BRUCE LEE

Before Lui Kang of the video game "Mortal Kombat," international martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or the movies “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “The Karate Kid,” there was The Dragon – Bruce Lee. You can't really put your finger on what it was, but there was just something about him. He was able to transcend martial arts films into something more than what they were before him - fake fighting with bad dubbing. He was the real deal. Not only was he an amazing athlete, but there was also a certain charisma no other martial arts star has had since.

 Joel Stein wrote in Time’s 1999 Heroes & Icons article that, "even with all the special-effects money that went into 'The Matrix,' no one could make violence as beautiful as Lee's. He had a cockiness that passed for charisma. And when he whooped like a crane, jumped in the air and simultaneously kicked two bad guys into unconsciousness, all while punching out two others mostly off-screen, you knew the real Lee could do that too."

Though violent, his characters were also moral and faced the consequences of their actions, having to answer at the end of their films for the havoc they just finished wrecking. Lee, whose characters usually only fought in self defense, was arrested in the role of his debut film and was executed in his second. Both are rarely ever done in Hollywood action features. Lee was also able to show extraordinary emotions through his facial expressions – the shock of taking a life, the ecstasy of revenge and the regret that killing was the only way to solve a problem.

There was also a genius to his simple way of looking at martial arts. "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it," he once said. Each person is an individual and what works for someone else may not work for you. His “use no way as the way and no limitation as your limitation” approach was controversial in his field, which usually follows a strict form and exact way of doing things. The philosophy, which led many to consider him the father of mixed martial arts, can be used by anyone in everything they do from dieting, exercise, sports, writing to personal, political and religious beliefs. Despite having only completed four action films before his death - "Fists of Fury," "Chinese Connection," "Return of the Dragon" and "Enter the Dragon" - his influences can still be seen today. "Unleashed," "Kill Bill Volume 1" and "Ong Bak - The Thai Warrior" are recent examples.

Bruce Lee came to America in 1959 with $115 to his name after spending his teen years as a skinny thug involved in street fights, gang warfare and run-ins with the Hong Kong police. According to Black Belt magazine writer John Little, Bruce Lee represents different things for everyone. To minorities, he shows how pride, determination and belief can overcome obstacles. To the poor, he represents a beacon of hope. To the frail and weak, he represents what can be achieved if the effort is put forth. I would have to agree with all of these things.

-- CCF, March 2006

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