Rating: 
Summary: KARATE KRAZY!
Review: This movie is just incredible...it may very well be the worst movie ever made. It is set at a Madison Square Garden tournament that will supposedly decide "the successor of Bruce Lee." Hosted by Adolph Caeser (who would later be nominated for an Oscar for Norman Jewison's "A Soldier's Story"!), it supposedly features interviews with Bruce Lee (well, not quite), and supposedly tells the story of his early years (riddled with errors). Fred Williamson, a prominent blaxploitation star, appears in this movie as well.
The DVD that I saw of this movie was from Front Row Entertainment. Surprisingly, unlike most Bruceploitation DVDs, it was presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The print used was a bit scratchy, with muted colours and some pretty heavy grain, although it was significantly better than I expected it to be. Appropriately, it had no extras other than a biography of Bruce Lee.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't watch unless you like being bored
Review: This movie really makes no sense.Some people fight for title that doesn't exsist.I was "outraged" that they got away with the voice overs of Bruce.Some of the fight scenes were O.K.,but the movie is really just a cheap documentary.
Rating:
Summary: This is not a Bruce Lee movie
Review: This movie takes place after Bruce Lee's Death. The plot of the movie is that the top martial artists of the world are going to fight for his title. The only catch is that in only shows maybe three fight scenes in the whole movie and none of them are Bruce Lee. It shows Bruce Lee's head a couple times with someone trying to portray his voice. The movie was very low budget, even for its time. I purchased a DVD frisbee for 6.99+s/h. Don't make the same mistake I did.
Rating:
Summary: The worst movie I've ever seen.
Review: This was such a piece of [film] it's hard to describe. I bought it based on the cover, thought I was getting a 'kung fu' flick, you know lots of choreographed fights, etc. It was just a [bad] bunch of meaningless stuff strung together and called a movie. I laughed briefly once, at one line in the movie when a female victim rescued by one of the male characters says, "how can I repay you" and the guy smiles at the camera. Other than that, I watched with a blank, irritated expression. Do not buy this movie under any circumstance. My only hope now is that this movie will become a cult classic by virtue of the fact that it is so bad, and I will be able to sell it to someone else and get my money back.
Rating:
Summary: The worst movie I've ever seen.
Review: This was such a piece of [film] it's hard to describe. I bought it based on the cover, thought I was getting a 'kung fu' flick, you know lots of choreographed fights, etc. It was just a [bad] bunch of meaningless stuff strung together and called a movie. I laughed briefly once, at one line in the movie when a female victim rescued by one of the male characters says, "how can I repay you" and the guy smiles at the camera. Other than that, I watched with a blank, irritated expression. Do not buy this movie under any circumstance. My only hope now is that this movie will become a cult classic by virtue of the fact that it is so bad, and I will be able to sell it to someone else and get my money back.
Rating:
Summary: what a disgrace
Review: This would have to be one of the biggest loads of crap i have ever seen. It has nothing at all to do with Bruce Lee, its only purpose is to showcase a some martial arts theatrics with aren't anything special. When i first started watching this i thought it was some sort of joke, with the english dubbed interviews - what the ??? What a disgrace to the legend that is Bruce lee. can't believe i wasted $(...) bucks on this pile.
Rating: 
Summary: Here Comes The Beaver
Review: Unlike me, you have the help of these hilarious reviews to spell it out for you: this is a very uproarious rip-off of Bruce Lee. It's kinda like Shaft and Tiger Lily sitting down to dinner at the Cleaver's. It's so shockingly bad, it's good. I paid a buck for a copy. It was a good price.
Rating:
Summary: Bruceploitation at its unforgivable worst
Review: Where oh where do I even begin? Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (also known as The Dragon and the Cobra) has to be the worst, most insulting Bruce Lee exploitation film of all time. I don't know what the filmmakers were thinking on this one; the only thing I can come up with is to think these guys were trying to invoke the spirit of Bruce Lee by insulting his memory to such hellish proportions that he would have to come back from the grave and make them pay for the wrong they have done. Just watching this cinematic monstrosity makes me feel dirty. It is impossible to explain this "film." Oh, but there is so much to say. The movie opens at Madison Square Gardens on the night of the big 1979 karate championships. Thanks to promoter Aaron Banks, the winner of the big welter-weight fight is to be acclaimed as Bruce Lee's successor. Yes, you heard me right. First, though, Aaron Banks has to open a can of worms in an interview with our narrator of events, the agonizingly annoying Adolph Caesar. According to Banks, Bruce was killed by the mythical touch of death, in which such a powerful energy is forced into the victim's body that he drops dead three or four weeks later. How does he know? Well, his good friend Bruce was showing him the technique in the days before his premature death. This leads Caesar to ask the "obvious" question: will the new Bruce Lee successor also die from the touch of death? Next we get to meet a few actual martial artists: including Ron Van Clief and Fred "the Hammer" Williamson (who keeps being mistaken for Harry Belafonte - I'm not making this up), although they don't actually fight. While all of this is going on, we are assaulted with random video clips of Bruce Lee interviews; these feature someone else's words inserted over Bruce's actual words. At one point, they have Bruce singing the praises of Aaron Banks, which really got my dander up. There is also a wee bit of fighting action in the ring early on, capped off by the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen-Bill Louie rips both of his opponents eyes out and, being the great sportsman that he is, tosses them into the audience. Sadly, this is by far the highlight of this whole experience. Much worse is yet to come. Despite the fact that there is no first half, we are assaulted by a halftime show that lasts longer than the Orange Bowl halftime show. This is where the real insults to Bruce Lee are to be found. We watch film footage supposedly showing an 18-year-old Bruce Lee struggling to counter his parents' low opinion of karate and eventually leaving home. Bruce loves karate so much, we are told, because his great-great-grandfather was the greatest samurai warrior China ever saw. This isn't as impressive as it sounds, given the fact that there never were any Chinese samurai - they were all Japanese. In this completely fictional (and hopelessly inaccurate) life story of Bruce, we are also forced time and again to see fake footage within the fake footage of Bruce's impossible ancestor at work. The guy is an overweight slob who just goes around beating up everyone he meets; hitting a perfect 10 on the ridiculous meter, this old guy flies through the air with the greatest of ease and has a special talent of throwing his opponents up into trees (hmm, if I didn't know better, I might think that we're just seeing reversed video clips of guys jumping out of trees). Some foolish curse is supposedly associated with the old man to further make the bastardized history of Bruce Lee more mysterious. Finally, we get to the "main event," only to learn that Bruce Lee's "successor" will be one of two completely unknown kickboxers, one of whom apparently doesn't know he is actually allowed to kick as well as punch his opponent. I know other reviewers have covered some of these inanities, but I can't stop. There is one moment in which we are shown footage of a young Bruce Lee in his first film-what we see, though, is about a two-second clip of some old man jumping off a roof. Then we are purportedly shown a clip from The Green Hornet: it is an expletive-laced scene in which "Kato" saves two women from being pawed over and worse by a gang of cretins. Big surprise, that wasn't Bruce Lee at all; that was Bill Louie, another overweight slob of a martial artist, "recreating" the role for our supposed entertainment. This completely fictional portrayal of Bruce Lee's life is an insult that seems to cry out for retribution. My biggest fear is that someone unfamiliar with the real Bruce Lee may see this and get a hopelessly warped idea of the legend who cannot possibly rest in peace as long as a single copy of this film exists anywhere on earth. This "film" is just bloody awful. I would advise any Bruce Lee fans who watch this thing to do so in the daytime because you will be so outraged by what you see that you will not possibly be able to sleep for many hours if not days.
Rating:
Summary: Bruceploitation at its unforgivable worst
Review: Where oh where do I even begin? Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (also known as The Dragon and the Cobra) has to be the worst, most insulting Bruce Lee exploitation film of all time. I don't know what the filmmakers were thinking on this one; the only thing I can come up with is to think these guys were trying to invoke the spirit of Bruce Lee by insulting his memory to such hellish proportions that he would have to come back from the grave and make them pay for the wrong they have done. Just watching this cinematic monstrosity makes me feel dirty. It is impossible to explain this "film." Oh, but there is so much to say. The movie opens at Madison Square Gardens on the night of the big 1979 karate championships. Thanks to promoter Aaron Banks, the winner of the big welter-weight fight is to be acclaimed as Bruce Lee's successor. Yes, you heard me right. First, though, Aaron Banks has to open a can of worms in an interview with our narrator of events, the agonizingly annoying Adolph Caesar. According to Banks, Bruce was killed by the mythical touch of death, in which such a powerful energy is forced into the victim's body that he drops dead three or four weeks later. How does he know? Well, his good friend Bruce was showing him the technique in the days before his premature death. This leads Caesar to ask the "obvious" question: will the new Bruce Lee successor also die from the touch of death? Next we get to meet a few actual martial artists: including Ron Van Clief and Fred "the Hammer" Williamson (who keeps being mistaken for Harry Belafonte - I'm not making this up), although they don't actually fight. While all of this is going on, we are assaulted with random video clips of Bruce Lee interviews; these feature someone else's words inserted over Bruce's actual words. At one point, they have Bruce singing the praises of Aaron Banks, which really got my dander up. There is also a wee bit of fighting action in the ring early on, capped off by the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen-Bill Louie rips both of his opponents eyes out and, being the great sportsman that he is, tosses them into the audience. Sadly, this is by far the highlight of this whole experience. Much worse is yet to come. Despite the fact that there is no first half, we are assaulted by a halftime show that lasts longer than the Orange Bowl halftime show. This is where the real insults to Bruce Lee are to be found. We watch film footage supposedly showing an 18-year-old Bruce Lee struggling to counter his parents' low opinion of karate and eventually leaving home. Bruce loves karate so much, we are told, because his great-great-grandfather was the greatest samurai warrior China ever saw. This isn't as impressive as it sounds, given the fact that there never were any Chinese samurai - they were all Japanese. In this completely fictional (and hopelessly inaccurate) life story of Bruce, we are also forced time and again to see fake footage within the fake footage of Bruce's impossible ancestor at work. The guy is an overweight slob who just goes around beating up everyone he meets; hitting a perfect 10 on the ridiculous meter, this old guy flies through the air with the greatest of ease and has a special talent of throwing his opponents up into trees (hmm, if I didn't know better, I might think that we're just seeing reversed video clips of guys jumping out of trees). Some foolish curse is supposedly associated with the old man to further make the bastardized history of Bruce Lee more mysterious. Finally, we get to the "main event," only to learn that Bruce Lee's "successor" will be one of two completely unknown kickboxers, one of whom apparently doesn't know he is actually allowed to kick as well as punch his opponent. I know other reviewers have covered some of these inanities, but I can't stop. There is one moment in which we are shown footage of a young Bruce Lee in his first film-what we see, though, is about a two-second clip of some old man jumping off a roof. Then we are purportedly shown a clip from The Green Hornet: it is an expletive-laced scene in which "Kato" saves two women from being pawed over and worse by a gang of cretins. Big surprise, that wasn't Bruce Lee at all; that was Bill Louie, another overweight slob of a martial artist, "recreating" the role for our supposed entertainment. This completely fictional portrayal of Bruce Lee's life is an insult that seems to cry out for retribution. My biggest fear is that someone unfamiliar with the real Bruce Lee may see this and get a hopelessly warped idea of the legend who cannot possibly rest in peace as long as a single copy of this film exists anywhere on earth. This "film" is just bloody awful. I would advise any Bruce Lee fans who watch this thing to do so in the daytime because you will be so outraged by what you see that you will not possibly be able to sleep for many hours if not days.
Rating:
Summary: Fist of dough, Lost on this show
Review: Words can not express how bad this movie is. A combination of scenes patched together into a 90 minute disaster of film making. The movies only link to Bruce Lee is the title. Save your money or buy a ham and cheese sandwich, you will enjoy a sandwich longer than you will enjoy this film.
|
