Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000) - full transcript

You are watching a master at work.

Bruce Lee:

Five feet, seven and
a half inches tall,

135 pounds of martial
art dynamite.

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 has 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
theatre 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 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 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, and

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 and screenwriter.

In addition to
having a hand in set

design, cinematography
and lighting.

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.

What did you think of
them when you saw them?

Quality-wise, 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 which I
would term quality.

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 20, 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 20, 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

distinction between his films...

and those made by other, less
dedicated production companies.

I can tell you that as more
Bruce Lee films are shown...

the audience will soon realise...

not only in acting
ability but in physical

skill as well, they will
see the difference.

Five years after his
passing, excerpts from

the film Lee had worked
so feverishly on...

during the final months and hours
of his life, are edited into...

a film featuring Lee's
title, The 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 7 seconds...

of the footage to be worthy
of inclusion in their film.

The rest, approximately 21
minutes worth, they discard.

Intercutting 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 shot
considerably more

footage for The Game of Death...

than had been seen to date.

Another unexpected
surprise is discovered

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 35mm film
footage is located.

After having been separated for
over a 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.

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.

Every gung fu man is
trying to do that...

to be soft, like
water, and flexible

and to adapt himself
to the opponent.

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.

- You went to college in the US?
- Yes.

- And what did you study?
- Philosophy.

Bruce Lee's interest
in philosophy, defined

by the Western ethos
as love of wisdom...

is a passion that will remain with

him for 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
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'll listen about
the ways of the Chinese masters.

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?

It's bad to say the best...

but in my opinion gung
fu is pretty good.

Would you tell us a
little about gung fu?

Gung fu originates in China.

It is the ancestor of
karate and jujitsu.

It is 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
movements, and then stop.

I see. What's the
difference between

a gung fu punch and
a karate punch?

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 goes "whang,"
and it hurts inside.

Okay.

Lee has studied a
system of 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...

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.

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 yelling...

and jumping all over
him, but to go...

Excuse me.

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.

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 colour
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 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.

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.

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
practised in America.

He believes they lack a solid
grounding in reality...

consisting of rehearsed
self-defence

routines that are employed...

and predictable in
patternised rhythms.

He notes that real combat is
spontaneous, not rehearsed...

and is made up of irregular
or broken rhythm

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, "organised
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-defence 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.

In 1967, Lee
introduces the concept

of full-contact sparring...

at the International Karate.

Tournament in Long
Beach, California.

Defence is not emphasised 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.

By midsummer of 1967...

Lee has determined the
defining attribute

of his new approach
to martial art:

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?
- 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...

This time I intercept
your emotional tenseness.

You see, from your thought to your
fist, how much time was lost.

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 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.

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.

In the Sportsweek of
the Washington Star...

printed in Washington,
DC On August 16, 1970:

"Three of Bruce Lee's pupils, Joe

Louis, Chuck Norris,
and Mike Stone...

have between them won every major

karate tournament in
the United States."

"Joe Louis 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."

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 is

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 kung 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."

Lee's going to teach me all this.

I cannot teach you.

Only help you to explore
yourself, nothing more.

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?

You all right?

I can't find much evidence
to the contrary, Lee.

Bite?

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 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 do 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 down?"

"You'll be trying to
do something else."

You know, he was absolutely right.

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
push ups 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 six months...

was an impossible thought.

You cannot contain him like that.

But he did, because
he knew 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 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 that he needed to

self-motivate himself
all the time.

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

organised 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.

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 any more.

I mean, I do not
believe that there

is such a thing as a Chinese...

way of fighting or 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 only have
two hands and two feet.

So styles tend to not only...

separate men 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, "here
I am, 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 his motto, 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 phoney
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.

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?

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.

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.

To create a new genre of film
that will reveal the higher...

purpose of martial art.

To overcome the
prejudices of Hollywood.

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.

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.

I mean, its always the pigtail
and bouncing around...

you know, with the eye
slanted and all that.

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 in a letter...

told me he was working on a
vehicle, and something like...

The Silent Flute or
equivalent to that,

and 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.

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 not going to be on.

I see.

You see, because
unfortunately such...

things do exist in this world,
you see, like I don't know...

certain parts of the
country where...

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

Lee now realises
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 realises 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 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 the side door.

Which is precisely
what he was doing.

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...

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.

I am a martial artist.

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.

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.

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 The 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.

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.

What the hell are you doing?

Hey, are you crazy?

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.

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 The Game of.

Death was going to
be the platform...

for these expressions.

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-metre-high Buddha statue...

is clearly indicated in
Lee's storyline sketches.

Cast in one mould 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.

We were doing things
like we practised it.

And in practise
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.

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.

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 utilise praying
mantis gung fu...

as well as some
elements of wing Chun,

both arts that emphasise
infighting...

use of hands predominately, with
kicks limited to below the waist.

I think it was in
October of '71-'72, in

that era. He called
me and said he...

wanted me to be in that movie.

I said, "Look, Bruce, I've
got two left front feet.

You know it and I know it.

There's probably 1,000 people in
Hong Kong that can do it better.

Just let me sit here and enjoy
the fruits of your success.

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.

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. And really, I
think at this point in his life...

I think he had
transcended 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.

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 advance

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 there.

The tae-kwan-do master,
Jhoon Rhee, 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 went back to Hong Kong.

He invited me.

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

symbolised 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.

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 wasn't 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.

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 symbolise
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 you didn't need 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

That, we will have to find out.

I'm telling you, it's difficult
to have a rehearsed routine...

to fit in with...

broken rhythm.

You see...

rehearsed routines lack
the flexibility to adapt.

Surprised?

How do you like that?

How do you like that?

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.

You are my brother.

I will let you do this
first deed of merit.

You go ahead.

Wish you success.

Yes. Thank you.

I'm going up.

His big advantage is that he gives
no thought to life or death.

And no distracting thoughts,

he is therefore free
to concentrate on

fighting against the
attack from outside.

Little fellow, you must have
given up the hope of living.

On the contrary, I do not let
the word "death" bother me.

Same here, baby.

Then what are you waiting for?

With his great size, he is
going to find it difficult

to keep getting up each
time I knock him down.

Look at him.

Give him the fatigue bombing.

I'm so tired.

No, no.

Hai Tien, he must be much
more tired than you.

Calm down your soul.

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

Why continue? Just let me pass.

You have forgotten that I, too...

am not afraid of death.

Come on up.

Is it safe?

Yes.

Your job is done.

Come down.

Help me.

Hurry down.

I've been categorised as
the keeper of the grave...

up in Seattle and I
try to make it there

at least once a month
often times during...

the month I 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 people that come...

they're not even martial artists,
you would normally expect...

that the people who go 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 often times 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 are lines that
express your philosophy.

I don't know if you
remember them...

I remember them.

- 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."