In Praise of the Clones of Bruce Lee Part III: Bruise Lee

 

Bruise Lee, Kao Feng-Kin, made three Bruceploitation films for the Dim Sum Brothers, BRUCE’S FATAL BLOWS (1980) aka MASTER OF THE DEATH PUNCH (U.S. television), MY MAN, BRUCE (1981) aka BAD NEWS BRUCE! and the last and the best of the Dim Sum Bruise bunch is 1981’s BRUCE LEE IN CHINATOWN aka CHINATOWN HUSTLERS.

PLOT:  Nice guy Bruce (Bruise Lee) begins a new job as a dock worker.  On his first day, he notices goods being siphoned off by his co-workers.  When he goes to his manager about the thefts, he is told to look the other away.  Bruce chooses not to follow his managers advice and discovers an even more sinister reason behind the thefts. 

Filmed on a (frayed) shoestring budget, mainly at the Port of Hong Kong, BRUCE'S FATAL BLOWS is a fast-moving fun time.  Bruise Lee displays a casual cool and has the Bruce Lee mannerisms down pat, as well as adding some of his own:  tugging on his ear and smelling his armpit.   A strong start to his clone career.

The Dim Sum brothers ponied up a bigger budget for the next Bruise Lee adventure, in fact they sprung for a week of shooting in San Francisco.

MY MAN, BRUCE! (1981) aka BAD NEWS BRUCE is best known in the U.S. for its multitudinous showings on KUNG FU THEATER.

JT Thomas plays Scratch Johnson, a small-time hustler, that talks a better game than he plays.  Thomas had previously appeared in 1975's FROM WATTS, WITH FURY!  

A few months later most of the cast and crew would return to San Francisco to film BRUCE LEE IN CHINATOWN, which would be the final film for Kao Feng-Kin under his Bruise Lee alias.

PLOT:  Bruce (Bruise Lee) travels to San Francisco to attend the funeral of a friend.  It turns out that his friend was not as clean as he was when Bruce last saw him, and Bruce soon gets entangled in the seedy and violent worlds of prostitution, drugs and polyester fashions.

The Dim Sum brothers discovered Feng-Kin, who was Chinese martial artist, working in a Hong Kong car wash to make ends meet.

Interview in the 1982 August issue of SMASH YOUR FACE, KICK YOUR GROIN MAGAZINE.

Kao Feng-Kin: I was working as a rag man at the car wash.  Come summer the work got kinda hard, and I knew, that it wasn’t no place to be if one planned on being a star, but on the plus side, the boss man didn’t mind if you act the fool.  This well-dressed man was having his Bentley washed and we started to chat, and he told me that I resembled Bruce.  I laughed and told him that this wasn’t the first time that a stranger hold told me that I looked like Bruce Dern.  Then he laughed and said, “Not Bruce Dern.  Bruce Lee.”  I said, “That makes more sense.”  Next thing I know, I’m making my first film for the Dim Sum Brothers.

The Dim Sum Brothers had worked for the Shaw Brothers but left the company in 1976.  Dim Sum’s first release, THE 76 FLAVORS OF KUNG FU, was a world-wide hit and they started cranking out more films, including, NAUGHTY GIRLS OF KUNG FU (1977), SEND A MESSAGE WITH A FIST (1977), THE BEAST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU (1978), FINAL DUEL ON A LONELY BEACH (1980), QUEEN BEE VERSUS TIGER CLAW, DISCIPLES OF THE ONE ARMED BOXER (1980), THE INVINCIBLE, INVISIBLE KID (1981) and DAREDEVILS OF HONG KONG (1982) to name but a few of their catalogue.  

Kao Feng-Kin:  Like any kid growing up in Hong Kong, I was a big Bruce Lee fan.  I had a poster of him as Kato on my bedroom wall.  So, when the Dim Sum brothers told me that I was going to be billed as Bruise Lee, I didn’t like it.  I wanted to use my own name and forge my own path, but without agreeing to the name change, I would be back at the car wash with a rag in my hand, wondering, what could have been.