In Praise of the Clones of Bruce Lee Part IV

 IPOE continues our in-depth, multi-post look at the Bruceploitation genre.  

1980s WHAT’S YOUR STYLE? featured three Bruce Lee Clones, two of which were flesh and bone.  One was not.

PLOT:  Kraken Lee and Shitake Lee are two, frequently shirtless undercover cops, who are teamed up to bust up a Hong Kong heroin ring, most of whom wear shirts (very loud shirts).  There is a long history between the two and they have to bury their differences to work together. 

Kraken Lee was Terry Yang, who could actually lay claim to being a student of Bruce Lee’s second cousin Fred, who was his grade school substitute history teacher.  Yang also appeared as a clone in 1979's EXIT THE BRUCE. . . ENTER THE BRUCE, WAR OF THE BRUCE LEE CLONES (1981) and under his own name in 1982’s SONIC DEATHPUNCH OF THE ONE-EYED DRUNKEN MASTER.

Shitake Lee was Wai Luk-Kim.  He would appear in just three other films under his given name, BLACK MAGIC KILLERS (1979), KUNG FU COOKBOOK (1980) and THE CLEAN, THE DIRTY AND THE FUNKY (1980) and one more as a clone, WAR OF THE BRUCE LEE CLONES (1981). 

WHAT'S YOUR STYLE? is a decent police actioner with the requisite, fights, chases and gun battles, and some toe sucking, but the one aspect that makes it stand out is the character of Mecha Lee, a metallic Kung Fu killer. Mecha Lee is created by a disgraced scientist, who controls him remotely, to act as an enforcer for the Heroin boys, to take care of anyone snooping around their dirty business.  Mecha Lee's screen time is limited to only two scenes, but the character is the one thing that every viewer will remember.

Unfortunately, in this, his debut outing, Mecha Lee resembled an Asian tin woodsman more than a mechanical Bruce Lee.  The metal suit is clunky and ill fitting.  The actor playing Mecha Lee was Danny Ching-Ho, who would do his best to perform and do fight scenes with the costume, but it just doesn't work.  For his second appearance in CRIME LORDS OF HONG KONG (1980), the metal suit was streamlined quite a bit, allowing more freedom of movement and more believability for the fight scenes. 

Danny Ching-Ho, a Taiwanese martial artist and Pisces, who enjoyed long romantic training sessions and breaking cement bricks with the head of his dates.

He would play Mecha Lee two more times in 1981’s self-titled MECHA LEE aka NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS HERE’S MECHA LEE (UK video release).  Then in 2020 KUNG FU FUTURE BATTLE (1982).

“MAKES THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN LOOK LIKE CHUMP CHANGE!”

The MECHA LEE suit is now rusting away next to a Mitsubishi Delica in a junk yard somewhere in Taipei. 

When the novelty of a mechanical Bruce Lee wore off, which was surprisingly swift, Ching-Ho started to be billed under his real name and made over thirty more movies.  THE MAN FROM KUNAGTUNG (1982), SISTERHOOD OF KUNG FU (1983) and the TATTOOED AVENGER (1983).  Semi-retired, he still acts occasionally.  His latest role was as a Korean ambassador in the SyFy channel's ATOMACUDA VS. SHARKADUSA (2018).  In which a giant barracuda, born from an atomic explosion, grows to enormous proportions and battles a giant great white shark with snakes protruding from his it's head.

Golden Crop International was a short-lived company, only releasing WHAT’S YOUR STYLE? THE TREASURE OF THE KUNG FU MASTER (1981) and THE ROAD MAP OF CHINESE BOXING (1982).

Another two-time clone was Florsheim Lee, who's only starring role was in BRUCE’S DEADLY SNEAKERS (1977).

Florsheim Lee was an alias of course, for Florsheim Chi-Wan, who appeared under his birth name in two movies prior to BRUCE'S DEADLY SNEAKERS, CLAN OF THE KUNG FU KILLERS (1975) and FISTS OF THE ZODIAC (1976).  He would be one of the numerous Lee's that starred in 1981's WAR OF THE BRUCE LEE CLONES, before heading off to that great used shoe rack in the sky.

PLOT:  Florsheim Lee plays Warren, a put-upon loner, who buys a pair of used sneakers from an old coot who runs a roadside stand.  The cackling salesman tells Warren that the sneakers belonged to Bruce Lee.  Warren soon discovers that when he wears the sneakers, he has powerful kung fu, especially with his legs.  He is able to tame his bullies with his newfound skill, but when he faces the final showdown with his toughest tormentor, he can’t find the sneakers.  

Best summed up as a feel-good movie with plenty of bone breaking violence.

Released in the United States by Mantooth Releasing, who specialized in pornography before jumping on the Kung Fu bandwagon.  In fact, Mantooth Releasing was one of the premier distributors of cinema filth in the seventies, and we’re talking some sleazy shit, for the total degenerate.

In Praise of Transcontinental International Pictures Part III: Family Films

 

Transcontinental International Pictures made their name and fame releasing exploitation films, but they also dabbled with family fare.  Two of these movies were picked up in a distribution deal with the Denver based company Buck Fizz.

Most people thought that Buck Fizz was named after the cocktail, sans the " 's ", and they were correct.  The president of the company, Randall Bradford, was a practicing alcoholic, who dedicated a lot of time and effort into training.  Bradford was an old drinking buddy of TIP's Clark Kincaid.  They had lifted, toasted, broken and had used as weapons, many a glass of spirits over the years.

Kincaid felt that expanding TIP's catalogue with family films would garner playdates in theaters that their typical offerings would never play, in addition to the television air dates.

TIP's first kiddie film release was 1975's THE SURVIVAL FAMILY.

PLOT:  Circa, 1870's.  When their train derails during an avalanche, there are only four survivors, a farmer, a schoolteacher and two children. . . all strangers, have to band and bond together, to brave the elements and make it to safety.

The film has an odd postscript, as all four leads became fast friends during their time on the set.  They would remain in contact and in 1982 they joined forces to hijack a Brinks truck.

Randall Bradford hired an old pro to direct both films.  Bob "Robert" Anderson had directed over two hundred television westerns and war and police shows, including FLATFOOT (1967-1969) and TALES FROM FORT HOLMAN (1961-1965).

Up next, was LADDIE'S WILDERNESS ADVENTURE (1977), the riveting story of a brave and resourceful collie, lost in the wilderness, trying to find his way home to the loving family that he was separated from.

As soon as the film was announced in Box Office Magazine, MGM, the home company of the Lassie film series, slapped an injunction on TIP, and the release was stopped.  As fate would have it, Clark Kincaid was a drinking buddy of MGM's head lawyer.  He was able to convince the lawyer, and in turn, the MGM brass, that the name Laddie was as far away from Lassie as Esso was as far away from Exxon.

Grover the dog was found amongst a litter of puppies in a Garden Grove pet store by the famous talent scout, Angela Jones, who also discovered, Bennie the chimp, Marco the orangutan and Robbie Rist, amongst many others.  In his early years he appeared in many television commercials and print adds.  He went to an open casting call for Laddie and everyone in the room knew that Grover would make the perfect Laddie.  

LADDIE'S WILDERNESS ADVENTURE turned out to be TIP's biggest hit.  Grover was thrust onto the rocket ride of stardom.  He appeared on all the nationwide talk shows of the day and became a nightly fixture at the Playboy mansion, partying till the dawn with the playmates and celebrities and occasionally fetching Hugh Hefner's pipe.

TIP and Buck Fizz rushed a sequel into production    Too quickly, as it turned out that LADDIE, THE HOBO AND THE BLIND GIRL (1978) was a shell of the original film. Produced with twice the budget, but with half the heart and fun.  The sequel still made a strong profit, which lead to TIP and Buck Fizz to discuss more family friendly productions, but nothing made it past the spitballing stage.

Grover's final film, RUFF-RUFF, THE DOG WHO DESTROYED TOLEDO (1979), was hailed by many critics as a motion picture.

This film also has an odd postscript as Grover had hit hard times after his movie career.  He moved back East and had numerous run ins with animal control and eventually the FBI.