Path of the Dragon: 75th Anniversary of the Birth of Bruce Lee
It is difficult to name a person who made a greater contribution to the popularization of martial arts than Bruce Lee . Today the great martial arts master, philosopher, stunt coordinator, director and actor would have turned 75 years old.Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco, when the hour and year of the Dragon coincided in the Chinese zodiac. Not surprisingly, the parents decided to give the baby the name Li Xiaolong - Little Dragon . Since the child received US citizenship at birth, American doctors advised giving him a Western name as well. Soon, Bruce 's father, a famous Cantonese opera performer, decided to return to Hong Kong. As a child, Lee often got roles in big movies. His debut on the screen took place in infancy in the film "The Golden Gate of the Girl", and by the age of 18 he already had two dozen roles under his belt.  Despite the popularity of the head of the family, Bruce and his family lived in a dysfunctional area, because of which the boy was constantly in trouble. Tired of watching their son take part in street fights, his parents decided to send him to study at the martial arts school of the famous master Ip Man . Having started training, the young man did not stop getting involved in fights. There is a legend that in one of these skirmishes the son of a member of the Chinese mafia was seriously injured at his hands. Perhaps for this reason, in 1959, his parents decided that Bruce should try to start a new life in America.  Lee arrived in the US with only one hundred dollars in his pocket. Soon he got a job as a waiter, and then, in parallel with his studies at the university, he began to teach martial arts. The young man did not recall his acting career until 1964, when, during an exhibition performance in Long Beach, he was offered to audition for a role in the series " Number One Son " ( Number One Son ). The show never aired, but Bruce caught the eye of the creators of another project - The Green Hornet ( The Green Hornet ). This series lasted only one season, but the role of Kato brought immense popularity to the future serious actor and the opportunity to play this hero in the television adaptation of "Batman" ( Batman ).  Soon, Lee was offered to try their hand at Hollywood. In the late 60s, he appeared on the screens in the film "Marlow", and also acted as the director of fights in the film "Team of Destroyers". Bruce dreamed of getting rid of his secondary actor status, as a result of which he ventured to propose to Warner Bros. the idea of the series " Warrior " ( Warrior ). Conventional wisdom has it that studio executives reworked Lee into the storyline for Kung Fu , but didn't bother to include his name in the credits. But participation in this project brought world fame to David Carradine.  Producer Fred Weintraub advised the disappointed Bruce to make his own film that could be shown to Hollywood bosses. Lee decided to implement this venture in Hong Kong, where he was surprised to find that “ The Green Hornet ” had cemented him as a local celebrity. Bruce was able to quickly get a deal for two films with Golden Harvest . The first of these, "Big Boss", finally contributed to his establishment as the star of the screen. The film broke every conceivable record in the Asian market, but a year later these achievements faded before the success of the next action movie Lee - "Fist of Fury". The triumph of two of the most important films in Bruce's career allowed him to found Concord Production Inc., and also take full control of the Dragon's Path project. The master of martial arts independently put all the fights in the film, including the famous fight of his character with the hero of Chuck Norris.  In late 1972, Lee began filming The Game of Death. The actor had time to begin work on a scene of a fight with his friend, famous basketball player Karim Abdul-Jabbar, when the studio Warner Bros. offered him the lead role in the film "Enter the Dragon". Bruce paused work on " Game of Death " to turn his attention to a project for an American company.  However, he was not destined to live up to the premiere of " Enter the Dragon " - six days before the start of the tape, on July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee died. The circumstances of the death of the master still raise a lot of questions among his students and fans. According to some reports, the box office of " Exit the Dragon " in the world box office amounted to more than $ 200 million with a budget of $ 850 thousand . The Game of Death was released five years after the sudden mysterious death of Bruce . Its creators were forced to use archival footage and multiple stunt doubles to give viewers the opportunity to see Little Dragon on screen again.  Bruce Lee has managed to leave such a bright mark in the history of world art that several generations of filmmakers have not lost interest in his person. At the moment, the heirs of the actor are working on his biopic, and soon the audience will be able to appreciate how successfully the image of the legend with the help of the latest advances in computer graphics was able to recreate the authors of the film "Ip Man 3D". The Topic of Article: Path of the Dragon: 75th Anniversary of the Birth of Bruce Lee. |
