Asian Films made as a Child Actor
Golden Gate Girl (1941)
The Birth of Mankind (1946)
Kid Cheung (1950)
The Kid (1951)
Infancy (1951)
The Guiding Light (1953)
In the Face of Demolition (1953)
It's Father's Fault (1953)
A Mother's Tears (1953)
Myriad Homes (1953)
Love (1955)
An Orphan's Tragedy (1955)
The Faithful Wife (1955)
Orphan's Song (1955)
We Owe It to Our Children (1955)
Wise Guys Fool Around (1956)
Too Late for Divorce (1956)
The Thunderstorm (1957)
Darling Girl (1957)
The Orphan (1958)
American Television Shows & TV guest appearances
The Green Hornet (1966-1967) Twentieth Century Fox
Episodes
1."The Silent Gun" 9/9/66
2) "Give 'Em Enough Rope" 9/16/66
3) "Programmed for Death" 9/23/66
4) "Crime Wave" 9/20/66
5) "The Frog is a Deadly Weapon" 10/7/66
6) "Eat, Drink, and Be Dead" 10/14/66
7) "Beautiful Dreamer" {PART 1} 10/21/66
8) "Beautiful Dreamer" {PART 2} 10/28/66
9) "The Ray Is for Killing" 11/11/66
10) "The Praying Mantis" 11/18/66
11) "The Hunters and the Hunted" 11/25/66
12) "Deadline for Death" 12/2/66
13) "The Secret of Sally Bell" 12/9/66
14) "Freeway to Death" 12/16/66
15) "May the Best Man Lose" 12/23/66
16) "Seek, Stalk and Destroy" 1/6/67
17) "Corpse of the Year" {PART 1} 1/13/67
18) "Corpse of the Year" {PART 2} 1/20/67
19) "Bad Bet on 459-Silent" 2/3/67
20) "Ace in the Hole" 2/10/67
21) "Trouble for Prince Charming" 2/17/67
22) "Alias 'The Scarf'" 2/24/67
23) "Hornet, Save Thyself" 3/3/67
24) "Invasion from Outer Space" [Part One] 3/10/67
25) "Invasion from Outer Space" [Part Two] 3/17/67
26) "The Hornet and the Firefly" 3/24/67
Batman
Episode
#41) "THE SPELL OF TUT" (9/28/66) Episode
#42) "TUT'S CASE IS SHUT" (9/29/66) Episode
#85) "A PIECE OF THE ACTION" (1/23/67) Episode
#86) "BATMAN'S SATISFACTION" (3/2/67)
Ironside ( plays Leon Soo)
"Tagged For Murder" (10/26/67)
Blondie
"Pick on Someone Your Own Size" (1968)
Here Come the Brides
"Marriage, Chinese Style" (1968)
Longstreet ( plays Li Tsung )
The Way of the Intercepting Fist (Airdate: 09/16/71)
Spell Legacy Like Death (Airdate: 10/21/71)
Wednesday's Child (Airdate: 11/11/71)
I See, Said the Blind Man (Airdate Unknown)
The Pierre Burton Show, CBC Television (1965)
Guest
American Movies
The Wrecking Crew (1969)
Bruce served as fight choreographer for this film.
Marlow (1969) MGM Pictures
Plays Winslow Wong
Walk in the Spring Rain (1970)
Bruce served as the fight choreographer for this movie.
Asian Martial Art Movies
Fists of Fury (1971) Golden Harvest
Original Title: The Big Boss (Tang Shan da Xiong)
Editorial Review
Bruce Lee kicked around Hollywood for years looking in vain for an American break when Hong Kong came calling. As Kato in the TV series The Green Hornet he had become an Asian star (the series was renamed for his character when it crossed the Pacific) and ripe for his own vehicle. This raw, low-budget effort, called The Big Boss in its native Hong Kong, is a generic revenge drama enlivened by Lee's intense screen presence and martial arts prowess. He's a country boy who takes a job at a Thailand ice-packing plant and discovers it's a cover for heroin smuggling. Lee is held back through the first half of the film by a promise he made his sweet, gray-haired mom not to brawl (which means you have to wait to see him in action), but his indignation turns to fury as friends and coworkers disappear and the boss sends thugs to take care of the brooding, intense country boy. The final half of the film is a series of violent confrontations, culminating in a marvelously choreographed showdown at the ice plant. Lean, mean Lee, with a physique that looked sculpted in bronze, became an overnight sensation with this film, breaking all Asian box-office records and starting an international kung fu craze, but none of the pretenders ever touched Lee's cool cinematic charisma or his martial arts grace. Lee returned the next year in The Chinese Connection. --Sean Axmaker
The Chinese Connection (1972) Golden Harvest
Original Title: Fists of Fury (Jing Wu Men)
Editorial Review
Violent Kung Fu film has Lee in Shanghai in early 1900s seeking vengeance on the murderers of his teacher. Graceful, powerful, humorous, and charismatic; Lee at his best. Original title: FIST OF FURY. Aka THE IRON HAND.-- Leonard Maltin
Return of the Dragon (1972)
Original title: Way of the Dragon (Meng Long Guojiang)
Editorial Reviews
Bruce Lee wrote and directed Return of the Dragon, his third film, a mix of hard-edged kung fu and goofy humor. Once again he plays the country boy who travels to a foreign land, in this case Italy, where his restaurant-owning cousins face trouble from the local syndicate. Their strong-arm tactics have driven customers away and now threaten the family, but Lee refuses to buckle under their pressure and takes them on in a series of impressive confrontations. The film ends with a memorable showdown with world-champion karate artist Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum (though much of it is staged in a rather cheap studio set), a brutal, almost inhuman battle that revels in the intense punishment taken by the combatants. Norris is one of Lee's best opponents and a marvelous physical contrast: brawny and hairy, using power and blunt karate moves while lean, wiry Lee counters with speed, gymnastic prowess, and balletic grace. The mix of comedy and kung fu comes off as camp at times, but that's hardly the reason to see the film. When Lee gets into action, whether he's taking on a gang of knife-wielding thugs or dueling Norris to the death, he becomes the total focus. Originally titled The Way of the Dragon, this film was renamed in the wake of Enter the Dragon to cash in on that movie's popularity. --Sean Axmaker
Country hick Lee visits relatives who run Chinese restaurant in Italy and helps fight off gangsters trying to take over. Many fine comic and action sequences, including final battle with Chuck Norris in Roman Colosseum. This was made before (but released after) ENTER THE DRAGON, which was Lee's final completed film. Aka WAY OF THE DRAGON. -- Leonard Maltin
Asian/American Martial Art Movie
Enter the Dragon (1973) Warner Brothers
Also known as: The Deadly Three; Long Zheng Hu Dou
Editorial Reviews
The last film completed by Bruce Lee before his untimely death, Enter the Dragon was his entree into Hollywood. The American-Hong Kong coproduction, shot in Asia by American director Robert Clouse, stars Lee as a British agent sent to infiltrate the criminal empire of bloodthirsty Asian crime lord Han (Shih Kien) through his annual international martial arts tournament. Lee spends his days taking on tournament combatants and nights breaking into the heavily guarded underground fortress, kicking the living tar out of anyone who stands in his way. The mix of kung fu fighting (choreographed by Lee himself) and James Bond intrigue (the plot has more than a passing resemblance to Dr. No) is pulpy by any standard, but the generous budget and talented cast of world-class martial artists puts this film in a category well above Lee's primitive Hong Kong productions. Unfortunately he's off the screen for large chunks of time as American maverick competitors (and champion martial artists) John Saxon and Jim Kelly take center stage, but once the fighting starts Lee takes over. The tournament setting provides an ample display of martial arts mastery of many styles and climaxes with a huge free-for-all, but the highlight is Lee's brutal one-on-one with the claw-fisted Han in the dynamic hall-of-mirrors battle. Lee narrows his eyes and tenses into a wiry force of sinew, speed, and ruthless determination. --Sean Axmaker
Almost perfect Kung Fu film that forgets about plot and concentrates on mind-boggling action. Martial arts expert Lee (in last complete film role) infiltrates strange tournament on island fortress. This was filmed after (but released before) Lee's RETURN OF THE DRAGON. 3m. added on video in 1998. Aka THE DEADLY THREE. -- Leonard Maltin
Game of Death (Bruce Lee¡¯s Last Film 1978)
Also known as: Bruce Lee's Game of Death; Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death; Si wang you ju .
Editorial Review
Bruce Lee died after shooting only a few scenes of his ambitious Game of Death, but that didn't stop greedy producers from finishing and releasing "Lee's last film," even if he's doubled for most of it. Lee planned an ambitious expression of his fighting philosophy, and his story culminates in the rigorous challenge of the "Game of Death," in which combatants take on successively greater and greater masters as they fight their way to the top of a tower. Only a few fight scenes were completed, and the released film is about a martial arts movie star who takes on a syndicate of drug dealers. Lee faces down the towering Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in an impressive battle, one of the only surviving scenes from Lee's original shoot, while outtakes from his battle with Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon are used along with real-life footage from Lee's funeral. The rest of the film is a mishmash of car chases and clumsily edited fights, complete with awkward inserts of Lee's face. His double remains hidden behind a pair of dark glasses or a motorcycle helmet throughout, and he abruptly changes into a yellow jumpsuit for no reason other than to match Lee's costume in the final scene. -- Sean Axmaker
Lee died midway through production of this karate thriller. Six years later, Clouse reassembled the surviving actors and, with the use of doubles, completed the film. Standard fare until final, incredible half hour, when Lee goes one-on-one with each of the villains in some of the most explosive fight scenes ever filmed. Aka BRUCE LEE'S GAME OF DEATH. -- Leonard Maltin
Game of Death II
This film is also known as: The New Game of Death; Tower of Death. Outakes from ¡°Enter the Dragon¡± with Bruce Lee look-a-like. Example of Martial Arts movies capitalizing on Bruce Lee¡¯s name. Not considered a Bruce Lee film.
Plot/Writing Credits
Circle of Iron (1979)
This is the movie that was made from Bruce Lee's Silent Flute script. Rewritten by James Coburn and Stanley Mann and has title character played by David Carradine.