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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: June 25th, 2024.
Director: Bruce Le/Alphonse Beni/Shut Dik/Wong Sing-Loy
Cast: Bruce Le, Richard Harrison, Alphonse Beni, Bruce Li, Tang Pei, David Chow
Year: 1980/1985/1974/1976
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The Game Of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1 – Movie Review:
Severin Films has opted to peel back the layers of one of the strangest cult movie movements in the history of cinema with their release of The Game Of Clones – Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1, another one of the label’s massive boxed set editions, this time dedicated to the strange films made to cash-on on the success and subsequent passing of the one and only Bruce Lee.
For the first part of our coverage, click here.
For the first second part of our coverage, click here.
Here’s the third part of our coverage of this titan of a boxed set.
Disc Five – Challenge Of The Tiger / Cameroon Connection:
Bruce Le? Richard fucking Harrison in tight bikini briefs? Naked ladies? What’s not to love?
Bruce Le not only directed this one, but he stars in it as well, taking on the complicated role of a man named Huang Lung. He's a CIA agent tasked with the difficult assignment of stopping a super-secret terrorist organization from getting their greedy mitts on a secret serum that will render all men on the planet Earth infertile!
This is quite the job, and Haung knows that when the going gets tough, the tough get Richard Harrison on their side, and here Harrison plays the role of Richard Cannon. Few people know more about male ejaculatory fluids than Richard Harrison, and in this movie he is quite literally stone cold pimping. In fact, Harrison spends far more time with a lady or two on his arm than without and when we're first introduced to him he's playing tennis, in slow motion, against a woman with fully exposed and truly remarkable breasts - that's how stone cold pimpin' he is. And to top it all off, he does it to the soothing sound of everyone’s favorite light reggae jam, Montego Bay! There is so much gratuitous nudity in the opening scene of this film that at first you're probably going to think you rented a porno. Did Bruce Le ever direct porn? Probably not, but this movie will make you wish that he had.
Anyway, Huang takes care of all the dirty work. When they track down the terrorists he's primed and ready to kick some serious ass in the name of freedom and man chowder. Cannon, on the other hand, is the sneakier one of the pair. He uses his amazing masculine charms and the raw sensuality of his moustache to infiltrate and seduce his way into the inner circle of evil. It's a good thing Harrison has got Le around though, as in order to make the world once again a safe place for spooge they're going to have to take on Hwang Jang Lee and Bolo Yeung!
At one point in the film, Bruce Le kicks a bull's ass, proving that Sonny Chiba isn't the only one with a leg up on the bovine population of the world (see Karate Bullfighter for more details), while Harrison spends the majority of his time scoring with the ladies. The movie is so all over the place that it really must be seen to be believed. In fact, it might even surpass some of Harrison's Godfrey Ho films (Ninja Squad comes to mind) for sheer lunacy.
Plenty of pretty naked ladies, hairy Harrison, and mediocre fight choreography make this one a whole lot of fun even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Anyone who has been won over by the not so subtle charms of other Dick Randall (he makes a cameo in here as a guy named Dick!) produced Bruce Lee knock offs such as The Clones Of Bruce Lee should find a whole lot to love about this movie, including a cameo from none other than Morgan Fairchild, Jack Klugman and Jane Seymour!
Up next, a movie that is as much a vehicle for leading man/director Alphonse Beni then it is a Bruceploitation picture, 1985's Cameroon Connection. As to the story? Somewhere in the African nation of Cameroon, a young woman is followed back to her apartment. Someone tries to get in but can’t get past the lock. She makes a phone call, shows some shock from what she's just heard and, after leaving her room, winds up nearly dead at the side of the road. Somehow, she manages to crawl back to the room where she took the phone call, but once there, she shuffles off this mortal coil. Someone discovers her and the cops, lead by Inspector Baiko (played by Beni), start investigating what happened.
Baiko's first move is to head to the local disco and beat some guys up. From here, he leaves behind the random kid who is his son and flies to Paris where he talks to a guy with a big moustache and then picks up a woman and heads to yet another disco with her. From here, he gets into another fight and just when it's starting to look like he might get his ass handed to him, a guy named Bruce (Bruce Le) shows up and saves his skin. After this, Baiko heads back to Cameroon - and so does Bruce! He runs a factory there that makes bottles.
Still working the case, Baiko goes undercover as a cabbie and winds up nabbing some drug smuggler guys but a short time later, his son gets kidnapped. From here, Baiko teams up with Bruce to save the kid, but before all of that, Bruce meets up with some voodoo cultists.
A co-production between France and Cameroon set to a score from Jess Franco collaborator Daniel White, Cameroon Connection is pretty hokey stuff. Bruce Le, maybe not so surprisingly, fights circles around everyone else in the movie in a big, big way. You’d think Beni would handle himself better in the action scenes, since this is basically a vanity project for him, but no dice, he’s really bad when it comes to fight scenes. Le, however, kicks all kinds of ass and is the film’s main redeeming quality. He’s a lot of fun to watch here, even if the plot is fairly muddy and the story not especially engaging. The African locations definitely help to set it apart from the pack, however, and there are some mildly exploitative elements in the story that help to keep it from getting too stale.
Highlighted by a genuinely good car chase scene, the pacing is decent and the score from White is actually really good, but the least remarkable film in the set. Is it worth seeing for those with an affinity for Bruceploitation? 100% yes, just don’t go into it expecting the greatness that you’ll be slapped outside the head with by some of the other movies in this collection.
Disc Six – Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story / The Dragon Lives:
Also known as The Dragon Dies Hard and simply Bruce Lee Story, 1974's Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was a Taiwanese film that is one of the first, if not the first, Bruceploitation picture. Released just a year after Bruce Lee's passing, it's essentially a biopic covering the life of Bruce Lee and Betty Ting Pei.
The movie spends about fifteen minutes showing us the early years of Bruce Lee (played here but Bruce Li) in Seattle, Washington as he gets into a lot of fights with random people and then wins various martial arts tournaments. He then finds himself landing the role of Kato in the Green Hornet TV series and his start starts to rise. As the story continues, he gets into fights with various Japanese sword-wielding bad guys and soon finds himself married and then a father to two children.
A short time later, he's in Hong Kong where most of the rest of the film takes place. Here, he meets with Sir Run Run Shaw (Chin Yung-Hsian) who offers him the standard Shaw Brothers contract, but Bruce wants more than what Shaw is offering. Bruce declines and winds up working for Golden Harvest and director Lo Wei, while he has a love affair with beautiful actress Betty Ting Pei (Tang Pei) and cheats on his wife Linda, who flies to Hong Kong to be with her husband. As his story continues, Bruce is working so hard that he starts to get recurring migraines. he gets involved in drugs and gambling only to then find himself getting into a fight with some bad dudes who are harassing his lady friend, after which he dies in her apartment.
This is, for all intents and purposes, a tabloid style look at Bruce Lee’s life. It isn’t always concerned with accuracy and seems more interested in sensationalism and seedy details and speculation, especially when it comes to his love life and his death, but the movie does entertain if you approach it as a sordid bio-pic rather than an action film. There are definitely quite a few action set pieces in the movie, and they aren’t half-bad but the action scenes aren’t so much the focus of the film as the biographical aspect of the story is.
Bruce Li hasn’t quite found his way to prime time in terms of his abilities to replicate Bruce Lee’s mannerisms and fighting style, as this was still very early in the Bruceploitation cycle that he was obviously such a big part of, but he’s entertaining enough to watch. It’s also amusing to see Chin Yung-Hsian play Run Run Shaw in an almost villainous manner, while Tang Pei plays the consistently melodramatic Betty Ting Pei with a decent amount of enthusiasm.
While not as over the top and bonkers as a lot of the other films in this set, Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is still a historically significant picture worth checking out.
As to The Dragon Lives, also known as Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth or as He's A Legend, He's A Hero, or as King Of Kung Fu, this 1976 production directed by Wong Sing-Loy opens with Bruce Lee’s birth (in Hong Kong, not America) during a heavy lightning storm. This is obviously a sign that this kid will grow up to be important! From here, infant Bruce turns into kid Bruce, a kid who gets into fights a lot and who shows a real knack for martial arts.
From here, as Bruce turns into an adult, we see him train with Yip Man, live in San Francisco for a while and fight lots and lots of people. He meets and marries Linda and they have kids. Once he heads back to Hong Kong, he makes it big as a movie star and also develops Jeet Kune-Do, getting better and better at what he does. Then, of course, he meets Betty Ting Pei and their affair begins, ultimately leading to the man's death - but in this movie, without spoiling things, it's handled a lot differently than the others.
This one hits all the standard bio-pic notes and if it isn’t quite as skuzzy as the first movie on this disc, it definitely offers up quite a bit of action and an ending guaranteed to leave you scratching your head. The fight choreography and stunt work in the movie is pretty decent but it’s the little things that make this one as fun as it is, like a strange scene where Bruce Lee gets into some horseplay in an in-ground pool for no real reason.
The story feels like it was being made up as the filmmakers went along, and the narrative just strings together one fight scene after the next, but the movie has enough wonky aspects to it and it moves quickly enough that this is more of a benefit than anything else.
The Game Of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1 – Blu-ray Review:
Challenge Of The Tiger and Cameroon Connection share a 50GB disc and are both presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and framed at 2.35.1 widescreen. Challenge Of The Tiger is scanned from its original 35mm negative and it looks really strong, save for some horizontal scratches prevalent throughout parts of the movie. Cameroon Connection is also taken from a scan from the original 35mm negative and shows only very minimal damage. Both of these movies boast really strong detail and excellent color reproduction. There are no problems with any noise reduction, edge enhancement or compression artifacts to note. Overall, these both look really good.
Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and The Dragon Lives also share a 50GB disc and are presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and framed at 2.35.1 and 2.39.1 respectively. Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is taken from a transfer presumably provided by Multicom that would appear to be a 35mm print, it shows a fair amount of damage throughout but at least it is stable and always more than watchable. The Dragon Lives is taken from an interpositive provided by Film Ventures International, it’s definitely cleaner than the first movie on the disc and boasts better colors and black levels as well. Some of the darker scenes are a little too dark but overall, this one looks pretty solid.
While Cameroon Connection is presented in French, the other three films on these two discs are presented in English, each track in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono with optional subtitles provided in English only. Challenge Of The Tiger and Cameroon Connection, being taken from better preserved elements than many of the others in this collection, both sound quite good. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion in these movies and only occasional sibilance. Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and The Dragon Lives don’t sound quite as clean, there’s some sibilance here and here, but the levels are fine and the dialogue is easy enough to follow.
Extras are spread out on these two discs as follows:
Disc Five – Challenge Of The Tiger / Cameroon Connection:
Challenge Of The Tiger gets an audio commentary with Michael Worth and Film Historian C. Courtney Joyner, it's an active and engaging talk that goes over how bizarre the movie is with an attempt to give some context to it. They also go over the state of the martial arts film industry around the time that the movie was made, the film's distribution history, Dick Randall's involvement in the making of the movie, how the movie was financed, details on the cast and crew with plenty of info offered up about Harrison, thoughts on some of the stand out scenes including the bull fight scene, how the movie was shot without permits, Randall's cameo in the movie, some of the more ridiculous elements in the film, the quantity and quality of fight scenes, Bruce Le's work on the film as director, fight choreographer and star, Harrison's penchant for karate chopping people in the movie and lots more.
Finishing up the extras for this movie is another Severin's Kung Fu Theater With Michael Worth entry and a trailer for the film.
An audio commentary with Writer/Criterion Reflections Podcast Host David Blakeslee starts off the extras for The Cameroon Connection. He speaks about the mysteriousness of the opening scene, Alphonse Beni's life and career and his work in this project and other films, how Bruce Le wound up in this film, how the film sets up its plot, some of the locations used in the movie, some of the background details on display in the movie, some of the film's plot holes, where the movie offers some of the locals some screen time in the film, the fight scenes in the film, thoughts on the acting in the film, the prolific placement of Toyota's in the movie, how difficult it can be to make sense of the movie and quite a few other details related to the movie.
Lights... Cameroon... Action! – The Life And Films Of Alphonse Beni sheds some light on the oddball career of the film’s director and leading man. Here, over forty-eight minutes, we spend some time with his assistant and friend, Jean Roke Patoudem, as well as B-movie specialist Richard Tribouilloy. They talk about Beni's popularity with the ladies, discovering his films, how he managed to get international actors to Cameroon to work on his films, Beni's background and education, his family life, his work in sex films in France, connections that he made throughout his career, how he financed his movies, his admiration of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon, how he got Bruce Le for Cameroon Connection, some of the recurring themes in his work, how some of his movies were edited into different films, his work with Joseph Lai, the success and popularity of Black Ninja in Cameroon, details on other entries in his filmography, how his movies were distributed, details on the theater that Beni bought and tried to maintain, how and why he eventually lost his audience and what happened to him towards the end of his life and career. This was made shortly before Beni passed away in 2023 at the age of 77.
The disc also includes a 2022 Q&A session with Alphonse Beni shot at the Cine Club N'Kah that runs eleven minutes. He talks about his work on European films and on films made in Cameroon, the dubbing that was needed for these movies, how difficult it is to make a living as a filmmaker in Cameroon, his love of action movies, befriending Eddie Constantine, how the French producers got Bruce Le for Cameroon Connection and his thoughts on living in Cameroon.
Last but not least, we get a Severin's Kung Fu Theater segment with Worth.
Disc Six – Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story / The Dragon Lives:
A partial audio commentary with Michael Worth kicks off the extras for Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, covering the opening scene with the printing press, where the story takes some serious liberties with the truth, the use of music in the film and how the opening theme song ties into the storyline, how Bruce Li's career and martial arts evolved over the years, the fight scenes in the movie, thoughts on the different cast members that worked on the picture, where the movie is very obviously cutting costs, how some of the cultural ideas behind Lee's life and teachings are depicted in the movie, some of the locations used in the movie, how Shaw Brothers is depicted in the movie, the depiction of Betty Ting Pei in the film and thoughts on the effectiveness of the film and the story. This partial commentary runs for just under forty minutes.
Of course, we also get a Severin's Kung Fu Theater entry with Worth as well as a TV spot and a trailer for the film.
As far as The Dragon Lives, we can an audio commentary with Actress Caryn White Stedman, who played Linda Lee, and Michael Worth. It goes over the details of the film, noting the recurrence of the ticking clock right from the opening scene, where the movie was shot in Taiwan, if scenes were later added that were shot in Hong Kong, the locations used for the movie, how Stedman wound up in Taiwan in the first place and found herself with a pretty decent-sized role in this movie, Anders Nellson's theme song, Stedman's thoughts on the movie and hearing herself dubbed in the film, the Taiwanese government's objection to men with ponytails, having to bring her own wardrobe for the shoot, the movie's attempts to eradicate Asian stereotypes, the different fight scenes, how the movie compares to other Bruce Lee bio-pics, thoughts on the different cast members, working with the director, the size and scale of the crew and the production, some of the more unusual camerawork in the movie and the film's unorthodox ending.
The disc also includes an audio interview with "He’s A Legend, He’s A Hero" songwriter Anders Gustav Nelsson where he speaks about how he came to work on the movie, his background in a band called Ming in Hong Kong, his record deal with EMI, how he wound up getting involved with the film, how the producers changed the name of the film to match the title of the song, the different versions of the song that were done for different markets, being on set and interacting with some of the cast and crew members, where the inspiration for his music came from, other projects that he worked on, thoughts on Bruce Li's work as a Bruce Lee imposter and the impact that Bruce Lee's death had on people. This runs as an alternate audio track over the first twenty-eight minutes of the feature.
The Taiwan Connection is an interview with Caryn White Stedman running fifteen minutes. She speakers here about her life and her upbringing in Texas, how she became interested in Asian culture after the Vietnam War broke out, spending time in Taiwan teaching English, landing the role in the movie, what the political climate was like in Taiwan during this period, what it was like standing out as a blonde westerner in Taipei, her admiration with Bruce Lee's life and work, what she learned from her experiences on the set, memories of shooting specific scenes, forming friendships on set, using the money she made from the film to travel, thoughts on the script and how the Bruceploitation films filled a gap after Lee's passing.
Bruce Biopics is another roundtable discussion with Tatevik Hunanyan, John Kreng, Ron Strong and Michael Worth. Here, over ten minutes, the participants discuss the different Bruce Lee biography films that have been made over the years, the sometimes glaring inaccuracies in some of these movies, what works and what doesn't about the films, the different people that worked on these movies, how they came to first see these movies and some of the standout crazy moments in the bio-pic projects.
Finishing up the disc is the obligatory Severin's Kung Fu Theater intro segment with Worth and a few TV spots for the feature.
The Game Of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1 - The Final Word:
Discs five and six of The Game Of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1 offer up a mix of the insanity that’s part and parcel with the genre with some biography pictures that are more concerned with cashing in than accuracy. Lots of entertainment value to be had here and the presentations are pretty decent. On top of that, we get a great selection of extra features. Great stuff. Now on to part four…
