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(gentle music)
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00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,840
(bell dings)
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00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,640
(dramatic music)
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00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:21,074
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00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,560
(gong bongs)
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00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,240
(gentle music)
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(man grunts)
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- Martial arts has infected
every form of media right now.
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(man grunting)
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- It's almost like a fever that you catch.
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- [Man] It's a virus
that's spread everywhere.
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(man grunting)
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00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:52,240
- We're not fully aware of it
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00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,600
being there anymore, it's just there.
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- Hey!
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- And you watch a commercial,
you watch a soap opera,
17
00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:58,640
a music video, a kid's show.
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- Oh phooey!
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00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:01,760
- [Woman] So many video
games, so many films.
20
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,960
- [Man] In music and dance.
21
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:05,760
- And it's a universal language.
22
00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:06,560
(man grunts)
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- But everyone takes
what they need from it.
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- We've twisted it.
25
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:10,720
We've remixed it.
26
00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,840
- It truly has evolved 10 fold.
27
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- I would never believe that
Keanu Reeves would do Kung Fu,
28
00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:20,520
that a kung fu movie would win an Oscar.
29
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That just seemed impossible.
30
00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:23,520
- Whoa.
31
00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,320
(upbeat music)
32
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:27,120
- Ah!
33
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:28,200
(upbeat music)
34
00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:29,040
(Bruce grunts)
35
00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:34,120
(upbeat music)
(men grunting)
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00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,600
(gentle music)
37
00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:57,320
(grunting)
(gentle music)
38
00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,360
(swords clanging)
(gentle music)
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00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:04,440
- Kung fu films are art,
beauty, movement, legacy.
40
00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:05,920
There's history.
41
00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:08,480
(all grunting)
42
00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,600
- They were based on Peking opera.
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00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,200
If you've ever seen an authentic
Peking opera performance,
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it's beautiful.
45
00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,280
(gentle music)
46
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- The beauty and the
artifice and the elegance
47
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and the style are all
exactly what it's about.
48
00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,440
- It was just all there like
a dance, like a performance.
49
00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,440
- Oftentimes the fight itself,
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00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,440
it's based on inherited stories
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which are passed on
generation to generation.
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(dramatic music)
53
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,240
This was all to carry a forge into
54
00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,760
the 20th Century
particularly in Hong Kong.
55
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(gong bongs)
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- [Announcer] Hong Kong, 100 years ago
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a rocky inhospitable island,
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00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,080
is today one of the world's
busiest and most private cities.
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00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,480
Her new buildings match her new industries
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producing goods which are
sold across the world.
61
00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,920
- Hong Kong was a place
where everyone went
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and they went there to make money.
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00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:07,200
In the 60's Hong Kong became
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00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,280
a manufacturing base and people
working in cement factories,
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00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:11,600
artificial flower factories,
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00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,520
button factories, radio factories.
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Everything was light industry.
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00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:17,920
- I mean Hong Kong then and now is always
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a very stressful place to work, to live.
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Sometimes you just wanna have fun
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and going to the movies is almost like
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a community or family
gathering sort of event.
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(men yelling)
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- Hong Kong was a British colony.
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For them film making was not merely
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an exercise in entertainment but it's also
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a way of postulating the Chinese identity.
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00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,080
- There had been movie studios
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00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,040
in Hong Kong before Shaw
Brothers but Shaw Brothers
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00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,400
was the Death Star of
Hong Kong movie studios.
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00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,240
(dramatic music)
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- [Announcer] Run Run Shaw sits in
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this remote corner of
the Commonwealth doing
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what Hollywood would love to be doing.
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Making a film every week of
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the year and a profit at the end.
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(man grunts)
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He controls the worlds
largest privately owned studio
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00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,240
and cinema circuit and an annual
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00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:08,800
income of 100 million pounds.
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00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,800
- I can guess what the people want better
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00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,640
then most of the other producers.
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- They would make movies
and more and more of them.
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They would own their stars.
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They would own their actors.
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00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:21,320
They would own their own fan magazines.
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00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:23,480
They would own their own
sound stages and composers
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00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,760
and editors and cameras
and lights and everything.
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It would all be done in house.
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00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:32,600
(man grunting)
(dramatic music)
101
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,240
And what Shaw was making
was what was popular.
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Adaptations of Chinese operas.
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(film reel beeps)
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(singing in foreign language)
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Adaptations of classical works.
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00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,000
(singer vocalising)
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00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:43,760
There were a few spy movies.
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00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:45,920
(singer vocalising)
(dramatic music)
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00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,640
A lot of romance and musicals.
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00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,280
(singing in foreign language)
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00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:52,320
Shaw Brothers decided that at the end
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00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,560
of the decade to move
away from these graceful,
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00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:56,040
fanciful movies and instead
114
00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,120
bring gritty realism and exciting combat.
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00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,560
(weapons clanging)
(jazz music)
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00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,160
- Kung fu took the passion of opera
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00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,680
and you combine it with the athleticism
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00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,600
and the acrobatics of ballet.
119
00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:11,800
(girl grunts)
(weapons clanging)
120
00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:13,600
- The Shaw Brothers, to me it was
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00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:15,920
like Cecil B Demille's "Ten Commandments."
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00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,160
That rich Technicolour
and you could just escape.
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00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:20,880
(weapons clanging)
(upbeat music)
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00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:21,760
(girl yells)
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00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:22,800
- The Shaw Brothers had this way
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00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:24,120
of everybody kinda understanding
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00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,680
how the genre should look, feel, sound.
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How people should
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be performing.
- Hi ya!
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00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:30,160
- They just knew it all.
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00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:31,800
They were all experts in it.
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00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,320
(man speaking in foreign language)
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00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:35,680
- [Translator] Watching
Shaw Brothers films,
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00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,600
what impacted me the most was,
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00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:39,400
I thought the sound effect of
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00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,000
the sword fighting (swords
clanging) was nice.
137
00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:44,760
(swords clanging)
138
00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:47,200
- The way the sound was designed
139
00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:52,280
was an important integral part
of what made that genre tick.
140
00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:54,760
(men grunting)
(fists thudding)
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00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:56,640
People would still sit live in front
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00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,520
of the screen with a master
recorder rolling at the back
143
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:03,960
and literally perform the sound effects
144
00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,760
in sync with the action,
with the choreography.
145
00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:10,680
(men grunting)
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00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:12,720
They would frequently have three guys
147
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:14,200
in front of the mixing console each
148
00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:16,800
with a reel to reel tape recorder
149
00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,120
and they would quickly
grab a roll of tape,
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00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,800
lace it up and fire it
off in real time live
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00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:24,920
whilst they were watching the film.
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00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:26,360
(men yelling)
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00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:27,800
With a couple of guys in there
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00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,560
that had been in there with the
cigarettes going constantly,
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00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,160
they'd have been in there for probably
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00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:34,400
the last you know, maybe 72 hours.
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The mindset here was you
guys are in this room,
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00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:39,160
you're not leaving this room until
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you finished this film and by the way,
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00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,080
there's three more coming in (laughs).
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00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,200
(upbeat music)
162
00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:47,120
(Chin Siu-Ho speaking in foreign language)
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00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,200
- [Translator] Night shifts
right after day shifts
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00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:50,880
and then day shifts again.
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00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,000
(Chin Siu-Ho speaking in foreign language)
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00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,360
I had this record of me shooting
six films at the same time.
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00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,480
- It was a factory and there were actors,
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00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,800
stunt men, technicians
who lived in dormitories.
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00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:04,200
- That's how they could crank those out.
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00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:06,920
They had people making two
or three pictures at a time.
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00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,320
- [Interviewer] If you have them living
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00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,160
in the dormitories here you have much
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00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:11,760
more control over them of course.
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00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,680
- [Run Run] Yes, of course.
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00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:14,960
We know their movement.
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00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,880
The time they leave the
dormitory, time they come back,
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00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,080
and if they go out too
much we ask questions.
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00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,760
- You work for Run Run Shaw and of course
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00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:28,720
you are also beneath Mona Fong who became
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00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,600
his sort of girlfriend
and later became his wife,
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00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,680
who also became the head
of Shaw's production
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00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:35,840
and it would be hard to find a woman
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00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,920
more hated or more important
in Hong Kong film history.
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00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,240
Mona Fong knew how to
watch the bottom line
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00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:43,800
and she would do things like tell them
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00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,320
to cut their costumes from
floor length to knee length,
187
00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,800
cut their spears from
six feet to three feet,
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00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:50,040
leaving the director who showed up
189
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:51,840
the next day flummoxed as to how he
190
00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:53,320
was gonna make a three foot spear
191
00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,720
look at all threatening on screen.
192
00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:56,560
(man yells)
193
00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:57,760
(gentle music)
194
00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,880
Shaw Brothers big problem in the 70's,
195
00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:02,760
was that they were too big.
196
00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:03,960
They were too powerful.
197
00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:05,920
They had no reason to second guess
198
00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,680
their decisions because
all their decisions
199
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,320
had been right for a
really really long time
200
00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,680
and so when someone came to Shaw Brothers
201
00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:14,480
and said we got this guy Bruce Lee,
202
00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,160
maybe you wanna try him out and hire him,
203
00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,320
Run Run Shaw thought
you're just a kung fu guy.
204
00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:20,240
Screw off.
205
00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:21,200
- That was the biggest,
206
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,680
it's like not signing The Beatles, right?
207
00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:26,280
(gentle music)
208
00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,880
- Hong Kong was extremely male driven
209
00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,640
and movies were originally
made only for house wives.
210
00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:34,240
So they didn't want the housewives going
211
00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,040
and lusting after handsome guys.
212
00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,400
So all the women played the
leading heroic characters.
213
00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:42,720
- One of the first big on screen heroines
214
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:44,960
coming out of the late
60's was Chin Pei-Pei
215
00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:46,880
who was in Yueh Hua's
"Come Drink With Me."
216
00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,560
(upbeat music)
217
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,520
- When I come to Hong Kong,
everything so strange to me.
218
00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:00,040
I decide to go into movies,
219
00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,320
only because dance training,
220
00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:08,400
the dance make the fighting more feminine.
221
00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,360
(grunting)
(tense music)
222
00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,160
- She saw fighting as dancing,
223
00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:16,720
and you could clearly see in
224
00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:18,040
the movie that fighting was dancing.
225
00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,840
(sword clanging)
(dramatic music)
226
00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,400
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
227
00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,280
- And the funny thing is that often,
228
00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,800
kung fu films are looked down
on by the cultural elite.
229
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,000
(dramatic music)
230
00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,640
But this is the same thing as ballet.
231
00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:35,680
(man grunts)
(sword clanging)
232
00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,120
- Gradually, it become like my own style.
233
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:44,200
(swords clanging)
(gentle music)
234
00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:46,840
- The image of Chin Pei-Pei surrounded
235
00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,720
by men and then absolutely
annihilating them (laughs),
236
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,680
it's so striking because it was happening
237
00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:55,800
in these Hong Kong films way
238
00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:57,760
before it was happening over here.
239
00:09:57,840 --> 00:09:58,800
(swords clanging)
(dramatic music)
240
00:09:58,880 --> 00:09:59,840
(man yells)
241
00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,160
- People don't wanna see always
242
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,280
some woman in a pretty dress.
243
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,000
I always loved the fight.
244
00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,520
(dramatic music)
245
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,760
- In the older days in Hong Kong,
246
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,160
they actually show a real
martial artist actress
247
00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,680
like Chin Pei-Pei who
actually can do action.
248
00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,240
You can have longer takes,
you can do more complex stuff.
249
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,000
(men grunting)
(swords clanging)
250
00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:26,640
- I didn't know this was something
251
00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,000
special to me at the beginning.
252
00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,560
I'm playing a girl who know how to fight.
253
00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,320
(dramatic music)
(swords clanging)
254
00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:41,200
From then on, I fight all
the time, all the movie.
255
00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,920
(dramatic music)
(swords clanging)
256
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:49,000
(grunting)
(dramatic music)
257
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:55,560
(film reel ticking)
258
00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:56,560
(dramatic music)
259
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,040
- [Announcer] Three straight
days of street rioting
260
00:10:58,120 --> 00:10:59,840
in the crowded Kowloon Peninsula
261
00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:02,640
of Hong Kong bring out scores of police.
262
00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,880
- 1967 was a year Hong Kong was on fire.
263
00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:07,880
When there was a strike by some workers
264
00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,560
at an artificial flower
factory and the police came in.
265
00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:12,040
They were a little heavy handed.
266
00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:13,760
The word spread that
there was police brutality
267
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,520
going on and Hong Kong erupted.
268
00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:17,360
(gun shot firing)
269
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,080
51 people died in clashes
between protestors and police.
270
00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,640
Journalists were attacked and
burned to death in their car.
271
00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,960
It was a crazy, crazy time.
272
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:28,160
- [Announcer] Police said
the rioters soul aimed
273
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,560
seemed to be an attack
on any and all authority.
274
00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:31,560
(yelling)
275
00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,160
(swords clanging)
(grunting)
276
00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,000
- The spirit of the movies
that came out of this
277
00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,480
were about angry, young pissed off people
278
00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:42,480
who had nothing left to lose.
279
00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:44,480
(objects clattering)
280
00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:45,960
So they made "One-Armed Swordsman" which
281
00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:47,280
is basically about a young man,
282
00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,160
his father is killed and he's left with
283
00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:51,960
the only relic of his
father as a broken sword.
284
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:53,720
(man grunts)
285
00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:55,760
- Director Chang Cheh could see
286
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,360
that the classic Shaw Brothers sword movie
287
00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,720
had been kind of staid and pedestrian.
288
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:02,800
(man grunts)
289
00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:04,400
We should try something different.
290
00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:05,960
We should have more blood.
291
00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:09,080
We should run a sword through somebody
292
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,760
and then see it sticking
out the other side.
293
00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:14,960
We should sever a few limbs.
294
00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,760
(dramatic music)
295
00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:20,200
- [Interviewer] You have entrails
296
00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,680
being pulled out of bodies on camera.
297
00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:23,680
What do you do for an encore?
298
00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:24,480
- Well, we just...
299
00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,520
People say it's not exciting enough.
300
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:27,680
We're putting more blood.
301
00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:31,760
(grunting)
(blood gushing)
302
00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,600
(Lo Meng speaking in foreign language)
303
00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:35,000
- [Translator] I did his fight scenes.
304
00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,560
He shows the beauty of violence,
305
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,160
especially when he uses slow
motion when a character dies.
306
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,040
(swords clanging)
(men grunting)
307
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,680
- Chang Cheh liked machismo.
308
00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:47,320
He didn't wanna see women on screen.
309
00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,320
He wanted to go back to
the old school male heroes.
310
00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,800
Usually with their shirts off
and their man boobs greased.
311
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:56,400
(men grunting)
312
00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,120
- He got rid of the yin gang, the women,
313
00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:03,200
and put in the yang gang,
the manly, manly men,
314
00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:04,960
who liked other manly men.
315
00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,080
(weapons clattering)
316
00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:09,160
- He loved boys standing back to back
317
00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,080
and taking on all odds as their
guts spill out on the floor.
318
00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:13,760
He loved bloodshed.
319
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:16,720
(speaking in foreign language)
320
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:18,920
- [Translator] Director Chang
was quite a serious person.
321
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:23,760
He would scold some of the
crew but he never did it to me.
322
00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:26,440
(chair clattering)
323
00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:28,880
- "One-Armed Swordsman"
captured the tenor of the times.
324
00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,760
It was an angry young man
standing up to authority
325
00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,640
with nothing but a
broken sword in his fist.
326
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,640
- That imagery of the innocent
fighting the oppressor.
327
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,160
The poor versus the powerful.
328
00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:47,200
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
329
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:49,240
- [Mike] That instantly got a response at
330
00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,280
the box office that was fresh.
331
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,560
- So, Jimmy Wang knew how to brainstorm.
332
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,040
He thought well if we fight
with swords in these movies,
333
00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,240
why can't we do it with
fists and use kung fu?
334
00:13:58,320 --> 00:13:59,120
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
335
00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:00,600
And why can't we fight the people
336
00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:02,760
who really hack me off, the Japanese?
337
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:04,640
So, he was allowed to develop a script
338
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,680
and direct it and he
made "The Chinese Boxer."
339
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,000
And that started this enormous
trend for kung fu movies.
340
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,200
Everyone wanted to see young
pissed off Chinese guys,
341
00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:15,520
but now they weren't fighting
342
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:16,960
martial arts masters with swords,
343
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:18,760
they were punching Japanese oppressors
344
00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:19,600
in the face with their fists.
345
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:21,600
This was massive.
346
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:24,800
(blood gushing)
(upbeat music)
347
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:26,760
- It's, yeah, the sheer physicality
348
00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:28,040
of Hong Kong's cinema at its best.
349
00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:29,320
We've all been picked and we've all wanted
350
00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,600
to beat up the bullies and in
351
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:33,680
a kung fu movie that can happen.
352
00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:38,520
(grunting)
(dramatic music)
353
00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,280
- These movies really tapped
into something in Hong Kong.
354
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,640
People wanted to see this.
355
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:45,480
They didn't owe something to the man.
356
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:46,720
They owed something to the people
357
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,040
they stood shoulder to shoulder
358
00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:49,760
with everyday at the bus queue,
359
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:54,440
at their office jobs, at the
factory, on their streets.
360
00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:55,280
(man grunts)
361
00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,760
This explosion of film making
in Hong Kong of 67 captured
362
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,960
this youth energy, this spirit
of 'you can do anything.'
363
00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,480
(upbeat music)
364
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,360
You can make the world
stop and pay attention
365
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,880
to you with nothing more
then your bare hands.
366
00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,600
(gentle music)
367
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,080
And that idea spread from Hong Kong
368
00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,120
and electrified audiences in America.
369
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:23,200
(upbeat music)
(crowd chanting)
370
00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,320
- It's the height of the civil
rights movement in America.
371
00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:30,640
It's the height of the
anti Vietnam War movement.
372
00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:32,120
There was all sorts of youth
373
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,440
in rebellion going on everywhere.
374
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,160
- Sometimes action
speaks louder then words.
375
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,680
Actually, a lot of time it is.
376
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,360
- It's about some primal stuff.
377
00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,480
It just permeates all borders.
378
00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:47,720
- Fighting is very
universal, but the vocabulary
379
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,320
of it has to have the right timing.
380
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,400
- You know, things are gonna resonate.
381
00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,080
You don't know what it is.
382
00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:54,920
(film reel ticking)
383
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:55,760
(film reel beeps)
384
00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,200
(upbeat music)
385
00:15:58,280 --> 00:15:59,920
- I'm gonna take this right foot,
386
00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,520
and I'm gonna whop you on
that side of your face.
387
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:07,800
And you wanna know somethin'?
388
00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:09,640
(birds chirping)
389
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:10,960
There's not a damn thing you're
390
00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,040
gonna be able to do about it.
391
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:13,880
- Really?
392
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:15,600
(birds chirping)
393
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:17,280
- Really.
394
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,520
(foot thuds)
(dramatic music)
395
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,200
- Billy Jack came out and he did the scene
396
00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:23,720
where he's standing alone,
397
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,320
and he's got about eight people around him
398
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,400
and he just does these kicks
and gets out of it somehow.
399
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,680
- I just go berserk!
400
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,520
- [Announcer] This is why
they're talking about Billy Jack.
401
00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,080
- [Man] He was a Vietnam vet.
402
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,160
He was a heroic guy because he was willing
403
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:42,280
to put his life down to save others.
404
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,480
- He wasn't only beating
people up for the sake of it,
405
00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:47,720
he was actually defending
the American Indians
406
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,440
who were his friends and
he was an American Indian.
407
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:51,320
- That's what Billy Jack did.
408
00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:53,400
He was a step above
just defending yourself.
409
00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:55,280
(upbeat music)
410
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:56,440
Studios released it and lost money
411
00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,440
in a couple theatres and
gave it back to Tom Laughlin.
412
00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:00,320
He re-released it.
413
00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,080
Grossed 100 million in the 70's.
414
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:04,720
- That's 'cause he was
an ordinary guy hero
415
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,280
resonated universally with people,
416
00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:08,480
particularly working class people.
417
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,480
- I think I've seen it about three times.
418
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,000
This is the second time for my children.
419
00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:14,640
- We have had people come
back eight, 10, 12 times.
420
00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,120
- Well I decided to come
back and see it again.
421
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,560
(upbeat music)
422
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:21,280
- In America, the western world I believe
423
00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:24,000
he would be the first martial
art action hero, Billy Jack.
424
00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:25,040
(upbeat music)
425
00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:27,040
- About 80% of these movies there's
426
00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:29,520
a guy who's your average Joe Schmoe.
427
00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:32,560
There was always a
fight against something,
428
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,320
where there was oppression or tyranny
429
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,680
or fascism or government.
430
00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:38,760
There was always a fight.
431
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,560
Even racism but before the movies
432
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,240
we had Bruce Lee of course.
433
00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:44,680
All of us like Bruce Lee.
434
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:46,320
That was a big deal for us.
435
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:47,160
(upbeat music)
436
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,880
- When the real rockstar of
kung fu emerges, Bruce Lee,
437
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,360
so many guys wanted to be that man.
438
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,360
- Bruce Lee I think is the kung fu savant.
439
00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,840
Very early on he knew what
road he was going down.
440
00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:03,280
- He was part English, part
Jewish and part Chinese,
441
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:04,680
so when he was growing up he
442
00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:06,760
was discriminated in
Hong Kong from both sides
443
00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,080
and when he got to America
he wanted to be the hero.
444
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:11,400
And he was the first person to come
445
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,920
to America and say I
wanna create essentially
446
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,520
an archetype which is the
Chinese kung fu master.
447
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,600
So he got his very first part
as Kato in "The Green Hornet."
448
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,520
- "The Green Hornet" started
as a "Batman" spin off.
449
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:26,640
So you had "The Green Hornet"
450
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:28,360
and Kato appearing on "Batman."
451
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:32,040
Also helped bring martial
arts and definitely Bruce Lee
452
00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:34,000
into homes in the U.S.
453
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,320
- As a kid I was wondering why people
454
00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:40,320
were looking over our fence when
455
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,480
my dad was working out with Uncle Bruce.
456
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,160
They kept saying Kato, Kato, Kato.
457
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,160
They absolutely connected with that.
458
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,240
- Bruce Lee appeared on
television and I was like whoa.
459
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:51,520
I kinda liked that.
460
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:53,080
- Every other little kid the next day
461
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,120
was like what just happened?
462
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:56,640
How cool was that guy that just
463
00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,280
kicked the guy across the room?
464
00:18:58,360 --> 00:18:59,520
Who the hell was he?
465
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,360
- And a lot of people would
be imitating Bruce Lee movies
466
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:03,160
on the street.
467
00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,200
Friends of mine started taking
up martial arts as a result.
468
00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,880
(gentle music)
469
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,440
- And then right after I was really
470
00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:18,640
attracted to the "Kung Fu"
series with David Carradine.
471
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:20,840
Because I grew up on westerns.
472
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:21,840
I love my westerns.
473
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:23,920
(static crackling)
474
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:25,640
(shots firing)
475
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,040
- There had been a long string
476
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,760
of western television shows in the U.S.
477
00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,360
Gunsmoke, Bonanza...
478
00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:36,880
By the early 70's it was starting to fade.
479
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,240
(static crackling)
480
00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,000
When "Kung Fu" first came on,
481
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:44,960
it seemed like another western show
482
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,440
but with kind of a unique spin.
483
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:48,920
- What we have to remember about the time
484
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:50,800
is this is the counter culture.
485
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,320
This is at the height of the Vietnam War
486
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,840
and so in many ways doing a TV series
487
00:19:55,920 --> 00:20:00,120
about China was code for doing
a TV series about Vietnam.
488
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,080
The Asians are the peaceful ones.
489
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,960
They're wearing kinda pyjama clothes,
490
00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,440
and then you got the cowboys and they're
491
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,640
the stand in for the U.S. military.
492
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,880
- Gentlemen, I'm gonna bust your head.
493
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,320
(man yells)
(upbeat music)
494
00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,480
- It was picking up a cult following
495
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,200
especially among young viewers.
496
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,080
'Cause you could watch it and feel
497
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,360
like you were part of this kind
of counter cultural protest.
498
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:26,760
- I really don't think anybody,
499
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,320
even myself had any idea
how big a thing it was.
500
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,640
- To see kung fu in a western setting,
501
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:35,840
to me that was like whoa!
502
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:37,160
I used to collect the "Kung Fu"
503
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:39,480
trading cards and stuff like that.
504
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,240
- Before the TV show was on
who knew what kung fu was?
505
00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:44,760
But after that show...
506
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:46,480
- You have this explosion where everyone
507
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,880
becomes interested in this Chinese
508
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,000
or Asian culture, martial arts.
509
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:52,520
(gong bongs)
510
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:54,640
- I mean David Carradine
and those guys did
511
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:56,440
a good job I must say but it
512
00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:59,360
just felt a little weird because...
513
00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:00,840
hmm,
514
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,480
is this guy really Chinese
you know what I mean?
515
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:04,960
- Well, in Hollywood at the time
516
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,720
there was only one Eurasian
kung fu master right?
517
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,040
There was just Bruce Lee.
518
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,160
- Bruce Lee faces a real dilemma.
519
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,480
He's on the verge of
stardom in the United States
520
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,080
with a projected TV series on the horizon.
521
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,040
- And he had this idea to do sort of
522
00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:22,640
an eastern western kung fu kind of movie.
523
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,000
- How else can you
justify all these punching
524
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,200
and kicking and violence,
- Yeah.
525
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:30,400
- except in the period of the west?
526
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:31,640
- They were interested in talking
527
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:32,920
to him about it and thought it was
528
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,520
a great idea but they also realised
529
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,240
that his accent would keep them
from putting him on screen.
530
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,080
- [Man] And then suddenly
Warner Brothers comes out
531
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:44,600
with a series that looks
a lot like his series.
532
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:46,680
- Bruce Lee was crushed by this
533
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,280
because he saw this as his big shot.
534
00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:50,720
- Well Bruce actually went to China
535
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,360
because he didn't get that role,
536
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,960
and he said to himself well,
if I can't get this part,
537
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:57,400
what am I doing in Hollywood?
538
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:58,800
- They needed an actor who looked
539
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,200
a little more western
and who sounded western.
540
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:03,840
- When they interviewed David Carradine
541
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,600
The first audition he was
completely high (laughs)
542
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:07,880
and blew the audition.
543
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:09,840
They still gave him a second audition.
544
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,080
- Now I could do the David
Carradine Asian accent.
545
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,840
Talk very slowly.
546
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:15,680
That's all he did.
547
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:16,760
That was his accent.
548
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:18,760
I must go to the mountain,
549
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:20,960
to meditate.
550
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,120
(gentle music)
551
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:25,360
- [Interviewer] Did you
already know kung fu
552
00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:27,080
or karate when you were there?
- No.
553
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:28,040
- [Interviewer] It's about--
554
00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:30,880
- I heard the word, twice before.
555
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,920
- So a drug addled white guy
556
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,960
who doesn't know any kung fu gets the part
557
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,000
whereas the Eurasian kung fu master
558
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:41,800
who's the most famous martial artist
559
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,920
in the history of the
universe doesn't get the part.
560
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,560
- Hey, it's America you know,
561
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,000
where they would do those kinda things.
562
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:49,880
It's amazing how America finds a way
563
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,240
to put that old wine in a new bottle.
564
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,120
(upbeat music)
565
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:55,520
- Once World War II happens,
566
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:58,680
Asian Americans are no longer
allowed to have lead roles.
567
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,920
Even when they're casting
Chinese character parts
568
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,680
for example Fu Manchu or Charlie Chan.
569
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,280
- Hiding place discovered.
570
00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:07,840
One masked figure suddenly developed
571
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,960
tell-tale scars on back of neck.
572
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,040
- They cast white guys and yellow face.
573
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:15,000
The yellow face era's underplayed.
574
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,720
It's a really horrible part
of Hollywood tradition.
575
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,360
- Growing up watching
TV or any other films
576
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,000
there was very little representation
577
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:26,240
of Asians in a great light.
578
00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:28,080
Generally they're like the house boy
579
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,760
or somebody taking care of somebody or--
580
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:32,600
- Asian women are either very over sexed
581
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,240
or they're dragon ladies or what have you
582
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,280
and then the guys are gang
members or what have you.
583
00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:39,880
(men grunting)
(gentle music)
584
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,080
- When I started I definitely tried
585
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,600
to veer away from martial
arts in that I was afraid,
586
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:50,040
I was afraid that it was
going to be stereotypical.
587
00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:51,200
But why is that a problem?
588
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:52,560
There's nothing inherently wrong with
589
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,360
an Asian character doing martial arts.
590
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,600
It's just when an Asian character
591
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,480
is reduced to nothing but martial arts.
592
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,120
- It's the idea of just wanting to be
593
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,240
sort of three dimensional and be heard.
594
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:06,560
We just don't all just do
kung fu, right (laughs)?
595
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,200
(gentle music)
596
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,840
- In the late 1960's, early 1970's,
597
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,120
most film companies were going bankrupt
598
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,280
around the world because of the
advent of colour television.
599
00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:22,920
(gentle music)
600
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,520
But in Hong Kong, a group of executives,
601
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:27,160
senior executives from Shaw Brothers,
602
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,760
Raymond Chow, Leonard Ho, Peter Choi,
603
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,320
decided that they had a different vision
604
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,120
for where the film
industry should be going
605
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,400
and their mantra was basically
if you make good films,
606
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,440
people will come to see them.
607
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:41,320
And so they left and they set up
608
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,480
a little company called Golden Harvest.
609
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,240
(upbeat music)
610
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,520
- Golden Harvest knew the
way Shaw Brothers didn't
611
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,840
that the future wasn't martial
arts, the future was stars.
612
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,200
- We had a very small handful of actors
613
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:54,600
that we were working with.
614
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:56,480
The most important being
a young American actor
615
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,680
by the name of Bruce Lee.
616
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,520
- He was a ticked off dude who
knew he had something in him
617
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,600
but he couldn't get
anyone to believe in him.
618
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,080
He was perfectly positioned
for western expansion
619
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,760
because he knew how to be a movie star.
620
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:11,040
- Are you gonna stay in Hong Kong
621
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:12,040
and be famous or are you going to go
622
00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:13,240
to the United States and be famous
623
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,720
or are you gonna try and eat
your cake and have it too?
624
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,200
- I am gonna be both.
625
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,160
In the United States I think something
626
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,440
about the oriental should be shown.
627
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,720
- Bruce and I became friends
because we had a lot in common.
628
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,800
I could understand some of his aspirations
629
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:34,280
of wanting to make films for
the international market.
630
00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:35,920
(upbeat music)
631
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:37,720
- What's interesting about
Bruce Lee's early movies
632
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,720
is they really sort of serve
as a metaphor for his career.
633
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:44,680
If you look carefully at "The Big Boss"
634
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,680
you will see it was a screen test.
635
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,720
- Because originally James Tien
636
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:50,400
is supposed to be the star of the movie.
637
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,240
- One of 'em has to die in order
to make the third act work.
638
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:54,680
Who do ya kill off?
639
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:55,960
(film reel ticking)
(upbeat music)
640
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,120
The director sent the
dailies back to Hong Kong,
641
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,400
they looked at 'em and
they said kill James.
642
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,120
(grunting)
(upbeat music)
643
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,040
- The Bruce Lee style of fighting
644
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:06,520
was completely innovative for Hong Kong.
645
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:07,720
(punches thudding)
(grunting)
646
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,720
The director wanted him to do the sort
647
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:11,440
of traditional Chinese opera style
648
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,400
of martial arts choreography which
649
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:14,680
is like clack, clack, clack, clack,
650
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:16,880
clack, clack, clack,
clack, clack like that.
651
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,880
And Bruce wanted to do a
kinda cha cha cha dance.
652
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:22,080
One, two, three, kick.
653
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:23,720
(Bruce grunting)
654
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:25,440
One, two, three, kick, pause.
655
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:27,240
(Danny speaking in foreign language)
656
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:29,000
- [Translator] Bruce Lee loved to dance,
657
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,000
because he was focused on tempo.
658
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,640
(Bruce grunting)
659
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,760
- He also wanted the fastest choreography
660
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,880
yet seen in Hong Kong cinema.
661
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:41,320
(Bruce grunting)
(dramatic music)
662
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,200
- He was the one that would
throw a punch and almost make
663
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,240
it seem like it lasted
three seconds longer.
664
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:47,400
He'd be like (yells)!
665
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,760
That was about the intent that
I don't need a second punch,
666
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:56,960
everything is about finishing the fight.
667
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:58,960
- And the director hated it.
668
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:00,840
He's like, I need to fill a whole movie.
669
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,360
The script was only three pages long.
670
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,640
He actually called up
Raymond Chow the director
671
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,240
and said you need to fire this guy.
672
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:09,280
And Bruce called up Raymond Chow
673
00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:10,880
and goes you need to fire the director.
674
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:13,440
- And Bruce went on to become
the star of that movie.
675
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:14,440
The movie worked.
676
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,320
- Long story short, "Big Boss" comes out,
677
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,880
smashes all the box office
records in Hong Kong, ever.
678
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:22,560
- [Announcer] Casual bystanders enjoy
679
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,560
a lunch hour of controlled violence during
680
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,200
a karate demonstration in Manhattan.
681
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:28,440
These are experts of course
682
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:30,560
so nobody winds up in the hospital.
683
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:31,400
(upbeat music)
684
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:32,880
- One thing that really
ticked off Bruce Lee
685
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,520
was that in the U.S. karate was big.
686
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:37,520
Everyone wanted to take karate.
687
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,480
Chinese kung fu, people
are like what is that?
688
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:40,640
(upbeat music)
689
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:42,600
So Bruce Lee then made "Fists of Fury"
690
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:44,480
about how Chinese kung fu can beat
691
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,800
up any number of Japanese
karate masters at any time.
692
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,720
- "Fists of Fury" represents
the most nationalistic
693
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,600
anti-Japanese movie ever
made in Hong Kong history.
694
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,120
- Because there are two
scenes in that movie.
695
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,120
Bruce Lee's walking past a plaque
696
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:02,760
that said no dogs or Chinamen.
697
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,520
(tense music)
698
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,880
And he kicks the plaque
off the wall breaking it.
699
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,680
- When they show that scene,
700
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,680
people just start cheering, applauding.
701
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,200
- Hong Kong audiences went crazy.
702
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,320
- [Man] That scene had never
been shown before in Hong Kong.
703
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:19,600
- That sign existed in America,
704
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,200
except as no blacks and
no Mexicans or whatever.
705
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,240
People saw that as oh yeah, I know that.
706
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,520
The Bruce Lee and his tribe
was the same as our tribe.
707
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:32,160
- [Man] I guess they just kinda associate
708
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:36,040
the people that are on the
screen like someone they knew.
709
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:38,240
- In the second there's a scene
710
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,440
when Bruce goes back into
the dojo to challenge
711
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,840
the Japanese and there was
a big Chinese calligraphy
712
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,960
that says sick men of Asia.
713
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,280
And Bruce, he looks at
the Japanese and says...
714
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,560
(Bruce speaking in foreign language)
715
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,720
- That line caused audiences to roar
716
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,960
and come off of their feet in Hong Kong.
717
00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,680
- Because it struck a chord
of Chinese nationalism,
718
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,600
not patriotism but nationalism.
719
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:04,520
(gentle music)
(glass shattering)
720
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:05,360
(man speaking in foreign language)
721
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,240
- [Translator] Chinese
people are not sick men.
722
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,400
- [Man] And Bruce and
Raymond and everybody there
723
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:16,480
were very quick to realise
that there was an undercurrent.
724
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,560
Our Hong Kong audiences
were enjoying seeing
725
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,640
the Chinese stand up
to the ugly foreigners.
726
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,520
- It suggests if you have enough skill
727
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,360
with your fists and your feet,
728
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,720
you can overcome injustice.
729
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:30,760
(Bruce screams)
730
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:32,360
- A strong proud Chinese man,
731
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,080
he was gonna punch his way out
732
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,600
and get the respect he deserved,
733
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,920
not by asking for it but by taking it.
734
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:40,760
(man speaking in foreign language)
735
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,240
- [Translator] Bruce Lee
brought it to a world stage.
736
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,040
- He was speaking to the
oppressed of the world
737
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,560
in a way that he fucking meant it.
738
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:51,920
There's no doubt about it.
739
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:57,000
(man grunting)
(dramatic music)
740
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,120
(animal growling)
(dramatic music)
741
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:01,920
(upbeat music)
742
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,080
(men grunting)
743
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:05,600
(fists thudding)
(upbeat music)
744
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,640
- The heroes in kung fu
movies weren't strong men.
745
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:09,480
They weren't John Wayne.
746
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:11,400
They were ordinary guys.
747
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:15,240
Small, wiry, poor, peasants, workers,
748
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,240
who because of their
skill learning kung fu
749
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:20,720
and putting the time
and effort into training
750
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,240
were able to overcome oppressors.
751
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,480
(dramatic music)
(men grunting)
752
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:26,800
- Everyone feels like
an underdog you know?
753
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,680
Everyone likes to see the
oppressed get, you know, rise up.
754
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:31,960
- And I think seeing somebody
755
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,520
do that on screen is so inspiring.
756
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,000
- No one wants to watch the film
757
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:37,440
about the guy who's got everything
758
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:38,600
and is successful at everything
759
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,120
and succeeds at everything you know?
760
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:41,400
- He'll never make it up here.
761
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,320
(Bruce grunting)
762
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,480
Yeah, we all want to
root for the underdog.
763
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,680
(grunting)
764
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:49,160
(chuckles)
765
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:50,000
(film reel ticking)
766
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:51,640
(upbeat music)
767
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,360
- You had Bruce Lee doing the same thing.
768
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,160
He was gonna stand up to these forces
769
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,120
that were trying to keep him down.
770
00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:57,960
(upbeat music)
771
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,880
- After "Fists of Fury" Bruce
Lee is a full fledged star.
772
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,400
And he's like the Steve
McQueen of Hong Kong.
773
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,680
He wants to direct, write
and star in his own movie.
774
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:08,800
So he makes "Way of The Dragon."
775
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:10,720
He calls up Chuck Norris and says
776
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,880
I want you to be the
bad guy and Chuck goes,
777
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,360
which one of us gets
to win and Bruce says,
778
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:17,560
I get to win, I'm the star.
779
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:18,840
(upbeat music)
780
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:20,080
"Way of The Dragon" represents
781
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,440
Bruce's happiest time as an artist
782
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,120
because he was in control
of every aspect of it.
783
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:27,680
- Uncle Bruce, one of the reasons why
784
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,560
he decided to write and direct and produce
785
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:32,600
his own projects also was he saw
786
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,880
that the medium was a way of
expressing his philosophy.
787
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,040
- Learn everything you can from
788
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,960
everyone and everything you can.
789
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,680
- And then picking and
choosing what fit best for him.
790
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,920
(Bruce grunting)
791
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,440
- The fight with Chuck Norris,
792
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:51,280
that was really about watching
793
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,320
a fight and seeing the strategy of
794
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,560
the fighter change as the fight went on.
795
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,600
The good guy's getting hammered,
796
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,840
then he started to change
his cadence and his footwork.
797
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,160
I mean, suddenly the strategy changed.
798
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:08,080
Now the whole pendulum tilts.
799
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,080
That's interesting because now
800
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,480
you have a story within
the fight, you know?
801
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,560
It's how do I defeat adversity?
802
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:16,240
I'm getting overcome.
803
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,680
How can I change my
strategy and my mindset
804
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:19,840
and everything else and my physicality
805
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:21,640
can now come out on top?
806
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,320
Well he ends up being where
he wouldn't have even stayed
807
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,200
the same strategy in
beginning is the point.
808
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,280
- The fight scene is considered
809
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,120
the classic martial art fight scene
810
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,800
of all time and I get a letter one time,
811
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:33,800
I get it because there's a scene
812
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:35,400
where I throw Bruce to the ground,
813
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,240
he grabs the hair on my chest and he says,
814
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,720
did Bruce really pull the
hair out of your chest?
815
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,240
He said if he did you're really a stud.
816
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,960
(sexy music)
817
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:46,800
(film reel beeps)
818
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:48,360
- I grew up when the Bruce Lee movies
819
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,800
were ridiculously badly edited.
820
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,200
So, the entire alleyway scene was missing.
821
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,840
So Bruce Lee walks out into the alleyway,
822
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:57,720
and walks straight back in and I thought
823
00:32:57,800 --> 00:32:58,760
oh it's meant to be some joke.
824
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,120
He's so fast he can do it.
825
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:02,040
- Get him!
826
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,720
- That scene is very believable
827
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,080
that Bruce Lee is totally invincible
828
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,120
and I think we all want to be invincible
829
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,000
in our imagination at least.
830
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:16,240
(weapons thudding)
(man grunting)
831
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,720
- That movie cost $145,000 to produce.
832
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,840
It's grossed over 60
million dollars worldwide.
833
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,160
(upbeat music)
834
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:25,560
- We were very fortunate.
835
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:27,880
We caught lightning in a bottle.
836
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,240
Golden Harvest understood
there was a world out there.
837
00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:34,000
- But Shaw Brothers didn't
care about the west.
838
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:35,320
They poked their heads over there
839
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:36,160
and didn't like what they saw.
840
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,240
It was confusing, it was
a very different market.
841
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:39,360
(punch thuds)
(upbeat music)
842
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:40,800
But, when Warner Brothers picked
843
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,440
up their movie "Five Fingers of Death"
844
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,080
and released it in the
U.S., that was a huge hit.
845
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:51,160
(men grunting)
(dramatic music)
846
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,560
(upbeat music)
847
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,240
- Leo Greenfield from
Warner Brothers said look,
848
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,800
I got a picture I want you to look at.
849
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,760
I'd like you to come across
and screen it with me
850
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:08,520
and tell me what your thoughts are on it.
851
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:10,160
I turn around and said to him after
852
00:34:10,240 --> 00:34:13,840
it was finished it is nothing but money.
853
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:15,760
- It had been picked up by Warner Brothers
854
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,320
and distributed kind of almost as a test
855
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,800
to see if there was a market
for this kung fu stuff.
856
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:22,560
- There were big ads
forward in the papers,
857
00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,040
a free screening that night.
858
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,200
And it was a packed house.
859
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:27,640
Nobody knew what to expect.
860
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,240
In the first scene an
old martial artist leaps
861
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:32,760
up in the air and kicks two opponents
862
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,760
in the head at the same time
and the crowd just went nuts.
863
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:37,920
They would jump up in the air
864
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:39,560
and exchange blows in mid air.
865
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:41,720
Everyone was just sort of dazzled by it.
866
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,040
It was more intense
fighting then we'd seen,
867
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,080
hand to hand fighting then
we'd seen in the movie before.
868
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:49,000
The fight was the raison
d'etre for the film.
869
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,080
The intensity of it, they were hooked.
870
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:53,920
They sat there.
871
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,960
They wanted to see what would happen next.
872
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,880
They were emotionally
invested in what was going on.
873
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,120
(all cheering)
(kick thuds)
874
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:02,360
And then as the crowd was coming out
875
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:03,160
they were clamouring for it.
876
00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:04,360
You could see they were really excited
877
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,440
by what they'd just seen and they wanted
878
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:07,840
anything to get their hands on it.
879
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,960
Posters, buttons, stickers.
880
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,560
- Everybody was telling
everybody to go see that movie.
881
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:14,760
(men grunting)
882
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:16,720
- The first martial art movie I saw
883
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:18,200
was "Five Fingers of Death."
884
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:19,400
(eerie music)
885
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:20,760
- "The Five Fingers of Death."
886
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:22,080
- "Five Fingers of Death."
887
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:22,920
(imitates eerie music)
(eerie music)
888
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,480
- "Five Fingers of Death."
889
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:25,360
- "Five Fingers of--"
890
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:26,680
- "Death."
891
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,000
- And I was too damn young to be
892
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:29,240
in that movie and it freaked me out
893
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,520
a little bit because they
were pullin' eyeballs out.
894
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:32,400
- You know how many times
I watched that movie?
895
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:33,480
A million times right?
896
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,840
- No one had ever really
seen anything like it.
897
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,400
- [Man] It's success was so
huge for Warner Brothers.
898
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:40,960
- It instantly launched all these
899
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:44,560
smaller independent distributors
into a mad scramble.
900
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:45,520
- [Man] And there were quite a few in
901
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,200
the hopper I think they had waiting.
902
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,680
- [Man] To get the next movie
they could dub into English.
903
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:50,520
- It looks easy.
904
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:51,600
- Trim out the fat a little bit,
905
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,280
and releasing grind house
theatres all over the States.
906
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,120
(horns honking)
907
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:58,440
- I would pick up an average
908
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,600
of six or seven of these a year.
909
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:02,760
We would find that they
910
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,280
had adopted famous American soundtracks
911
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,120
from famous American songs and
dropped them in the picture.
912
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:15,640
I can remember buying in a short period
913
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:20,720
of time four pictures that had
"The Shaft" soundtrack in it.
914
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,320
("Theme From Shaft" by Issac Hayes)
915
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,760
I had this picture called "Queen Boxer"
916
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,960
which was full of barbaric action.
917
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,720
The putting out of eyes with cigars.
918
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,680
So I wanted to design a campaign
919
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,160
that had a palm of a hand out here,
920
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:50,440
and two large eyes and
blood dripping down.
921
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,880
Well, what do I do with
this female character?
922
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:58,720
And instead of subgum chow
mein let's make her Judy Lee,
923
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,360
give them advertising.
924
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:04,440
It's like a two by four
across the bridge of the nose.
925
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,120
And that was very important to me because
926
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,200
at one particular time I controlled
927
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,400
a lot of the theatres on 42nd Street.
928
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:16,480
It was the greatest film market
in the world in those days.
929
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:18,960
- You had 42nd Street between 7th and 8th
930
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:20,600
and it was all lined with theatres.
931
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,320
- That whole strip was only two genres.
932
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:24,960
Pornography and kung fu.
933
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,120
- It was a great spot for people
934
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,640
to see things that they couldn't see in
935
00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,120
their normal neighbourhood theatres.
936
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:36,480
From eight in the morning 'til
12 noon, two bucks entry fee.
937
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,520
- You'd see three, four
movies back to back.
938
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,960
- In real slimy theatres
but it was total pure fun.
939
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:45,800
- Once you plunked down to watch a movie,
940
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:48,080
those feet are not leaving where they are.
941
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:52,240
They're stuck to the floor
with old Coca Cola (laughs).
942
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:57,840
And there were rats that
scurried back and forth.
943
00:37:57,920 --> 00:37:59,600
(upbeat music)
944
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:01,280
There was no way to know what's good
945
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,040
or what's bad so the only thing is just
946
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,920
to park yourself in
there and enjoy the ride.
947
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:08,400
(woman yelling)
948
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,520
- It filled a niche and
what we actually discovered
949
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:12,800
was it was more then a niche.
950
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:14,480
There was a real hunger out there.
951
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:16,080
(dramatic music)
952
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,360
- These films are now
out grossing U.S. films,
953
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,600
like what is going on here?
954
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,640
- As the joke goes, the only
colour Hollywood sees is green.
955
00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:26,760
Once they realised kung
fu could make them money,
956
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,120
they decided they would
give Bruce Lee a shot.
957
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:31,920
- When we did "Enter The Dragon" it was
958
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,280
the first Chinese, Hong
Kong, U.S. co production
959
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:36,400
with a major studio.
960
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:37,560
- They didn't trust Bruce Lee
961
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:39,240
to be the only star of the movie.
962
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:41,320
They had a white guy, a
black guy and an Asian guy
963
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,280
because they were afraid
that an Asian alone
964
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:45,960
couldn't carry a movie in America.
965
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,080
But I think the most
important thing he did
966
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:50,640
was after the Hollywood crew left,
967
00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:53,360
the opening scenes of "Enter The Dragon"
968
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,320
all of that Bruce Lee filmed himself
969
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,080
as the director and the
writer and the star,
970
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,040
and they put it at the front of the movie
971
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:01,720
and then you know he's the star.
972
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:03,440
- When Bruce Lee took off his shirt
973
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,680
and he started (exclaims)
started makin' cat sounds,
974
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:08,360
never seen anybody do that.
975
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,160
(Bruce calling)
976
00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:13,240
He inspired me to wanna
do martial arts movies.
977
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,320
(man speaking in foreign language)
978
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,480
- [Translator] I was a timid
person when I was a kid.
979
00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:20,000
I'm afraid of the dark and couldn't turn
980
00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:21,600
the lights off at night.
981
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,920
After I watched his films, I thought,
982
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,040
this is what a man should be.
983
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,280
I learned we should overcome
the things we are afraid of.
984
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,640
- He genuinely invents the
kung fu hero in the west.
985
00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:34,880
It would be like inventing the cowboy
986
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,720
or the samurai, it's the equivalent.
987
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:39,320
- Every teenage boy in America
988
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,080
had two posters in his bedroom.
989
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,240
One was a Farrah Fawcett
in a red bathing suit
990
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,280
and the other was Bruce
Lee in "Enter The Dragon."
991
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,080
- It was the biggest picture
992
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:49,280
I think in the world at the time.
993
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,000
(Bruce yelling)
994
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:55,200
- So the studios knew that
there was money to be made,
995
00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:58,320
but they hadn't really decided
they were gonna work with us,
996
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:00,160
are they gonna work with Shaw Brothers?
997
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:02,520
The head of distribution
at one studio looked
998
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,440
at me and he said "we'll
never buy these movies.
999
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:06,640
It's un-American.
1000
00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:07,680
(dramatic music)
1001
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,640
In our movies the hero throws a punch,
1002
00:40:10,720 --> 00:40:13,560
then he pulls out a
gun and shoots someone.
1003
00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:15,960
It's just un-American to kick somebody.
1004
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:17,920
Your Chinamen are kicking people."
1005
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,040
Within six months they were
releasing "Enter The Dragon"
1006
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:22,440
and wanted to know if they could get more.
1007
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:27,520
(air whooshing)
(Bruce calling)
1008
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:32,640
(sombre music)
(singer vocalising)
1009
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:40,560
- When you talk to people in Hong Kong
1010
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,080
of a certain age just like people
1011
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:43,520
in the States all remember where
1012
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,120
they were when JFK was
shot everyone remembers
1013
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,800
where they were when they
heard that Bruce Lee died.
1014
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,240
- In Hong Kong 50,000
people filled the streets.
1015
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:55,440
In America, "Enter The Dragon" of course
1016
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:57,280
is released a month later.
1017
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:59,480
That's when he becomes a superstar.
1018
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:01,480
So, what's interesting about Bruce Lee
1019
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,200
is he's the only icon of the
20th Century who died young,
1020
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,960
who's fame was entirely posthumous.
1021
00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,960
- He died and he got stuck in time.
1022
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:13,480
- [Man] There was a blank slate.
1023
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:15,560
Bruce Lee was just this character on film
1024
00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:20,640
and his life could be essentially
reinvented for his fans.
1025
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:21,560
(man speaking in foreign language)
1026
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:22,960
- [Translator] You can
learn from his strengths
1027
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:24,680
and then be your own self.
1028
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,320
If he lasts for another
hundred or 1,000 years,
1029
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,920
it means he's a religion
of kung fu to an extent.
1030
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,080
(sombre music)
(singer vocalising)
1031
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:36,600
- [Man and Bruce] I said empty your mind.
1032
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:37,440
Be formless.
1033
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:39,400
Shapeless like water.
1034
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,720
And water can flow or can crash.
1035
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:44,720
Be water my friend.
1036
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:45,720
- Like that is it (laughs)?
1037
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:47,640
(laughs)
(hands clapping)
1038
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:50,080
- [Announcer] The late Bruce Lee must rank
1039
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,560
as the greatest martial
artist of modern times.
1040
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:55,720
- After Bruce Lee died it was the height
1041
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:58,040
of the kung fu boom and
suddenly Golden Harvest
1042
00:41:58,120 --> 00:41:59,280
had lost their money maker,
1043
00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:01,200
Hollywood had lost their money maker.
1044
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,200
- Hong Kong's like what
are we gonna do now?
1045
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:05,840
- Here's the seven o'clock news.
1046
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:07,920
Bruce Lee the world famous film star died
1047
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:09,440
last night of a sudden heart attack.
1048
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:11,480
He was rushed to the hospital in a coma.
1049
00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:13,800
- Hey that looks like
uh, you know, Bruce Lee.
1050
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:14,880
I heard they brought him in.
1051
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,640
(eerie music)
1052
00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:19,960
- And so what they decided
the most respectful,
1053
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:23,200
meaningful and classy thing to do...
1054
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,040
- Your name is Bruce Lee Two.
1055
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:25,920
- Yes sir.
1056
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:26,960
- Would be to find a bunch of people
1057
00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:28,560
who kinda sorta looked like Bruce Lee.
1058
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:29,720
(man calling)
1059
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,080
And get them to make sounds
1060
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:32,480
and do martial arts like Bruce Lee.
1061
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,080
(man grunts)
1062
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:36,600
- And they change his name to Bruce Li.
1063
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:38,040
- Bruce Le.
1064
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:39,600
- Bruce Long.
1065
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:41,520
- Bruce Flee.
1066
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:42,760
- Or Bruce Thai.
1067
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,120
(men grunting)
1068
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,360
- You had Korean Bruce Lee impersonators,
1069
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:49,560
African American Bruce Lee impersonators.
1070
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:50,920
They were coming out of the woodwork
1071
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,520
and then movies were made
fast and cheap and crappy.
1072
00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:56,200
- And then it becomes this kind
1073
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:58,440
of whole Bruce-ploitation tradition.
1074
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:00,520
There are over 50 of these movies.
1075
00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:03,080
- A veritable popping zits worth of movies
1076
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:06,680
just flooding the market
like a tidal wave of crap.
1077
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:08,600
Nevertheless, the distributors counted
1078
00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:11,600
on audience confusion to fill
up the box office coffers.
1079
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:14,360
(upbeat music)
1080
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:15,680
- When I was growing up my father
1081
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,080
used to put out children pictures
1082
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,560
in Manhattan and surrounding boroughs.
1083
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,040
The house was on a
mortgage and so my father
1084
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:24,520
was saying we really need to come up
1085
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:26,800
with a good gimmick to make something.
1086
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:28,680
Bruce Lee was the
greatest thing I ever saw.
1087
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:30,800
Let's look in to getting "Green Hornet"
1088
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:32,560
which was a TV show he was on.
1089
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,720
(fists thudding)
(upbeat music)
1090
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:36,520
- Nobody move!
1091
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:38,800
- Ask could we take the series
and edit it into a movie.
1092
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:40,720
He said, a great idea but I don't think
1093
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:43,880
we can get the rights as he's a big star.
1094
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:45,960
(upbeat music)
1095
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,120
Sure enough my father flew to California
1096
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,360
and he got the rights
because 20th Century Fox
1097
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,920
thought that the TV
series was not successful.
1098
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:56,040
(upbeat music)
1099
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,440
And they sent us 22 reels.
1100
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:00,800
I knew how to use to the reel to reel
1101
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:02,440
and do all these things
at like eight, nine,
1102
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:04,680
10 years old 'cause my parents
were in the movie business.
1103
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,360
We had a basement where
we edited pictures.
1104
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:08,640
So I'd pick the three episodes,
1105
00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:11,560
I'd cut 'em together
and then my father said,
1106
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,120
uh, it's okay, we need to add more things.
1107
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:17,240
Added some sound effects,
some other things.
1108
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:18,200
- [Announcer] Bruce Lee is heading
1109
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:20,880
for more thrills and
danger then ever before.
1110
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,040
Bruce Lee is back.
1111
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:26,480
d Woo d
1112
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:28,720
- My father had gotten on 42nd Street
1113
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:31,200
at one theatre to start.
1114
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,000
There was a line around the block
1115
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:35,560
and so I went and I said this can't
1116
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,680
be for "The Green Hornet" can it?
1117
00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:39,120
He said I don't think so.
1118
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:43,600
It was people standing in the
aisles, screaming, cheering.
1119
00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:46,280
- Thanks for the editorial.
1120
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:47,120
(shot firing)
1121
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:47,960
(people cheering)
1122
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:49,080
- And it was one of the most exciting
1123
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:50,840
things that ever happened.
1124
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:53,160
Everyone was perplexed by the success
1125
00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:54,920
of it but not me and my father.
1126
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,200
My father believed in me
and he made it happen.
1127
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:58,720
He had two phones in his ears.
1128
00:44:58,800 --> 00:44:59,640
He's like, you want Bruce Lee?
1129
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:02,680
We got "The Green Hornet" and
it was a very exciting time.
1130
00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:05,840
- The Bruce-ploitation movies are where
1131
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:09,520
you find a lot of awe's -
from awe inspiring to awful.
1132
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:11,160
(gentle music)
1133
00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:14,520
- Bruce was working on "Game
of Death" when he dies.
1134
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,240
He'd filmed like 30 minutes of it.
1135
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:17,600
After telling Bruce Lee's widow
1136
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,440
that he would take care of her
and that he respected Bruce,
1137
00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,360
Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest
took Bruce Lee's footage
1138
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:24,520
he shot for "Game of Death"...
1139
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:27,520
- And they edited unfortunately
down to about seven minutes
1140
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:30,360
and then they had to come up
with some script to surround it
1141
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,160
and they totally tossed out Bruce's idea
1142
00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:34,880
and came up with their own.
1143
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:36,800
- Raymond Chow hired a poor Korean guy
1144
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:38,120
that he renamed Tony Leung.
1145
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:41,840
And used him wearing a paper
Bruce Lee mask in some scenes
1146
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,400
to fill out the movie to
discover who killed Bruce Lee.
1147
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:49,240
- So you've got him here finally.
1148
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:51,480
Before and after.
1149
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:53,600
- In the scenes made
after he died doesn't look
1150
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:55,000
at all like Bruce Lee.
1151
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:57,280
It kinda reminds me of
"Plan 9 from Outer Space"
1152
00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:58,640
in which they got somebody who didn't look
1153
00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:01,120
at all like Bela Lugosi to
play his part after he died.
1154
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:03,280
(gentle music)
1155
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,120
- You have to wonder how
the Lee family felt watching
1156
00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,600
someone pretend to be dead Bruce Lee
1157
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:10,560
on screen in such an inexpert
1158
00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:11,880
and clumsy ham-handed fashion.
1159
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:13,520
- Where's the doctor?
1160
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:15,600
(men grunting)
1161
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:19,280
- Right side by side with
the real thing itself.
1162
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:20,760
- Watching it makes you uncomfortable
1163
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:22,680
particularly since they cut scenes
1164
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,560
from Bruce's own funeral
and put it in there.
1165
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,280
So, they got pretty close to the line.
1166
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:31,800
The amazing thing about
watching "Game of Death"
1167
00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:34,800
is it's a bad kung fu movie up until
1168
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:36,960
the moment Bruce Lee steps on screen,
1169
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:38,760
and you get to see his film.
1170
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:40,600
And it reminds you what it is when
1171
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:42,600
you see somebody who's a genius.
1172
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:44,400
- Since it had footage
with Bruce Lee in it
1173
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:46,440
it was a huge hit and made a lot of money
1174
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:50,480
but I mean it reeks of
disrespect and grave robbing.
1175
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:57,200
- I was involved in about
six Bruce Lee pictures.
1176
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,960
Three of them actually had
the real Bruce Lee in them.
1177
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:04,320
Including "Fist of Fear," Touch of Death."
1178
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:08,640
(Bruce speaking in foreign language)
1179
00:47:08,720 --> 00:47:13,040
I had footage of Bruce
at a very young age.
1180
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,960
I think it was less then
40 minutes of footage.
1181
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:18,320
So, I had to get 90.
1182
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,040
So I had to build a picture around it.
1183
00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,240
Terry has a black and
white film of Bruce Lee,
1184
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:25,920
and then has a samurai film and wants
1185
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,200
to see a connection between the two
1186
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:30,520
of them and I said: Really?
1187
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:32,880
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
1188
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:36,440
So he said why don't we
take that samurai film
1189
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:41,520
and make that the flashback
to Bruce's great grandfather?
1190
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:43,520
And I said whoa, whoa guys wait a second.
1191
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:45,720
I said, Bruce is Chinese.
1192
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:47,400
Samurai is Japanese.
1193
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:48,920
And they said don't worry about it.
1194
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,280
(Bruce speaking in foreign language)
1195
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:53,480
We had these black and white scenes
1196
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:56,560
and Terry said oh you can dub those right?
1197
00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:57,440
And I said, yeah.
1198
00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:58,240
(film reel ticking)
1199
00:47:58,320 --> 00:47:59,400
- [Bruce's Translator] Ma, you should've
1200
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:00,840
seen me in karate class today.
1201
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:04,120
Mm, I got my black belt.
1202
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:07,160
- [Jack's Translator] Hey Bruce, Bruce?
1203
00:48:07,240 --> 00:48:08,760
- [Bruce's Translator] Jack!
1204
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:09,680
Sue, it's my brother.
1205
00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:10,880
He's come home.
1206
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:11,720
Jack!
1207
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:13,240
- But then he wouldn't give
me a script for the dubbing
1208
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,640
so I was just making stuff up on the fly.
1209
00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:17,120
I'm looking at the
footage and saying okay,
1210
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:18,360
so what's the guy saying?
1211
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:19,480
And he says you know,
1212
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:21,800
it looks like how do you want your steak?
1213
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:22,640
Medium rare.
1214
00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:24,120
- All right, we're goin' with that.
1215
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:25,720
- [Bruce's Translator]
She's got it all wrong.
1216
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:28,000
That isn't the way it was back then.
1217
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:36,040
(men grunting)
(dramatic music)
1218
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:38,880
- "Fist of Fear," "Touch of Death,"
1219
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:41,680
was an enormous financial success for us.
1220
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:44,600
- And I totally understand
that some people may feel
1221
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:49,280
that this is totally dissing
Bruce Lee and his legend.
1222
00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:52,960
It was never my intention
to go and trash the guy.
1223
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:58,040
(PA announcer chattering)
(upbeat music)
1224
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:00,800
- I was flying to Hong Kong to make
1225
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:03,760
a documentary about Bruce Lee
1226
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:05,520
and everything was fine and I got
1227
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:07,480
on the plane and we had touched down
1228
00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:12,400
and there was these big newspaper
headlines, Bruce Lee dies.
1229
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,320
I made relationships there and I said
1230
00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:20,600
if I come back with a good
story and I could raise
1231
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:22,120
half the money in Australia would
1232
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:24,400
you be interested in the other half?
1233
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:27,760
- Having done "Enter The Dragon" we knew
1234
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:30,040
that it was possible
to make co productions
1235
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:32,200
and that there was a way of doing
1236
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,080
a co production in which you could come up
1237
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:35,680
with a story that would work for
1238
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:37,400
the traditional Chinese markets
1239
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:40,000
and should be able to work
for the international market.
1240
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:43,200
- And I thought hmm, I'd
like to make one of those.
1241
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:48,280
And maybe it would be fun to
have a Chinese "Dirty Harry"
1242
00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:52,040
sent down from Hong Kong
on the routine extradition.
1243
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:54,440
(tyres squealing)
(upbeat music)
1244
00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:56,680
- And so he wrote up this script.
1245
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:57,520
Terrible title.
1246
00:49:57,600 --> 00:49:59,000
It was called "The Yellow Peril."
1247
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:01,960
- Because I wanted to take a serotype
1248
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:03,160
and turn it on its head.
1249
00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:05,280
- I never met a Chinese yet
1250
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:07,360
that didn't have a yellow streak.
1251
00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:09,280
- But it wasn't very
funny here in Hong Kong
1252
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:11,040
so the first thing we did was like,
1253
00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:13,920
right, change the title
before we give it to anyone.
1254
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:16,560
- Anyway, that was the origin
of "The Man From Hong Kong."
1255
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:19,200
(upbeat music)
1256
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:22,920
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
1257
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,920
- [Announcer] Jimmy Wang Yu
is "The Man From Hong Kong."
1258
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,800
- Jimmy Wang Yu was by then under contract
1259
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:31,160
with us at Golden Harvest and
1260
00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:34,160
we were really looking to build him up
1261
00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:35,960
from what we had learned in the course
1262
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:37,440
of working with Bruce Lee.
1263
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:39,520
- [Announcer] Accompanied by
his co-produced Andre Morgan,
1264
00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:42,080
Asia's international
super star Jimmy Wang Yu
1265
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:45,400
arrives in Sydney to star
in "The Man From Hong Kong."
1266
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:48,600
Jimmy Wang Yu is regarded
as Asia's Steve McQueen,
1267
00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:50,160
a top action star who's films
1268
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:52,280
are tremendous hits all over the world.
1269
00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:56,440
- And we have George
Lazenby under contract.
1270
00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,200
So, Wang Yu can be the hero,
1271
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,880
George Lazenby can be
the criminal mastermind.
1272
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:04,040
And of course that made me wanna give
1273
00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:07,760
the movie Bond-ish aspects.
1274
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,160
"Man From Hong Kong" was
the first Australian,
1275
00:51:10,240 --> 00:51:12,400
Chinese co production.
1276
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,240
- And it became part of
the early experimental days
1277
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:18,640
of trying to mix Chinese and English.
1278
00:51:18,720 --> 00:51:20,200
- This is Australia mate.
1279
00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:21,600
- Don't give me any shit!
1280
00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:24,280
(men grunting)
1281
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:27,160
Or did you huh?
1282
00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:30,800
- Golden Harvest Studios saw
Sammo Hung was a rising star.
1283
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:31,680
(man speaking in foreign language)
1284
00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:33,640
He was to be the fight choreographer,
1285
00:51:33,720 --> 00:51:36,200
and he looked different.
1286
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:39,600
He was fat but it's all muscle.
1287
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:44,320
You actually hit that stomach
and you hurt your fist.
1288
00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:46,320
(gentle music)
1289
00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,040
There's Sammo being taken to
1290
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:50,600
the red desert in the middle of Australia.
1291
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:51,800
He doesn't speak a word of English
1292
00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:55,600
and none of us speak a word of Chinese.
1293
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:58,640
- The next stage on
our tour is Ayers Rock,
1294
00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:01,240
the most famous rock
formation in Australia,
1295
00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:02,320
if not in the world.
1296
00:52:03,880 --> 00:52:06,000
- Naturally that's where
a drug dealer would go
1297
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:09,960
to exchange drugs 1500 miles
into the Australian desert.
1298
00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:12,600
(upbeat music)
1299
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:15,160
If you're trying to run
away for being busted
1300
00:52:15,240 --> 00:52:17,600
for drugs do you run into the desert?
1301
00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:20,560
Or do you run up a 900 foot rock?
1302
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:24,040
I think you should run up
a 900 foot rock, really.
1303
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:27,000
Sammo and I were able to communicate
1304
00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:30,400
with sign language and
mock punches and so forth.
1305
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:33,840
So, that is how we basically choreographed
1306
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,440
the fight on Ayers Rock.
1307
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:37,560
- [Man] Who sent you?
1308
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:43,000
- Yeah and I love you too.
1309
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:45,640
- I wanted the fights
to be down and dirty.
1310
00:52:45,720 --> 00:52:48,200
You know, Street fighting with kung fu.
1311
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:51,960
Prior to the R rating you
couldn't kick anyone in the balls.
1312
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:52,800
No, no, no.
1313
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:55,320
That was just not a
gentlemanly thing to do.
1314
00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:56,200
To hell with that.
1315
00:52:56,280 --> 00:52:57,880
I'm gonna put as many groin kicks
1316
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,080
as I possibly can into the fight scenes,
1317
00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:02,920
and the infamous squirrel grip.
1318
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:07,800
(man screaming)
(pants rustling)
1319
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:09,280
It played in Hong Kong but it didn't
1320
00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:11,200
do the business that they'd hoped.
1321
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:13,760
- It didn't work in America
because 20th Century Fox
1322
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:16,240
bought the movie and purposefully put
1323
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:18,600
it on the shelf to protect another movie
1324
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:20,120
they had that was about hang gliding
1325
00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:23,040
and we had hang gliding
and "Man From Hong Kong."
1326
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:24,760
So they just, they shelved it.
1327
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:26,760
They didn't want it released in America.
1328
00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:28,600
d The wind d
1329
00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:30,040
But they had to release it because
1330
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:31,560
the theme song that we put on the movie
1331
00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:34,080
was called "Sky High" and it became
1332
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,080
the biggest selling song that
summer all over the world.
1333
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:39,200
d Stop d
1334
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:42,120
d You've blown it all sky high d
1335
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:43,960
- We made as much money off of the song
1336
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:45,680
as we made off of the movie.
1337
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:47,680
d High d
1338
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:51,840
There was no way the movie
could work for any market
1339
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:54,320
'cause it was neither fish nor foul.
1340
00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:58,120
You either make an American
international movie in English,
1341
00:53:58,200 --> 00:54:00,600
or you make a Chinese movie
and stop trying to mix the two.
1342
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:01,440
It doesn't work.
1343
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,280
(upbeat music)
1344
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:06,360
- When those Golden Harvest movies
1345
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:08,000
resonated with certain communities
1346
00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:10,440
like the African American communities,
1347
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:13,320
because it represented this
kind of fight the power,
1348
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:14,960
fight the man spirit.
1349
00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:18,160
- And the response in those
theatres must've told them,
1350
00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:20,560
these could work with
black folks in America.
1351
00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:22,840
- And at the same time,
1352
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:26,320
there wasn't too much for their audiences.
1353
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,320
- [Man] So, we better
give them a black hero.
1354
00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:34,000
- [Announcer] Enter Jim Dragon Kelly.
1355
00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:39,480
- Jim Kelly was someone that
I looked up to very highly.
1356
00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:41,600
He was a high level martial artist.
1357
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,880
- It breaks my heart
because he was so hurt
1358
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:48,080
by what the industry had done.
1359
00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:50,720
He never got paid what he was due.
1360
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:51,880
- It's top priory.
1361
00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:52,680
(smirks)
1362
00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:53,520
- So am I.
1363
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:54,920
(upbeat music)
1364
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:56,760
- Once I saw him in "Enter The Dragon,"
1365
00:54:56,840 --> 00:55:01,280
I mean, he was the measure
for all African American
1366
00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:04,600
young males that wanted
to get into cinema.
1367
00:55:04,680 --> 00:55:06,560
At that point we realised
that it could be done.
1368
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:07,760
(upbeat music)
1369
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:10,240
(gong bongs)
1370
00:55:11,600 --> 00:55:13,600
- [Announcer] Introducing Ron Van Clief
1371
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,280
as "The Black Dragon."
1372
00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:19,200
We said enough, now we'll
let him do the talking.
1373
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:20,440
- You know, you go through the movies.
1374
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:22,000
You see all these guys doin' kung fu
1375
00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:24,640
and I said one day I'm gonna do that.
1376
00:55:24,720 --> 00:55:27,480
My father said what are
you talkin' about (laughs)?
1377
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,320
Van Clief you are out
of your fuckin' mind.
1378
00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:32,240
Go get a job (laughs).
1379
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:33,080
- [Announcer] The assignment went
1380
00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:35,440
to the most feared man in America.
1381
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:37,160
Ron Van Clief.
1382
00:55:37,240 --> 00:55:39,960
- So I quit my job with the police,
1383
00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:41,640
and I went to Hong Kong.
1384
00:55:41,720 --> 00:55:45,520
I was the first black man that
headlined Hong Kong films.
1385
00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:47,480
So, I was an oddity.
1386
00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:49,920
- This makeup?
1387
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:51,840
- No baby, it's real skin.
1388
00:55:51,920 --> 00:55:56,480
I didn't know you were
interested in my face, but I am.
1389
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:57,720
You drive trippin'.
1390
00:55:57,800 --> 00:55:58,720
(upbeat music)
(men grunting)
1391
00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:02,720
- When I saw "The Black Dragon"
movies I was just like wow,
1392
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:03,840
another one did it.
1393
00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:04,880
I can do this.
1394
00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:07,520
(upbeat music)
1395
00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:10,840
- Hit movies were playing in Harlem,
1396
00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:11,920
they were playin' in Brooklyn,
1397
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:12,920
they were playin' in Queens,
1398
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:14,720
they were playin' in Long Island.
1399
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:16,680
It was such a big deal at that time.
1400
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:21,480
We even did live exhibitions
for movies in Times Square.
1401
00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:24,160
Sometimes I would cut five
carrots on five people's throats
1402
00:56:24,240 --> 00:56:26,560
with the sword during the intermission.
1403
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:31,440
I shot 10 films as the
character "The Black Dragon."
1404
00:56:31,520 --> 00:56:32,360
These guys botherin' you?
1405
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:37,440
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
1406
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:40,720
- Wow.
1407
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:43,000
How can I ever repay you?
1408
00:56:44,040 --> 00:56:47,280
- [Announcer] I'm sure Ron
has some ideas of his own.
1409
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:48,640
(gentle music)
1410
00:56:48,720 --> 00:56:51,520
- You have a string of movies where people
1411
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:53,000
of colour are the heroes.
1412
00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:55,640
(upbeat music)
1413
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:57,640
(men grunting)
1414
00:56:57,720 --> 00:56:59,080
- [Announcer] And all
of that jumpin' around
1415
00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:03,160
and flyin' through the air
because this is the real shit.
1416
00:57:03,240 --> 00:57:07,160
- You have all these black
guys, cool, fighting the man
1417
00:57:07,240 --> 00:57:08,960
and being the hero at
the end of the movie.
1418
00:57:09,040 --> 00:57:10,640
- What you want it for little momma?
1419
00:57:10,720 --> 00:57:11,840
- I ain't your momma.
1420
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:13,120
(fists thudding)
(upbeat music)
1421
00:57:13,200 --> 00:57:14,720
- They were good too.
1422
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:16,560
They were cinema ready.
1423
00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:18,520
- [Announcer] Soul sisters
answer to James Bond.
1424
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:21,080
- You had the clothes,
the looks, the hairstyles.
1425
00:57:22,440 --> 00:57:24,520
- As black people we could go to a film
1426
00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:27,160
and see a reflection of us on screen.
1427
00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:30,120
- So there was something up on the screen
1428
00:57:30,200 --> 00:57:32,840
other then Joe Whitehead.
1429
00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:34,160
- Gonna threaten me now?
1430
00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:35,840
(upbeat music)
1431
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:38,360
- I was forged in their image.
1432
00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:40,160
Those were my heroes.
1433
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:41,920
That's what I wanted to become.
1434
00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:44,920
(upbeat music)
1435
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:48,280
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
1436
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:50,520
- But what's interesting
is is that Warner Brothers
1437
00:57:50,600 --> 00:57:54,520
was purposefully distributing
their kung fu pictures
1438
00:57:54,600 --> 00:57:56,000
that they licenced from Shaw Brothers
1439
00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:58,760
with their blaxploitation pictures.
1440
00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:00,880
- They planned a lot of the same theatres.
1441
00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:03,480
Blaxploitation movies and
the martial arts movies.
1442
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:06,400
- [Eric] They realised that
those markets were very similar.
1443
00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:09,560
- A great double bill will
the blaxploitation pic
1444
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:12,400
repeated with an all kung fu picture.
1445
00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:14,000
- The African American community were
1446
00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:17,760
the ones that really
supported Hong Kong cinema.
1447
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:22,400
(gentle music)
1448
00:58:24,640 --> 00:58:27,400
- [Announcer] Well pal,
this south China seaport
1449
00:58:27,480 --> 00:58:28,920
is not exactly like Brooklyn.
1450
00:58:30,120 --> 00:58:31,600
- So parallel to New York City,
1451
00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:34,440
in 70's Hong Kong people were really poor.
1452
00:58:34,520 --> 00:58:37,040
You went to the theatre to
escape for an hour and a half.
1453
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:38,520
(upbeat music)
1454
00:58:38,600 --> 00:58:41,440
Shaw Brothers created a
dream world of ancient China.
1455
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:47,480
- The public want changes and
will have to inject new ideas.
1456
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:52,320
- And throughout the 70's the really
1457
00:58:52,400 --> 00:58:53,720
have the tenor of the times.
1458
00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:55,320
Lau Kar-leung who had started out
1459
00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:56,720
as a martial arts choreographer,
1460
00:58:56,800 --> 00:58:58,760
he wound up directing movies for them
1461
00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:00,320
that are considered rightly so
1462
00:59:00,400 --> 00:59:02,840
some of the greatest martial
arts movies ever made.
1463
00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:05,000
(dramatic music)
1464
00:59:05,080 --> 00:59:07,680
- Bruce Lee gave the
world the idea of kung fu
1465
00:59:07,760 --> 00:59:10,280
and it was really Lau Kar-leung who took
1466
00:59:10,360 --> 00:59:12,880
on board this idea and ran with it.
1467
00:59:15,160 --> 00:59:17,600
- Lau Kar-leung said we
should make kung fu films
1468
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:20,080
the way people actually practise kung fu.
1469
00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:20,920
(men grunting)
1470
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:25,000
This like eagle claw versus
tiger versus panther.
1471
00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:26,440
In Lau Kar-leung pictures
where guys were doing 30
1472
00:59:26,520 --> 00:59:29,120
to 40 moves in one shot.
1473
00:59:29,200 --> 00:59:32,760
- So when I'm watching
a Shaw Brother film,
1474
00:59:32,840 --> 00:59:36,080
what I like to do is count how long
1475
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:39,640
that scene plays out for until they cut.
1476
00:59:39,720 --> 00:59:41,120
You know, one, two, three, four,
1477
00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:43,480
five, six, the longer you count until
1478
00:59:43,560 --> 00:59:48,120
that cut you realise how
incredible it is to pull that off.
1479
00:59:48,200 --> 00:59:50,000
- There's a fight that moves into an alley
1480
00:59:50,080 --> 00:59:51,640
that gets progressively narrower
1481
00:59:51,720 --> 00:59:54,160
and he's using a different
style of martial arts.
1482
00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:56,200
- At this range I'll use my elbows.
1483
00:59:56,280 --> 00:59:57,800
- For each exchange as they move
1484
00:59:57,880 --> 01:00:00,320
from walls that are 12 feet apart...
1485
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:01,640
- I call this the lion style.
1486
01:00:01,720 --> 01:00:03,560
- To eight feet apart to six feet apart
1487
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:06,120
to just a couple of feet apart.
1488
01:00:06,200 --> 01:00:07,440
He's able to fit the style to
1489
01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:10,640
the action on screen and the story.
1490
01:00:11,920 --> 01:00:13,640
- I really believe that a film
1491
01:00:13,720 --> 01:00:16,320
is always about the
exchange of energy between
1492
01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:20,200
the person in front of the
camera and the audience.
1493
01:00:20,280 --> 01:00:24,280
The great thing that they do
is find the angles that work.
1494
01:00:24,360 --> 01:00:26,560
As a cinematographer that's
an astonishing challenge
1495
01:00:26,640 --> 01:00:28,400
because I don't know what
the hell they're doing.
1496
01:00:28,480 --> 01:00:29,600
I don't know (laughs).
1497
01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:32,360
- How is this super hero type of dude
1498
01:00:32,440 --> 01:00:36,080
and this girl doing that that fast?
1499
01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:38,520
That was amazing to watch.
1500
01:00:38,600 --> 01:00:40,640
- When Lau Kar-leung
wanted to sell the speed,
1501
01:00:40,720 --> 01:00:42,000
he wanted to sell the power the impact
1502
01:00:42,080 --> 01:00:45,040
and he became concerned with
having the audience feel it.
1503
01:00:45,120 --> 01:00:50,120
(all screaming)
(dramatic music)
1504
01:00:50,280 --> 01:00:51,800
(Sammo speaking in foreign language)
1505
01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:54,720
- [Translator] I respected
Master Lau very much,
1506
01:00:55,680 --> 01:00:57,400
and he was a hero in my heart.
1507
01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:00,080
(gentle music)
1508
01:01:03,280 --> 01:01:05,960
- One of the more outlandish
Peking opera-esque
1509
01:01:06,040 --> 01:01:08,520
Lau Kar-leung movies was "Dirty Ho."
1510
01:01:08,600 --> 01:01:11,200
The title invariably makes people giggle,
1511
01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:13,200
but Ho is the guys name.
1512
01:01:13,280 --> 01:01:14,040
Okay.
1513
01:01:14,120 --> 01:01:16,280
- "Dirty Ho" is like almost
like the ultimate example
1514
01:01:16,360 --> 01:01:19,360
of like how complex and
amazing you can get.
1515
01:01:19,440 --> 01:01:21,200
(upbeat music)
1516
01:01:21,280 --> 01:01:23,720
- The masterpiece in that
movie is when the wine shop,
1517
01:01:23,800 --> 01:01:28,000
the great Lung Wei is
serving him different wines
1518
01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:31,000
that are named not only
for their vessel...
1519
01:01:31,080 --> 01:01:32,480
- Dragon tiger wine.
1520
01:01:32,560 --> 01:01:34,440
- But also for the kung fu style which
1521
01:01:34,520 --> 01:01:37,760
the two then attack and
defend themselves with
1522
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:39,760
in a way that no one else in
1523
01:01:39,840 --> 01:01:42,120
the White House knows it's going on.
1524
01:01:42,200 --> 01:01:44,600
Very advanced, very high level stuff.
1525
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:46,760
(upbeat music)
1526
01:01:46,840 --> 01:01:49,440
- He also made "36th Chamber of Shaolin"
1527
01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:51,080
with his blood brother Gordon Liu.
1528
01:01:51,160 --> 01:01:54,200
- "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin."
1529
01:01:54,280 --> 01:01:55,040
Classic.
1530
01:01:55,120 --> 01:01:55,880
One of the best kung fu movies ever made.
1531
01:01:55,960 --> 01:01:57,960
- This is about a hot headed young kid
1532
01:01:58,040 --> 01:02:00,440
who has to go into hiding
for the Shaolin temple
1533
01:02:00,520 --> 01:02:03,200
and he decides to learn Shaolin kung fu.
1534
01:02:03,280 --> 01:02:04,800
- Master, teach me kung fu.
1535
01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:06,080
(exclaims)
1536
01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:09,480
- He works his way through
all chambers, one through 35.
1537
01:02:09,560 --> 01:02:11,120
(grunting)
(water splashing)
1538
01:02:11,200 --> 01:02:15,480
- Every stage he needs to
overcome a different challenge.
1539
01:02:15,560 --> 01:02:16,640
There was one he was using
1540
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:18,240
his head on the sand bag (laughs).
1541
01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:20,640
(grunts)
1542
01:02:20,720 --> 01:02:22,840
Or having like candles and it
1543
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:25,640
was like moving his eyes (laughs).
1544
01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:26,920
(exclaims)
1545
01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:30,720
Martial artist, you have to
overcome all these obstacles
1546
01:02:30,800 --> 01:02:32,840
and you have to be disciplined,
1547
01:02:32,920 --> 01:02:35,320
you have to be dedicated in your craft.
1548
01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:36,160
(men grunting)
1549
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:38,920
- You must pass it or
you'll never go any higher.
1550
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:41,760
(dramatic music)
1551
01:02:44,160 --> 01:02:46,640
- When you see Rocky
doing a training montage,
1552
01:02:46,720 --> 01:02:49,520
when you see the 80's training
montages coming out of this,
1553
01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:53,400
it finds its original DNA in
"36th Chambers of Shaolin."
1554
01:02:53,480 --> 01:02:56,200
(dramatic music)
1555
01:02:56,280 --> 01:02:58,160
- I mean you see him learning
what he needs to learn
1556
01:02:58,240 --> 01:02:59,680
and you see him use it at the end.
1557
01:02:59,760 --> 01:03:01,520
- It's fascinating to watch this
1558
01:03:01,600 --> 01:03:03,520
as slowly this person trains and goes
1559
01:03:03,600 --> 01:03:08,000
from being a hot headed brat
to a focused intense individual
1560
01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:10,040
who's almost selfless in a way because
1561
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:11,480
he's learned that there's something larger
1562
01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:13,640
then himself which is kung fu.
1563
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:18,440
(grunts)
(dramatic music)
1564
01:03:18,520 --> 01:03:21,640
(pensive music)
(pedestrians chattering)
1565
01:03:21,720 --> 01:03:23,280
(grunts)
(pensive music)
1566
01:03:23,360 --> 01:03:25,680
- We all had some obligation,
1567
01:03:26,920 --> 01:03:29,240
to make ourselves skilled.
1568
01:03:30,400 --> 01:03:31,920
(grunting)
(pensive music)
1569
01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:33,760
Because you can disarm me by taking
1570
01:03:33,840 --> 01:03:35,880
away my gun but you can't take away this.
1571
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:37,360
(dramatic music)
1572
01:03:37,440 --> 01:03:39,600
- North of the Brooklyn Bridge was
1573
01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:43,080
this Alfred E. Smith housing project.
1574
01:03:43,160 --> 01:03:46,240
I was a film artist at the time.
1575
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:50,680
One time there was
incredibly powerful sound
1576
01:03:50,760 --> 01:03:53,480
coming from the gymnasium.
1577
01:03:53,560 --> 01:03:54,800
(all grunting)
(dramatic music)
1578
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:59,600
It turns out that this was a
group of martial arts students.
1579
01:03:59,680 --> 01:04:02,800
They said we really wanna
make a film with you.
1580
01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:05,440
- The name of this film is
"Deadly Art of Survival."
1581
01:04:05,520 --> 01:04:08,240
- And it was like an urban kung fu movie.
1582
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:11,000
A black guy who has a kung fu school
1583
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:13,920
in the low east side gets into something
1584
01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:16,640
with a rival guy from
another kung fu school.
1585
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:19,920
(men grunting)
(dramatic music)
1586
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:22,360
- [Man] It was about
the spirit and the mind
1587
01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:26,920
becoming powerful through discipline.
1588
01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:30,240
- My school, my style is
better then your style.
1589
01:04:30,320 --> 01:04:31,680
So they eventually clashed.
1590
01:04:31,760 --> 01:04:33,160
(dramatic music)
1591
01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:35,480
- It's a kung fu art film
and I always thought,
1592
01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:38,160
hey I'm serving up the community.
1593
01:04:38,240 --> 01:04:42,680
(water splashing)
(dramatic music)
1594
01:04:42,760 --> 01:04:44,840
- [Interviewer] Any politician you know
1595
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:47,040
ever done anything worth
while to this area?
1596
01:04:47,120 --> 01:04:48,160
- No.
1597
01:04:48,240 --> 01:04:50,520
- Nobody wants to fix these buildings.
1598
01:04:50,600 --> 01:04:52,600
- Brothers and brothers
and they doing nothing.
1599
01:04:52,680 --> 01:04:55,120
(upbeat music)
1600
01:04:55,200 --> 01:04:58,200
- Well in that time the
Bronx was barren wasteland.
1601
01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:00,680
Landlords used to pay gang members
1602
01:05:00,760 --> 01:05:02,680
to torch the buildings
for insurance money.
1603
01:05:02,760 --> 01:05:05,200
And in the middle of all this you had
1604
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:07,680
the birth of hip hop which gave
1605
01:05:07,760 --> 01:05:09,880
us a chance to raise our hand and say,
1606
01:05:09,960 --> 01:05:12,360
hey look at me, I exist and I got talent.
1607
01:05:12,440 --> 01:05:13,640
I can do something.
1608
01:05:13,720 --> 01:05:16,000
- Kids who lived in urban ghetto areas
1609
01:05:16,080 --> 01:05:19,400
that would become a part of
this movement called hip hop,
1610
01:05:19,480 --> 01:05:21,920
we all went to see these kung fu movies.
1611
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:22,760
(plate shattering)
1612
01:05:22,840 --> 01:05:25,280
- I mean "Super Ninja,"
"Five Deadly Venoms,"
1613
01:05:25,360 --> 01:05:26,920
"Shaolin Challenges The Ninja."
1614
01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:28,080
- [Man] Shaolin.
1615
01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:28,920
- [Man] "Ten Tigers of Kwangtung."
1616
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:30,640
- Everybody watches kung fu cinema.
1617
01:05:30,720 --> 01:05:32,480
MC's, DJ's.
1618
01:05:32,560 --> 01:05:33,600
No one can tell me that they
1619
01:05:33,680 --> 01:05:35,000
didn't see that because they did.
1620
01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:36,400
(gentle music)
1621
01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:38,400
(upbeat music)
1622
01:05:38,480 --> 01:05:41,600
- 42nd Street I hung out
all day long every day
1623
01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:42,960
in one theatre out the next.
1624
01:05:43,040 --> 01:05:44,560
I was there every Sunday.
1625
01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:45,760
- There were people that were really funny
1626
01:05:45,840 --> 01:05:47,040
in those movie theatres that said things
1627
01:05:47,120 --> 01:05:49,480
at the right time and the whole
theatre would die laughing.
1628
01:05:49,560 --> 01:05:51,440
- You dummy, he's over there!
1629
01:05:51,520 --> 01:05:53,040
Like you better duck.
1630
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:55,440
- Sometimes films mess up.
1631
01:05:55,520 --> 01:05:57,280
Sometimes the audio would get crazy.
1632
01:05:57,360 --> 01:05:58,320
You hear strange things like...
1633
01:05:58,400 --> 01:05:59,320
- Yo!
1634
01:05:59,400 --> 01:06:01,200
I didn't come here to watch no curtains.
1635
01:06:01,280 --> 01:06:03,920
I came here to watch a
motherfucker get his ass beat.
1636
01:06:04,000 --> 01:06:04,760
(punches thudding)
1637
01:06:04,840 --> 01:06:05,600
(crowd cheering)
1638
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:07,400
- And a lotta times we
would clown with each other
1639
01:06:07,480 --> 01:06:10,200
just buggin' out off the
fighting, choreography.
1640
01:06:10,280 --> 01:06:12,240
- You gonna watch it four times.
1641
01:06:12,320 --> 01:06:14,120
Now in the first round you watch the feet,
1642
01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:15,560
I'ma watch the hands.
1643
01:06:15,640 --> 01:06:16,920
And you watch the throws, I'll watch this
1644
01:06:17,000 --> 01:06:19,440
and we took turns isolatin' the movements
1645
01:06:19,520 --> 01:06:21,400
so we could get these techniques.
1646
01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:23,600
- A lotta these guys that were breaking
1647
01:06:23,680 --> 01:06:26,520
were heavily into martial art films.
1648
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:27,360
(upbeat music)
1649
01:06:27,440 --> 01:06:30,200
"7 Grandmasters" is my favourite.
1650
01:06:30,280 --> 01:06:32,680
I based my whole career
on "7 Grandmasters."
1651
01:06:32,760 --> 01:06:34,480
- My good name depends on this.
1652
01:06:34,560 --> 01:06:35,800
- I'll oblige you.
1653
01:06:35,880 --> 01:06:37,960
- What we saw on the screen was
1654
01:06:38,040 --> 01:06:42,920
the very essence of hip hop battling.
1655
01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:45,640
(upbeat music)
1656
01:06:45,720 --> 01:06:47,840
- Come on then, why are you waiting?
1657
01:06:47,920 --> 01:06:48,760
- Right now!
1658
01:06:48,840 --> 01:06:50,800
(upbeat music)
1659
01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:52,840
- [Man] One break dance crew challenging
1660
01:06:52,920 --> 01:06:55,680
another break dance crew
form another part of town.
1661
01:06:55,760 --> 01:06:59,280
- The power of style to defeat your enemy.
1662
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:00,440
- But it does have that kinda
1663
01:07:00,520 --> 01:07:02,280
like face off thing (whistling).
1664
01:07:02,360 --> 01:07:04,360
- [Man] My style is better then your style
1665
01:07:04,440 --> 01:07:06,680
was really where that all came from.
1666
01:07:06,760 --> 01:07:08,440
- There was a recognition that
1667
01:07:08,520 --> 01:07:13,440
the other person was their
superior grandmaster.
1668
01:07:13,520 --> 01:07:14,680
(upbeat music)
1669
01:07:14,760 --> 01:07:16,520
- We know we're not grandmasters
1670
01:07:16,600 --> 01:07:19,160
but that's the whole
innocent fantasy about it.
1671
01:07:19,240 --> 01:07:20,000
- [Crowd] Go, go!
1672
01:07:20,080 --> 01:07:21,040
- It was a recognition
- Go, go, go!
1673
01:07:21,120 --> 01:07:23,920
- of respect and what is
more hip hop then that?
1674
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:24,760
(upbeat music)
1675
01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:26,680
d Woo d
1676
01:07:27,720 --> 01:07:30,240
(man yelling)
1677
01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:33,640
(upbeat music)
1678
01:07:33,720 --> 01:07:37,120
- [Man] To see these films
with these amazing moves,
1679
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:39,360
just kicking ass in a brand new way.
1680
01:07:39,440 --> 01:07:42,160
- They would see actors in
kung fu movies on the ground,
1681
01:07:42,240 --> 01:07:44,800
on the shoulders kicking guys.
1682
01:07:44,880 --> 01:07:46,640
The windmill was very similar
1683
01:07:46,720 --> 01:07:48,880
to certain moves in kung fu movies.
1684
01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:52,040
You can see guys doing
those scissors kick stuff.
1685
01:07:52,120 --> 01:07:54,680
In the intro credit scene
in "Spiritual Boxer"
1686
01:07:54,760 --> 01:07:56,320
somebody does a suicide dive
1687
01:07:56,400 --> 01:07:57,760
which is a flip onto your back.
1688
01:07:57,840 --> 01:07:59,320
(all yelling)
1689
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:00,560
(upbeat music)
1690
01:08:00,640 --> 01:08:01,960
- But there's another break dancer
1691
01:08:02,040 --> 01:08:04,160
from Brooklyn called Up Rock
1692
01:08:04,240 --> 01:08:05,000
and you're comin' up
and down and you come up
1693
01:08:05,080 --> 01:08:07,720
and you exchange, punch,
punch, punch and you go
1694
01:08:07,800 --> 01:08:09,440
back down and come up the same.
1695
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:10,240
(upbeat music)
1696
01:08:10,320 --> 01:08:12,840
And that is totally Chinese martial arts.
1697
01:08:12,920 --> 01:08:15,240
(upbeat music)
1698
01:08:15,320 --> 01:08:17,960
- The drunken style, I adopted that fully.
1699
01:08:18,040 --> 01:08:19,240
But I'll be honest with you guys,
1700
01:08:19,320 --> 01:08:21,400
my whole entire style is drunken style.
1701
01:08:21,480 --> 01:08:23,040
(upbeat music)
1702
01:08:23,120 --> 01:08:23,880
- The were already doing it but
1703
01:08:23,960 --> 01:08:25,680
it just expanded the vocabulary.
1704
01:08:25,760 --> 01:08:27,200
(upbeat music)
1705
01:08:27,280 --> 01:08:28,360
- [Man] And in a lotta neighbourhoods
1706
01:08:28,440 --> 01:08:32,200
the dancing stopped the
fighting drastically.
1707
01:08:32,280 --> 01:08:33,640
- They're tryin' to say well look,
1708
01:08:33,720 --> 01:08:35,960
I can do more then just steal
and rob and stick you up.
1709
01:08:36,040 --> 01:08:37,280
- I keeps me outta two places.
1710
01:08:37,360 --> 01:08:38,480
It keeps me outta the poor house
1711
01:08:38,560 --> 01:08:41,400
and it keeps me outta your
house, you know what I mean?
1712
01:08:41,480 --> 01:08:43,920
(upbeat music)
1713
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:46,200
- Every single one of us that's creating
1714
01:08:46,280 --> 01:08:50,560
has this inspiration and if
we really creating right,
1715
01:08:50,640 --> 01:08:52,320
then we put an interesting flip.
1716
01:08:53,240 --> 01:08:54,240
- They were sampling.
1717
01:08:54,320 --> 01:08:56,080
It's about cultures talk to each other.
1718
01:08:56,160 --> 01:08:57,840
- We twisted it.
1719
01:08:57,920 --> 01:08:59,520
We've remixed it and brought it
1720
01:08:59,600 --> 01:09:01,720
back to you with a fresh new beat.
1721
01:09:01,800 --> 01:09:02,800
- [Man] We are constantly talkin'
1722
01:09:02,880 --> 01:09:04,400
across the water to each other.
1723
01:09:04,480 --> 01:09:06,720
- "Mismatched Couples" is very interesting
1724
01:09:06,800 --> 01:09:07,960
to this whole discussion.
1725
01:09:08,040 --> 01:09:10,560
It's this movie about
break dancing in Hong Kong.
1726
01:09:10,640 --> 01:09:11,440
In the intro right?
1727
01:09:11,520 --> 01:09:12,960
He's doing this un popping and locking
1728
01:09:13,040 --> 01:09:14,760
like putting his shirt
on and taking it off.
1729
01:09:14,840 --> 01:09:15,960
He's doing some moon walking.
1730
01:09:16,040 --> 01:09:18,600
- But it's amazing to see how this culture
1731
01:09:18,680 --> 01:09:22,320
has combined with hip
hop which it originally
1732
01:09:22,400 --> 01:09:25,520
had an influence on and then it could form
1733
01:09:25,600 --> 01:09:27,440
and function in it's own way.
1734
01:09:27,520 --> 01:09:29,240
I mean it's about time
we get some publicity
1735
01:09:29,320 --> 01:09:31,080
for this God damn rap shit.
1736
01:09:33,800 --> 01:09:35,280
- A lot of the theatres that ran
1737
01:09:35,360 --> 01:09:37,600
the kung fu movies at this time,
1738
01:09:37,680 --> 01:09:39,440
they were inner city theatres.
1739
01:09:39,520 --> 01:09:42,960
A lot of the suburban
kids, basically white kids,
1740
01:09:43,040 --> 01:09:46,640
parents were not comfortable
having them go into the city.
1741
01:09:46,720 --> 01:09:50,280
So, why not put these on television?
1742
01:09:50,360 --> 01:09:51,720
(static crackling)
1743
01:09:51,800 --> 01:09:54,040
(upbeat music)
1744
01:09:54,120 --> 01:09:56,320
- When they expand beyond 42nd Street
1745
01:09:56,400 --> 01:10:00,440
into the commercial TV
stations, then everybody got it.
1746
01:10:00,520 --> 01:10:02,560
- [Man] In Philadelphia, San Francisco,
1747
01:10:02,640 --> 01:10:05,240
Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Honolulu.
1748
01:10:05,320 --> 01:10:07,560
- [Man] People will be
outside all day long.
1749
01:10:07,640 --> 01:10:09,640
They came inside to watch
those kung fu movies.
1750
01:10:09,720 --> 01:10:13,000
- That inspired another generation of kids
1751
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:16,000
like we were in the 70's
and they got addicted
1752
01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:19,160
and plugged in to the whole phenomenon.
1753
01:10:19,240 --> 01:10:21,200
(upbeat music)
1754
01:10:21,280 --> 01:10:22,240
- [Announcer] Journey to
1755
01:10:22,320 --> 01:10:24,560
the mysterious world of the far east.
1756
01:10:24,640 --> 01:10:25,400
(gong bongs)
1757
01:10:25,480 --> 01:10:28,200
The wondrous and wicked
world of the kung fu masters.
1758
01:10:28,280 --> 01:10:30,840
(gentle music)
1759
01:10:34,440 --> 01:10:39,080
- I discovered my love of
these films on television.
1760
01:10:39,160 --> 01:10:43,520
I think the first one I watched
was "Boxer From Shantung."
1761
01:10:43,600 --> 01:10:45,720
So I still have not seen anything
1762
01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:49,240
on commercial TV as bloody as that movie.
1763
01:10:49,320 --> 01:10:52,920
Chen Kuan-tai fights the
whole like last 10 minutes
1764
01:10:53,000 --> 01:10:55,320
of the movie with an axe
hanging out of his stomach.
1765
01:10:55,400 --> 01:10:57,040
(grunting)
(dramatic music)
1766
01:10:57,120 --> 01:11:00,600
On a Saturday afternoon at four o'clock,
1767
01:11:00,680 --> 01:11:02,480
it was still outrageous.
1768
01:11:02,560 --> 01:11:05,760
(gentle music)
1769
01:11:05,840 --> 01:11:07,080
(man grunting)
1770
01:11:07,160 --> 01:11:08,600
- The reasons why they were good
1771
01:11:08,680 --> 01:11:11,400
for kids because they basically show
1772
01:11:12,600 --> 01:11:17,360
that if you're disciplined
and you're prepared to study,
1773
01:11:19,280 --> 01:11:21,640
there isn't anything
that you can't achieve.
1774
01:11:21,720 --> 01:11:24,440
(men grunting)
(gentle music)
1775
01:11:24,520 --> 01:11:26,600
Which we know basically is nonsense.
1776
01:11:26,680 --> 01:11:29,400
(men grunting)
1777
01:11:29,480 --> 01:11:31,800
(child screaming)
1778
01:11:31,880 --> 01:11:32,760
(static crackling)
1779
01:11:32,840 --> 01:11:34,280
(kids laughing)
(gentle music)
1780
01:11:34,360 --> 01:11:35,120
- Hello.
1781
01:11:35,200 --> 01:11:38,040
I'm Ron Van Clief and
welcome to "Drive In Movie."
1782
01:11:38,120 --> 01:11:39,840
The "Chinatown Kid" is today's feature
1783
01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:41,840
starring Alexander Fu Sheng.
1784
01:11:41,920 --> 01:11:44,200
(eerie music)
(men grunting)
1785
01:11:44,280 --> 01:11:45,280
- Now pay me for 'em.
1786
01:11:45,360 --> 01:11:46,440
(man grunting)
(fist thudding)
1787
01:11:46,520 --> 01:11:48,360
- There were an English export
1788
01:11:48,440 --> 01:11:49,960
they were being done in Hong Kong.
1789
01:11:50,040 --> 01:11:53,000
So you have a lot of English
accents being dubbed.
1790
01:11:53,080 --> 01:11:54,160
(film reel beeps)
1791
01:11:54,240 --> 01:11:55,960
- You bums obviously don't know me.
1792
01:11:56,040 --> 01:11:56,760
- Oh I know you.
1793
01:11:56,840 --> 01:11:57,600
You're one of Lou's men.
1794
01:11:57,680 --> 01:11:59,720
The one they say can kick like a mule.
1795
01:11:59,800 --> 01:12:01,640
- We all take the
personality of dubbed movies.
1796
01:12:01,720 --> 01:12:03,840
- Hey, where do you think you're going?
1797
01:12:03,920 --> 01:12:06,520
- Hey, what do you mean over there huh?
1798
01:12:06,600 --> 01:12:07,360
Yeah.
1799
01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:09,640
- My kung fu is better then yours.
1800
01:12:09,720 --> 01:12:10,480
(laughs)
1801
01:12:10,560 --> 01:12:11,400
It's, it's (laughs)...
1802
01:12:12,800 --> 01:12:13,520
(film reel beeps)
1803
01:12:13,600 --> 01:12:14,360
- Ha!
1804
01:12:14,440 --> 01:12:15,600
(grunting)
1805
01:12:15,680 --> 01:12:17,560
- When we were dubbing
them we would grunt,
1806
01:12:17,640 --> 01:12:19,440
we would make terrible noises.
1807
01:12:19,520 --> 01:12:20,280
(men screaming)
1808
01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:22,600
They took 10, 12 hours to dub.
1809
01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:24,760
There was one film we did.
1810
01:12:24,840 --> 01:12:28,240
We drank 72 beers between six of us.
1811
01:12:28,320 --> 01:12:29,960
We musta been drunk.
1812
01:12:30,040 --> 01:12:31,880
You can trust him to me (mumbling).
1813
01:12:31,960 --> 01:12:33,000
- Very good.
1814
01:12:33,080 --> 01:12:34,880
- Can you make it a
little bit more Chinesey?
1815
01:12:34,960 --> 01:12:36,240
That was a bit English that one.
1816
01:12:36,320 --> 01:12:37,720
- So I'm just trying to write the thing
1817
01:12:37,800 --> 01:12:40,640
and trying to make the
voices fit the lips.
1818
01:12:40,720 --> 01:12:41,720
- [Interviewer] You say, you make them
1819
01:12:41,800 --> 01:12:42,640
say what you want them to say.
1820
01:12:42,720 --> 01:12:44,480
Surely they've got to
say what they are saying.
1821
01:12:44,560 --> 01:12:45,680
It doesn't make sense.
- No.
1822
01:12:45,760 --> 01:12:47,440
They can be saying anything at all.
1823
01:12:47,520 --> 01:12:49,960
- "You must be tired of
living" was a favourite.
1824
01:12:50,040 --> 01:12:51,480
Those words used to fit the lips.
1825
01:12:51,560 --> 01:12:53,960
- The lips go so many times.
1826
01:12:54,040 --> 01:12:55,200
So many times.
1827
01:12:55,280 --> 01:12:56,360
So many times.
1828
01:12:56,440 --> 01:13:00,800
- My favourite of all time
was "The One-Armed Swordsman,"
1829
01:13:00,880 --> 01:13:02,080
and I got him to say I'm
1830
01:13:02,160 --> 01:13:04,520
gonna kill you with my own two hands.
1831
01:13:04,600 --> 01:13:06,440
(upbeat music)
1832
01:13:06,520 --> 01:13:08,400
God knows it wasn't perfect.
1833
01:13:08,480 --> 01:13:10,400
Some of the time it wasn't even average.
1834
01:13:10,480 --> 01:13:13,720
- You be goin' left and right.
1835
01:13:13,800 --> 01:13:15,240
- "Fearless Hyena."
1836
01:13:15,320 --> 01:13:17,080
I did the Jackie Chan voice in it
1837
01:13:17,160 --> 01:13:18,960
and I saw it quite recently.
1838
01:13:19,040 --> 01:13:20,520
- What have I been teaching you?
1839
01:13:20,600 --> 01:13:22,920
- Study and act with thought.
1840
01:13:23,000 --> 01:13:24,120
- What else?
1841
01:13:24,200 --> 01:13:25,880
- Train hard to help others.
1842
01:13:25,960 --> 01:13:27,400
- Frankly I was horrified.
1843
01:13:27,480 --> 01:13:29,120
I could only watch 10 minutes of it.
1844
01:13:29,200 --> 01:13:30,320
I felt embarrassed.
1845
01:13:30,400 --> 01:13:32,200
- Why the hell did you attack me?
1846
01:13:33,280 --> 01:13:34,920
(grunting)
1847
01:13:35,000 --> 01:13:37,480
(upbeat music)
1848
01:13:37,560 --> 01:13:39,080
- As the 70's became the 80's
1849
01:13:39,160 --> 01:13:41,000
and the Hong Kong economy was booming,
1850
01:13:41,080 --> 01:13:42,440
Shaw missed the bus again.
1851
01:13:42,520 --> 01:13:45,120
Someone came to Shaw Brothers
for this guy Jackie Chan.
1852
01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:45,920
Do you want this guy?
1853
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:47,480
He's really funny, he's really popular.
1854
01:13:47,560 --> 01:13:48,320
Shaw said no thanks.
1855
01:13:48,400 --> 01:13:50,040
(voice screeching)
1856
01:13:50,120 --> 01:13:51,080
- That was the biggest,
1857
01:13:51,160 --> 01:13:53,280
it's like not signing The Beatles right?
1858
01:13:53,360 --> 01:13:54,760
(upbeat music)
1859
01:13:54,840 --> 01:13:56,360
- He went off to Golden Harvest where
1860
01:13:56,440 --> 01:13:59,480
they had realised that what
people really really wanted
1861
01:13:59,560 --> 01:14:02,920
were kung fu comedies and
people were eating it up.
1862
01:14:03,880 --> 01:14:05,400
Yuen Woo-Ping directed a movie
1863
01:14:05,480 --> 01:14:07,400
called "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow"
1864
01:14:07,480 --> 01:14:09,400
with Jackie Chan as a young boy
1865
01:14:09,480 --> 01:14:12,160
at a martial arts school who
runs errands and cleans up.
1866
01:14:12,240 --> 01:14:14,240
- You have no idea (grunts).
1867
01:14:14,320 --> 01:14:16,680
- Who gets taught how
to be a real fighter.
1868
01:14:16,760 --> 01:14:20,960
This really was the first
big hit kung fu comedy.
1869
01:14:21,040 --> 01:14:22,280
(Jackie calling)
1870
01:14:22,360 --> 01:14:23,080
(upbeat music)
(men grunting)
1871
01:14:23,160 --> 01:14:25,560
- Jackie Chan was not the next Bruce Lee.
1872
01:14:25,640 --> 01:14:27,440
- We don't need another Bruce Lee.
1873
01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:30,200
I'm going to make it my own.
1874
01:14:30,280 --> 01:14:31,960
- [Jackie] You must attract the audience,
1875
01:14:32,040 --> 01:14:33,760
see the movie (exclaims).
1876
01:14:33,840 --> 01:14:36,240
Then story, then comedy.
1877
01:14:36,320 --> 01:14:38,840
- And it was funny and
like his personality
1878
01:14:38,920 --> 01:14:41,080
just exploded on screen.
1879
01:14:41,160 --> 01:14:44,160
- [Jackie] If no violent, no action,
1880
01:14:44,240 --> 01:14:47,080
not different cool stunt,
few people are gonna see it.
1881
01:14:47,160 --> 01:14:48,040
(gentle music)
1882
01:14:48,120 --> 01:14:50,200
- Jackie Chan always said he was inspired
1883
01:14:50,280 --> 01:14:54,560
by Buster Keaton with all
his stunts which inspired
1884
01:14:54,640 --> 01:14:57,920
him to do the comedy
action that he's doing.
1885
01:14:58,000 --> 01:14:59,440
- Roll and action!
1886
01:14:59,520 --> 01:15:01,520
(upbeat music)
1887
01:15:01,600 --> 01:15:02,360
(shots firing)
1888
01:15:02,440 --> 01:15:05,040
- [Man] We want the audiences
to see someone fall 40 feet
1889
01:15:05,120 --> 01:15:06,960
with nothing to catch them at the bottom.
1890
01:15:07,040 --> 01:15:08,680
- Stunt is my life.
1891
01:15:08,760 --> 01:15:09,760
Movie is my life.
1892
01:15:11,120 --> 01:15:12,080
- The joke was always we didn't
1893
01:15:12,160 --> 01:15:13,280
have money for special effects.
1894
01:15:13,360 --> 01:15:14,920
We had to be the special effect.
1895
01:15:15,000 --> 01:15:16,760
(upbeat music)
(glass shattering)
1896
01:15:16,840 --> 01:15:19,040
- How do you appeal to the world?
1897
01:15:19,120 --> 01:15:22,000
Well, you make yourself the fall guy.
1898
01:15:22,080 --> 01:15:23,840
(upbeat music)
1899
01:15:23,920 --> 01:15:25,280
- [Jackie] And I'm not crazy.
1900
01:15:26,120 --> 01:15:27,080
- [Eric] That's genius.
1901
01:15:27,160 --> 01:15:30,240
- And you look at what
Jackie Chan did with space.
1902
01:15:30,320 --> 01:15:32,000
Hello, hoo hoo!
1903
01:15:32,080 --> 01:15:33,400
(upbeat music)
1904
01:15:33,480 --> 01:15:35,560
- Doing an entire sequence in a wide shot
1905
01:15:35,640 --> 01:15:36,920
so you can see it's all there.
1906
01:15:37,000 --> 01:15:39,280
- You would run all over the set
1907
01:15:39,360 --> 01:15:40,880
and not just that set but you'd move
1908
01:15:40,960 --> 01:15:43,200
on to another set and
another set after that.
1909
01:15:43,280 --> 01:15:45,040
- Jackie had his own style,
1910
01:15:45,120 --> 01:15:47,040
uses acrobatic abilities and learned
1911
01:15:47,120 --> 01:15:48,760
how to scale walls quickly
1912
01:15:48,840 --> 01:15:50,440
or jump over a table and come back,
1913
01:15:50,520 --> 01:15:52,760
slide on a table, flip
over, do things like that.
1914
01:15:52,840 --> 01:15:54,480
(dramatic music)
1915
01:15:54,560 --> 01:15:57,720
Which to me is the precursor to parkour.
1916
01:15:57,800 --> 01:16:00,360
(upbeat music)
1917
01:16:01,720 --> 01:16:02,480
(clock chimes)
1918
01:16:02,560 --> 01:16:05,480
(woman singing in foreign language)
1919
01:16:05,560 --> 01:16:07,240
- For me we live in a society.
1920
01:16:07,320 --> 01:16:08,760
We like boxing, we're like squared in
1921
01:16:08,840 --> 01:16:11,200
and everything so okay it's safer.
1922
01:16:11,280 --> 01:16:13,000
So for me escape was better.
1923
01:16:13,080 --> 01:16:15,640
(upbeat music)
1924
01:16:16,680 --> 01:16:18,600
Getting outside, doing something else.
1925
01:16:18,680 --> 01:16:21,200
We find something positive to do.
1926
01:16:21,280 --> 01:16:23,440
(upbeat music)
1927
01:16:23,520 --> 01:16:24,280
For me it's all about energy.
1928
01:16:24,360 --> 01:16:25,760
It's like vibration.
1929
01:16:25,840 --> 01:16:27,000
It's in my head forever.
1930
01:16:27,080 --> 01:16:29,640
It's like this is part of who I am.
1931
01:16:29,720 --> 01:16:31,680
(woman singing in foreign language)
1932
01:16:31,760 --> 01:16:33,880
(upbeat music)
1933
01:16:33,960 --> 01:16:35,240
Watching those martial art movie,
1934
01:16:35,320 --> 01:16:38,640
Jackie Chan is a huge
influence and he inspired us.
1935
01:16:38,720 --> 01:16:41,000
It was like he plant a seed in us.
1936
01:16:42,040 --> 01:16:43,840
Other kids where we grew up like,
1937
01:16:43,920 --> 01:16:46,760
the Dame du Laus which is
a very iconic structure
1938
01:16:46,840 --> 01:16:49,200
allowed us to practise like a tool,
1939
01:16:49,280 --> 01:16:50,200
like a wooden dummy.
1940
01:16:50,280 --> 01:16:51,480
We were (clacking).
1941
01:16:51,560 --> 01:16:52,640
d Let's go d
1942
01:16:52,720 --> 01:16:54,240
It just fuels you.
1943
01:16:54,320 --> 01:16:56,040
Like gives you so much energy.
1944
01:16:56,120 --> 01:16:57,680
That's what all his movie did for me.
1945
01:16:57,760 --> 01:17:00,720
- [Man] When you see
parkour, it's no different
1946
01:17:00,800 --> 01:17:03,880
than Jackie Chan getting
chased around town.
1947
01:17:03,960 --> 01:17:06,880
- Parkour felt like wire
work without the wires.
1948
01:17:06,960 --> 01:17:10,240
- He makes you think
like supernatural exists.
1949
01:17:12,000 --> 01:17:13,320
We could wall run.
1950
01:17:13,400 --> 01:17:14,520
So you change your mind.
1951
01:17:14,600 --> 01:17:17,000
The wall is no more wall,
the bench is no more bench.
1952
01:17:17,080 --> 01:17:17,840
Jackie Chan you see?
1953
01:17:17,920 --> 01:17:19,720
He uses the environment.
1954
01:17:19,800 --> 01:17:21,600
That's what we do, we use the environment.
1955
01:17:21,680 --> 01:17:24,160
We initiate the fashion phenomenon.
1956
01:17:24,240 --> 01:17:28,800
We're responsible for this
crazy famous discipline.
1957
01:17:28,880 --> 01:17:31,560
But there is people also
allow us to do that.
1958
01:17:31,640 --> 01:17:33,080
It's a link.
1959
01:17:33,160 --> 01:17:35,720
We are inspired and then we inspired.
1960
01:17:35,800 --> 01:17:38,560
(dramatic music)
1961
01:17:44,240 --> 01:17:46,200
- [Man] In the 80's Hong
Kong movies started moving
1962
01:17:46,280 --> 01:17:47,720
into the modern times with people
1963
01:17:47,800 --> 01:17:49,360
like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung,
1964
01:17:49,440 --> 01:17:52,320
except their stars now
were white collar workers.
1965
01:17:52,400 --> 01:17:53,880
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
1966
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:56,200
- The plot was irrelevant.
1967
01:17:56,280 --> 01:17:57,840
It was all about how are we gonna
1968
01:17:57,920 --> 01:17:59,760
get from this acrobatic scene
1969
01:17:59,840 --> 01:18:02,760
to this comedy scene all with kung fu?
1970
01:18:02,840 --> 01:18:05,080
- Those guys would
start bringing this idea
1971
01:18:05,160 --> 01:18:07,480
of well a stunt man also
needs to know falls,
1972
01:18:07,560 --> 01:18:10,400
jumps, how to go through
a window or a wall.
1973
01:18:10,480 --> 01:18:11,360
(Sammo speaking in foreign language)
1974
01:18:11,440 --> 01:18:12,160
- [Translator] You hope to show
1975
01:18:12,240 --> 01:18:14,280
the audience something new in every film.
1976
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:18,680
I wanted them to be happy
when they watched my films.
1977
01:18:18,760 --> 01:18:19,520
- There's nobody better then Sammo Hung.
1978
01:18:19,600 --> 01:18:22,440
That guy's the most
incredible action director
1979
01:18:22,520 --> 01:18:23,600
I've ever worked with.
1980
01:18:23,680 --> 01:18:25,920
(men grunting)
1981
01:18:26,000 --> 01:18:27,960
In "Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars"
1982
01:18:28,040 --> 01:18:30,240
Sammo said you swing the chair at my legs
1983
01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:32,760
and I'll do somersault
and land on my feet.
1984
01:18:32,840 --> 01:18:35,440
Honestly I'm like,
where's the stunt double?
1985
01:18:35,520 --> 01:18:38,640
Course Sammo did it like 30 frickin' times
1986
01:18:38,720 --> 01:18:40,480
and you know how he's built.
1987
01:18:40,560 --> 01:18:41,720
Jackie made a comment once,
1988
01:18:41,800 --> 01:18:44,280
he looks like an elephant
but moves like a monkey.
1989
01:18:44,360 --> 01:18:45,120
(shot firing)
1990
01:18:45,200 --> 01:18:47,120
- Sammo Hung was concerned with impact.
1991
01:18:47,200 --> 01:18:49,000
He wanted things to hit hard.
1992
01:18:49,080 --> 01:18:50,120
(men grunting)
1993
01:18:50,200 --> 01:18:51,440
- As hard as he hit you, he wanted you
1994
01:18:51,520 --> 01:18:53,400
to hit him just as hard back.
1995
01:18:53,480 --> 01:18:54,960
(men grunting)
1996
01:18:55,040 --> 01:18:56,640
- Kung fu?
1997
01:18:56,720 --> 01:18:58,240
They put camera here and I have to put
1998
01:18:58,320 --> 01:19:00,960
my head into frame and Sammo boom,
1999
01:19:01,040 --> 01:19:02,520
bare fisted upper cut.
2000
01:19:02,600 --> 01:19:05,000
I remember after the first few days
2001
01:19:05,080 --> 01:19:06,560
in my fight scene with Sammo,
2002
01:19:06,640 --> 01:19:10,000
if I can get through this
I can get through anything.
2003
01:19:10,080 --> 01:19:11,840
(upbeat music)
2004
01:19:11,920 --> 01:19:13,640
- People wanted modern day movies.
2005
01:19:13,720 --> 01:19:14,840
Golden Harvest cleaned up with
2006
01:19:14,920 --> 01:19:18,000
their action comedy series
set in the modern day.
2007
01:19:18,080 --> 01:19:19,040
(upbeat music)
2008
01:19:19,120 --> 01:19:20,240
And Shaw Brothers was just
2009
01:19:20,320 --> 01:19:23,200
one beat behind what audiences wanted.
2010
01:19:23,280 --> 01:19:25,840
(gentle music)
2011
01:19:28,280 --> 01:19:31,320
And so slowly Shaw faded and faded.
2012
01:19:31,400 --> 01:19:33,760
(gentle music)
2013
01:19:33,840 --> 01:19:37,680
'Til eventually, Shaw
Brothers died in 1986
2014
01:19:37,760 --> 01:19:39,520
when basically television production
2015
01:19:39,600 --> 01:19:41,920
took over the Clear
Water Bay sound stages.
2016
01:19:42,000 --> 01:19:42,880
(gentle music)
2017
01:19:42,960 --> 01:19:44,440
They abandoned actually Lau Kar-leung
2018
01:19:44,520 --> 01:19:45,840
who was shooting his movie.
2019
01:19:45,920 --> 01:19:47,440
They just sort of left him there.
2020
01:19:47,520 --> 01:19:48,600
We're shutting down production.
2021
01:19:48,680 --> 01:19:49,520
Good luck.
2022
01:19:50,480 --> 01:19:52,480
They moved over into TVB full time
2023
01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:54,760
and made more millions of dollars there
2024
01:19:54,840 --> 01:19:56,680
becoming the biggest and
most powerful producer
2025
01:19:56,760 --> 01:19:59,000
of televisions martial arts dramas,
2026
01:19:59,080 --> 01:20:02,240
period dramas, romances
and contemporary cop shows.
2027
01:20:02,320 --> 01:20:04,880
(gentle music)
2028
01:20:06,280 --> 01:20:07,280
(men grunting)
2029
01:20:07,360 --> 01:20:08,120
- [Man] Marker.
2030
01:20:08,200 --> 01:20:09,360
- [Man] One thing Golden
Harvest understood
2031
01:20:09,440 --> 01:20:11,000
in a way that Shaw Brothers didn't is
2032
01:20:11,080 --> 01:20:14,400
that you had to constantly
have fresh faces.
2033
01:20:14,480 --> 01:20:15,240
- [Man] One more.
2034
01:20:15,320 --> 01:20:16,080
- [Man] Go overseas,
2035
01:20:16,160 --> 01:20:18,200
hold auditions and see what was out there.
2036
01:20:18,280 --> 01:20:19,360
(static crackling)
2037
01:20:19,440 --> 01:20:21,360
- In karate (exclaims),
2038
01:20:21,440 --> 01:20:24,120
I'm number one and Kentucky Fried Chicken
2039
01:20:24,200 --> 01:20:25,560
is number one in chicken.
2040
01:20:25,640 --> 01:20:27,960
It's got that taste that (exclaims)...
2041
01:20:28,040 --> 01:20:29,280
(static crackling)
2042
01:20:29,360 --> 01:20:32,080
- I was five time karate world champion.
2043
01:20:32,160 --> 01:20:34,240
The editor of Inside Kung Fu Magazine
2044
01:20:34,320 --> 01:20:35,960
said hey there's a Chinese company here.
2045
01:20:36,040 --> 01:20:37,920
They're in Los Angeles
and they're auditioning.
2046
01:20:38,000 --> 01:20:39,960
They're looking for the next Bruce Lee.
2047
01:20:40,040 --> 01:20:42,160
I did some fighting, I did self defence,
2048
01:20:42,240 --> 01:20:44,960
I did some weapons and Corey
Yuen says I want the girl.
2049
01:20:45,040 --> 01:20:47,480
(shot firing)
2050
01:20:47,560 --> 01:20:50,040
My first movie was "Yes,
Madame" in Hong Kong
2051
01:20:50,120 --> 01:20:51,080
and I was like what do I do?
2052
01:20:51,160 --> 01:20:52,560
I'd never shot a film before.
2053
01:20:52,640 --> 01:20:53,400
- Go away!
2054
01:20:53,480 --> 01:20:55,560
- Get away or I'll kill her!
2055
01:20:55,640 --> 01:20:56,400
- Ah!
2056
01:20:56,480 --> 01:20:58,960
(man grunting)
2057
01:20:59,040 --> 01:21:00,360
Nothing was in English.
2058
01:21:00,440 --> 01:21:01,760
I didn't know what I was saying.
2059
01:21:01,840 --> 01:21:03,880
I remember just going
(speaking in foreign language)
2060
01:21:03,960 --> 01:21:06,240
and they go cut, that's good.
2061
01:21:06,320 --> 01:21:08,560
And I was like no I said
(speaking in foreign language).
2062
01:21:08,640 --> 01:21:09,640
They said doesn't matter.
2063
01:21:09,720 --> 01:21:10,880
(speaking in foreign language)
2064
01:21:10,960 --> 01:21:12,200
Corey Yuen was such an innovator
2065
01:21:12,280 --> 01:21:14,040
to take a chance with two women.
2066
01:21:14,120 --> 01:21:16,040
- Ha, let's see how good you ladies are.
2067
01:21:16,120 --> 01:21:17,280
(upbeat music)
2068
01:21:17,360 --> 01:21:18,760
- Final fight with her
and Michelle Yeoh together
2069
01:21:18,840 --> 01:21:20,960
side by side is just mind blowing.
2070
01:21:21,040 --> 01:21:23,000
(all grunting)
(upbeat music)
2071
01:21:23,080 --> 01:21:25,840
- Their internal power
emanates out of them
2072
01:21:25,920 --> 01:21:29,960
through the lens to you in the
audience and it's like yeah.
2073
01:21:30,960 --> 01:21:35,960
(all grunting)
(upbeat music)
2074
01:21:36,760 --> 01:21:38,360
- The movie was a success and I signed
2075
01:21:38,440 --> 01:21:40,320
a three picture deal with Golden Harvest.
2076
01:21:40,400 --> 01:21:42,000
- So what about you lady?
2077
01:21:42,080 --> 01:21:43,600
You wanna try my kung fu?
2078
01:21:43,680 --> 01:21:46,080
- Of course I wanna try you piece of shit.
2079
01:21:47,440 --> 01:21:48,840
(exclaims)
2080
01:21:48,920 --> 01:21:50,640
There's a big difference between shooting
2081
01:21:50,720 --> 01:21:52,320
in Hong Kong and in American.
2082
01:21:52,400 --> 01:21:53,960
We never had a script and I remember
2083
01:21:54,040 --> 01:21:55,400
I was shooting "The Magic Crystal"
2084
01:21:55,480 --> 01:21:58,000
and the director said to
me look at the ceiling.
2085
01:21:58,080 --> 01:22:00,000
And I said oh boy, why am
I looking at the ceiling?
2086
01:22:00,080 --> 01:22:01,040
He goes oh don't worry about it.
2087
01:22:01,120 --> 01:22:04,160
(man speaking in foreign language)
2088
01:22:04,240 --> 01:22:06,200
When I see the movie we're gettin' invaded
2089
01:22:06,280 --> 01:22:08,000
by aliens and they're attacking us
2090
01:22:08,080 --> 01:22:09,520
and I was like that might've been
2091
01:22:09,600 --> 01:22:12,560
a little bit important
information to tell me.
2092
01:22:12,640 --> 01:22:14,320
- And did you see the
alien when it came out?
2093
01:22:14,400 --> 01:22:15,560
It looked like some kid had made
2094
01:22:15,640 --> 01:22:18,000
it out of Plasticine or something.
2095
01:22:18,080 --> 01:22:20,680
(man screaming)
2096
01:22:20,760 --> 01:22:22,320
I did it with Cynthia Rothrock
2097
01:22:22,400 --> 01:22:24,240
who I've done nine movies with.
2098
01:22:24,320 --> 01:22:29,160
(grunting)
(upbeat music)
2099
01:22:30,320 --> 01:22:31,160
- And I always tell people it
2100
01:22:31,240 --> 01:22:32,640
doesn't matter how good you are.
2101
01:22:32,720 --> 01:22:34,320
If you're with a partner that isn't good,
2102
01:22:34,400 --> 01:22:35,880
you're not gonna look good.
2103
01:22:35,960 --> 01:22:39,240
If you did a movie then and
you weren't a good fighter,
2104
01:22:39,320 --> 01:22:40,320
that was not gonna sell 'cause people
2105
01:22:40,400 --> 01:22:42,720
could tell if you could fight or not.
2106
01:22:42,800 --> 01:22:47,080
(man grunting)
(upbeat music)
2107
01:22:47,160 --> 01:22:48,920
- The fight has highs and lows.
2108
01:22:49,000 --> 01:22:52,280
It has nouns and verbs and
adverbs and adjectives.
2109
01:22:52,360 --> 01:22:54,920
(grunting)
(upbeat music)
2110
01:22:55,000 --> 01:22:56,920
That's what's important in a fight scene.
2111
01:22:57,000 --> 01:23:02,000
(upbeat music)
(weapons whizzing)
2112
01:23:02,320 --> 01:23:04,200
(man calling)
(upbeat music)
2113
01:23:04,280 --> 01:23:06,720
(rock music)
(glass shattering)
2114
01:23:06,800 --> 01:23:09,600
- One of the toughest careers
is doing Hong Kong movies.
2115
01:23:10,920 --> 01:23:11,800
You get hurt.
2116
01:23:11,880 --> 01:23:13,120
(explosion booming)
2117
01:23:13,200 --> 01:23:15,400
- Hong Kong action is gruelling.
2118
01:23:15,480 --> 01:23:16,240
(upbeat music)
2119
01:23:16,320 --> 01:23:17,800
- There's a stunt in a movie,
it's called "Pantyhose Hero"
2120
01:23:17,880 --> 01:23:20,040
where you see Sammo Hung get hit
2121
01:23:20,120 --> 01:23:22,040
by a car and you see his body move
2122
01:23:22,120 --> 01:23:24,000
in ways a body shouldn't move.
2123
01:23:24,080 --> 01:23:25,600
And I'm like oh, how long did
you go to the hospital for?
2124
01:23:25,680 --> 01:23:26,560
Oh, I didn't go.
2125
01:23:26,640 --> 01:23:28,640
(shots firing)
2126
01:23:28,720 --> 01:23:31,280
- That's why Hong Kong's
action films are so unique.
2127
01:23:31,360 --> 01:23:35,440
Safety is not really
the first major concern.
2128
01:23:35,520 --> 01:23:36,400
(upbeat music)
2129
01:23:36,480 --> 01:23:38,200
- I mean there's a scene where Jackie's
2130
01:23:38,280 --> 01:23:41,880
gonna blow the top three
floors off of these buildings.
2131
01:23:41,960 --> 01:23:44,680
(alarm ringing)
(dramatic music)
2132
01:23:44,760 --> 01:23:48,360
They got 15 cameras so
eventually action, boom!
2133
01:23:48,440 --> 01:23:50,920
(explosion booming)
2134
01:23:51,000 --> 01:23:52,640
The whole thing's blown off.
2135
01:23:52,720 --> 01:23:54,400
(dramatic music)
2136
01:23:54,480 --> 01:23:57,840
Next minute, people are
running, grabbing cameras.
2137
01:23:57,920 --> 01:23:58,680
Quick!
2138
01:23:58,760 --> 01:23:59,720
Come on!
2139
01:23:59,800 --> 01:24:00,560
Quickly, quickly!
2140
01:24:00,640 --> 01:24:01,720
And I get dragged into a car to get out
2141
01:24:01,800 --> 01:24:03,680
of there 'cause I hadn't told anybody
2142
01:24:03,760 --> 01:24:06,040
'cause they knew if they
asked for permission
2143
01:24:06,120 --> 01:24:08,160
they wouldn't get it so they just did it.
2144
01:24:08,240 --> 01:24:09,600
(gentle music)
2145
01:24:09,680 --> 01:24:12,440
- The stunt coordinator
is such a tough job.
2146
01:24:12,520 --> 01:24:15,120
So on this scene prissy guys,
2147
01:24:15,200 --> 01:24:16,640
they wanted to kidnap the girl and
2148
01:24:16,720 --> 01:24:20,360
they just grabbed the kid's
hair and then the car back off.
2149
01:24:20,440 --> 01:24:24,040
(man laughing)
(engine revving)
2150
01:24:24,120 --> 01:24:24,960
Bang!
2151
01:24:26,840 --> 01:24:28,560
We show it to the parents first
2152
01:24:28,640 --> 01:24:32,680
to gain parents permission
and then okay, just do it.
2153
01:24:32,760 --> 01:24:36,920
(man laughing)
(engine revving)
2154
01:24:37,000 --> 01:24:38,600
In Hollywood you couldn't do that.
2155
01:24:38,680 --> 01:24:41,680
(upbeat music)
2156
01:24:41,760 --> 01:24:42,520
d Hey d
2157
01:24:42,600 --> 01:24:44,800
- These guys lay their
lives on the line everyday
2158
01:24:44,880 --> 01:24:46,280
to give us the cinematic beauty.
2159
01:24:46,360 --> 01:24:47,360
(upbeat music)
2160
01:24:47,440 --> 01:24:48,640
- When the doctor goes oh yeah,
2161
01:24:48,720 --> 01:24:51,240
you jumbled your internal
organs, am I like what?
2162
01:24:51,320 --> 01:24:53,120
I jumbled my internal organs?
2163
01:24:53,200 --> 01:24:53,920
What does that mean?
2164
01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:55,640
- He actually knocked my tooth out.
2165
01:24:55,720 --> 01:24:57,720
Boom, my tooth is rattlin'
around in my head.
2166
01:24:57,800 --> 01:24:59,680
Sammo's like put it in your
pocket, let's go back to work.
2167
01:24:59,760 --> 01:25:02,840
(upbeat music)
(all exclaiming)
2168
01:25:02,920 --> 01:25:05,680
- [Announcer] They were
supposed to land onto the car,
2169
01:25:05,760 --> 01:25:06,880
not the road.
2170
01:25:06,960 --> 01:25:09,480
Three months in hospital
they're back at work.
2171
01:25:09,560 --> 01:25:11,480
(all yelling)
(upbeat music)
2172
01:25:11,560 --> 01:25:12,640
- You're in a Hong Kong movie.
2173
01:25:12,720 --> 01:25:14,440
If the director says he's gonna set fire
2174
01:25:14,520 --> 01:25:17,120
to you and throw you down the
stairs, you gotta run with it.
2175
01:25:17,200 --> 01:25:20,040
- So I have to fall off from the flyover
2176
01:25:20,120 --> 01:25:23,000
and then land on a moving truck
2177
01:25:23,080 --> 01:25:27,480
and then bounce off to a moving van.
2178
01:25:27,560 --> 01:25:30,280
I stood on the flyover for seven nights.
2179
01:25:30,360 --> 01:25:34,760
Every single night to try to
fall in love with the stunt.
2180
01:25:34,840 --> 01:25:35,600
(shot firing)
2181
01:25:35,680 --> 01:25:37,320
It was so dangerous and so tough.
2182
01:25:38,640 --> 01:25:41,360
The director wanted me
to do one more time.
2183
01:25:41,440 --> 01:25:43,120
What's wrong with that one?
2184
01:25:43,200 --> 01:25:44,800
(upbeat music)
2185
01:25:44,880 --> 01:25:47,800
I go home, my mom ask me, you sure this
2186
01:25:47,880 --> 01:25:51,200
is your long term career or what?
2187
01:25:51,280 --> 01:25:52,320
Okay, I said yes.
2188
01:25:52,400 --> 01:25:53,400
(upbeat music)
2189
01:25:53,480 --> 01:25:55,400
- First time you be a
part of their stunt team
2190
01:25:55,480 --> 01:25:57,160
you would do whatever it took.
2191
01:25:57,240 --> 01:25:58,520
Often that meant gettin'
2192
01:25:58,600 --> 01:26:01,520
the absolute shit kicked out of you.
2193
01:26:01,600 --> 01:26:04,320
Like in "Twinkle" they
were real rackets you know?
2194
01:26:04,400 --> 01:26:06,360
They weren't balsa wood or anything.
2195
01:26:06,440 --> 01:26:07,400
Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.
2196
01:26:07,480 --> 01:26:08,280
(grunting)
2197
01:26:08,360 --> 01:26:10,640
The stunt guy, he's in
the corner (gasping).
2198
01:26:11,960 --> 01:26:12,720
He's like this.
2199
01:26:12,800 --> 01:26:15,160
I said oh my God, he's gonna die.
2200
01:26:15,240 --> 01:26:16,880
- You don't have a mark on you.
2201
01:26:16,960 --> 01:26:18,040
Let's make it worthwhile.
2202
01:26:18,120 --> 01:26:19,960
(grunting)
(upbeat music)
2203
01:26:20,040 --> 01:26:22,840
- In "Yes, Madam" Corey Yuen
kept saying hit him harder,
2204
01:26:22,920 --> 01:26:24,360
hit him harder and the guy's going no,
2205
01:26:24,440 --> 01:26:25,720
don't hit me harder it hurts.
2206
01:26:25,800 --> 01:26:26,920
(man grunting)
2207
01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:27,760
- Madam, I think he's had enough for now.
2208
01:26:27,840 --> 01:26:29,480
- When I went an did my
first American picture
2209
01:26:29,560 --> 01:26:31,960
they're like don't hit so
hard, this isn't Hong Kong.
2210
01:26:32,040 --> 01:26:37,040
(all yelling)
(dramatic music)
2211
01:26:39,240 --> 01:26:40,960
(bell dings)
2212
01:26:41,040 --> 01:26:42,120
(siren wailing)
(dramatic music)
2213
01:26:42,200 --> 01:26:45,440
My films in America, most of
them went directly to video.
2214
01:26:45,520 --> 01:26:47,520
(dramatic music)
2215
01:26:47,600 --> 01:26:49,800
- [Narrator] There are some
places in this world...
2216
01:26:49,880 --> 01:26:51,520
- [China] I can't see you back there.
2217
01:26:51,600 --> 01:26:54,440
- [Narrator] Where a pretty
girl should never walk alone.
2218
01:26:54,520 --> 01:26:56,800
- But I can feel you.
2219
01:26:56,880 --> 01:27:01,440
- [Narrator] Unless her
name, is China O'Brien.
2220
01:27:01,520 --> 01:27:03,200
(China yelling)
(dramatic music)
2221
01:27:03,280 --> 01:27:05,640
- It was such a iconic character
2222
01:27:05,720 --> 01:27:08,240
that people started callin' me China.
2223
01:27:08,320 --> 01:27:09,080
- [Man] The U.S.
2224
01:27:09,160 --> 01:27:10,960
I mean movies like China O'Brien.
2225
01:27:11,040 --> 01:27:11,800
(exclaims)
2226
01:27:11,880 --> 01:27:13,320
she's one of chop suey fighters.
2227
01:27:13,400 --> 01:27:15,400
- Which was really trying to capture
2228
01:27:15,480 --> 01:27:17,160
an audience they knew was out there
2229
01:27:17,240 --> 01:27:19,680
but they weren't gonna fight
for them in movie theatres.
2230
01:27:19,760 --> 01:27:21,280
(upbeat music)
2231
01:27:21,360 --> 01:27:22,560
They knew they could get these people
2232
01:27:22,640 --> 01:27:24,720
in video stores which were everywhere.
2233
01:27:26,000 --> 01:27:28,160
- The VHS era comes in and then you have
2234
01:27:28,240 --> 01:27:32,760
a whole 'nother wave of people
seeing these kung fu films.
2235
01:27:32,840 --> 01:27:33,560
- People's necks are being split
2236
01:27:33,640 --> 01:27:36,240
and their hands are being chopped off.
2237
01:27:36,320 --> 01:27:38,320
- [Man] They had a hungry
audience that wanted 20,
2238
01:27:38,400 --> 01:27:40,800
30, 40 action movies in a year.
2239
01:27:40,880 --> 01:27:43,360
- It was the video boom
when I was growing up.
2240
01:27:43,440 --> 01:27:45,680
There's a local video
shop right by the house.
2241
01:27:45,760 --> 01:27:48,120
I would watch three
films a day and then go
2242
01:27:48,200 --> 01:27:50,880
back to the video store
and get three more.
2243
01:27:50,960 --> 01:27:52,760
- What made people kind of rent a movie
2244
01:27:52,840 --> 01:27:54,720
was usually the cover art.
2245
01:27:54,800 --> 01:27:58,040
I did "Equaliser 2,000"
with this Corinne Wahl
2246
01:27:58,120 --> 01:28:01,000
and she's kind of almost
naked and I'm bare chested
2247
01:28:01,080 --> 01:28:03,280
and it's oh, but that's kinda what
2248
01:28:03,360 --> 01:28:06,160
you had to do to sell the movie you know?
2249
01:28:06,240 --> 01:28:08,600
- [Announcer] Finally a
major martial arts movie
2250
01:28:08,680 --> 01:28:11,000
starring the greatest
kick boxers in the world.
2251
01:28:11,080 --> 01:28:12,680
(upbeat music)
2252
01:28:12,760 --> 01:28:15,120
- There was a time where
if you could throw a kick
2253
01:28:15,200 --> 01:28:16,240
okay we'll put him in the movie.
2254
01:28:16,320 --> 01:28:19,080
You had the Van Damme's,
you had the Don Wilson's.
2255
01:28:19,160 --> 01:28:22,560
- [Announcer] Don Wilson is
quite frankly a one man army.
2256
01:28:22,640 --> 01:28:23,640
- All my posters used to say
2257
01:28:23,720 --> 01:28:26,840
world kickboxing champion
Don "The Dragon" Wilson.
2258
01:28:26,920 --> 01:28:27,680
(upbeat music)
2259
01:28:27,760 --> 01:28:28,520
- [Announcer] Don Wilson is
2260
01:28:28,600 --> 01:28:30,280
the greatest kick boxer of all time.
2261
01:28:30,360 --> 01:28:33,120
- They had these physical guys doing
2262
01:28:33,200 --> 01:28:34,600
these very physical movies
2263
01:28:34,680 --> 01:28:36,480
and the acting wasn't so important.
2264
01:28:36,560 --> 01:28:39,280
- [Announcer] World karate
champion Billy Blanks.
2265
01:28:39,360 --> 01:28:40,880
- Don Wilson asked if I would play
2266
01:28:40,960 --> 01:28:42,680
a part in his movie "Bloodfist"
2267
01:28:42,760 --> 01:28:44,520
and I went wow this is a blessing.
2268
01:28:44,600 --> 01:28:45,840
Don Wilson is talkin' movies.
2269
01:28:45,920 --> 01:28:47,800
(grunting)
(crowd cheering)
2270
01:28:47,880 --> 01:28:49,520
I'm not a great actor but the goal is
2271
01:28:49,600 --> 01:28:52,000
to be able to take my martial arts
2272
01:28:52,080 --> 01:28:54,720
and make it be so good that
people don't even see my acting.
2273
01:28:54,800 --> 01:28:56,360
(upbeat music)
2274
01:28:56,440 --> 01:28:58,000
- I became what they called a video star.
2275
01:28:58,080 --> 01:28:59,800
I was doin' up to five
movies a year though.
2276
01:28:59,880 --> 01:29:01,240
There were not theatrical releases
2277
01:29:01,320 --> 01:29:02,840
that were direct to video.
2278
01:29:02,920 --> 01:29:05,400
- In Time Magazine they
have me and Don Wilson
2279
01:29:05,480 --> 01:29:08,400
as the top video sellers of that time.
2280
01:29:08,480 --> 01:29:10,200
- I would go around
the country for a month
2281
01:29:10,280 --> 01:29:12,520
going to individual video stores
2282
01:29:12,600 --> 01:29:14,640
and just meeting the public.
2283
01:29:14,720 --> 01:29:17,280
- I met Cynthia Rothrock at Blockbusters,
2284
01:29:17,360 --> 01:29:18,840
told her my aspirations that I wanted
2285
01:29:18,920 --> 01:29:20,560
to do what she did and get into the movies
2286
01:29:20,640 --> 01:29:23,840
and she signed a picture saying
I'll see you in the movies.
2287
01:29:23,920 --> 01:29:24,800
There's loads of guys like me
2288
01:29:24,880 --> 01:29:27,520
that were inspired by these films.
2289
01:29:27,600 --> 01:29:29,120
Okay, I wanna be one of these guys.
2290
01:29:29,200 --> 01:29:30,080
That's the goal.
2291
01:29:30,160 --> 01:29:31,520
(upbeat music)
2292
01:29:31,600 --> 01:29:33,000
(static crackling)
2293
01:29:33,080 --> 01:29:37,440
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
2294
01:29:37,520 --> 01:29:42,320
- With the inception of
VHS, now we had the power.
2295
01:29:42,400 --> 01:29:45,640
- When we were trying to
learn how to make these films,
2296
01:29:45,720 --> 01:29:47,960
we would watch fight
scenes frame by frame.
2297
01:29:48,040 --> 01:29:49,920
- Slowly fast forward to that spot.
2298
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:51,760
- [Man] Pause, rewind, go slow.
2299
01:29:51,840 --> 01:29:54,440
- Which causes the tape to
kinda degrade after awhile.
2300
01:29:54,520 --> 01:29:56,720
- A film like "Wheels
On Meals" for example.
2301
01:29:56,800 --> 01:29:59,280
Okay, so he was over Jackie's
shoulder and the shot changes.
2302
01:29:59,360 --> 01:30:01,880
- At this point this was
individuals controlling
2303
01:30:01,960 --> 01:30:04,040
their entertainment for the first time.
2304
01:30:04,120 --> 01:30:04,880
(static crackling)
2305
01:30:04,960 --> 01:30:05,720
(upbeat music)
2306
01:30:05,800 --> 01:30:06,560
- [Announcer] What's
happening in Los Angeles
2307
01:30:06,640 --> 01:30:07,920
that brings thousands of people to
2308
01:30:08,000 --> 01:30:10,000
the hottest training
centre in the country?
2309
01:30:10,080 --> 01:30:10,840
Here's a hint.
2310
01:30:10,920 --> 01:30:13,440
(upbeat music)
2311
01:30:13,520 --> 01:30:14,480
- And Jane Fonda was
2312
01:30:14,560 --> 01:30:16,880
the top aerobic instructor at the time.
2313
01:30:16,960 --> 01:30:18,120
Her studio where she was teaching
2314
01:30:18,200 --> 01:30:20,840
was probably two miles from my house.
2315
01:30:20,920 --> 01:30:23,080
So I would go down and look in the window
2316
01:30:23,160 --> 01:30:25,000
and watch her teach classes right?
2317
01:30:25,080 --> 01:30:26,400
- Hi, I'm Billy Blanks coming to you
2318
01:30:26,480 --> 01:30:28,560
with your first Tae Bo workout.
2319
01:30:28,640 --> 01:30:30,680
So then I started takin' kung fu moves,
2320
01:30:30,760 --> 01:30:32,560
callisthenics moves, boxing.
2321
01:30:32,640 --> 01:30:33,960
I started blendin' it all together
2322
01:30:34,040 --> 01:30:35,960
and then I decided I'm gonna come
2323
01:30:36,040 --> 01:30:37,720
up with somethin' and call it Tae Bo.
2324
01:30:37,800 --> 01:30:39,120
- [Announcer] Join the millions of people
2325
01:30:39,200 --> 01:30:40,880
all over the world and become part
2326
01:30:40,960 --> 01:30:43,360
of the Tae Bo fitness revolution.
2327
01:30:43,440 --> 01:30:45,880
- It became the most
popular video in the world.
2328
01:30:45,960 --> 01:30:48,160
It sold more videos than
the movie "Titanic."
2329
01:30:48,240 --> 01:30:50,280
It sold over 150 million copies.
2330
01:30:50,360 --> 01:30:51,160
How you guys feel?
2331
01:30:51,240 --> 01:30:52,000
- Woo!
- Good!
2332
01:30:52,080 --> 01:30:55,120
(dramatic music)
2333
01:30:55,200 --> 01:30:56,480
- [Announcer] Or "Tae Bo Gold,"
2334
01:30:56,560 --> 01:30:58,040
a workout specifically designed for
2335
01:30:58,120 --> 01:31:01,440
the exercise needs of
men and women over 40.
2336
01:31:01,520 --> 01:31:02,360
(static crackling)
2337
01:31:02,440 --> 01:31:05,040
(gentle music)
2338
01:31:06,880 --> 01:31:07,680
- The circumstances are unique.
2339
01:31:07,760 --> 01:31:10,320
Your agreement is unique.
2340
01:31:10,400 --> 01:31:14,160
It is right that we should
feel a sense of history
2341
01:31:14,240 --> 01:31:19,120
and pride and of confidence in the future.
2342
01:31:19,200 --> 01:31:21,360
(dramatic music)
2343
01:31:21,440 --> 01:31:23,560
- The mid 90's are an
interesting time in Hong Kong
2344
01:31:23,640 --> 01:31:26,680
because of the upcoming
handover to mainland China.
2345
01:31:27,800 --> 01:31:28,600
- The infrastructure in
2346
01:31:28,680 --> 01:31:30,320
the Hong Kong film business had changed.
2347
01:31:30,400 --> 01:31:33,800
Things were slowly moving to the mainland
2348
01:31:33,880 --> 01:31:36,040
and the Hong Kong film industry really
2349
01:31:36,120 --> 01:31:37,480
was a hit or miss at that time.
2350
01:31:37,560 --> 01:31:41,400
- Hong Kong was making
close to 300 movies a year.
2351
01:31:41,480 --> 01:31:45,400
This is from a city with fewer
then nine million people.
2352
01:31:45,480 --> 01:31:49,240
It is a scale of over production
that is hard to comprehend.
2353
01:31:49,320 --> 01:31:52,640
By 99 when the Asian economic crisis hit,
2354
01:31:52,720 --> 01:31:54,960
Hong Kong suddenly dropped to making fewer
2355
01:31:55,040 --> 01:31:56,640
then 50 movies per year.
2356
01:31:56,720 --> 01:31:58,960
People were out of work everywhere.
2357
01:31:59,040 --> 01:32:00,560
(Chin speaking in foreign language)
2358
01:32:00,640 --> 01:32:02,520
- [Translator] There was
a transitional period
2359
01:32:02,600 --> 01:32:05,840
where film makers got a bit
lost in the action cinema.
2360
01:32:06,920 --> 01:32:08,520
And they didn't know where to go.
2361
01:32:08,600 --> 01:32:10,880
(upbeat music)
2362
01:32:10,960 --> 01:32:14,200
- And then you have a flood
of these Hong Kong performers
2363
01:32:14,280 --> 01:32:15,720
and directors coming into the U.S.
2364
01:32:15,800 --> 01:32:18,600
(upbeat music)
2365
01:32:18,680 --> 01:32:19,920
- The people that I had grown up with
2366
01:32:20,000 --> 01:32:21,720
in the Hong Kong film industry
2367
01:32:21,800 --> 01:32:25,280
were now coming over to join
the Hollywood film industry.
2368
01:32:25,360 --> 01:32:27,040
(upbeat music)
2369
01:32:27,120 --> 01:32:29,040
- [Man] Executives or
agents, they were trying
2370
01:32:29,120 --> 01:32:30,760
to quickly catch up but, like,
2371
01:32:30,840 --> 01:32:31,960
how do we make sense of this?
2372
01:32:32,040 --> 01:32:33,280
- [Man] Like okay, who are these guys?
2373
01:32:33,360 --> 01:32:35,000
Like they obviously have market appeal.
2374
01:32:35,080 --> 01:32:36,600
- They were in a fish bowl of sorts
2375
01:32:36,680 --> 01:32:38,040
where they were sort of finding
2376
01:32:38,120 --> 01:32:39,760
them fascinating but at the same time...
2377
01:32:39,840 --> 01:32:42,720
- Not really understanding
why they were good.
2378
01:32:42,800 --> 01:32:43,840
What they could do.
2379
01:32:43,920 --> 01:32:46,440
(upbeat music)
2380
01:32:46,520 --> 01:32:49,640
- [Man] Then Yuen Woo-ping
came in and changed the game.
2381
01:32:49,720 --> 01:32:51,280
- I know kung fu.
2382
01:32:53,560 --> 01:32:54,280
- Show me.
2383
01:32:54,360 --> 01:32:56,880
(upbeat music)
2384
01:32:56,960 --> 01:32:58,680
- When the Wachowski's
went to Yuen Woo-ping
2385
01:32:58,760 --> 01:33:01,160
and said we want you to
choreograph the action,
2386
01:33:01,240 --> 01:33:03,200
and he said okay well, but I need
2387
01:33:03,280 --> 01:33:05,920
to train the actors for
like three to six months.
2388
01:33:07,000 --> 01:33:08,560
- The challenge is how we can make
2389
01:33:08,640 --> 01:33:09,760
these people look as though they know
2390
01:33:09,840 --> 01:33:12,360
they are born with the skills.
2391
01:33:12,440 --> 01:33:14,560
(upbeat music)
2392
01:33:14,640 --> 01:33:15,400
- And what happened?
2393
01:33:15,480 --> 01:33:17,920
Everybody, everybody
loves those fight scenes.
2394
01:33:18,000 --> 01:33:19,640
There's a reason that they love them.
2395
01:33:19,720 --> 01:33:21,800
- You want Hong Kong style action?
2396
01:33:21,880 --> 01:33:24,320
The actors gotta do it themselves.
2397
01:33:24,400 --> 01:33:27,960
- "The Matrix" made kung fu look cool.
2398
01:33:29,200 --> 01:33:32,280
It was the ultimate 90's movie
2399
01:33:32,360 --> 01:33:35,360
and it was infused with the
spirit of Hong Kong film.
2400
01:33:35,440 --> 01:33:37,400
(fists thudding)
(dramatic music)
2401
01:33:37,480 --> 01:33:38,560
- One of the things that we love
2402
01:33:38,640 --> 01:33:39,960
about Hong Kong action is the way
2403
01:33:40,040 --> 01:33:41,320
that they shoot fight scenes
2404
01:33:41,400 --> 01:33:43,680
with long takes and wider angles.
2405
01:33:43,760 --> 01:33:46,280
But they also do this wire work.
2406
01:33:48,080 --> 01:33:51,600
Everybody has like super
human, super natural grace.
2407
01:33:51,680 --> 01:33:54,000
- And after "Matrix" came out,
2408
01:33:54,080 --> 01:33:54,840
and everybody's going do you know
2409
01:33:54,920 --> 01:33:56,480
how to do this wire work stuff?
2410
01:33:56,560 --> 01:33:58,160
It's like yeah like, I tried talking
2411
01:33:58,240 --> 01:34:00,520
to you about that five,
six, seven years ago
2412
01:34:00,600 --> 01:34:02,080
but you didn't wanna do it.
2413
01:34:02,160 --> 01:34:03,520
- [Man] It helped permeate the idea
2414
01:34:03,600 --> 01:34:06,480
that Hong Kong visual
sense was really important
2415
01:34:06,560 --> 01:34:08,640
in cutting edge technology and film.
2416
01:34:08,720 --> 01:34:11,640
- And that was the moment in America
2417
01:34:11,720 --> 01:34:13,880
where Hong Kong movies became cool.
2418
01:34:13,960 --> 01:34:15,520
- Nobody in that audience is going
2419
01:34:15,600 --> 01:34:16,840
what does he mean by kung fu?
2420
01:34:16,920 --> 01:34:18,840
It's super pop culture in your face.
2421
01:34:18,920 --> 01:34:20,080
Everyone knows it.
2422
01:34:20,160 --> 01:34:22,760
(upbeat music)
2423
01:34:27,120 --> 01:34:30,000
- Yuen Woo-ping was suddenly
the biggest name anywhere.
2424
01:34:30,080 --> 01:34:33,240
He would go on to do "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
2425
01:34:33,320 --> 01:34:35,160
(upbeat music)
2426
01:34:35,240 --> 01:34:37,520
Ang Lee the director who
was Taiwanese American
2427
01:34:37,600 --> 01:34:40,160
really wanted to do the
movies of his boyhood.
2428
01:34:40,240 --> 01:34:43,200
- They're using the
history but then adding
2429
01:34:43,280 --> 01:34:46,080
much more high gloss
production value to it.
2430
01:34:46,160 --> 01:34:48,680
- The culture tempers differed.
2431
01:34:48,760 --> 01:34:52,560
Go back to the "Come Drink
With Me" but here improve it.
2432
01:34:52,640 --> 01:34:54,840
- One of the reasons why it appealed
2433
01:34:54,920 --> 01:34:57,320
to international audiences
is to really show people
2434
01:34:57,400 --> 01:35:00,200
a hidden secret transfer that no one
2435
01:35:00,280 --> 01:35:01,800
had a glimpse of beforehand.
2436
01:35:01,880 --> 01:35:03,960
(gentle music)
2437
01:35:04,040 --> 01:35:05,280
- We introduced the western world
2438
01:35:05,360 --> 01:35:06,680
and they're like oh, wow look at this
2439
01:35:06,760 --> 01:35:09,760
yet they were doing that for
20 years in Hong Kong cinema.
2440
01:35:09,840 --> 01:35:12,600
(dramatic music)
2441
01:35:13,880 --> 01:35:16,560
- Michelle Yeoh, her fight
scene with Zhang Ziyi,
2442
01:35:16,640 --> 01:35:18,640
one of my favourite fights of all time.
2443
01:35:18,720 --> 01:35:20,960
- To see two women at their top
2444
01:35:21,040 --> 01:35:23,440
of their games was so wonderful.
2445
01:35:23,520 --> 01:35:25,600
- Very strong powerful women.
2446
01:35:25,680 --> 01:35:28,920
Also very graceful and elegant.
2447
01:35:29,000 --> 01:35:30,120
(yelling)
(upbeat music)
2448
01:35:30,200 --> 01:35:32,080
- The choreography was beautiful, yes.
2449
01:35:32,160 --> 01:35:33,680
(gentle music)
2450
01:35:33,760 --> 01:35:35,560
But it was the emotion, it was the story.
2451
01:35:35,640 --> 01:35:38,080
That film is about love.
2452
01:35:38,160 --> 01:35:41,440
- Actions, fantasies, romance, power.
2453
01:35:41,520 --> 01:35:42,680
- Testosterone.
2454
01:35:42,760 --> 01:35:43,560
(laughing)
2455
01:35:43,640 --> 01:35:44,400
(all yelling)
2456
01:35:44,480 --> 01:35:46,440
- And it spoke to everyone in the world.
2457
01:35:46,520 --> 01:35:49,200
Over 100 million dollars box office.
2458
01:35:49,280 --> 01:35:51,120
Four Oscars.
2459
01:35:51,200 --> 01:35:56,000
- [Woman] Taiwanese, Hong
Kong, China and America
2460
01:35:56,080 --> 01:35:58,240
all coming together in this one movie.
2461
01:35:59,640 --> 01:36:01,440
- And that did sorta set the stage
2462
01:36:01,520 --> 01:36:04,640
for all of these countries
suddenly exploding
2463
01:36:04,720 --> 01:36:06,080
and their markets blowing up and competing
2464
01:36:06,160 --> 01:36:08,000
with Hong Kong and mainland China.
2465
01:36:08,080 --> 01:36:10,440
(upbeat music)
2466
01:36:10,520 --> 01:36:11,880
- You look to Thailand where people
2467
01:36:11,960 --> 01:36:14,320
like Panna Rittikrai was
seeing Hong Kong movies
2468
01:36:14,400 --> 01:36:16,840
and making is own versions of them on VHS
2469
01:36:16,920 --> 01:36:19,320
that he distributed himself by hand.
2470
01:36:19,400 --> 01:36:21,560
He discovered a student named Tony Jaa
2471
01:36:21,640 --> 01:36:22,920
and their movies slowly got more
2472
01:36:23,000 --> 01:36:26,160
and more slick until they
wound up making "Ong-Bak"
2473
01:36:26,240 --> 01:36:28,240
and really putting the Thai film industry
2474
01:36:28,320 --> 01:36:29,560
on the international map.
2475
01:36:29,640 --> 01:36:32,720
(dramatic music)
2476
01:36:32,800 --> 01:36:36,600
- These are all countries
that have had barbaric history
2477
01:36:36,680 --> 01:36:41,200
and conflict so they all
hinge on different influences.
2478
01:36:41,280 --> 01:36:43,720
(upbeat music)
2479
01:36:43,800 --> 01:36:45,600
You're also seeing with each one of these
2480
01:36:45,680 --> 01:36:49,280
their own local indigenous
martial arts style.
2481
01:36:49,360 --> 01:36:52,080
In "Ong-Bak" the elbows to the head,
2482
01:36:52,160 --> 01:36:54,480
that was a very different style.
2483
01:36:56,520 --> 01:36:58,000
- If you watch "Ong-Bak
2" there's Tony Jaa
2484
01:36:58,080 --> 01:37:00,160
doing Chinese kung fu.
2485
01:37:00,240 --> 01:37:01,880
He's doing dragon and
tiger and everything.
2486
01:37:01,960 --> 01:37:02,960
It's chop socky.
2487
01:37:03,040 --> 01:37:04,480
It is a mixture of everything.
2488
01:37:04,560 --> 01:37:05,600
(gentle music)
2489
01:37:05,680 --> 01:37:07,400
- It's a global community and so it's like
2490
01:37:07,480 --> 01:37:12,480
one never ending jam
session at a jazz bar.
2491
01:37:12,720 --> 01:37:15,440
(upbeat music)
(glass shattering)
2492
01:37:15,520 --> 01:37:18,680
(men yelling)
(glass clattering)
2493
01:37:18,760 --> 01:37:20,680
(upbeat music)
2494
01:37:20,760 --> 01:37:23,120
- Wherever you consider
your stunt men expendable,
2495
01:37:23,200 --> 01:37:24,360
that's where the next big trend
2496
01:37:24,440 --> 01:37:25,840
in action is gonna come from.
2497
01:37:25,920 --> 01:37:28,800
Things moved to Indonesia
where "The Raid" came out.
2498
01:37:28,880 --> 01:37:30,440
That was where they could do it because
2499
01:37:30,520 --> 01:37:32,720
they could do it cheap and fast
2500
01:37:32,800 --> 01:37:34,560
with no one looking over their shoulder.
2501
01:37:34,640 --> 01:37:38,920
(men yelling)
(dramatic music)
2502
01:37:39,000 --> 01:37:40,120
- And the funny thing is for me
2503
01:37:40,200 --> 01:37:41,680
that Indonesian action cinema
2504
01:37:41,760 --> 01:37:43,640
was brought back by a Welshman.
2505
01:37:43,720 --> 01:37:44,800
- [Man] They all grew
up on Hong Kong films
2506
01:37:44,880 --> 01:37:47,640
and were like so inspired by that stuff.
2507
01:37:47,720 --> 01:37:49,080
- That's how they learned about framing
2508
01:37:49,160 --> 01:37:50,640
and they learned about tempo.
2509
01:37:50,720 --> 01:37:53,400
- We can't go off and copy
Hong Kong action cinema.
2510
01:37:53,480 --> 01:37:55,360
We need to do something
different and something new.
2511
01:37:55,440 --> 01:37:57,480
If we try to emulate it
we come off second best.
2512
01:37:57,560 --> 01:37:59,000
(dramatic music)
2513
01:37:59,080 --> 01:38:00,560
- You see "Raid," game over.
2514
01:38:00,640 --> 01:38:01,960
(dramatic music)
2515
01:38:02,040 --> 01:38:04,080
- Man, how can they go farther?
2516
01:38:04,160 --> 01:38:06,400
They're just going farther
and farther and farther
2517
01:38:06,480 --> 01:38:09,160
but they make it convulsively watchable.
2518
01:38:09,240 --> 01:38:10,240
And that's super cool.
2519
01:38:10,320 --> 01:38:12,400
(upbeat music)
2520
01:38:12,480 --> 01:38:17,480
(men grunting)
(dramatic music)
2521
01:38:22,800 --> 01:38:25,640
- One place that action film making still
2522
01:38:25,720 --> 01:38:28,120
has this visceral street level feeling,
2523
01:38:28,200 --> 01:38:29,640
you'll find it on YouTube.
2524
01:38:29,720 --> 01:38:33,320
- I got my first audition
from a fight video.
2525
01:38:33,400 --> 01:38:35,520
My first lead film from a fight video.
2526
01:38:35,600 --> 01:38:38,360
(dramatic music)
2527
01:38:40,120 --> 01:38:43,200
So I did one specific video
called "Amy Vs. Many."
2528
01:38:43,280 --> 01:38:44,320
We wanted to create this really
2529
01:38:44,400 --> 01:38:47,440
cool powerful female warrior badass.
2530
01:38:47,520 --> 01:38:49,200
(upbeat music)
2531
01:38:49,280 --> 01:38:51,640
The choreography as
well as the camera work
2532
01:38:51,720 --> 01:38:55,440
as well as the performers
combined makes magic.
2533
01:38:55,520 --> 01:38:57,360
- "Amy Vs. Many" and I saw it and
2534
01:38:57,440 --> 01:38:59,320
I remember seeing that and
being like wow, who's this?
2535
01:38:59,400 --> 01:39:02,120
(upbeat music)
2536
01:39:02,200 --> 01:39:04,840
On "Accident Man" Amy
Johnson was the only girl
2537
01:39:04,920 --> 01:39:06,840
that I wanted for that role to be honest.
2538
01:39:06,920 --> 01:39:08,840
You don't often see a
petite little blonde girl
2539
01:39:08,920 --> 01:39:10,280
doing that sort of stuff.
2540
01:39:10,360 --> 01:39:12,920
Not since the days of
Cynthia Rothrock, eh?
2541
01:39:13,000 --> 01:39:13,840
(gentle music)
2542
01:39:13,920 --> 01:39:16,040
- YouTube is so powerful.
2543
01:39:16,120 --> 01:39:17,760
Being able to harness each other's skills
2544
01:39:17,840 --> 01:39:19,920
and show that to the world.
2545
01:39:20,000 --> 01:39:21,160
(dramatic music)
2546
01:39:21,240 --> 01:39:23,440
- And we are shooting movies.
2547
01:39:23,520 --> 01:39:25,280
We just did it in a different way.
2548
01:39:26,200 --> 01:39:28,520
- The way films used to
be done, it's over with.
2549
01:39:28,600 --> 01:39:29,760
It's all changed.
2550
01:39:29,840 --> 01:39:31,400
This digital technology has taken
2551
01:39:31,480 --> 01:39:32,840
things to a whole new realm.
2552
01:39:32,920 --> 01:39:34,160
(grunting)
(upbeat music)
2553
01:39:34,240 --> 01:39:37,280
- I mean I'm glad YouTube
wasn't around when I was a kid.
2554
01:39:37,360 --> 01:39:39,520
I woulda been puttin' out
all sorts of nonsense.
2555
01:39:39,600 --> 01:39:41,440
My career would've ended before it began.
2556
01:39:41,520 --> 01:39:44,080
(upbeat music)
2557
01:39:45,680 --> 01:39:48,760
- [Man] We grew up in like the
lower class side of Adelaide.
2558
01:39:48,840 --> 01:39:50,640
(upbeat music)
2559
01:39:50,720 --> 01:39:52,520
- [Man] Three, two, one, action!
2560
01:39:52,600 --> 01:39:53,480
(screaming)
2561
01:39:53,560 --> 01:39:55,720
(upbeat music)
2562
01:39:55,800 --> 01:39:57,200
- We grew up back yard wrestling
2563
01:39:57,280 --> 01:39:58,480
and beating each other up with
2564
01:39:58,560 --> 01:39:59,960
like light tubes and barbed wire.
2565
01:40:00,040 --> 01:40:01,880
We started recording our
like back yard shows.
2566
01:40:01,960 --> 01:40:03,920
It sort of veered off into film making.
2567
01:40:04,000 --> 01:40:06,600
(upbeat music)
2568
01:40:07,920 --> 01:40:08,680
(shot firing)
2569
01:40:08,760 --> 01:40:10,200
We were the kids that your parents
2570
01:40:10,280 --> 01:40:11,560
didn't let you hang out with.
2571
01:40:11,640 --> 01:40:13,120
(upbeat music)
2572
01:40:13,200 --> 01:40:14,200
We started doing our own stuff
2573
01:40:14,280 --> 01:40:15,840
for like Facebook and
that's when it blew up
2574
01:40:15,920 --> 01:40:18,040
and started to go viral straight away
2575
01:40:18,120 --> 01:40:19,520
and then the YouTube just blew up
2576
01:40:19,600 --> 01:40:20,440
and now it's like our jobs.
2577
01:40:20,520 --> 01:40:24,840
(dramatic music)
(all grunting)
2578
01:40:24,920 --> 01:40:25,800
When we're recording we work with
2579
01:40:25,880 --> 01:40:27,040
a lot of parkour artists and a lot
2580
01:40:27,120 --> 01:40:29,200
of martial artists and like,
I'm in love with what I do.
2581
01:40:29,280 --> 01:40:31,440
It's just those fight scenes and that's
2582
01:40:31,520 --> 01:40:33,040
what we started looking back.
2583
01:40:33,120 --> 01:40:34,760
(water splashing)
2584
01:40:34,840 --> 01:40:36,000
Every fight scene in "RackaRacka"
2585
01:40:36,080 --> 01:40:37,120
there's different styles and stuff.
2586
01:40:37,200 --> 01:40:39,160
So we delved a lot into those
original Shaw Brother films.
2587
01:40:39,240 --> 01:40:41,880
It was the first time they
used the camera as a character.
2588
01:40:41,960 --> 01:40:45,560
Like you felt like you
were inside those fights.
2589
01:40:45,640 --> 01:40:48,160
The sound effects of kung fu translated
2590
01:40:48,240 --> 01:40:49,280
to "RackaRacka" very heavily.
2591
01:40:49,360 --> 01:40:52,000
We take sound effects from
those old kung fu films
2592
01:40:52,080 --> 01:40:53,400
and put it into "RackaRacka."
2593
01:40:53,480 --> 01:40:54,840
(giggles)
2594
01:40:54,920 --> 01:40:55,920
Like I love in the kung fu films
2595
01:40:56,000 --> 01:40:57,840
even if someone turns their
head it's (air whooshing).
2596
01:40:57,920 --> 01:40:59,000
(upbeat music)
2597
01:40:59,080 --> 01:41:00,960
Everything's so safe with
I think western cinema.
2598
01:41:01,040 --> 01:41:03,440
Those films are so raw and nuts.
2599
01:41:03,520 --> 01:41:07,880
(dramatic music)
(grunting)
2600
01:41:07,960 --> 01:41:09,680
We were ranked the fifth
most powerful figures
2601
01:41:09,760 --> 01:41:13,240
in media for Australia
so before Nicole Kidman
2602
01:41:13,320 --> 01:41:14,840
and after The Murdochs,
2603
01:41:14,920 --> 01:41:17,480
between Facebook and YouTube
it'd be in the billions
2604
01:41:17,560 --> 01:41:19,640
that like the videos are
being consumed or watched.
2605
01:41:19,720 --> 01:41:24,720
(upbeat music)
(men grunting)
2606
01:41:26,120 --> 01:41:27,080
- You all right?
2607
01:41:27,160 --> 01:41:27,960
Austin?
2608
01:41:28,040 --> 01:41:29,560
I'm sorry man.
2609
01:41:29,640 --> 01:41:31,040
- Why did you hit me?
2610
01:41:31,120 --> 01:41:32,120
- But you've been hitting us all day man.
2611
01:41:32,200 --> 01:41:33,120
- Not with a pole!
2612
01:41:34,160 --> 01:41:35,320
(air whooshing)
2613
01:41:35,400 --> 01:41:36,880
(film reel ticking)
2614
01:41:36,960 --> 01:41:39,160
(men grunting)
(upbeat music)
2615
01:41:39,240 --> 01:41:42,440
- This type of genre in
story telling, it connects.
2616
01:41:42,520 --> 01:41:44,000
And so the platforms may change
2617
01:41:44,080 --> 01:41:48,760
but the underlying storylines
are just so fundamental.
2618
01:41:48,840 --> 01:41:51,720
It erases the language
barrier 'cause you get it.
2619
01:41:51,800 --> 01:41:54,400
- It's all part of that ongoing dialogue.
2620
01:41:54,480 --> 01:41:57,040
- [Man] It's a great time
for somethin' like that.
2621
01:41:57,120 --> 01:41:59,280
Everybody united in action.
2622
01:41:59,360 --> 01:42:00,520
- [Man] It's kinda cool when
2623
01:42:00,600 --> 01:42:01,800
you think where it started from.
2624
01:42:01,880 --> 01:42:03,720
- And there's a message
there from those movies
2625
01:42:03,800 --> 01:42:06,080
that speaks to people who have nothing.
2626
01:42:06,160 --> 01:42:09,080
(horns honking)
2627
01:42:09,160 --> 01:42:10,440
- My girl dumped me the day I bought
2628
01:42:10,520 --> 01:42:11,880
the wedding ring so I was in a bar
2629
01:42:11,960 --> 01:42:14,280
on Saint Marks Place in East Village
2630
01:42:14,360 --> 01:42:15,760
and to cheer me up I'm lookin'
2631
01:42:15,840 --> 01:42:17,520
at the trailer of "Who
Killed Captain Alex?"
2632
01:42:17,600 --> 01:42:19,320
Uganda's first action movie.
2633
01:42:19,400 --> 01:42:20,440
It was 90 seconds.
2634
01:42:22,160 --> 01:42:23,320
Clearly they have no money, right?
2635
01:42:23,400 --> 01:42:26,160
But in the west if you have no
money you make a love story.
2636
01:42:26,240 --> 01:42:28,720
(shouting in foreign language)
2637
01:42:28,800 --> 01:42:30,440
Like you don't make a frickin' war film.
2638
01:42:30,520 --> 01:42:31,320
- Uganda!
2639
01:42:32,880 --> 01:42:35,280
- I thought it was brilliant
and he had millions of views.
2640
01:42:35,360 --> 01:42:37,680
I couldn't get it out of my head.
2641
01:42:38,960 --> 01:42:40,280
I bought the cheapest ticket I could.
2642
01:42:40,360 --> 01:42:42,480
It's like a 28 hour
trip airport to airport.
2643
01:42:42,560 --> 01:42:45,760
(dramatic music)
2644
01:42:45,840 --> 01:42:48,000
So we get on the back of a motorcycle
2645
01:42:48,080 --> 01:42:49,720
and we pull up to this little house right
2646
01:42:49,800 --> 01:42:52,440
in front of the sewage and
this Isaac Godfrey Nabwana,
2647
01:42:52,520 --> 01:42:55,040
founder of Wakaliwood and I
say hello, my name's Alan.
2648
01:42:55,120 --> 01:42:57,280
I'm from New York City and
I'd just like to talk to you
2649
01:42:57,360 --> 01:42:59,120
and he looks at me and he's
like (sniffs) all right.
2650
01:42:59,200 --> 01:42:59,960
(laughs)
2651
01:43:00,040 --> 01:43:00,800
And that was it.
2652
01:43:00,880 --> 01:43:01,640
- Yes!
2653
01:43:01,720 --> 01:43:03,120
- And then two weeks later I became
2654
01:43:03,200 --> 01:43:04,560
a Ugandan action movie star.
2655
01:43:04,640 --> 01:43:05,520
- Father let's go.
2656
01:43:05,600 --> 01:43:08,040
- [Man] Forget your ways in America.
2657
01:43:08,120 --> 01:43:09,560
She hates you.
2658
01:43:11,200 --> 01:43:13,080
That spice it was poo poo.
2659
01:43:13,160 --> 01:43:13,920
This is Uganda.
2660
01:43:14,000 --> 01:43:15,760
Poo poo everywhere.
2661
01:43:17,400 --> 01:43:20,240
- I've gotten horribly sick where I'm
2662
01:43:20,320 --> 01:43:23,240
like vomiting out my ass
and shitting out my mouth.
2663
01:43:23,320 --> 01:43:24,480
And that terrifies them.
2664
01:43:24,560 --> 01:43:26,080
They were like what are we
gonna do with a dead white guy?
2665
01:43:26,160 --> 01:43:28,720
(grunting)
(upbeat music)
2666
01:43:28,800 --> 01:43:30,520
I was adopted by the Owianchimawu clan.
2667
01:43:30,600 --> 01:43:31,400
I think my name now
2668
01:43:31,480 --> 01:43:34,800
is Alan Sali Owianchimawu
Sawakagbaka Aneme
2669
01:43:34,880 --> 01:43:37,240
Faniusugandalaptop Hofmanis.
2670
01:43:39,920 --> 01:43:42,440
Around 1981, 82, around
that period was first time
2671
01:43:42,520 --> 01:43:44,920
in over a generation where
like the country was open
2672
01:43:45,000 --> 01:43:46,320
(upbeat drumming)
2673
01:43:46,400 --> 01:43:49,080
to outside influences and culture.
2674
01:43:49,160 --> 01:43:51,440
Like hip hop but then also movies.
2675
01:43:51,520 --> 01:43:53,160
But then when violence erupted,
2676
01:43:53,240 --> 01:43:55,200
schools were pretty much closed forever
2677
01:43:55,280 --> 01:43:56,080
and so how do you learn?
2678
01:43:56,160 --> 01:43:59,040
Like how do you take it seriously
in Uganda when you're 14?
2679
01:43:59,120 --> 01:44:00,560
(gentle music)
2680
01:44:00,640 --> 01:44:01,960
In the beginning it's the movies.
2681
01:44:02,040 --> 01:44:02,800
- Action.
2682
01:44:02,880 --> 01:44:05,000
(singing in foreign language)
2683
01:44:05,080 --> 01:44:07,440
- [Announcer] It is from
inside this spooning slum
2684
01:44:07,520 --> 01:44:10,000
that Uganda's best known
action films director,
2685
01:44:10,080 --> 01:44:13,280
Issa Nabwana makes his films.
2686
01:44:13,360 --> 01:44:16,520
- [Issac] I used to like
Chinese kung fu very much
2687
01:44:16,600 --> 01:44:18,720
and I thought of making a kung fu movie.
2688
01:44:18,800 --> 01:44:20,440
- We just wanted to transfer
2689
01:44:20,520 --> 01:44:24,440
from Chinese to Ugandan kung fu.
2690
01:44:24,520 --> 01:44:25,280
- We need to do that.
2691
01:44:25,360 --> 01:44:27,480
We need to show the world
what African kung fu is.
2692
01:44:27,560 --> 01:44:29,800
- I think I need more kung fu in my movies
2693
01:44:29,880 --> 01:44:34,080
because kung fu is loved
over here by my audience.
2694
01:44:34,160 --> 01:44:36,800
(upbeat music)
2695
01:44:36,880 --> 01:44:41,400
- Issac I think is a crazy blend
of Hong Kong with commandos
2696
01:44:41,480 --> 01:44:42,760
but it's in a blender of Uganda,
2697
01:44:42,840 --> 01:44:45,680
where's there's Bruce Yu,
the Ugandan Bruce Lee.
2698
01:44:45,760 --> 01:44:49,560
- [Issac] Inspired by Bruce
Lee and Chinese movies.
2699
01:44:49,640 --> 01:44:51,120
- I love kung fu.
2700
01:44:51,200 --> 01:44:54,160
- Issac I think is a
genius on a world level
2701
01:44:54,240 --> 01:44:55,880
because he's a real storyteller.
2702
01:44:55,960 --> 01:44:59,000
And Issac says that like
yeah, I've seen violence okay?
2703
01:44:59,080 --> 01:45:00,360
I'm old enough, I know it, okay?
2704
01:45:00,440 --> 01:45:01,400
You know what violence is Alan?
2705
01:45:01,480 --> 01:45:03,480
Violence is when the soldiers
come into the village,
2706
01:45:03,560 --> 01:45:06,200
they point at your father,
you hear two shots behind
2707
01:45:06,280 --> 01:45:08,240
the shed and you never see him again.
2708
01:45:08,320 --> 01:45:09,280
That's violence.
2709
01:45:09,360 --> 01:45:10,440
It's not what I'm doin'.
2710
01:45:10,520 --> 01:45:12,080
What I'm doing is life lessons.
2711
01:45:12,880 --> 01:45:15,200
(upbeat music)
2712
01:45:15,280 --> 01:45:17,240
So we got the actors together and we said,
2713
01:45:17,320 --> 01:45:19,480
what if we make a kung fu
movie with our own kids?
2714
01:45:19,560 --> 01:45:21,240
Something where there's kidnappers
2715
01:45:21,320 --> 01:45:23,320
'cause they were really
afraid of kidnappers
2716
01:45:23,400 --> 01:45:24,560
but they could fight back.
2717
01:45:24,640 --> 01:45:25,600
They're tough in this.
2718
01:45:25,680 --> 01:45:27,080
So if there's a real life kidnapper,
2719
01:45:27,160 --> 01:45:29,320
they may think twice about
stealing our own children.
2720
01:45:29,400 --> 01:45:31,320
And so we made this "The Crazy World"
2721
01:45:31,400 --> 01:45:33,720
is a child kung fu film where the kids
2722
01:45:33,800 --> 01:45:36,120
are the action stars in a hope that
2723
01:45:36,200 --> 01:45:37,280
it may save their lives one day.
2724
01:45:38,840 --> 01:45:40,040
You sense some kind of dedication
2725
01:45:40,120 --> 01:45:41,360
to something bigger then themselves.
2726
01:45:41,440 --> 01:45:44,960
And when I first went to Uganda,
I really felt the same way.
2727
01:45:45,960 --> 01:45:47,560
I'm convinced that there's gonna be
2728
01:45:47,640 --> 01:45:50,480
some kid in a village in northern India
2729
01:45:50,560 --> 01:45:52,120
who's gonna see a kung fu film from
2730
01:45:52,200 --> 01:45:55,000
a village in Africa and in two seconds
2731
01:45:55,080 --> 01:45:57,640
understand the conditions
those films were made in.
2732
01:45:58,600 --> 01:46:00,280
And in 20 years we're
gonna know that kid's name.
2733
01:46:00,360 --> 01:46:02,920
(upbeat music)
2734
01:46:03,920 --> 01:46:05,040
(film reel beeps)
2735
01:46:05,120 --> 01:46:07,880
(dramatic music)
2736
01:46:23,560 --> 01:46:24,440
(static crackling)
2737
01:46:24,520 --> 01:46:27,080
(gentle music)
2738
01:46:30,440 --> 01:46:32,640
- As an actor, I know about stress.
2739
01:46:33,320 --> 01:46:35,360
I know I must remove this stress
2740
01:46:35,440 --> 01:46:38,080
in order to free my mind to create.
2741
01:46:38,160 --> 01:46:39,880
And with the help of our class members,
2742
01:46:39,960 --> 01:46:42,520
we will demonstrate the ancient techniques
2743
01:46:42,600 --> 01:46:45,840
and extraordinary powers of kung fu.
2744
01:46:47,000 --> 01:46:48,760
Rotate your head clockwise.
2745
01:46:48,840 --> 01:46:51,400
(gentle music)
2746
01:46:55,680 --> 01:46:57,800
Rotate your hips clockwise.
2747
01:46:59,360 --> 01:47:01,080
Keep your head still.
2748
01:47:01,160 --> 01:47:04,280
(gentle music)
2749
01:47:04,360 --> 01:47:05,640
Relax your body.
2750
01:47:05,720 --> 01:47:07,000
(gentle music)
2751
01:47:07,080 --> 01:47:11,400
Turn the hand over, form a crane's beak,
2752
01:47:11,480 --> 01:47:13,520
snap the wrist back and bend the elbow.
2753
01:47:13,600 --> 01:47:14,480
Strike up.
2754
01:47:16,000 --> 01:47:19,280
Knees out, toes forward.
2755
01:47:19,360 --> 01:47:22,080
Keep your back straight
and sit into the stance.
2756
01:47:22,160 --> 01:47:23,760
Push your buttocks forward.
2757
01:47:23,840 --> 01:47:24,800
(gentle music)
2758
01:47:24,880 --> 01:47:27,280
Approach your relationship to kung fu
2759
01:47:27,360 --> 01:47:31,080
as you would a courtship,
getting to know it
2760
01:47:31,160 --> 01:47:35,560
until you steadily build a
genuine love for the art.
2761
01:47:35,640 --> 01:47:38,200
(gentle music)
2762
01:47:41,960 --> 01:47:42,720
(bell dings)
2763
01:47:42,800 --> 01:47:45,440
(gentle music)
2764
01:47:46,305 --> 01:48:46,839
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