SHOOTFIGHTER: FIGHT TO THE DEATH (1993)

 For many years I've been looking for a movie where the great Bolo Yeung plays a hero and thanks to a friend of mine this film has finally come into my life. Mr. Bolo basically plays the Mr. Miyagi role from THE KARATE KID here as the teacher of a couple of young martial artists. The weird thing about that is that one of the young fellas he's training is Johnny, the main bad kid, from THE KARATE KID and if that's not weird enough the main bad guy here is the leader of the Cobra Kai himself, Martin Kove.
 While this does satisfy me in seeing Bolo portrayed as a sympathetic character I think the director didn't really utilize his talents to their utmost. For one thing Bolo isn't really the main character here and the focus is clearly on his two trainees. While they're fine enough some of their scenes veer off into the overly-dramatic soap-opera territory that I doubt anyone viewing this film is looking for. I know not focusing on Bolo is most likely due to Mr. Yeung's limited skills in the English language but I still think there had to be someway to utilize him more. Perhaps in some buddy-cop type tale where he doesn't have to say much? On the plus side thought his one has some pretty brutal fights with bloody gore on display including a guy getting his neck slashed, another guy getting his neck ripped out, INDIANA JONES-style heart-ripping action, a vicious arm-breaking and a glorious Bolo going apeshit final fight. If like me you are a  Bolomaniac check this one out immediately if not sooner.
 There was a SHOOTFIGHTER II a couple of years later that I need to find pronto.

IRONHEART (1991)

 So the star of this film, Britton K. Lee, was also the producer. I'm assuming this means he put up a bunch of money and really wanted to be a famous action film star so he just made himself the main character. I assume this because this was the only film he was ever in and he's also not particularly charismatic. He does pull off the martial arts well enough though I kept thinking that he was like a very poor-man's version of Jackie Chan during the fights. The director was Robert Clouse who a couple of decades earlier gave us ENTER THE DRAGON. Apparently he was a bit senile during the filming of this so don't expect anything close to the quality of that film. The main reason I watched this is because the VHS tape I found of this lists the great Bolo Yeung as the star and puts his pretty face right on the cover. Unfortunately I'm still looking for a movie where he is actually the star. He really only gets one big fight scene in this despite being second-billed which was a letdown. There is an unexpected decapitation in this which was really the only unexpected thing that happened.
 A footnote for pro wrestling fans is that Scot Levy, AKA ECW's Raven, is one of the tough guy extras.

Outside of the 90s dance club scenes the music in this is about the most generic stuff you will ever hear!:

THE IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE (1978)

 The image of Bruce Lee that I have in my head is pretty bad-ass. The image of Bruce Lee in this movie is that he's a cop trying to bust some jewel thieves or something. Bruce Li is our imitation Bruce here but I don't think he's supposed to be playing the real Bruce since no one ever calls him that except for this one time a chick tells him he looks a lot like Bruce Lee. It starts out with Li trying to save a suicidal guy from jumping off a roof while music from the TAXI DRIVER soundtrack plays. Right off the bat he fails. This is some way to introduce your hero. After this Bolo Yeung is introduced as the heavy(credited here as Yang Szu). Bolo, as always, is awesome in this. I'm still trying to find a movie where Bolo plays a Schwarzeneger-esque action hero but I'm really doubting that exists. In this he's a total criminal/crook/scumbag but there is one scene where a group of fellow evil-doers gang up on him and I think we're supposed to root for him here. This might be the closest I will ever get to fulfilling my dream. Most of this movie is pretty dull but the filmmakers were nice enough to throw in a couple of nudie scenes involving a shower and some skinny-dipping. Recommended for Brucesploitation-completists only. 

BLOODFIGHT (1989)

 This kung fu flick is basically a rip-off of the Jean-Claude Van Damme BLOODSPORT movie with a similar tournament situation going on and even the same world's greatest kung-fu-villian Mr. Bolo Yeung playing a character named Chang Lee as opposed to his totally different BLOODSPORT character of Chong Li and Bolo as always is awesome in everything he appears in! You also really get a STREETFIGHTER-video game feel with some of the other fighters here including a large Sumo-wrestler, a giant Indian man, a mad monkey kung-fu fighter, a wrestler who looks like Mr. Clean and a few other interesting characters. There's also an awesome Asian punk gang complete with mohawks and multi-colored-dyed hair led by a swarmy white guy that drive around in a Jeep that says "FUCK YOU" across the back. They kick some ass and definitely add to the excitement whenever they show up. I first encountered this fine film playing on the Spanish station and it's such a straight-forward film that you really don't even need to understand what's being said to appreciate the bloody-fighting goodness.
 There were at least 3 sequels to this and I really hope that gang shows up in those also. It's doubtful though since BLOODFIGHT 2 is actually a movie from 1988 so I'm assuming they probably have nothing to do with this besides just a retitling. AKA FINAL FIGHT



                                                Homemade poster from Ghana!:

BRUCE LEE IN NEW GUINEA (1978)

 This starts out with some funky soul music and then Bruce Lee-imitator Bruce Li beats up some bullies.  From there it's off to some kung fu island adventures.  Apparently everyone in New Guinea does snake-style kung fu and is part of a tribe of snakepeople led by a guy who wears the occasional skull mask and has a pit of poisonous snakes right in the middle of his living room.  The great Bolo Yeung is part of our evil gang.   A very racist depiction of a black man shows up about halfway through the movie and has one very memorable line of "I knows dat dey keeps dat snake pearl hidden dere" before falling into the snake pit like a jackass.  There's also a couple of white guys that suck at kung fu to even out the racism scales a bit.  An ape, or a guy in an ape suit if you wanna be technical, helps out the princess of the snake people with his martial arts and acrobatic skills and lots of people get chop-sockied to death.  This ones just wacky enough to separate itself  from some of the more boring kung fu flicks of the past.  
 I wonder what year they stopped making these Bruce Lee rip-off films and if anyone anywhere was ever fooled into thinking the real Bruce would show up in any of them.  AKA BRUCE LI IN NEW GUINEA, LAST FIST OF FURY and BRUCE LEE IN SNAKE ISLAND

In-a-gada-da-vida-baby!:
   

SUPER KUNG FU KID (1973)

                            "The fellow is good at kung fu.  Who is he actually?"

 I'd heard comedian Joey Diaz rave about this movie recently, under it's U.S. release title KARADO: THE HONG KONG CAT, along with all the Bruce Lee classics and since he's never steered me wrong before I figured I would check it out.  Apparently it was a very inventive idea back in the early 70's to put metal tips on your nun-chucks  and that's what our hero does here.  While this isn't the most original movie you could see I suppose it's decent enough in this genre.  Of course the Bruce Lee classics from this era are way superior in comparison.  This is your basic revenge tale that puts super-long fight scenes in place of an actual plot.  Strangely a few characters seem to have been dubbed by Grover from Sesame Street which seems like an odd choice for a voice-over guy.  You get the great Chinese Hercules himself, Bolo Yeung, here in a sweet 70's mustache and perfectly parted hair as our bad guy and a lot of fighting on a boat.  Only really recommended for hardcore kung fu nuts.  AKA KARADO: THE KUNG FU FLASH and SUPERIOR YOUNGSTER