Original subtitles

BE WATER, 2020 DOCUMENTARY BY BAO NGUYEN

- Understood? - Okay.

- Test X2, take one. - Running.

Look straight into the camera now, Bruce. Straight in.

And now 45 degrees in this direction. And hold.

And a profile shot in this direction. All the way over.

Good. Hold, please.

Now a profile shot in the other direction,

Hold again.

And 45 degrees on this side.

And then please look directly into the camera again.

Excellent. Now the camera is pulled back.

And, Bruce, show us kung fu moves.

It's hard to do this alone. But I'm doing my best.

OK. Maybe one of the guys can help you.

- Would you like… - That would be…

- That's OK. - That's OK.

Although sometimes accidents happen…

But you know… There are different attacks.

It depends on where you hit and what weapon you use.

Use your fingers for the eyes.

No fear. I will…

By the eyes.

Or directly in the face, everything from the waist up.

Wait a minute.

Uh, let's put the gentleman like this so

that you move more towards the camera.

OK. Fine.

I am sure that my father is aware of the monster,

that he was fighting against, was not aware of.

How systemic it was.

Still, I don't think he was naive.

He just believed in himself very strongly.

There is the finger prick.

There's the punch.

There's the backhand and then down.

Of course you can also put the leg directly into the groin or up.

He knew he had something worth sharing.

And he knew how much he would be willing to work.

He was already scared.

He's got nothing to worry about, Tom.

IN 1971, AFTER 12 YEARS IN AMERICA, BRUCE LEE ARRIVED

BACK TO HIS PARENTS' HOMELAND: HONG KONG.

IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS HE MADE FOUR FEATURE FILMS.

He was rejected by Hollywood.

He had to prove to them that an Asian man could be a strong, leading man.

And when Bruce got the offer,

to make the first film in Hong Kong,

he decided to just go

and to see how it goes and how he would be received.

So he went to the midnight premiere of The Death Fist of Cheng Li,

the first screening of The Death Fist of Cheng Li.

NO EVIL IN THE WORLD CAN ESCAPE THE FURY OF BRUCE LEE!

Bruce hadn't seen him yet.

And Bruce always said,

that people from Hong Kong really respond to a film.

If they don't like it,

you will be booed in the theater.

THE DEATH FIST OF CHENG LI 1971

WITH BRUCE LEE

The script of The Death Fist of Cheng Li was not well written.

The production quality was pretty low.

But Bruce Lee himself was simply earth-shattering.

The role and the energy, this love affair with the camera,

was very, very immediate and very, very strong.

Martial arts have a very deep meaning, at least in my life.

Because as an actor, as a martial artist,

as a human being, I learned everything from martial arts.

So we're sitting in the back, the cinema is full,

and when the film is over, the whole hall is quiet.

Nothing.

Suddenly everyone starts cheering,

to shout, to clap, to stand up.

They totally freaked out.

They cheered for Bruce.

You already knew he was in the room, you know?

And they carried him out of the cinema.

It was great. It was wonderful.

That's when he knew he was on to something big.

When it exceeded all his expectations,

I think he was as surprised as everyone else.

This was his first taste of fame.

To give you an overview: If a film back then

raised one million Hong Kong dollars, which was approximately $120,000,

it was a huge thing in Hong Kong.

Wow.

That's what made you a movie star.

And if your film made two million, you were a superstar.

What do you think about Bruce Lee's Kung Fu?

Very fast and powerful.

The technology is incredible.

He is in a class of his own.

Bruce Lee is incredible.

Bruce Lee didn't want to waste time.

He didn't beat around the bush. He was very direct.

Is Bruce Lee your hero?

Yes.

Tell me what you like about him.

He wins against the bad guys. And he moves very quickly.

I mean, he's not an action hero like Eastwood or Bronson.

I think he is more like Nureyev.

Hong Kong was a very dynamic and exciting city in the 1970s.

Lots of different communities.

It was a R&R Center of the US military during the Vietnam War.

So it was the city that celebrated 24 hours a day.

It was the fun, wild, wild East where anything was allowed.

China was about 100 years

dominated and humiliated by the West.

So there were a lot of memories. A lot of anger.

This is a Hong Kong,

which is currently experiencing its own revolution.

Student protests on the streets,

great tensions between the British colonial power

and the locals in Hong Kong.

The police are called in. They throw things at us.

This is an anti-British demonstration.

Bruce believed that British colonial rule was wrong.

He was a nationalist in that

that he wanted the Chinese people to be free and independent.

When The Death Fist of Cheng Li ran, he wanted to do it again.

But the next film should be bigger and better.

And that was him.

Greetings from Shanghai was a much larger production.

Death Greetings from Shanghai was an opportunity for Bruce to show

how a leading actor should act and dress

and how the fight scenes should be choreographed.

Master!

The film took place in Shanghai during the colonial period,

Hey, country idiot, what are you doing here?

Shanghai was occupied by foreigners, humiliated,

dominated and insulted.

Act like our Japanese dog and I'll let you in.

Bruce Lee makes a lot of emotions

a very passionate explosion.

That was in Hong Kong in 1972.

It captured the moment in a colony when people said:

"The days when we were second class citizens are over,

it's about time."

Death Greetings from Shanghai was not only directed against Japanese colonists,

but also against people from the West.

It's very, very liberating.

"SICK MAN FROM EAST ASIA"

People started

to react strongly to Western racism.

This time you eat paper, next time it's glass.

Back then, Bruce understood that Hollywood,

although he didn't have much success there,

was the big thing.

You know, it was the main attraction. It was the center.

And Hong Kong would always remain on the fringe.

So the question was: Do you think we can sell our films to the world?

This is the Pierre Berton Show.

Bruce Lee, Mandarin superstar,

recorded on December 9, 1971 in Hong Kong.

Bruce Lee faces a real dilemma.

He is about to become a star in the USA.

Here in Hong Kong he has just become a superstar as an actor.

Which does he choose, the East or the West?

What are you going to do? Will you…

Will you be able to live in both worlds, try

to dance at two weddings at the same time?

I'll do both.

Because, you know, I have already decided

that in the USA something about the Orient,

I mean, the real Orient should be shown.

Hollywood clearly doesn't do that. Believe in it.

I only have very abstract memories of him.

I remember our house, the visits to Golden Harvest Studios.

I remember snippets of him.

But I remember clearly what his energy was like.

What it was like to be in his presence

how he loved me, how he played with me, all those things.

And I also remember him through his own words.

12 YEARS BEFORE

May 16, 1960.

Dear Hawkins, I'm really alone now.

Since the day I arrived in this country,

I didn't spend any of my father's money.

I have a part-time job as a waiter after school.

I'm telling you, it's hard.

I always have fun with it.

Well, my friend, please get well soon. Your friend Bruce.

When Bruce came to Seattle,

he moved from Hong Kong at 18,

because he had too many problems there

and his family thought he needed a fresh start.

He was a very handsome young man

and very imaginative.

He told me he wanted to prove to his father

that he could go to university without him.

When I first met Bruce he was a slight man.

I think he weighed about 140 pounds at the time.

He always called me “Woy.”

When Bruce moves to the USA,

his identity is suddenly the minority,

a Chinese minority in a white country.

He must face the conundrum that all immigrants face.

Who should I be? What is my identity?

How can I express myself?

And how can I be seen in American society?

My father worked at Ruby Chow's restaurant.

And at the same time he studied Wing Chun,

but only alone.

He was always interested in other martial arts

were represented in the area.

Many Japanese martial arts were relatively well known,

like karate or judo, but not Chinese kung fu.

He saw that people were open to it,

so he made her take lessons from him,

in parking garages and other places.

It was a very unconventional approach to martial arts.

Many Chinese people at that time did not teach Westerners.

The community looked down on him,

and he broke the barrier.

Bruce truly opened his school to anyone who wanted it.

He didn't care if you were Chinese or not.

A time long

I was probably closer to him than anyone else.

He started speaking Cantonese again and again,

and then I had to nudge him and say:

"Hey, I have no idea what you're saying."

He has to figure out how to hide his accent.

He is very attuned to the rhythm of young American life.

He meets working class people, he meets people of color,

and that influences his idea of ​​what he wants to be.

One thing I helped him with was,

how he should behave on the street

and how to read people and stuff like that.

Attitudes and, you know, what's cool behavior,

and what is not cool behavior.

Bruce's antennas were tuned to Hong Kong's streets,

but not on our streets.

He learned a lot about America from the ten guys,

who he took under his wing.

For better or worse, we taught him the American way.

Who am I?

This is the question every man asks himself at some point in time.

Even though he looks in the mirror and recognizes his own face,

even though he knows his name, his age and his history,

he asks himself deep down: Who am I?

The thing is: because of our looks, I don't think

that we could ever forget what we are.

We can't run away from this.

I taught him the importance of racial pride.

He found it attractive that I didn't put up with any nonsense,

and that was also in him.

Because he was very ethnocentric himself.

I didn't apologize to anyone for anything.

Especially because I'm Japanese American, because of World War II.

He knew about my experiences in the resettlement camps.

More than 100,000 men, women and children,

all of Japanese descent, were removed from their homes,

to reduce a military threat when there was a threat of invasion.

Each family was greeted upon arrival…

The Japanese were imprisoned.

You could call them concentration camps.

But they called them resettlement camps.

THE US GOVERNMENT PRESENTS:

OUR ENEMY THE JAPANESE

To face the Japanese and to fully complete

the job, we must fully understand them.

You know, I think they have Asian scene in America

is very confusing for white Americans.

Because the Japanese were the bad guys, right?

They were the goblins who fought against the Americans in World War II.

And they were terrible and inscrutable.

HANOI B-B-Q SPECIAL FROM US FOR THE SLIT EYES

On the other side were the Vietnamese,

People didn't like them because they were crooked and communists.

And the Chinese were the outliers.

Was China good or evil?

The Chinese were brought here since the 1830s for one reason,

namely as cheap workers for the construction of the West.

According to their stereotype, they are submissive, quiet,

incredibly hardworking.

We are witnessing the rise of a white working class movement,

led by Irish-American workers.

They manage to stir up hatred against Chinese-Americans.

And that's why the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882.

For the first time there is a clear ban aimed at a group of people.

The Chinese are not viewed as people.

I ask you to rise from your seats and fight

with me to give America back to Americans.

We were like a rape victim, and a

victim robbed of his constitutional rights,

doesn't like to talk about it or

point the finger at the culprit.

Rather, it sees itself as the person

responsible for this unspeakable crime.

Through the experiences and stories of these people

Bruce understands how he affects white Americans.

Asians were completely excluded.

Jesse, Bruce and I went out.

We swapped girlfriends.

So everyone was with the wrong race.

We walked around to see

whether anyone had anything to say about it.

We went to dances together in Buddhist churches,

Rhythm and Blues, but also many popular things.

I called him a movement talent.

When I taught him how to do a double pirouette,

he just watched me.

He imitated her perfectly.

That was great. Wow.

A fantastic dancer and all.

But very awkward about romantic things.

We kind of grew apart.

I mean, Bruce always had a lot going on.

But for me it wasn't enough.

September 1962.

Dear Pearl, in this letter I describe my dreams

and my way of thinking.

You can also call it my lifestyle.

Ideas are what America is looking for.

Ideas are what made America what it is.

And a good idea makes a man what he wants to be.

If you throw a stone into a basin full of water,

the stone sets in motion waves that spread out,

until they finally fill the entire pool.

That's exactly what will happen,

when I give my ideas an action plan.

Kind regards, Bruce.

My father opened his first official school,

the Jun Fun Gung Fu Institute, 1963 in Seattle.

That was a transitional period.

But once he found out he could make money from it,

all original members have left.

Looking back, you can say Bruce always had a plan.

He was a product, not a friend and teacher.

So he opened this studio and that's where he met Linda.

His goal in life was to

to introduce the world to the beauty of Chinese culture.

So he started with me.

We both went to the University of Washington.

And we often went to this place with big white columns

and a large green area.

And there we practiced Kung Fu.

He was very open-minded, very personable,

he always actively showed you how to stand and what to do.

"Okay, Linda, do that with your arms."

He threw me over his shoulder and I lay flat on the ground.

And he leaned over to me and said:

"Would you like to go to the Space Needle?"

"Sure, gladly."

So that was our first date.

He loved the lifestyle one could lead in America.

And at that time he wanted to go all over the country

Establish kung fu schools.

He had big dreams, big aspirations.

He wanted me to try Chinese food

and watch Chinese films.

He took the whole group of kung fu students with him,

we went to the CoCoSi Theater to see the movie The Orphan .

When he appeared on the screen

and even the main actor was,

I was totally shocked, surprised.

There was a movie star.

I looked at him and said, “Is that you?”

And he said, "Yes."

But he didn't think it was unusual.

For him, it was a job he had as a child.

Let's talk about the biography first.

You were born in San Francisco, right?

Correct. November 27, 1940. Rifleman.

Ah, a diplomat.

Bruce Lee is born in San Francisco's Chinatown,

it was the closest thing to Hong Kong in the US.

It is by far the largest Chinatown,

caused by the immigration of Chinese workers during the gold rush.

I heard that your father was relatively well known in Chinese opera.

He was.

What was his name?

Lee Hoi Chuen.

Lee Hoi-chuen and his opera group were in Chinatown because they found out

that they could make good money touring the USA.

And my grandmother came with me on this trip.

She was pregnant with my father at the time.

That's why my father was born in San Francisco.

He is a US citizen.

Since he was a baby, Bruce Lee has

starred in films.

He grew up on the set of the Hong Kong cinema,

behind the scenes of the Cantonese opera.

In 1940, after Bruce was born,

my grandmother said to my father on the phone:

"There will soon be a war with the Japanese in Hong Kong."

But my father, you know, a real Chinese:

"Family comes first.

We're taking Bruce home.

If something happens, it affects us as a whole family."

And you moved to Hong Kong shortly afterwards?

Yes, when I was three months old.

My father came from a poor fishing family.

My mother's uncle was Hong Kong's first millionaire.

His name was Sir Robert Ho Tung.

Bruce's mother, Grace Lee,

was of European descent.

I think we were pretty wealthy.

We had two maids.

We had a chauffeur.

My father also took care of his older brother's family.

There were always about 15, 16 people around us.

Bruce was a free spirit.

He was always a bit of a bully, you know?

Not good at school, but a good fighter.

I remember that celebrities often came to my father's house.

A production manager noticed that Bruce was very active.

He said, "Well, maybe you should give him a small role.

Seems like he was born with an acting talent."

So my father let him play some small roles.

Child, I'll tell you something. I'm an important man now.

My teacher is Flying Blade Lee.

In the film The Kid, in which he starred at the tender age of nine,

He represented someone who experienced great suffering.

Uncle, here is some money for food.

I don't want your dirty money.

There is a Chinese saying:

"Enjoy the sweet while remembering the bitter."

Longing for suffering.

I don't want to stab you.

How can you? Your parents are dead.

Your uncle worked hard to support you.

How does this help me?

Do you want to stab me?

At first my father didn't want him to end up in showbiz.

But then the films he made did well.

He was one of the best child actors, you know?

So he allowed it.

When did you start learning martial arts?

At what age?

- At 13. - At 13.

Have you studied with a famous sensei?

Well, I have at Y-I-P-M-A-N

learned Chinese art.

The style is W-I-N-G and then C-H-U-N.

People at school looked at him

and said, "Hey, who do you think you are?"

And then some guys got together and beat him up.

So he said, "I have to learn to defend myself,

if necessary."

You are always in an ongoing learning process.

Ip Man had a broad understanding of martial arts.

It wasn't limited for him.

And I believe that Bruce Lee was the perfect student for him.

My teacher at the time came to me and said:

"Quiet, relax and calm your mind.

Forget yourself and follow your opponent's movements.

Let your mind do the opposite movement,

without disturbing considerations.

Above all: learn the art of detachment."

After many hours of meditation and practice

I gave up and went sailing alone.

By the sea, I thought about my training so far

and I freaked out and hit the water.

Right then, at that moment, a thought occurred to me.

Wasn't this water the core of Kung Fu?

This water, the softest substance in the world, seemed so weak.

But in reality, it could break through the hardest substance in the world.

That was it.

I wanted to be like the water.

At this point he was already pretty good at Wing Chun.

And there was another style called Choy Li Fut.

One is always fighting against the other.

They always fight on rooftops.

Bruce often came home with bruises or even a black eye.

My father did not tolerate this kind of fighting.

In his 1960 film, The Orphan,

Bruce Lee basically played himself in a way,

a young criminal.

What broke the camel's back was,

when an undercover cop caught my brother.

“Your son is fighting.

We fear that he could end up in a gang later on.

If he doesn't stop what he's doing now,

We have no choice but to arrest him."

My father said, "Now that he was born in the USA,

and we have friends there who can look after him,

Why don't we just send him there?

…and let him try it on his own and we'll see what happens."

Sam, you haven't had any parental care since you were little.

I remember the day before he left.

I was sleeping, he woke me up:

"Robert, I'm leaving Hong Kong tomorrow,

and I don't know where it's taking me."

I've never seen him so worried before.

He was restless. He didn't know what to expect.

You know, he was scared.

He was only 18 years old, you know.

And that was it.

My father sent him to the US with only $100.

When we went out, we often watched movies.

One of them was Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Mickey Rooney looked ridiculous.

Bruce was ashamed of his Asian culture

was presented like this.

If you don't turn off this gramophone

immediately, I'll call the police!

Asian Americans have always been portrayed in films as,

you know, raging, insane,

portrayed as robotic stereotypes or servants of white people.

The day laborer earns 10 cents a day.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, I

am pleased to introduce myself.

Hollywood has Asians

always treated blatantly racist.

Chopsticks, huh?

No, stacked like pagodas.

Hollywood took a white person and had them play a Chinese guy,

instead of hiring a Chinese for the role.

Talk to Nancy Kwan.

Talk to the actors who were playing at the time.

Yes, who is there?

I don't remember any Asian leads from this era.

They were all played by white people.

John Wayne played Genghis Khan.

Under whose leadership are you crossing my land?

My blood says take her with you.

The Chinese community did not stage an uprising,

even though that was outrageous.

Cast the roles with white people?

Life is hard to bear even at the best of times.

How can you be so cold?

What kind of man are you?

Crooked teeth, glasses, narrow stature,

no muscles at all.

I think most Asian men

was imprinted,

that she made that difference.

Asian American lead actors

are not allowed to kiss white women.

You are only allowed to kiss Asian women, if at all.

Well, you tilt your head to one side and I tilt mine to the other side.

Clever, these Chinese.

There are no other roles for Asian Americans,

to show a different, human side.

October 20, 1963.

For the sweetest girl, from the man who appreciates her.

Linda, live contentedly with limited means,

endure everything cheerfully,

Do everything bravely, wait for opportunities, don't rush into anything.

In other words, leave the spiritual,

Growing the uninvited and unconscious through the ordinary.

Bruce.

The fact that Bruce married a white woman

was an expression of his feelings towards America.

There were still some states

banned interracial marriage.

I was looked down upon.

My mother found it difficult to accept

that Bruce and I would get married.

My mother tried to convince us to wait.

But we had our plans.

After she met him,

she liked him and thought he was great.

I met Bruce Lee in July 1964,

when he took part in the first international karate championship

demonstrated in Long Beach.

This was Bruce Lee's first public appearance.

Kung Fu comes from China.

It is the ancestor of karate and jiu jitsu.

It's a total system, and it's more fluid.

By that I mean it's more fluid.

The movements flow into each other, it is not one movement,

a second movement, and stop.

The best example is a glass of water.

How come?

Because water is the softest substance in the world.

And yet it can crush the hardest stone, granite,

whatever, penetrate.

You can't hold it.

You can't hit it and hurt it.

Every Kung Fu fighter tries to be as gentle and flexible as water

and adapt to the opponent.

Bruce Lee was looking for it at the time,

what he called truth.

Basically, he dissected the different species

and simplicity and lack of tradition spread.

Nobody did that. He thought outside the box.

I loved what he showed me.

1964 and 1965 were crucial years.

A lot has happened.

To Taki Kamura,

February 1, 1965, our baby is here.

Name: Brandon B. Lee.

A big, healthy boy, of course.

A week after Brandon was born, Bruce's father died.

That was unexpected.

Bruce was devastated.

It was a terrible loss for him.

He cried. He cried bitterly.

Because in that moment he understood

even though his father sent him to the USA

with only 100 dollars in your pocket,

that it was good for him.

Before he went to the USA,

he looked at the external things.

He had his looks.

He had his great clothes.

He thought a person had to be like that, you know.

But when he came to the USA,

he understood what life was really about,

namely: to be independent and responsible for yourself.

And not just for himself, but for his family.

I was at home. The phone rang.

It was William Dozier's office.

I had no idea who that was. They said he was a producer.

As we now know, the Long Beach Tournament was in 1964

someone in the audience named Jay Sebring,

a star hairdresser in Hollywood.

Jay saw my dad at that tournament and was very, very impressed.

And he happened to know that his customer, William Dozier,

a Hollywood producer, an Asian actor

looking for a show.

When Bruce came home and I said, "You're not going to believe this.

I got a call from this producer in Hollywood,

He wants you to come to him and do a test recording."

He was shocked. He was so surprised.

Bruce never told me

that he would like to act again.

Because he was so focused on his goal,

to open martial arts schools across the country.

- Test X2, take one. - Running.

Bruce, look directly into the camera lens, right here,

and tell us your name, your age and where you were born.

My last name is Lee, Bruce Lee.

I was born in San Francisco in 1940. I'm 24 now.

Have you just become a father to a boy?

Yes.

And that gives you a little sleep, right?

Oh, three nights.

And tell the crew when…

This test shot shows Bruce exactly as he was.

He was a very open, self-confident person.

He knew what he had to do.

And he presented himself as he is.

Okay, the camera is pulled back

and, Bruce, show us some kung fu moves.

This is the crane.

And get started.

The tiger, we start as a tiger,

we scratch the face with our claws,

or the “crane beak in the eyes” movement.

These are some of the movements.

- Thanks. - Thanks.

This is what we mean by simplicity. The same…

They were so convinced by Bruce's test recordings that

that they wanted to find an apartment for him.

They paid Bruce $1,800, which was the most money

that we had ever seen in one go to keep Bruce for 18 months.

We saw quite a bit of violence.

We saw niggers getting hosed and beaten,

tortured with the help of dogs and cattle sticks.

The 60s were a time of upheaval and social change.

It was the height of the civil rights movement

with Martin Luther King, the Marches on Washington.

Who taught you to hate your hair texture?

Who taught you to hate your skin color

so much that you bleach it to look white?

At that time there were many tragedies,

for example, when President Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated.

Martin Luther King was shot tonight.

Bruce saw that country at the time

was in trouble because of all this racial tension.

My enemies are the whites, not the Viet Congs, Chinese or Japanese.

You are the opponents of my freedom.

You are the enemies of justice.

You are the opponents of equality.

You wouldn't stand up for me in America, for my religion.

You want me to fight for you somewhere.

But you don't stand up for me here, at home.

Bruce knew about the Black Liberation Movement.

He expected Black Americans

would stand up for their rights.

As African Americans great support

in the fight for civil rights

and win human rights for all Americans,

they say, well, African Americans are too loud.

Look at Asian Americans.

If they were quieter and more docile, like Asian Americans,

then perhaps they would have more success.

As an American whose ancestors come from Japan,

I have become accustomed to one question.

Why can't the Negroes be like you?

In this shameful racial hierarchy in America

Asian Americans were treated better than Black Americans.

The myth of the model minority is a stereotype,

that portrays Asian-Americans as docile,

they adapt, don't make a fuss about discrimination,

Poverty or exclusion.

You work hard with your head tilted down,

follow the rules that white society imposes on them.

We Asians were never treated as complete human beings,

but as a narrow spectrum of humanity.

To me this is blatant racism.

Bruce was still waiting to see what would happen in Hollywood.

When they finally said

that they were going to do The Secret of the Green Hornet we moved to Los Angeles.

Here come the two.

This is Bruce Lee, he plays Kato, and Van

Williams, who will play the Green Hornet.

So Bruce begins his path in Hollywood with a role as an assistant,

literally the Asian servant.

Well, I say it the Chinese way.

Thank you.

In this film he begins to break down the myth of the model minority.

It's easier to say what the movie won't be.

It won't be a Batman imitation.

The Secret of the Green Hornet will stand on its own two feet.

Let's get started, Kato.

He is Kato, the person whose job it was

to chauffeur the Green Hornet around.

You see Bruce and his talent for physical movement.

They say, "There must be a way

how we use that on screen."

During filming, they sent him to an acting coach.

But the acting coach said: "There is no dialogue."

Dear Mr. Dozier, Kato is an active partner

the Green Hornet, not a silent supporter.

I don't want to complain.

But I think an active partnership with the Green Hornet

will be more effective

and more efficient Kato result.

My goal is to improve the show.

So they gave him a lot more speaking roles.

You know, if we ever

meet that masked kung fu fighter, I want him.

He had to with all his might

fighting for every inch he could get.

I was number two.

With the idea of ​​becoming number one.

Bruce was treated like an extra.

The salary slip is a perfect example

for the two-class treatment,

that non-white actors had to contend with at the time.

Who is that weird guy on the bike?

I think his name is Bruce Lee.

Looks pretty similar to Kato.

Do you need help?

Do a little kung fu?

What is kung fu, Bruce?

Well, Kung Fu is a Chinese style of fighting.

Sports like karate and jiu jitsu are derived from kung fu.

You're from San Francisco…

When he came to Hollywood he once said to me:

“I can teach people something quicker through films

than with books

or with the opening of a hundred schools here in America."

Are there no karate schools in San Francisco?

No not really.

In… In Oakland.

- In Oakland? - Yes.

And have you already opened a school here?

No, not yet.

You know, we film every

day and it's a lot to do.

See you on ABC in The Secret of the Green Hornet.

I'm Bruce Lee, and I invite you to join

me in watching ABC every Friday night.

Bruce comes on the screen. He fulfills it.

He leaves an impression all over the world.

His presence on screen is a protest in itself.

As Asian Americans, as people of color,

we get validation from the culture around us, right?

Seeing someone who looks like you is electrifying.

You feel like you belong here.

You feel like you can do things

that you didn't think you could do.

Of course he found out that it was the right place

was at the wrong time.

Because America and Hollywood may have been ready for change,

but not that much change.

DEAR BRUCE: CONFUCIUS SAYS: "THE GREEN HORNET WILL FLY NO MORE."

Green Hornet has been cancelled,

because the ratings weren't good.

When The Secret of the Green Hornet was cancelled,

he was very vulnerable.

He was very disappointed, very sad.

But he has reset his goals.

During this time he read books.

He also wrote a lot,

So he also benefited from this time.

Bruce did a few things to make ends meet.

Sometimes he got a role, but not often.

Sometimes he was a stunt coordinator.

We made the film Rollkommando together.

He was funny. Working with him was fun.

Bruce came to my place more often to hang out.

And Bruce's plan was,

to become a big kung fu martial arts star.

I said, "Do it!"

He refused to play roles,

who humiliated the Chinese.

In the following years he only got a few roles.

It would have been easy for him to

to remain trapped in the hamster wheel,

if he had just done it the way Hollywood demanded.

They were difficult times.

We never knew where the next check would come from.

We had some very lean times.

But even though we had difficulties,

we spent a lot of time together.

Shannon was born.

And I'm telling you, she immediately had him wrapped around her finger,

when she was born.

He just thought she was sweet.

He was infatuated with her.

These were very happy times for me.

Our family was together.

Bruce had a lot of time to be with the children.

It was a good time.

They opened a school in Hollywood for people like…

Yes.

James Garner, Steve McQueen and the others?

Yes.

Why did you want to learn Chinese martial arts?

Because of a film role?

Not really.

You know, for me most, at least

when I teach it, for me it's like this:

Every kind of knowledge ultimately also means self-knowledge.

That's why they want to learn to express themselves

through movements, be it anger, determination, whatever.

Here is the natural instinct.

And here is the control.

You have to combine both in harmony.

- Yin Yang. - Exactly.

That's it.

Okay, let's do it again and see what happens.

Is it turned on?

Bruce fits right into the counterculture.

He is a martial arts teacher,

in a way a kind of Asian guru,

brings deep and ancient wisdom from the East

to these white people from the West Coast.

Steve McQueen was at the peak of his career at this point,

just like James Coburn.

Ted Ashley, the chairman of Warner Brothers.

I think that was a great thing.

Because there were a lot of these older white men from Hollywood,

who wanted to be known for it,

hanging out with this cool Chinese guy.

One of my earliest memories is at Bruce's house in Bel Air.

Brandon and I ran through the halls of the house.

And when we opened the doors and barged in,

when my godfather was philosophizing,

and he has all these students around him,

then there was this free spirit vibe, you know?

You have to work a little more with your feet.

There were all these people from different backgrounds.

I just assumed the whole world would grow up like that.

I met Bruce through a friend, the editor of Black Belt magazine.

He said: "Bruce is teaching me a traditional style.

But it's very interesting and innovative."

Bruce was interested in every sport.

He thought that everyone around the world

could contribute something to the martial arts as a whole.

Many people go to teachers and say:

"Hey, man, what's the truth?

Can you teach it to me?"

So one of them will say:

"I'll teach you the Japanese way."

Another will say:

"I'll teach you the Chinese way."

For me this is all nonsense.

Personally, I don't believe in the word "style".

People are divided because of styles.

They are not united because style became law.

Okay, let's look at it.

After training, Bruce spends time in his office.

He has a Sony cassette recorder that plays tapes of Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Lewis.

Black boxing champions were the pride of Black Americans.

He was open to these different types of influences.

He wanted to learn where her strength came from.

And he thought about it,

what would work better for his body.

I have to tell the audience that

Bruce Lee played a small part

or had a supporting role in the series Longstreet.

That had a big effect on the audience.

What kind?

I think the winning ingredient

was that I was Bruce Lee.

- So… - Yourself.

I expressed myself.

What are you doing?

In Cantonese, Jeet Kune Do:

"The Way of the Intercepting Fist."

Intercepting fist, huh?

Or foot.

You know, to get to me, you have to move towards me.

Your attack gives me the opportunity to intercept you.

In this case, I use my longest weapon, my side

kick, against your next target: your kneecap.

This can be compared to a left jab in boxing.

Except it causes a lot more damage.

Yes, Lee is teaching me all of this.

I can't teach you.

All I can do is help you get to know yourself. No longer.

Good Good. Come on, let's do it… let's do it…

The 1960s had a strong influence on Bruce,

a time of experimentation, disillusionment,

Existential fears were widespread.

There was a very conscious attempt

to question the established Western way.

I live here. My grandmother lived here.

She died here.

So I belong here. Now I hate this place.

If I were an outsider, I would let

it burn down and say, "Leave it."

But because this is my house, ridiculously, absurdly,

cruelly, my home, I don't want to leave like that.

I am the fifth generation and the

sixth generation is just growing up.

I don't want another generation to be completely destroyed.

I don't want them to grow up with this "either/or" thing,

feel as if they were born as foreigners.

Before 1968 we were Orientals. Orient means East, right?

The East compared to what?

If you look at how people change,

if they publicly call themselves Asian-Americans,

then you also see the change that you say:

"We no longer define ourselves

in relation to the West, wherever the West is.

We define ourselves from within."

Bruce is struggling at the time to maintain his philosophy and his ideas

to get on the screen.

You have to listen.

Listen.

- You don't hear the bird, do you? - No.

Ha. If you don't hear the bird, you won't hear your opponent either.

My father kept trying to get roles in Hollywood.

I want to be left alone and live like an American.

You're old-fashioned.

And you're a fool if you think you can break

away from us just because you decide to.

He got roles in The Third in Ambush, Longstreet and other things.

But I think a lot of people in the studios

saw it as a novelty.

He noticed pretty quickly that the influence,

which he wanted to exercise

would not only be possible by filling roles.

He thought the only way to show himself

would be to write your own roles.

When we first came across Bruce and watched his TV shows,

we noticed that something was there.

So we came up with this series about a Shaolin monk,

who came to America to help the Chinese on the highways.

Bruce had the original idea,

which would later become the series Kung Fu .

He introduced her to Warner Brothers.

He was very happy that they liked his idea.

I said, "I don't know, Bruce."

I said, "I don't know if people in Hollywood are ready for that,

to accept an Asian as the lead of a TV series."

He said, "Shall we bet?"

So, yeah, okay, I bet.

So we made a bet.

One afternoon we had a meeting in my office at Warner Brothers.

- Mr Marlowe? - Yes?

And he slammed my door with his foot

and brandished his nunchaku.

It was buzzing in front of my nose.

And I said, "What's going on here?"

Bruce said, "Touch my arm."

It was like touching a stone.

500 dollars.

And who am I doing this nothing for?

Winslow Wong.

It's me.

We talked about the roles in Kung Fu.

Of course Bruce would have liked to do that.

But the bottom line would be Bruce's accent

was too strong for American TV audiences.

OK.

In the TV world there were only three customers.

There was no economic reason to diversify

just for the sake of diversification.

Nobody wanted to risk deviating too much from the mainstream.

Because then you would lose the huge TV audience

and it would be over.

The film industry is biased against non-white people.

At Kung Fu, which was written for Bruce,

the people in the studio decided

that America wasn't ready for an Asian hero.

They gave the role…

Now I've forgotten the name.

The series Kung Fu with…

And of course the series Kung Fu came out,

with David Carradine in the lead role.

ABC was heavily criticized.

I was heavily criticized.

Warner Brothers was heavily criticized.

But at the end of the day you have to be able to sell it,

what you sell.

I couldn't find an Asian actor to sell to ABC.

Hollywood is racist because America is racist.

The images that Hollywood sends out only reinforce America's racism.

It is a doom-loop. It goes in circles.

And he said, "Okay, so this is what's happening."

“How do I turn around and change course?”

I think what was crucial was that he didn't stop.

He didn't let himself be stopped.

He said: "I understand it, I've already made up my mind.

I'm doing this now.

I'll just keep going."

I would like to ask you about the

problems you face as a Chinese hero

be in an American series.

Have people in the industry come

to you and said, "We don't know

how the audience receives a non-American?"

Unfortunately, there are things like this in the

world, you know, in certain parts of the country, yes.

Where you think it's a risk from an economic point of view.

That's not her fault.

The same thing would happen in Hong

Kong if a foreigner came and became a star.

If I were the man with the money,

I'd probably have my own worries,

whether acceptance would be given or not.

But that's okay.

Do you still see yourself as Chinese?

Or do you see yourself as a North American?

Do you know how I want to see myself?

As a human.

Because, I mean, I don't

want to talk like Confucius,

but there is only one family under heaven.

It just so happens that people are different.

He felt the pain of rejection.

Bruce was devastated.

He… He just couldn't understand it.

He said, "What, why?"

I mean, he was so hurt

and just disgusted with the whole system.

And he wanted to do something about it in his own way.

Dear Ted.

I heard what happened to The Warrior .

Well, we can't always win.

But I'll win one day, damn it.

How did you discover Bruce Lee?

Well, I saw him in a TV interview in Hong Kong.

He did fantastic things.

When Brandon was five, he and Bruce traveled to Hong Kong.

There he was recognized as Kato from The Secret of the Green Hornet.

In Hong Kong everyone knew he did well on American TV.

I called him. I picked up the phone and called him.

But he said, "If you want to make good action movies, kung fu movies,

You should do ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, you know?"

I said, "Yeah, yeah, but if you help me,

We can build something great together."

The truth is: I am a yellow-faced Chinese.

In no way can I become a role model for white people

or arouse the feelings of my statesmen.

That's why I decided to come back,

to work for the Chinese film industry.

He was the prodigal son who had returned.

Life in Hong Kong was exciting.

It's an exciting city.

It's difficult to live there with a movie star.

Because when he became so well known there,

it became more difficult to go out,

without being surrounded by his fans.

First of all…

…I don't like the word "superstar".

I'll tell you why.

Because the word “star” is an illusion.

I don't consider myself a star.

Really not.

Believe me when I say…

When Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong,

It was difficult for him to fit in with the rest of the film industry.

First, he received an American education.

Oh, yeah, he's that one…

…half devil.

You think you're a big deal because you come back from America?

Oh no.

Because he was a mid-Pacific man,

there were automatically people who would attack him.

To say that Bruce is a mid-Pacific man,

means that he was neither American nor Chinese,

someone who lived between both worlds.

Sometimes I went to a store

and heard the salespeople saying unpleasant things about me in Chinese.

Of course they didn't know that I could understand them.

I think people saw Bruce

this magnificent specimen of a Chinese man.

And why did he marry that boring white girl?

It's very mixed feelings.

Stigmatized, hated, angry.

On the other hand, respected and envied,

sometimes even revered.

Bruce was confident to his core.

He thought: "If you neglect me, if you don't value me,

it's your loss.

You will agree with me in the future."

After The Fist of Death by Cheng Li and Greetings from Shanghai

Raymond agreed to listen to his directorial ideas and plots.

He wanted everything he set out to do

had the best possible quality.

He turned fighting on screen into a dialogue.

There was always a message behind what he expressed.

The way he integrated East and West.

Once he brought a lot of Western thought,

Western filmmaking.

For example, the character that Chuck Norris played was

not the cartoon villain from Greetings from Shanghai,

but a respectful karate fighter.

This further development is very, very important.

People often come to me and say:

"Hey, Bruce, are you really that good?"

I answer: "Well, when I say that I'm good,

"You're probably saying I'm showing off."

"If I say I'm no good, you know I'm lying."

Let's put it this way:

I am not afraid of the opponent facing me.

When we made The Deathclaw Strikes Again,

Warner Brothers had already understood that Bruce Lee was more,

than they originally assumed.

At that time, Bruce had already started working on My Last Fight .

Bruce called me and said:

"Hey, I have a movie going. Can you come over?"

It was so September,

but I had ten days in which to come to Hong Kong.

And he said, "Look, I can't pay you yet."

They hadn't financed the film yet.

We filmed our scenes.

Then I had to go.

Bruce began his dream project, called My Last Fight.

And right at that moment,

in which he had built himself up independently,

not just as an actor, but as a writer and director,

Hollywood realizes what it really has to offer.

So I went to Hong Kong.

Bruce would have done anything to make an international film.

Raymond Chow didn't want to lose his star.

That's why I kept negotiating with Raymond.

And when everything was finally discussed,

went Bruce, Raymond and I and everyone else

out to dinner the night before I left.

And at that dinner I said:

"Bruce, it's a shame you'll never be an international star,

Because Raymond won't make a deal."

Raymond looked at me and turned white.

And he said, "Okay, I'll make a deal."

And so they became partners

with Warner Brothers and me in The Man with the Deathclaw.

It was a bit difficult at the beginning.

Because Bruce wasn't happy with the script.

He wanted to add things

which would give the film a bit more substance.

Bruce refused to start.

He refused to go on set.

The American crew was there,

everything cost money and stuff,

and Bruce didn't want to show up on set.

It was definitely a big challenge at times.

He was full of fire and intensity.

He could be a bit of a rebel.

He wasn't always the gentleman he was in the book.

He said where to go.

He was an asshole at times.

Bruce had the same doubts,

that all successful actors have.

Does everyone support my project?

Are they doing what's best for me and my film?

In the end he got what he wanted.

What was that?

A demonstration?

We need emotional content.

Anything in the film that is a bit philosophical,

Bruce added to the script.

That's it.

How did that feel?

Let me think.

Do not think! Feel.

It's like a finger pointing to the moon.

Don't focus on the finger or

you'll miss the heavenly splendor.

He tried to make the films

that he wanted to do.

His vision.

Always look at your opponent, even when you bow.

In the 1970s there were few Chinese or Asian films,

who made it to Hollywood.

Bruce wanted our films to hit Hollywood.

Initially we didn't think about the success of The Man with the Deathclaw.

We just made the best Bruce movie we could make.

As we began, we noticed

that we were going to do something very, very spectacular.

Bruce did what he was meant to do,

and it felt wonderful.

He was powerful.

There is something very unique about stars.

Her humanity is so complete.

They are who they are.

They feel very comfortable in their own skin.

That was a big part of what fascinated people about Bruce.

I think he loved being famous.

That's what he wanted. That was his goal.

Maybe when he got there he just thought, "Oh well."

Then you just become famous. But you have to maintain this fame.

Fame costs. Yes, it costs a lot.

The only thing I remember is him saying, "Here in Hong Kong

I don't know who my friends are."

And I said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "I don't know

whether they're just being nice to me for a movie role."

I think he felt very lonely.

I don't think I would have wanted his life.

You don't have time for yourself.

You don't have time to be yourself.

How has your life changed

Have you changed since you became successful?

You are a cult figure

in Hong Kong, you are very well known there.

It's changed in the sense that I'm like in prison,

do you know what I mean?

Really? How come?

I'm like a monkey in the zoo, you know.

People always point at me and stuff.

Her father warned her about the dark side of show business.

Have you met them yet?

Apart from the illusion?

Naturally. Naturally.

It seems like you got off particularly well.

Let's put it this way:

To be honest, I'm not as bad as some of them.

But I'm definitely not saying I'm a saint.

In May 1973 he collapsed.

That was very scary.

He went with Linda and Raymond Chow for a checkup.

One of the doctors said he had the body of an 18-year-old.

Do you know?

We played around in the gym every now and then.

Do you know?

He said, "I'm fit as a fiddle."

That was the last time I saw him.

JULY 20, 1973

I remember it very well.

We started in the studios in the morning

with a meeting with George Lazenby, myself and Raymond Chow.

He complained of headaches, migraines.

Then George came and we talked for a while.

He was in a very good mood.

We were looking forward to the release of The Man with the Deathclaw.

Bruce wanted to fly to L.A. to appear on The Tonight Show .

Bruce, Linda and the children

wanted to take part in the premiere.

He was as energetic, imaginative, cheerful as always,

just that he had a migraine.

Betty was Betty Ting Pei.

We talked to Betty about it,

to give her a role in the film My Last Fight .

He came to eat.

She gave him Equagesic and he lay down for a moment…

…to get rid of the headache.

And she let him sleep.

When she tried to wake him up, she couldn't.

Raymond Chow called me and told me to come to the hospital.

And I said, "Why? What happened? What happened?"

He said, "Same as last time."

So I drove to the hospital.

They brought him there.

And by that time he was already gone.

It was amazing.

Of course I was devastated.

But I was there. I saw him.

The phone rang.

And suddenly my mother started crying.

I asked, "What's wrong?"

Well, a friend told her that Bruce died in Hong Kong.

I said, "No, come on. This is a joke."

The friend said to turn up the 4 o'clock news.

The people of Hong Kong are shocked

because of the death of action film star Bruce Lee.

SUPERSTAR BRUCE LEE DEAD

INTERNATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS STAR DEAD

HE DIED AFTER TAKING PAINKILLERS FOR MIGRAINES

BRUCE LEE'S SUDDEN DEAD

The coroner concluded

that the Equagesic caused cerebral edema,

from which he did not wake up.

I think people are so surprised about his death

because they can't believe that this 32 year old, very strong,

very masculine man is suddenly gone.

So they question it

and make up theories and all that.

But that doesn't help, he's gone.

I remember certain things.

The funeral was such a crazy situation

with so many people.

It was pure chaos.

Outside the funeral in Hong Kong

you could see how much Hong Kong people loved him.

I was simply led through the crowd.

I was in a daze.

Linda was two steps ahead of me,

and I had Shannon on my arm.

Brandon is next to me.

And two people from Golden Harvest on the other side.

We're trying to get to the memorial hall.

My master, such a strong person, he is like God to me.

How could he die so young?

It was a nightmare.

My two children next to me, it was stressful.

I felt,

as if I couldn't say anything to him.

Ten days later The Man with the Death Claw was published in the USA.

Warner Brother went all out.

The premiere was at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

They closed Hollywood Boulevard for a dragon dance.

I looked at the cinema from outside,

it was decorated with illustrations from The Man with the Deathclaw,

and there was a line all the way around the block.

Oh my God, that's Bruce Lee.

And he didn't live long enough to see the crowds.

Even though I, Bruce Lee, may die one day,

Without having fulfilled my goals, it doesn't hurt me.

I did what I wanted to do.

Whatever I did, I did sincerely and with all my strength.

You can't expect more from life.

I was standing at the back of the cinema, watching your film on the screen

and felt that you had an audience that loved him.

We all did that.

We all wished he could see what happened.

THE MAN WITH THE DEATH CLAW MADE $91 MILLION WORLDWIDE

THAT IS EQUAL TO 521 MILLION DOLLARS TODAY.

IN 2004 THE FILM WAS PROVIDED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

SELECTED FOR PRESERVATION BECAUSE IT IS "CULTURAL,

HISTORICALLY OR AESTHETICALLY VALUABLE.

The fact that he didn't live long enough

to see the effect he and his films would have,

is his personal tragedy.

If he hadn't died so young, his myth wouldn't have been so attractive,

so deep and touching.

Bruce would certainly have had a greater influence,

if he had lived longer.

But I don't think that's that,

makes what he has achieved less important.

He asked for a safe environment for me,

this growing, biracial child,

and made me realize the potential of my future,

what the world could be like.

He was “East meets West.”

But he knew how to combine the two.

He was a very unique person.

He is the man he was when he died.

And that's how he will always be viewed.

I believe he exceeded his own expectations,

and that he will be a role model for people around the world.

There's not a day in my life

where I don't think about him.

What can I say?

I liked him.

I decided to have him buried in Seattle,

because he loved the time he spent there.

At least I could go to him

and say goodbye, it was easier that way.

I knew what he wanted.

He wanted me to take care of the children, to raise them.

So we just kept going.

It was'nt easy.

Being a martial artist is one of the most important concepts

the concept of building bridges,

Building bridges between me and my opponent,

Building bridges between me and my dreams.

I see my father as the person

who wanted to build these bridges

and wanted to keep it open for travelers.

When my brother died 20 years later,

I received my father's writings.

And I started reading them.

I remember feeling broken.

I had the medicine for the suffering in me from the beginning,

but I didn't take it.

The suffering came from within me,

but I didn't notice it until that point.

Suddenly I had my fate in my own hands.

And if you want to take on the task of healing yourself,

to be your own drive, to be your own light,

you can change your perspective.

And you can go your own way.

His philosophy was self-realization.

Don't accept the stereotypical image,

that others want to impose on you.

Find something about yourself that is valuable and express it.

I said free your mind.

Be formless, formless, like water.

If you put water in a cup, it becomes a cup.

If you put water in a bottle, it becomes a bottle.

If you put it in a teapot, it becomes a teapot.

Water can flow or bounce.

Be water, my friend.

We warmly welcome Bruce Lee to the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

One two three.

Bruce Lee is a symbol of the fight for "little people" and justice.

My father left a wonderful legacy.

I meet people all over the world who adore him

and revere his work

and were very positively influenced by it.

Like many of his generation

Collector Jeff Chin struggled with discrimination.

The time, 1973, was like magic.

Overnight, Chinese men became the important men on campus.

More than 700 people came to the Warner Brothers studio,

in the hope that they could become the successors of the late Bruce Lee.

Did you see anyone at the casting who reminded you of your husband?

Nobody with Bruce's personality.

WE ARE LIKE WATER WE ARE HONG KONGERS!

BE WATER

His mother and brother are with us to tell us more about the

man karate experts are now calling the Galileo of martial arts.

Why did he reach such mythical proportions,

and why did it grow stronger after his death?

He has a dynamic personality.

And he can express that personality

on screen or in front of people.

Sometimes you talk about Bruce in the present tense.

I do. I will always do that.

Subtitles Vanessa Fellner