Simply put, when you talk legends of not only cinema but toughness, you can't ignore the importance of Bruce Lee. It was rumoured that Oxford Dictionary was considering updating the definition of 'legendary' to state only 'Bruce Lee'. Bruce Lee was the key that made Hollywood producers salivate at the words 'overseas Asian market'. Cast as the sidekick Kato in the The Green Hornet TV series, he discovered upon returning to Hong Kong that it was referred to as 'The Kato Show,' with him as the star. Chuck Norris would not be Chuck Norris without Bruce Lee, who also helped kick-start the film careers of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Jean Claude Van Damme He made the 'martial arts' film into a billion dollar genre that still flourishes to this day. It has influenced such people from the comedy legends the Zucker brothers to Quentin Tarantino plus millions of scrawny, bullied American teens that signed up for martial arts lessons after seeing Bruce Lee fight the giant Kareem Abdul Jabaar in Game Of Death. He was the first true star of Asian descent to achieve the the highest honour in Hollywood being given complete control of his movies, from story to directing. David Carradine owes Bruce Lee his long career for being cast as the American Bruce Lee in the classic western/martial arts TV series Kung Fu. At the time of his death, Bruce Lee was in a legal battle with the studios that created Kung Fu as he maintained he had pitched the concept to producers who summarily stole his idea and cast Carradine in the role instead, who they thought would play better to Western audiences. As for tough? When he found that he was becoming too manly for the 'ordinary' martial arts of the time, he developed his own style, June Keet Do which literally means 'The Way of the Intercepting Fist'. He was proof of the power of the one-inch punch, something most tough guys failed to believe until the video below. The only thing to keep Bruce Lee from kicking ass into the New Millennium was his surprising, legendary and premature death at the age of 32 of a brain aneurysm, only months after finishing his epic martial arts film, Enter the Dragon.
Been there, done that but not too well. Continually financially restrained. Now (and still) lives in Western Canada and talks some hockey and parenting on ogieoglethorpe.blogspot.ca and watching trailers on 2minutemovies.blogspot.ca.
