you it was.There's a part in the movie where Bruce Li beats up these unruly customers, one of the patrons of the restaurant later appears (like in the next scene) considering giving Bruce Li and his friend a job at HIS restaurant after they got fired from the one he was sitting at in the scene BEFORE! Confusing? Yes, you shouldn't get bogged down in the technicality of everything, this movie is pure comedic gold! Bob's a good guy too. When his roommate talks about doing better for himself in school, Bob tells him to stop with the books. Bob tells him it's better to prove to the world that Chinese aren't wimps. Amazing! The dialog is great too. From Grace talking about the news of his pupils getting their butts kicked spreading all around NY (keep in mind this movie takes place in "San Francisco") to the Bob's boss seeing his workers getting their ass kicked and only giving a very nonchalant "you can handle it after work".I could go on and on, but why do that when you can watch it yourself?
InzyWimzy
Aw man. I kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting... ...and I yelled, "That's it??"Man, this one hurt. Like walking in the dark and ripping a fresh wound on your shin off the corner of the living room coffee table. I kept anticipating final fight or climactic scene...or someone bumping into Bruce Li and sending him into a rage by yelling, "You look nothing like Bruce Lee!!" Instead, it's like a really bad soap opera and seeing Bruce negotiate movie contracts. Will Bruce mingle well with others at the gala party? Plus, it really makes Bruce Lee seem like a two timing sleaze because he revels in his affair and has no remorse whatsoever. Besides the fun seeing Bruce do his paper route or his phony TV kung fu demonstrations, Bruce Li; you have done better.
modius
Bruce Lee's death caused a large enough shadow on the kung fu martial arts movie world that, for some obsecure reason, film-makers wanted to continue making films that "had" bruce lee in them - for their own ends.Of course this lead to disastrously bad Bruce Lee imitators (i.e. Bruce Li, Dragon Lee, etc) that would some regard as just lambasting and insulting to the Bruce Lee name - fortunately there was one Bruce Lee imitator (Sammo Hung) that would make a film worthy of Lee himself in the film "Enter the Fat Dragon".Anyway, to this film. Firstly, if you've seen The Big Boss and/or Way of the Dragon you'll soon draw parallel's to the plot and the general feeling that you've been seen it all before.I won't go into the plot, because basically its the same as Way of the Dragon (hero works in resturant that is taunted by some big boss type karate school with all the racial stuff thrown in).The general 70s cliche of bad kung fu movies is apparent throughout this film, you don't know whether to laugh or cry at the clothes, the acting and the dialogue. Perhaps the worst possible example is the fact that every other character (barring a majority of the chinese) are called bob - I'm not kidding!Admittedly, the fight sequences aren't too bad - but when you consider the only person to make a dent to the hero is veteran Hong Kong Bad guy Hwang Jang Lee you have to question the sanity of this film...why bother remaking way of the dragon when its already done?Now of course there are silly moments throughout the film which beggers belief - why does Bob 'Bruce Lee' (the hero) who knows of Bruce Lee's paradigm of "kung fu is like running water" only become to remember of it when he's beaten. Not only that, as soon as Bob finds out what the secret is, he becomes Bruce Lee - doing war cries, doing that thing with his nose - all because he's discovered "kung fu is running water!"Another example is this: Bruce Lee tried to step outside kung fu's barriers (this is why he wore the yellow/black jumpsuit in Game of Death) and would follow that philosophy - yet Bob 'Bruce Lee' dresses in a typically traditional kung fu styled uniform and fights the big boss bad guy who wears trainers...Anyway, philosophy aside, this is a very bad film that tries to cash in on both Way of the Dragon and The Big Boss - the highlights are no doubt the numerous fight sequences - however they always seem to be the same thing (i.e. bunch of fighters gets hurt - their teacher goes and kicks butt, but ends up half dead - his teacher/pupils go along and fight and get beat up and then their...well you get the idea)Perhaps the humorless resturant scenes or the unintentional comedy of a small kid manages to do special tricks with a nunchaka and uses it makes it worth seeing, I dunno - I'd personally rather see the original, enigmatic Bruce Lee in action.Overall: 1/10 (avoid...please!)