Remember the Dragon: How Bruce Lee changed America

National Review ^ | 7/25/2003 | Kenneth Silber

[ArcLight]

It has been three decades since the untimely death on July 20, 1973 of Bruce Lee, the martial-arts expert and movie star. The "dragon" (as he is known for his starring role in the film Enter the Dragon) has long been a cult hero to fans of martial-arts movies. But Lee deserves broader recognition for his contributions to American culture and society.

[ArcLight]

Silly article, but God bless Bruce!

[goldstategop]

Think about all the martial themed shows since: Walker: Texas Ranger, Hercules, Xena, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel and La Femme Nikita all of which trace their ancestry back to that first Bruce Lee movie.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Bruce died in Hong Kong but is buried in Seattle.

[Steely Glint]

Martial arts movies are fine, but always remember that firearms > martial arts.

[Cicero]

I'm also a Jackie Chan fan.

Also to be recommended are all of Kurosawa's movies, and Miyamoto's three-movie "Samurai." Sonny Chiba is fun, too, if you don't require any redeeming social significance.

And if you have a tough stomach and don't mind visual gore--not for the squeamish certainly--there's the "Lone Wolf and Cub" or Babycart series of six movies about the Shogun's outlawed executioner, Ogami Itto. Warning: lots of blood and some sexually suggestive scenes, but all put to the purpose of the Japanese conception of honor. It's almost the movie equivalent of reading the Iliad, which similarly involves all sorts of unpleasant ways of sticking swords and spears into people.