Bruce Lee, overhyped?

[thecrowrains]

I've seen a trend in the martial arts media towards Bruce Lee that is very praise worthy of his accomplishments, and rightly so.

Food for thought: he was a martial artist first, actor second, as his old interviews attest to. But has anyone here heard of "how good" he really was? As an actor, he could have easily set the choreography to make him look even more awesome than he really was. I recall, the 'Enter The Dragon' scene when he's out scoping the grounds of Hahn's mansion, and he "hops" up into the branches of a twelve foot tall-ish tree. <the scene was played in reverse, which is glaringly obvious that he started the film with him in the branches then drops off the tree. He reversed this make to it look like a small hop lifted him
skyward. Not sure, if any, other "tricks" were used to accent superhuman feats in his fighting scenes.

I still wonder why he left wing chun but it seems apparent he didn't have Yip Man out in Seattle or Los Angeles.

regards,
Eric

[Tom]

When talking about Bruce Lee, you have to remember that before he was a famous actor, he was known for being a skilled beimo fighter. His speed and technique was, quite simply, staggering. Personally, I don't have a single doubt that the man was a great fighter, in the literal sense of the word. Coupled with his ability, he was also reknowned for being quite hot headed, and as a result had been forced to defend himself on many an occasion.

As for movie tricks, they are just that. Bear in mind, the purpose of a film is to entertain first, and the great thing about cinema is that it allows you to create such seemingly impossible feats. So yeah, although he undoubtedly used a bit of camera trickery in his films, I think the fighting was all him.

For a martial artist like him, I can't possibly imagine he would have rigged his fights to make himself look a lot better than he actually was. I think he would have been too proud. By choreographing fights in such a way that it makes you seem invincible, it's almost like hiding your real ability. You'll notice in most of his fights he gets hit almost as much as he hits back. I think that is probably testament to the idea that he knew his own ability, and he knew he wasn't indestructable, but he also knew that he was a damn good fighter.

[Dan]

Interestingly Wong Sheun Lueng, (one of Bruce's main tutors) said something along the lines of "he will never amount to anything" Its reasonbly obvious he was a good fighter, but i think his real achivements lie in his body building. I have to say that although he is famous for his one inch punch, when you look at the footage he just pushes the other guy (who is standing square on so will fall over whatever hapens). So i personlly i dont think he was that great a martial artist - but his martial philosophy (JKD) is good (although practicing JKD as such, is a bit shite!) and he was a good actor whos films were quite original for their time and he was the first to bring 'kung fu films' to the west again and achivement.

[Dan]

Oh and also he didn't so much leave Wing Chun as Ip Man refused to teach him Wing Chun anymore because they fell out coz Bruce taught WC to westerners. Bruce then offered Ip Man lots of money (or to buy him a new flat depending on what story you hear) to teach him. This offended the honour of Ip Man and Bruce Lee's WC finished early and so he (apparently) lernt other martial arts to fill in what he did not know or where there were gaps. (This is only what i have heard and read in books I dont know how much truth there is in it)