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Bruce Lee - A Warrior's Journey

Bruce Lee - A Warrior's Journey

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tower of Death
Review: For all to know, the Lead Actor in Tower of Death playing Bruce Lee was Tang Lung (also known as "Kim, Tai Chung" "Kim, Tae Jeong" who also was in Jean Claude Van Damme's first debut movie "No Retreat No Surrender" as the Bruce Lee's ghost), one of the greatest martial artist on and off the screens. The poor superimposing of Bruce Lee's photos did a great disservice to this actor who actually on his own could have created a buzz as the truly "second" Bruce Lee. But films are at mercy of final cut editing version/special effects abilities limited due to budget and technology of its time.
If you watch the Asian version of "Tower of Death" you will get to see actual Master Kim Tae Jeong's wonderful martial arts moves without the poorly superimposing of Bruce Lee. The video still has weak film's technicalities (poor language dubbing, etc.) that takes away from the what could have been a greater film. However, to recoup, and to NOT be at the mercy of others, Master Kim TAe Jeong will be making on his own Action Movie called "Yakuza - A Way of Death" and some exciting scenes will be available on his Music Video that will play the movie's theme song, "New Love". Tower of Death had a good music but this music will be tremendous to bring back the Bruce Lee's martial acts' memories alive.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Insight to the brilliance of Bruce Lee
Review: For any Bruce Lee fan, finding footage of him is always a joy. Seeing what Bruce Lee intended for the actual Game of Death rights the travesty that was released by Hollywood as the "Game of Death." I always had heard of what Bruce Lee had intended for the Game of Death as having a multi-level pagoda that had different disciplines on each level. That was cool. Seeing the footage and learning what he really intended instead of just rumors was better than what I had hoped. Watching a documentary on Bruce Lee and seeing more footage of him in films and home movies than I had before will make me treasure this DVD all the more.

A great buy for any Bruce Lee fan and even those that are curious to know more about one of the most influential martial artists and Asian Americans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bruce Lee - A Warrior's Journey
Review: For anyone wanting to know how this movies is it's great! In the past Bruce Lee the legend, had some never-before-seen footage of Game of Death. But this is the original fighting version, never-before-seen footage Bruce Lee had intended to use in the movie Game of Death. This footage completely blows away the scenes that were used on the original movie. Plus you'll see that Bruce had two other guys with him as he battled each level of the Pagoda. The footage starts off at the third level with Dan Inosanto and the fight scenes are incredible. I just want to say that you'll not regret getting this movie-footage on Bruce Lee!...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: now ý am happy . cause game of death movýe was fýnýshed
Review: hello . . thank you to mr john lýttle for made thýs movýe for all bruce lee fans . when ý was watchýng the famous robert clouse dýrected movýe the game of death by fýrst realýsed at 1980 ýn turkey , ý feel somethýng mýssýng on these fýgth scene on pagoda . .several týme watchýng . and not the movýe complýte ýn my mýnd . but now . by the way buy at thýs new bruce lee's newer- before- seen fýlm footage mýssýng ýn 28 yrs ,all story was wýn deep meanýng for me . ý have fýnýshed thýs bruce lee unfýnýshed movýe ýn my collectýon and my mýnd . now ýts not ýmportant what happen ýn fýfth floor on pagoda or when the fýlm was begýn . lee was fýlm star or lee was agaýnst kýdnappýng or lee was rescue treasure on roof on pagoda . the meanýng of movýe . complýtly change .but now . only one more týme ý say to all fan of bruce lee. you must watchýng thýs dvd was name of a warrýor's journey john lýttle 's movýe .thanks a lot for you read my rewýew .

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BEWARE OF THE US DVD VERSION!!
Review: I bought this DVD today, and I am very disappointed. On the package it advertises special features: audio commentary by the director, a special enactment of the script shot in Korea, and a music video for the song "Ode to An Artist". None of these things are actually on the DVD. It is misleading, if not downright fraudulent, and I am going to demand a refund.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Found Treasure
Review: I enjoyed all but one of Bruce Lee's 4 movies. That one was The Game of Death. It was poorly edited & looked like it was made in 2 weeks. A Warrior's Journey show's the true ending Bruce edited. Although not completely mastered the concept of what Bruce actually wanted to do with this film comes through. If your a fan of Bruce Lee this new footage is a must see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Amazing Treat
Review: I got this DVD with a bit of scepticism expecting for it to be little scraps of junk that they put together of Bruce Lee to make more money from his name and legacy. I watched it and 15 minutes into it I started to realize that I was enjoying peering yet more deeply into this fascinating artist/teacher. The compilers of this DVD did an amazing and I really do mean an amazing job putting this together. This was nothing less than a labor of love because it was a lot of work to put something like this together. They actually tracked down about 30 minutes of lost footage from Game of Death edited it, put voice overs over it, cleaned it up and showed us Bruce Lee's notes for the his actual version of Game of Death, not the piece of junk that has been floating around with that title for the last 30 years. If you are a fan, I promise you that you are in for a treat.
Not only was it fascinating to get to see the lost Game of Death footage but the DVD is also a biographical documentary that was extremely well done. They really focused a lot on painting a picture of Bruce Lee as a deep artist/philospher not just showing us this 'butt kicking' chinese guy who made action films. This documentary really did a great job of showing the depth and integrety he had for the spiritual part of the martial arts and how he wanted to express himself as a teacher who was on the path to spiritual enlightenment through his art and the inner expression of it.
I am an artist type who is very deeply into eastern philosophy, my friends are always surprised when I tell them that I love Bruce Lee's work, they find it out of character for me since I am not even a martial artist and am not the type to be into action films. They unfortunately associate him as just this chinese action hero. Only the fans know how deep he was into the spiritual side of it all. How he was so deeply in tune with the Truth that he challenged the whole martial arts community for the dogmas and eventually even left behind the idea of styles to just learning to awaken to the inner expression of what Kung-Fu really is about---training the intuitive part of you to learn to react to the moment without any set ideas, no form as form. This DVD captured the essence of that part of Bruce---Bruce Lee the artist.
If that wasen't enough, it also includes very rare footage of Bruce Lee, interviews, quotes and interviews even his wife at the time Linda. This is in my opinion, by far, the very best, most sophisticated documentary ever done of Bruce Lee.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FOR BRUCE LEE & KUNG FU FANS THIS IS A MUST-HAVE DVD!!!!!!
Review: I read about this documentary and the lost "Game Of Death" fight footage and couldn't wait to see this DVD and I wasn't disappointed.

The John Little documentary is fine Bruce Lee documentary material with rare film footage , outtakes from "Game Of Death" , and interviews with Linda Lee , Kareem Abdul Jabbar , etc. The jewel of the DVD is the lost pagoda fight footage of "Game Of Death" that has been put together to re-create what Bruce Lee intended the pagoda fight scenes to be. It is very different than what the 1978 film showed , particularly , Bruce's two allies , James Tien and Chieh Yuan , that fought with Bruce against Dan Inasanto , the Judo master , and Kareem. These two characters were completly edited out of the '78 film and John Little brings the footage of Bruce's allies back. In the restored footage there is an added dynamic between Bruce and his two allies with one allie ,James Tien , being a bit antagonistic to Bruce. They don't speak to each other but their facial expressions and body language suggest a slight strife between the two ; almost as if they dislike each other. It is something new and humorous that I've never seen in a film that I grew up with.

The 1978 pagoda scenes felt like a short highlight reel. This restored footage feels like an authentic Bruce Lee movie with original audio(they speak in Chinese and English using the actor's actual voices). It's put together that way and its terrific. There are so many great things in the restored fight scenes that'll be a revelation to alot of Lee/kung fu fans.

This restored letterboxed pagoda fight footage makes the 1978 pagoda scenes seem bland in comparison. The entire restored pagoda scenes last about 33 minutes with more fighting and more dialogue , also , after Bruce kills Kareem it doesn't end there. There is more footage of Bruce , tiredly , walking back down the steps of the pagoda stopping by a window calling for help to his commrades outside. As Bruce walks down the last flight of steps the film fades to black under the playing of gentle violins and a soft chinese flute then it returns to the final 2 minutes plus of the documentary.

I have to say seeing those fight scenes was almost like watching a new Bruce Lee film.

John Little has done a knock out job with this. To Lee fans and kung fu fans alike I highly recommend this DVD. This documentary truely shows Bruce Lee's final work the way Bruce meant it to be seen. A must have DVD!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A warriors journey vs Game of Death
Review: I was watching AMC and saw a biography on bruce, it was pretty good, but then they showed the restored version of Game of death,..., that was the best tv time of my life. So im now buying the dvd to watch it over and over again. When you watch it, you feel kinda funny, cause it was never released, and you feelliek your watching some like historic event. Its truly a very awesome buy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You Had to Have It
Review: I'm not the rabid Bruce Lee fan that I was in my teens, but this DVD made me remember why I had been so rabid. What an amazing human! I am reminded that Bruce Lee might very well have been the greatest action star ever seen. What might he have done?

Well, Game of Death, for one. Only three fight scenes were finished, but they are Lee's best. Unfortunately, they were spliced into the end of one of the most hideous motion pictures ever made. It was called Bruce Lee's Game of Death, but it bore no resemblance to it's titular sibling.

It's a sad movie in so many ways. Sad because former Oscar winner Gig Young was in it; sad because Bruce Lee was played by several unconvincing lookalikes. It's even sad for Hugh O'Brien and Colleen Camp. Even THEY did not deserve this movie! I didn't mention yet that Bruce was also played by Bruce himself, by way of awkwardly inserted clips from his other films. An uninitiated viewer would wonder at the varying lengths of our hero's hair. I won't even go into the cardboard cutout mask of Bruce that is worn in one brief scene. I can only guess that the lookalike was sick that day, so somebody tore a picture of Bruce out of a magazine and pasted it on cardboard to serve as a clever mask, fooling the audience! Impressive special effects.

The only life this cinematic travesty holds are the actual Bruce Lee fights at the end. ...

How did anybody ever let that thing get made?

Finally we have the fights, as complete as they're ever going to be. There are a couple of laughs in the outtakes, and untinentional ones in the dialog. A lot of 70s vernacular that sounds silly and dated today. But that actually makes it more fun. Bruce was a great martial artist, but he was still stumbling with acting, and had a weekness for casting friends who were bad actors. Unfortunately, Kareem is among the worse. Maybe they shouldn't have recovered some of the dialog (just kidding.)

Oh, and the horrible Bruce Lee imitator who did the yells and yelps in Game of Death is nowhere to be heard here. I don't know if Bruce had recorded any of those before his death, but he certainly hadn't done them all. Any good Bruce Lee fan will recognize the shrieks and howls from Enter the Dragon, Way of the Dragon and Fist of Fury. But they are put in seemlessly and fit with almost every expression and gesture. Some real care was taken to restore this footage. Some of the film was damaged, and you can tell, but by and large it's crisp and clean.

This was fun. It was great to recapture the same wonder and awe I felt as a teen. The passage of years have not eroded Lee's skill. There still has not been any who compare. Nobody has ever been as intense, as driven, as GOOD, as Bruce Lee. This is not an opinion. It is cold hard fact. Accept it.

This is probably why he burned out so fast. Today, he would have gotten his big break in his early 20s, instead of the age of 32. How good would his movies have been with today's standards, and many more films under his belt? How many films did Jackie Chan have to make before he was noticed worldwide? Or Jet Li? Hey, I love them both, I really do, but they're still Bruce's lapdogs. This is fact. Accept it.

I think I'll watch those fights again.


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