Original subtitles

(thuds)

(screams)

- [Narrator] You are watching a master at work.

Bruce Lee, five feet, seven and a half inches tall,

135 pounds of martial art dynamite.

(thuds)

(screams)

(thuds)

(exotic music)

Hong Kong, in February of 1973,

is a bustling island

of modern industry

and commerce that plays against

a backdrop of culture

and tradition that's remained

largely unchanged for over 1,000 years.

The biggest news coming

from within the city these days

is the rapid growth

of its motion picture industry.

Formerly an enterprise of no consequence

to anyone but local theater owners

the Hong Kong movie industry is

now attracting the attention

of the most powerful film studios

in the world.

The reason for this sudden surge

in interest is the meteoric

rise to fame within the city of a 32-year-old man

named Bruce Lee.

Lee's dynamic on-screen presence,

coupled with an audience empathy

that cuts across all cultural boundaries

have resulted in his films

shattering box office records.

Producers the world over have come

to see in Lee the key

that will unlock the door

to the future of the industry.

They begin to flood the young artist

with offers that even a year ago would've been

impossible for him to have imagined.

After years of battling against cultural

and professional bigotry

economic and emotional hardship,

as well as the exhausting effort required

to sustain the integrity of his art

Lee's perseverance has finally

been rewarded.

He has become the most sought after

motion picture actor in the world.

With such power now at his disposal

Lee could easily choose to rest

on his laurels and play it safe by making

the kind of formula pictures that

are now being offered him on a daily basis.

But the very notion of formulas

and methods

hold no appeal whatsoever

for this young man.

Instead, Lee is presently in the midst

of filming The Game of Death

what he terms a multi-level film,

in which his personal philosophy

of martial art is being presented

for the first time.

He's returning to this film

after a brief hiatus

having spent the fall of the previous year

filming three sequences

the finale, it turns out, of the film.

Lee performs the work and assumes

the responsibility of eight people

in the creation of this film.

He's the director, the producer,

the choreographer, the author of the screenplay.

In addition to having a hand

in set design, the cinematography

and the lighting of the film.

And, of course, he's the leading actor.

Martial artists who are not accustomed

to the camera must be taught how to sell

a strike or a reaction

for optimal dramatic effect.

Again, this falls to Lee to look after.

Take after take of precision martial art

choreography is performed.

Lee will spend, in some instances,

up to four days filming

what will turn out to be

only a five-minute fight sequence.

Lee is most demanding of himself.

In this shot,

involving his handling a nunchaku

an ancient Oriental weapon

that was originally used as a rice flail

Lee will shoot no less than 10 takes

to capture one small sequence

that will appear on screen

for a mere 3.5 seconds.

He wants his films to have the stamp

of realism and believability.

Filming of The Game of Death is suspended

in October of 1972 when word reaches

the set that Warner Brothers is now

interested in co-producing his next film.

It will mark the first time in the history

of East-West relations that a Chinese

and American film studio

work together on a motion picture.

Lee views the co-production as a step

toward raising global understanding

of Chinese culture

and of having Chinese films accepted

into the international market.

- Did you look at many Mandarin movies

before you started

playing in your first one?

- Yes, yes.

- What did you think of them when you saw them?

- Quality wise, I mean I have to admit

that it's not quite up to the standard.

However, it is growing and it is getting

higher and higher and going toward

that standard that what I would term quality.

- [Narrator] Lee and his business partner,

Raymond Chow

fly to Los Angeles in November of 1972

to complete negotiations

with Warner Brothers for what will prove

to be Lee's last and biggest film,

Enter the Dragon.

January to April of 1973, Lee gives over

to the filming of Enter the Dragon.

Again, he will oversee every aspect

of its production and post-production.

By the time his schedule allows him

to resume working on additional ideas

for The Game of Death, it's mid-July

of 1973, the final week of his life.

July 20th, his last day on Earth, he will

spend discussing script ideas for the film.

On this fateful day,

Lee will, in characteristic optimism

look ahead to September 20th, 1973.

He will write in his daytime diary

for this date

of his intention to resume filming

The Game of Death.

These will prove to be the last words

he will ever write.

Lee's passing hits the residents

of Hong Kong like a tidal wave.

Disbelief, shock, anger.

There was so much more the young man

had to accomplish.

So much he had to live for.

And now, nothing.

Upon Lee's passing, so too

passes the movement towards realism

in Eastern cinema that he had pioneered.

Almost immediately, action films will

revert to being unbelievable and hokey.

Ironically, during an audio dictation

that Lee makes only weeks prior

to his passing, he comments

on this very distinction between his films

and those made by other,

less dedicated production companies.

- [Man] I can tell you that as more

Bruce Lee's films are shown

the audience will soon realize

not only in acting ability but in physical

skill as well, they will see the difference.

- [Narrator] Five years after his passing, excerpts from

the film that Lee had worked so feverishly on

during the final months

and hours of his life, are edited into

a film featuring Lee's title Game of Death.

But the film bears no comparison

to Lee's original multi-level vision.

Without Lee's choreography notes,

script outline and motif

the producers are uncertain what to do

with the 100 minutes of footage

they have in their possession.

Moreover, they discover that Lee

was such a perfectionist that

of the 100 minutes of footage they have

in hand, two-thirds turn out to be

outtakes and retakes,

shots that Lee himself had discarded

for sequences in the film that he felt

were beneath his standard of quality.

They deem only 11 minutes and seven seconds

of the footage to be worthy

of inclusion in their film.

The rest, approximately 21 minutes worth, they discard.

Inter-cutting actual footage of Lee

into fight sequences involving lookalikes

and even using cardboard cutouts

of Lee's head, the end result is

viewed by many as an exploitive

and grotesque joke

played on the great artist's legacy.

By now, even Lee's most zealous fans

are beginning to believe

that the original footage is gone.

And that it will never be possible

to see the footage Lee shot in its entirety

nor to ever learn what

his original storyline for the film was.

In the fall of 1994, during research

conducted for a multi-volume book series

based on Lee's surviving writings,

Lee's original script

and choreography writings

for The Game of Death are recovered.

The writings confirm

what had long been suspected

that Lee had indeed shot considerably

more footage for The Game of Death

than had been seen to date.

Another unexpected surprise is discovered

in among his choreography writings.

His hand-written storyline,

12 pages in length

and containing all scene breakdowns

and select dialogue passages

the original storyline stands

in sharp contrast to the one presented in

the film released under the same name.

After the discovery of Lee's script notes

a search to find the missing footage is launched.

It will last some six years,

but then the miraculous happens.

The original 35 millimeter film footage is located.

After having been separated

for over one quarter of a century

Bruce Lee's original footage

and script notes are finally reunited.

Over the course of this film,

you'll see this footage as Bruce Lee

had intended for it to be shown,

and you'll also come to understand the struggle

he had to undergo in order

to bring it to the big screen.

And perhaps along the way,

you'll come to know the real Bruce Lee

the man behind the legend,

a little better as well.

(light instrumental music)

- Water is the softest substance in the world

but yet it can penetrate the hardest rock

or anything, granite, you name it.

Water, also, is insubstantial.

By that I mean you cannot grasp hold of it.

You cannot punch it and hurt it.

So every Kung Fu man is trying to do that

to be soft, like water, and flexible

and adapt himself to the opponent.

- [Narrator] It is February of 1965

in Los Angeles, California

where a 24-year-old Bruce Lee

is in the midst of auditioning for

a TV series that will never be made.

In 19 months, he will be known

to American audiences as Kato

from The Green Hornet.

In five years, he'll discover a truth

that will forever alter

the course of martial art history.

And in eight years, he'll be the most

famous motion picture actor in the world.

But that's all in the future.

Today, he's unknown.

- [Interviewer] And you went to college

in the United States?

- Yes.

- [Interviewer] And what did you study?

- Philosophy.

- [Narrator] Bruce Lee's interest in philosophy, defined

by the Western ethos as the love of wisdom

is a passion that will remain

with him throughout the remainder of his life.

Lee has been teaching Americans about

Chinese philosophy and culture for six years,

lecturing in the Pacific Northwest

on the subtleties of Chinese thought.

His great passion, however, is gung fu,

an ancient Chinese fighting art

unknown in the America of 1965.

Lee's scrapbook from this period of his life

reveals brief descriptions of many

of the arts and traditions

of the venerated masters of gung fu.

America's only knowledge of the martial

arts in 1965 are by way of judo and jujitsu

two Japanese arts that were taught

to her servicemen during the Korean War.

Lee regards himself as an ambassador

for Chinese martial art

teaching all who will listen about the ways

of the Chinese masters.

- [Interviewer] Now, you told me earlier today

that karate and jujitsu are not the most

powerful or the best forms

of Oriental fighting.

What is the most powerful or the best form?

- Well it's bad to say the best

but in my opinion I think gung fu is pretty good.

- [Interviewer] Would you tell us a little about gung fu?

- Gung fu is originate in China.

It is the ancestor of karate and jujitsu.

It's more of a complete system

and it's more fluid.

By that I mean, it's more flowing,

there is continuity in movement

instead of one movement,

two movement, and then stop.

- [Interviewer] I see.

What's the difference between

a gung fu punch and a karate punch?

- Well, a karate punch is like an iron bar, whack.

A gung fu punch is like an iron chain

with an iron ball attached to the end

and it go wang, and it hurts inside.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Narrator] Lee has studied a system of Chinese gung fu

for the past nine years called wing chun

and is considered one of the art's

most talented and articulate exponents.

His teacher in this art has been

an elderly Hong Kong Chinese master

by the name of Yip Man.

Despite his proficiency

in this style of gung fu

his study of philosophy has caused him

to question.

And now, he begins to question

why most martial artists

Chinese and otherwise,

seem more concerned with

preserving tradition, than with looking

more deeply into the matter

to penetrate through

to the ultimate truth of martial art.

Moreover, Lee has begun to develop

his own method of gung fu

which he describes as non-classical

in nature, and which takes as its core

the principles of economy of motion,

simplicity and directness.

- All right, for instance,

you will read it in bulk

in a magazine and everything,

that when somebody grabs you

you will first do this and then

this and then and then and then and then

thousands of steps before

you do a single thing.

Of course, these kinds of magazines would teach you

to be feared by your enemies

and admired by your friends and everything.

But in gung fu it always involves a very fast motion.

Like, for instance, a guy grabbing your hand

it's not the idea to do so many steps.

Step right on his instep, he'll let go.

This is what we mean by simplicity.

Same thing in striking and in everything.

It has to be based on a very minimum motion

so that everything would be directly

expressed one motion and he's gone.

Doing it gracefully, not go ahhh yelling

and jumping all over him,

but to go (shouts).

Excuse me.

- [Narrator] Both the American and Chinese martial

art communities resent his iconoclasm.

For such a young man to stand up

against thousands of years

of tradition and venerated authority,

is considered a direct threat to the status quo

and its entrenched power base.

- Prior to Bruce's coming to this country

gung fu was alive in most,

all the Chinese communities

but there was nothing taught to outsiders, basically,

and Bruce came along,

and with that basis of trying to

create equality amongst all people regardless of race

he chose to let anybody into his school

regardless of what color or race they were.

As long as he knew that what was

in their heart was good and positive

he took them in.

When he was down in San Francisco,

where the Chinese community

was much more like being in China

they took exception to it.

He had to fight his way out of it.

- In Oakland, he received a challenge

from the San Francisco Chinese

martial arts community.

And the challenge read that

Bruce, if he were to be defeated

in this challenge would have to cease teaching

Caucasian or non-Chinese students.

And the Chinese martial artist

came over from San Francisco

to Bruce's studio in Oakland

and a very formal challenge took place.

I was present there.

In fact, I was eight months pregnant with Brandon,

and James Lee was there.

This fight with this Chinese martial artist

lasted about three minutes.

It consisted of a lot of running,

where the Chinese martial artist

took off and started running around the room,

and Bruce was pursuing him

before Bruce finally got a hold of him

and took him down to the floor

and made him give up.

After the challenge ended

with the Chinese martial artist

being soundly defeated and they all went away

Bruce won the right to teach anyone he wanted to.

- [Narrator] By February of 1967, Lee has three

schools operating in Seattle,

Oakland, and Los Angeles that teach

his own interpretation of gung fu

based on his own investigations

into the ultimate truth of unarmed combat.

However, by now the young man is

openly critical of the traditions

and limitations he sees as inherent

in the martial arts

as they're currently being practiced in America.

He believes they lack a solid grounding in reality

consisting of rehearsed self-defense

routines that are employed

and predictable in patternized rhythms.

He notes that real combat

is spontaneous, not rehearsed

and is made up of irregular or broken rhythm

that a martial artist cannot anticipate

only respond to.

Even the championship karate tournaments

of the era are non-contact affairs

settled not on knockouts

but on an accumulation of points

awarded for blows that never touch an opponent.

A victory is determined by a team of judges

who conclude which combatant

would probably have hurt

the other combatant the most,

had contact been allowed.

Lee has no use for such styles of pseudo-fighting

which he calls, organized despair

and dry-land swimming.

Lee's criticism of the arts can be attributed

in part to his background in Hong Kong

which consisted not of non-contact karate tournaments

but full-contact street fights

and challenge matches

fought on Hong Kong rooftops.

When not fighting against proponents

of different styles of gung fu on rooftops

Lee had also fought frequently against

opponents who had been armed with knives and chains.

In such real-world encounters,

referees and judges were not necessary.

Rather than participating in non-contact

karate tournaments

which he considers little more

than glorified games of tag

Lee instead devotes himself to devising

a more scientific approach to unarmed combat.

His research leads him to the science

of Newtonian physics

and the techniques and principles

of European fencing and Western boxing

where efficiency, not tradition,

are the touchstones of both disciplines.

Lee's research causes him to understand

that the only litmus test

of a combative technique's worth

is whether or not it can be landed

effectively on an opponent.

Anything that's ornamental

is discarded from his style.

He retains only those techniques

that he himself has determined to be

practical in real self-defense situations.

Lee is the first martial artist

in North America, if not the world

to have his students don boxing gloves

headgear and body protectors

and spar all out.

Nothing is rehearsed,

no punches are pulled

and full-contact, reality-based

martial art is the order of the day.

(thudding)

In 1967, Lee introduces the concept

of full-contact sparring

at the International Karate Tournament

in Long Beach, California.

Defense is not emphasized

in his new reality-based method

as this would be allowing one's opponent

to set the tone and tempo in a real fight.

Instead, the focus of Lee's new approach

to combat is on attack

or more precisely,

on intercepting the opponent's attack

with an attack of one's own.

(thud) (yells)

By midsummer of 1967

Lee has determined that the defining attribute

of his new approach to martial art

is the principle of interception.

As the Cantonese term for unarmed combat

is typically represented

by a character indicating a fist,

Lee christens his new approach,

jeet kune do

the way of the intercepting fist.

- Now what is this thing you do?

- In Cantonese, jeet kune do,

the way of the intercepting fist.

- Intercepting fist, huh?

- Or foot.

Come on, touch me, anywhere you can.

To reach me, you must move to me.

Your attack offers me an opportunity

to intercept you.

In this case, I'm using my longest weapon,

my sidekick

against the nearest target, your kneecap.

This can be compared

to your left jab in boxing

except it's much more damaging.

- I see.

Well, speaking of a left jab.

- Ohhh, this time I intercept

your emotional tenseness.

You see, from your thought to your fist,

how much time was lost.

- [Narrator] Before long,

word is out concerning Lee's art

and he begins to attract the attention

of America's top martial artists

as well as many prestigious

Southern California actors and athletes,

Steve McQueen, James Coburn

and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among them.

- Bruce was an iconoclast and a rebel

in that he thought that the traditional martial arts

were way too bound by tradition.

People who were not really

that effective at martial arts

really were not promoting martial arts

but their own nationalistic brand

of martial arts

and their view of the world

more so than a realistic

martial art fighting system.

He wanted to get to the pure essence of the art.

- [Narrator] Lee's Los Angeles school,

located in the heart of Chinatown

and without any advertising,

pulls in, not newcomers to the martial arts

but seasoned black belts

all of whom now look upon Lee's art

as revolutionary.

And upon his talent as otherworldly.

- [Bruce] In the Sportsweek

of the Washington Star

printed in Washington, D.C.

On August 16, 1970, quote:

"Three of Bruce Lee's pupils, Joe Lewis,

"Chuck Norris, and Mike Stone

"have between them won every major

"karate tournament in the United States.

"Joe Lewis was grand national champion

"three successive years.

"Bruce Lee handles and instructs these guys

"almost as a parent would a young child.

"Which can be somewhat

"disconcerting to watch.

"It's like walking into a saloon

"in the old West

"and seeing the fastest guy in the territory

"standing there with notches all over his gun.

"Then in walks a pleasant little fellow who says:

"'How many times do I have to tell you

"'you are doing it all wrong?'

"And the other guy listens intently."

Unquote.

- [Narrator] With the top actors and martial artists

in America now coming to his home

for private instruction

Lee is the toast of the martial arts world.

However, by the end of 1969

Lee is growing concerned

that his students are looking to his art

as containing a secret way,

special techniques that alone are responsible

for success and ability in combat.

To Lee, there is no such thing

as a magic system.

The only secret to martial art success

being a willingness to train hard enough

to cultivate one's own innate abilities.

Taking matters into his own hands

Lee now does something that's

unheard of in martial arts circles.

In January of 1970

at the very height of his popularity

and reputation in the martial art world

he closes all three of his jun fan gung fu schools.

- When Bruce closed the schools,

he felt he was unburdening himself

of having to prove

through his students

that his system had merit.

He didn't want to get into that.

He wanted them to evolve and teach,

but it was not a thing where

you have to teach what I taught.

You have to teach what you learned,

and that's going to be more

than what he taught, hopefully

for those students

that understood what he was doing.

- Now Lee's going to teach me all this.

- I cannot teach you.

Only help you to explore yourself,

nothing more.

- [Narrator] Lee now trains only a handful

of students privately.

As his art is about personal growth,

he feels he must come to know

each student thoroughly in order

to assist the student in developing

the skills and confidence required

to free him from the chains of limitation

whether of physical or psychological origin.

- What is your instinct?

- To pray!

- In this position, your arms are useless.

- Yeah.

- Can you kick or stomp me?

- No.

- Then if you wish to survive,

what do you do?

- I don't know.

- Bite.

- Bite?

- Are we not animals?

(coughing)

You all right?

- I can't find much evidence

to the contrary, Lee.

Bite, huh?

- Biting is efficient in close quarters

but don't make a plan of biting.

That is a very good way to lose your teeth.

- There's so much to remember.

- If you try to remember, you will lose.

Empty your mind.

Be formless

shapeless, like water.

Now, you put water into a cup

it becomes the cup.

Put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Now, water can flow or creep

or drip or crash.

Be water, my friend.

- Yeah.

Why don't I just stand

in front of Paul and recite that to him.

Maybe he'll faint or drown.

- When is it?

- Tomorrow.

- You are not ready.

- I know.

- Like everyone else,

you want to learn the way to win

but never to accept the way to lose.

To accept defeat.

To learn to die is to be liberated from it.

So when tomorrow comes,

you must free your ambitious mind

and learn the art of dying.

- I remember he said,

for me if I were going to use,

let's say, judo style.

Imagine me trying to get my hips

underneath him to throw him, for a hip throw.

You're going to try and do that

while I beat you (laughing) while I beat you down?

You'll be trying to do something else.

You know, he was absolutely right.

- [Narrator] Lee is his own best example

of the potency of his beliefs.

He's detected his own weaknesses

and limitations and by the application

of intellect and dint of hard work,

he alone has overcome them

raising his physical ability to a level

that borders on the phenomenal.

He routinely performs

one-finger pushups on one hand

executes elevated V-sits

for extended periods of time.

He can cannonade an opponent

several feet back from a punch

he delivers from only one inch away.

And his sidekicks have so much power

that in the words of one recipient:

"They feel like being hit by a car."

He trains hard, six days a week

pushing to discover the outer limits

of expression for the human body.

He finds out

with disastrous consequences

on August 13, 1970.

As a result of an improper warm-up

while lifting weights

Lee severely strains

the fourth sacral nerve in his lower back.

It's an injury that will continue

to plague him for the remainder of his life.

The injury leaves Lee virtually bedridden

for a period of six months.

His doctors tell him

he may never be able to kick again.

- For Bruce to be lying down in bed

24 hours a day for approximately about six months

was an impossible thought.

You cannot contain him like that.

But he did, because he knew that if there were any future,

even to walk normally,

he would need to give this time to heal.

So he spent a great deal of time resting,

flat on his back, for quite a long time

and then also, you know,

just sitting, sitting in a chair.

But he was not one to just waste time.

So he spent this amount of time

doing a lot of researching

of all of his vast library of books

which were books on the martial arts,

all combative arts, all hand-to-hand arts

whether they be Western,

Eastern, modern, or ancient

all types of philosophy, psychology,

especially in the motivational field

now that he was injured

and his future was in jeopardy.

He felt he needed to self-motivate himself all the time.

- [Narrator] Unable to put his energy to use physically,

Lee now channels it mentally.

The writings of the Buddha,

Alan Watts, Carl Rogers, Lao-tse

Frederick Perls, Daisetz Suzuki,

and Jiddu Krishnamurti

become his constant companions.

Of these authors, Lee is particularly

taken by the thoughts of Krishnamurti

who states that,

"truth cannot be organized without invalidating it."

- You have to be a light to yourself

not the light of a professor,

or an analyst

or a psychologist, or the light of Jesus,

or the light of the good heart.

You have to be a light to yourself

in a world that is utterly becoming dark.

- I believe that part of the concept

that he enjoyed so much about

Krishnamurti's philosophy

was one of self-reliance.

If you're looking for truth,

you must look inward, rather than outward.

- [Narrator] Lee begins to write about his

new insight and its application to martial art.

His writings will fill seven large volumes.

Slowly, Lee begins to battle back.

Although the back injury will prove to be

a permanent problem, within six months

he has proven both the naysayers

and the medical community wrong.

Not only is he able to kick again,

he becomes a better martial artist

than he ever was before.

Lee's harrowing experience,

coupled with his new insight

served to underscore for him

the validity of his belief that there

is no help but self-help,

including help in the form of instruction

in the art of unarmed combat.

Even his own beloved creation,

jeet kune do, by far the most scientific

of all martial arts, is not exempt

from his solvent analysis.

Lee sees his error in the fact that

he had been striving to create

the ultimate way or style of martial art

to teach to his students.

First he thought he had it

with the Chinese way of martial art.

Then, more recently, in his newly-created

way of the intercepting fist.

But Lee has now come to see that the

ultimate truth does not reside in ways

or styles, but within the soul

of each individual.

- I do not believe in styles anymore.

I mean, I do not believe that there is

such thing as like a Chinese

way of fighting or

the Japanese way of fighting or whatever way of fighting

because, unless human beings

have three arms and four legs

we will have a different form of fighting.

But basically, we have only two hands and two feet.

So styles tends to not only

separate man because they have

their own doctrines, and then their

doctrines became the gospel truth,

that you cannot change, you know.

But, if you do not have styles

if you just say well here I am,

you know, as a human being, how can I express myself

totally and completely?

- Then it's just two people who are

being aware of their own movements,

who are observing the other person's movements

and being able to fit in with that person's movements,

so that there's no set pattern of movements.

No, well, when he does this, then I do this.

It's just a total freedom to react

to what the other person does.

In fact, Bruce inscribes it perfectly

on the back of this medallion

where he wrote the words that have become his motto,

and it says, "Using no way as way

"having no limitation as limitation."

Over the years this phrase has been

somewhat misinterpreted.

People think of using

"no way as way" to mean

"anything I do is okay

"and anything I do is my way."

I don't think Bruce really intended it

to mean that way.

He just meant not to be

boxed in by a certain way,

so that you never get into a situation

where there's only one response.

You adapt to what the situation calls for.

I think Bruce had that down pretty well.

- When there is a way,

then there lies the limitation.

To me, okay, to me,

ultimately, martial art means

honestly expressing yourself.

Now it is very difficult to do.

I mean, it is easy for me to put

on a show and be cocky and be flooded

with a cocky feeling

and then feel like pretty cool and all that.

Or I can make all kinds of phony things,

you see what I mean,

blinded by it, or I can show you

some really fancy movement.

But to express one's self honestly,

not lying to one's self.

And to express myself honestly,

now that, my friend, is very hard to do.

- That's the whole key right there.

Do you know yourself?

Do you know your skills?

Do you know your weaknesses?

Are you able to adjust your life

to compensate for whatever's happening

and take advantage of whatever's happening

in terms of pluses and minuses?

That was his approach.

And he was an incredible example of that

a walking model of that.

- [Narrator] In his critically acclaimed performance

on the television series, Longstreet,

Lee attempts to teach his student,

played by James Franciscus

this higher purpose of his martial art.

- Lee, I want you to teach me

what you did the other night.

- I already told Miss Sparrow I can't.

- I'm willing to empty my cup

in order to taste your tea.

- Your open-mindedness is cool,

but it doesn't change anything.

I don't believe in system,

Mr. Longstreet, nor in method.

Without system, without method,

what's to teach?

- But you had to learn.

You weren't born knowing how to take

apart three men in a matter of seconds.

- True, but I found the cause

of my ignorance.

- Now help me find mine.

- [Narrator] Having discovered the truth

of, "using no way as way

"having no limitation as limitation"

Bruce Lee's mission now becomes

to communicate this truth to the world.

The most effective approach, he decides,

is not in private one-on-one instruction

but in bringing this truth

to the big screen.

His quest: To create a new genre

of film that will reveal the higher

purpose of martial art.

His challenge: To overcome

the prejudices of Hollywood.

(melodic instrumental music)

- Bruce, at that point in his life,

had decided that he was going to make

the film business his career rather

than teaching martial arts on a mass basis.

So he tried to pursue the idea

of getting roles in film and TV.

- Okay.

(thuds)

(shouting)

(glass shattering)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(crowd chattering)

- He had a great deal of trouble

securing really leading roles.

He had a number of roles in small pictures.

But as far as really promoting his career

as a leading man

he had a lot of difficulty

in America at that time.

- In the United States,

I think something about the Oriental

I mean the true Oriental

should be shown.

- Hollywood sure as heck hasn't.

- You better believe it, man.

I mean, its always the pigtail

and bouncing around, chop chop,

you know, with the eye slanted

and all that.

- [Narrator] A screenplay written by Lee,

entitled The Silent Flute, which detailed

the personal quest of self-discovery

of a young martial artist

is torpedoed by Hollywood.

- He was in a kind of a poverty status then.

He was having a tough time,

and he would write in a letter

and tell me he was working

on a vehicle, and something like

The Silent Flute or equivalent to that,

and then the letter I got the next month

he would tell me that that fell through,

because in one instance

he told me that they just felt that

a young Asian couldn't carry

the lead in something like that.

- [Narrator] Undeterred, the young man forges on.

He conceives an idea for a television series

that will feature martial art philosophy.

Originally to be called The Warrior,

but later renamed Kung Fu.

- Even when he conceived the idea

of the Kung Fu series

had many, many planning discussions

with the eventual producers

of the Kung Fu series.

When it got right down to it,

they did not hire Bruce

to play the part of

the leading part in Kung Fu

instead, going for a Caucasian man.

And the word was that Bruce

because he was Chinese,

was not considered a bankable commodity.

- Let me ask you, however,

about the problems

that you face as a Chinese hero

in an American series.

Have people come up in the industry and said:

"Well, we don't know how the audiences

are going to take a non-American"?

- Well, such a question has been raised.

In fact, it is being discussed.

And that is why The Warrior is

probably is not going to be on.

- I see.

- You see, because unfortunately

such thing does exist in this world,

you see, like I don't know

certain part of the country, right?

Where, like, they think that, business-wise, it's a risk.

I don't blame them, and I don't blame them.

In the same way, it's like in Hong Kong

if a foreigner came and became a star.

If I were the

the man with the money,

I probably would have my own worry

of whether or not the acceptance would be there.

But that's all right,

because if you honestly express yourself,

it doesn't matter.

- [Narrator] Lee now realizes that Hollywood

only wants Asians to play grossly

inaccurate stereotypes.

Despite his dire economic circumstances,

he refuses to accept roles

that would portray the Chinese race

as anything less than equal

to other cultures.

With a wife and now two small children to support

Lee's dignity and philosophical principles

come at a huge price.

With money rapidly running out,

he now realizes that he is

wasting his time with Hollywood.

- With that rejection in mind,

I guess you could say that was an overt

expression of racism in the film industry

in the early '70s.

And at that time, we went to Hong Kong.

Bruce having decided that if he couldn't make it

in the American film industry through

the front door, he would go to Hong Kong

and come back in through the side door.

Which is precisely what he was doing.

- [Narrator] At the time, Chinese action films

were largely sword-play films

or as Bruce Lee so aptly described them,

"simply one long, armed hassle."

- He would say he didn't invent

the gore in Mandarin films

but that the violence in his films

were always with just cause.

- I hope that the picture I am in

would either explain why

the violence was done

whether right or wrong, or what not,

but unfortunately, pictures,

most of them, are done mainly

just for the sake of violence,

you know what I mean?

Like fighting for 30 minutes,

or getting stabbed 50 times.

- I'm fascinated.

Let me give you your microphone back.

I'm fascinated that you came back.

- [Bruce] I am a martial artist.

- [Narrator] He's offered very little money

to star in his first film.

But then, money has never been

his sole objective.

The film is entitled, The Big Boss,

and it will become the highest-grossing

film in Southeast Asian history.

Lee follows up the unprecedented

success of his first film with

a second, Fist of Fury.

It proceeds to smash the record set

by The Big Boss.

- Bruce didn't want to be segmented,

in that he could only do Chinese movies

or only do Chinese martial arts.

He didn't view himself as only a Chinese man.

He viewed himself as

a citizen of the world who had a mission

that really had nothing to do

with what his nationality was.

He wanted to bring

his views of martial arts and of life

and of the culture that he had experienced

in his short lifetime to

the audiences all over the world.

- [Narrator] Lee does just this with his next film,

The Way of the Dragon,

which he also directs.

In the film's climactic battle,

Lee takes on one-time student Chuck Norris,

in a fight set in the Roman Coliseum.

Lee's character, using classical

gung fu techniques, is losing the fight

until he begins to employ the formless

and adaptive approach of jeet kune do.

(shouting)

(rapid thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

The Way of the Dragon also affords Lee

the opportunity to include

deeper elements of his personal

philosophy of life.

After reluctantly taking the life

of his adversary in the film,

Lee's character pauses

to make a symbolic gesture of respect

to a fellow human being.

It was yet another example of Bruce Lee

communicating to his audience a piece

of his own personal philosophy regarding

the brotherhood of all races.

- After the first two movies,

then Bruce progressed into making

The Way of the Dragon,

which was his own creation.

Then Game of Death, of course

and then Enter the Dragon came along.

And I think as you can see

there's a progression in those films

where the fighting has even more

justification and that there's more

material built around the fighting

to explain, first of all, the reason for it

and to also find expression for the

philosophy underlying the martial arts.

(fist whooshes)

- Do I bother you?

- Don't waste yourself.

- What's your style?

- My style?

You can call it the art of fighting

without fighting.

- The art of fighting without fighting?

Show me some of it.

- Later.

All right.

Don't you think we need more room?

- Where else?

- That island, on a beach.

We can take this boat.

- Okay.

(water splashing)

Hey, what the hell are you doing?

Hey, are you crazy?

(men laughing)

Pull me in!

- [Narrator] After filming Enter the Dragon

Lee is now ready to complete the film

that will embody his greatest message,

a film Lee calls The Game of Death.

(melodic instrumental music)

- I believe that this background of research

and the building of a philosophy

of jeet kune do is what Bruce

intended to relate

through The Game of Death.

He had an idea

of how he wanted

to show the martial arts

to the viewing public, these various steps

in finding your own way

in martial arts,

the different styles and what styles mean

and more importantly, what they don't mean.

That was Bruce's big message.

The style of no style,

and Game of Death was going to be the platform

for these expressions.

- [Narrator] While we may never know how the film

would've turned out, had Bruce Lee lived,

we do know with unimpeachable certainty,

the vision that he had for the movie

during the time he was filming its finale.

According to Lee's 12-page storyline,

he would play a retired undefeated

martial arts champion by the name

of Hie Tien, who had been approached

by members of the Korean underworld

to take part in a daring raid

on a five-story pagoda,

said to contain a valuable treasure

on its uppermost level.

When he refuses to participate,

his sister and younger brother

are kidnapped, leaving him no option

but to take part in the raid.

At a briefing at the boss's home,

Hie Tien is introduced

to his accomplices in the raid,

all of them highly-trained martial artists.

The boss screens a reconnaissance film

of the temple area explaining

to the accomplices that since guns

are prohibited in the village

the pagoda is guarded by martial arts mercenaries.

One on each level of the pagoda.

Their instructions are to fight their way

to the top of the pagoda and retrieve the treasure.

Lee selected the Buddhist temple of Pope Jusaw

as the setting for the film.

The temple's most striking object,

the 33-meter-high Buddha statue

is clearly indicated in Lee's storyline sketches.

Cast in one mold with 150 tons of bronze,

it's said to be the largest such

standing figure in all of Asia.

In front of the Buddha is the five-story

wooden pagoda that Bruce Lee

had chosen as the backdrop

for the climactic battles in the film.

- Thus, the idea started from there.

He took some of the ideas he had been gathering

about the levels of martial arts combat

in the pagoda

and Kareem came out and I believe that

the first scenes that they shot

were the fight scenes between Bruce and Kareem.

- The first day's rushes after we saw those,

we had to slow everything down because

we were moving too fast.

It looked too jerky on film, and we had to

slow it down so the film could follow,

so the camera could follow us

and people could see things.

'Cause we were doing things like we practiced it.

And in practice with Bruce,

we'd do several things in a split second.

The audience would miss the

subtleties of what he was trying to do

if we didn't slow it down.

- [Narrator] Of what were to be

his accomplices in the film

Lee wanted one to be slightly devious

and antagonistic toward his character.

This would create an interesting dynamic

in the relationship between the two men

not letting the audience know whether

or not Lee's partner was actually

with him or against him.

For the role of the antagonistic accomplice

Lee chose James Tien, an actor

who had appeared with Lee in two

of his previous three films in Hong Kong.

The second accomplice was to be a strong

but simple-minded martial artist.

These would be character attributes

that would allow for a different type

of dynamic to occur between

the accomplices as they fought their

way up each level of the pagoda.

Lee ultimately settled on

Hong Kong stuntman, Chieh Yuan

to play the role of this accomplice.

It would be the first time these two

had worked together.

At the time of filming, the rest of Lee's

accomplices had not been decided.

Within the pagoda, Lee and his accomplices

would have to battle upwards past five levels,

each guarded by a martial artist

of a particular style.

The first level was to be guarded by Whong In Sik,

who was to be portrayed as a

master of a kicking style.

Whong had worked with Lee before

appearing as one of his opponents

in The Way of the Dragon.

(thudding)

Lee had chosen his real-life

senior-most student, Taky Kimura

to play the guardian of the second floor.

According to Kimura, Lee wanted him

to utilize praying mantis gung fu

as well as some elements of wing chun,

both arts that emphasize infighting,

use of hands predominantly,

with kicks limited to below the waist.

I think it was in October of '71, 72, in that era.

He called me and said that he

wanted me to be in the movies, in that movie.

Again I said, "Look, Bruce,

"I've got two left front feet.

"You know it and I know it.

"There's probably 1,000 people over

"in Hong Kong that can do it better than I can.

"Just let me sit here

"and enjoy the fruits of your success.

'Cause I said, "You know me, I don't need to be in that."

He said, "No, I want you in it.

"I'm the technical director and the co-producer.

He said, "Don't worry about it."

So, I reluctantly, for fear that he'd

kick my butt if I said no, at that point,

I said okay.

He'd already sent me an airline ticket.

But really, I think at this point in his life

I think he had transcended all the gimmicks

that are usually in these movies.

And I think that he had gotten to that

plateau where you could just simply do

the simple, you know,

normal things and yet create that excitement

within that simplicity.

- [Narrator] Lee selected another

of his real-life students, Dan Inosanto

to be guardian of the third floor.

As he was not only adept

in Lee's art of jeet kune do

but in addition, was also

an advanced practitioner in the arts

of kempo karate and Filipino escrima.

Lee opted to have Inosanto employ

methods from both arts

which he believed would add

an exciting visual element to the film

and serve to break up

the unarmed combat sequences.

Inosanto was also a brilliant exponent

of the nunchaku, allowing Lee to film

the first-ever nunchaku battle

between two opponents.

Grappling or joint-locking would also

serve to add a fresh, visual element to

the fight sequences.

For this reason, Lee settled on Korean hapkido grand master

Ji Han Jae, who at the time of filming

was a seventh-degree black belt in the art.

Ji would be the guardian

of the fourth level of the pagoda.

- Andrews Air Force Base.

I did teaching time.

Jhoon Rhee, TaeKwonDo master Jhoon Rhee,

he held an international karate championship.

I was there to do a demonstration.

At that time Jhoon Rhee introduced

me to Bruce Lee.

I showed him, he looked at my technique

and he liked my technique.

That's why he came to the Andrews Air Force Base.

He learned several techniques.

Then, he go back to the Hong Kong.

He invited me.

- [Narrator] Lee decided to have yet

another of his students,

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, play the role of the

guardian of the highest floor of the pagoda.

He fights with an unknown style,

which symbolized the highest level of martial art.

This unknown style was

the essence of jeet kune do.

- I was at the top of the pagoda because,

you know, I was the most effective fighter.

And I didn't have any style.

And I was also in a place where my

strengths were

enhanced by the environment.

So it was dark in there.

I was supposed to be light-sensitive.

My eyes were light-sensitive,

and that was a problem for me.

But other than that, I was an incredible

human specimen, etcetera.

That was the whole idea about it.

And he started knocking out the panes

in the walls, so more light came in.

I couldn't see.

And that's when he got his advantage in the fight.

- [Narrator] The fact that Lee's character

in The Game of Death would be taking

on advocates of different styles

on each level of the temple

was significant in a larger context

than might be initially evident.

For Lee was not just taking on the various

exponents of particular styles,

but the very notion of styles itself.

- I think it's evident in The Game of Death

how he planned to fight a person

of a different style, a very precise style,

on each floor of the pagoda.

And show how he could fit in

with anybody else's style

thus having no style of his own.

- [Narrator] In the battle of the third floor,

Lee's character makes use of a green bamboo whip.

The whip represents flexibility,

an attribute which Lee felt

a martial artist must possess if he was

to be successful in combat.

Since combat, like life, is not predictable,

Lee held that one must possess

a pliable adaptability

in order to change with change.

Lee has his character

dressed in a one-piece yellow track suit

to symbolize no affiliation

with any known martial arts style.

- I think the wearing of the yellow track suit

was an expression of how he felt about

the martial arts that it need not,

you need not be dressed in

a traditional uniform in order to be an effective fighter.

That yellow track suit is

something that's comfortable

it's flexible, you can move without restriction.

So I think that was why he chose that.

- [Narrator] With his cast now firmly in place

Lee spends the next three months

of his life from August to October of 1972

putting his martial vision on celluloid.

- Bruce was a perfectionist on a film set.

He always choreographed all

of his own fights in detail

writing them down, every movement,

every single movement, rehearsing them

endlessly with the stuntmen.

And having many many takes

so that it was always just perfect.

Bruce was very aware of how

camera angles worked in fight scenes.

I visited him on The Game of Death set

on more than one occasion.

The children, Brandon and Shannon, and I

were always welcome on the film sets.

We enjoyed going there because

he was having a lot of fun with it.

First of all, Kareem was his good friend,

as was Dan Inosanto

and some of the other martial artists as well,

were his good friends.

He had worked with them

many times in the past.

As you know, Kareem was his student,

Dan was his student and assistant instructor

and so he had a real fun time working

with these fellows and constructing the fight scenes.

- [Narrator] The results are three carefully crafted

and meaningful sequences

that resonate on many different levels

as well as the most graceful and dynamic presentation

of the human form in hand-to-hand combat

ever captured on film.

(melodic instrumental music)

What you're about to see has never been

seen before in its entirety.

It's the footage that Bruce Lee shot

for The Game of Death.

the takes he had indicated as the ones to be selected

for inclusion in the film,

and the dialogue he had written.

The footage, like the film, is incomplete.

Approximately two minutes of footage

that represented the beginning

of the film's finale have been lost

to the ravages of time.

In that missing footage, Lee's two allies

James Tien and Chieh Yuan, come up

the stairs ahead of Lee and enter into

the third level of the pagoda,

the Hall of the Tiger.

There they meet the escrima master,

whose habit is to beat out a teasing

rhythm on his sticks prior to killing his adversary.

Chieh Yuan sets out to attack the escrima master

with a large heavy club

but is quickly disarmed.

The escrima master then casts

his sticks aside

and battles Chieh Yuan,

whom he proceeds to render unconscious

with a series of strikes and kicks

known in kempo karate circles as

the Dance of Death.

Now, it is James Tien's turn to battle

with the escrima master.

It is at this point that Bruce Lee's final,

never-before-seen footage

for The Game of Death begins.

(dramatic music)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(sticks clacking)

(sticks whooshing)

(sticks clacking rapidly)

(sticks clacking rapidly)

(thuds)

(sticks whooshing)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(sticks clacking rapidly)

(shouting)

(groans)

- Do you speak any English?

- Of course I speak English.

- I hope you don't mind, if we move our man,

so that the two of us will have

more room to groove.

- But have your men stay

as far away from the stairway as possible.

(suspenseful music)

(grunts)

(sticks whooshing)

(sticks clacking)

- You know, baby,

this bamboo is longer,

more flexible, and very much alive.

And when your flashy routine cannot

keep up with the speed and elusiveness

of this thing here,

all I can say is

that you will be in deep trouble.

(sticks clacking)

- That, we will have to find out.

(sticks whooshing)

(dramatic music)

(bamboo clacking)

(shouting)

(bamboo snapping)

(shouting)

- I'm telling you,

it's difficult to have a rehearsed routine

to fit in with

broken rhythm.

(shouting)

(whooshing)

You see?

Rehearsed routines

lack the flexibility to adapt.

(grunting)

(whooshing)

(stick clacks)

(shouting)

(intense music)

(whooshing)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

Surprised?

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(intense music)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(thuds)

- How do you like that?

(thuds)

- How do you like that?

Uh-uh.

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(dramatic music)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(loud thud)

(groaning)

(whooshing)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(rapid whooshing)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(grunting)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(hands slapping)

(stick clacks)

(intense music)

- As you gentlemen know,

red means danger.

Therefore, I advise to you people

not to step into this warning arena.

If you want to go on living, stop here.

Go back downstairs.

Life is precious.

(shouting)

(thuds)

(laughs)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(grunting)

(shouting)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(grunting)

(thuds)

(crashing)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(grunting)

(intense dramatic music)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(thudding)

(dramatic music)

(shouting)

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(thudding)

(thuds)

(thuds)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(intense dramatic music)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(groaning)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(debris clattering)

(thudding)

(grunting)

(thuds)

(grunting)

(thudding)

(yelling in foreign language)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(thuds)

(shouting)

(groaning)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(thuds)

(coughing)

(chair squeaking)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(grunting)

(whooshing)

- Little fellow,

you must have given up the hope of living.

- Uh-uh, on the contrary,

I do not let the word death bother me.

- Same here, baby.

- Then what are you waiting for?

(whooshing)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(thudding)

(shattering)

(dramatic music)

(thudding)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(grunts)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(thudding)

(thudding)

(crashing)

(intense dramatic music)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thudding)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(thuds)

(thudding)

- This tough son-of-a-gun is wearing me out.

(paper tearing)

(shouting)

(thuds)

(panting)

Why continue?

Just let me pass.

- You have forgotten that I, too

am not afraid of death.

(thudding)

(shouting)

(grunting)

(crashing thud)

(groaning)

(sighing)

(dramatic music)

(thuds)

(dramatic music)

(paper tearing)

- You know I've been categorized

as the keeper of the grave

up in Seattle and I try to make it up there

at least once a month oftentimes during

the month I might go up there

four or five times

depending on who comes in

from you know, other parts of the world

or something like that.

I find that there are

many many people that come up there,

they're not even martial artists,

you would just normally expect

that the people who come up there

are in martial arts

and they want to try to have some

of that ability rub off on them.

I go up there and I make it a point

to talk to people when I see them up there.

And oftentimes they tell me,

"I'm not even into martial arts.

"But I just came to try

"to have some of that inspiration of his

"come into my life, because obviously

"I'm in a place where I need something."

And personally, because of Bruce

I've been able to help several young

people to find themselves, to get out

of the drug scene and things like that.

And I don't take credit for that.

It's Bruce.

- I mean I get letters now,

27 years after he's been gone,

from people who weren't even born

when he was alive.

They're telling me how

he has motivated them to be

a better person, to be,

to achieve their goals,

to be in better physical condition,

to live their own life

from their own heart, rather than just

following or emulating somebody else.

It really does my heart good,

and I think that Bruce would be smiling

down to know that his work and his art

have continued to benefit

people all over the world.

- There were some lines that

express your philosophy.

I don't know if you remember them or not, but you--

- I remember them.

- [Interviewer] Let's hear it.

- I said,

this is what it is, okay?

I said, "Empty your mind.

"Be formless.

"Shapeless, like water.

"Now, you put water into a cup,

"it becomes the cup.

"You put water into a bottle,

"it becomes the bottle.

"You put it in a teapot,

"it becomes the teapot.

"Now, water can flow or it can crash.

"Be water, my friend."

(water babbling)

(dramatic music)