July 20, 1973. The world stops. Bruce Lee, the Dragon, is dead at 32. He left behind a massive void and, more importantly for some very hungry producers in Hong Kong, a massive pile of unfinished business. Enter the Dragon was about to become a global phenomenon, and the man who made it was gone. What happened next wasn't just a tribute; it was a bizarre, often shameless, and weirdly hypnotic subgenre of cinema we now call Bruceploitation.
Producers didn't just want to mourn. They wanted to cash in. So, they went looking for anyone who could kick high and scream "Wataaa!" with enough conviction to fool a distracted audience in a grindhouse theater. This wasn't just one or two guys. It was an army. This is the wild, often confusing history of the clones of Bruce Lee and why this period of film history is much more than just a footnote.
The Men Who Would Be Dragon
You’ve probably seen the names on old VHS tapes or late-night streaming channels. Bruce Li. Bruce Le. Dragon Lee. Bruce Ly. It sounds like a bad joke, honestly. But these guys weren't just talentless hacks. Most of them were legit martial artists who got trapped in a cycle of mimicking a dead man's ghost.
Ho Chung-tao, better known as Bruce Li, is usually considered the "king" of the clones. He actually looked remarkably like Lee. Unlike some of the others, Li was a solid actor who eventually grew to hate the "clone" label. He wanted to be himself. But when the checks are coming in and the studio is demanding you wear the yellow jumpsuit, it's hard to say no. He starred in Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death, which, despite the title, had almost nothing to do with the real Lee's unfinished film.
Then you had Bruce Le (Huang Kin-lung). If Bruce Li was the "actor," Bruce Le was the "athlete." He was fast. Scary fast. His films were often much weirder, involving more over-the-top violence and bizarre plotlines that Lee himself would have likely cringed at. Think Bruce and the Iron Finger. It's as wild as it sounds.
And we can’t forget Dragon Lee (Moon Kyong-seok). He was the South Korean powerhouse. While he didn't look exactly like Bruce, he had the facial expressions down to a science—the flared nostrils, the intense scowl, the thumb-to-the-nose gesture. He was pure energy. Watching a Dragon Lee movie is like watching a Bruce Lee movie on triple the caffeine and half the budget.
Why the Clones of Bruce Lee Actually Mattered
It’s easy to dismiss these films as trash. A lot of them are. They used actual footage from Bruce Lee's funeral—yep, real footage of his corpse—to add "authenticity" to movies like The New Game of Death. It was ghoulish. It was exploitative.
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But here’s the thing. The clones of Bruce Lee kept the martial arts genre alive globally during the mid-to-late 70s. Without the sheer volume of these films hitting theaters in the US, Europe, and South America, the "Kung Fu craze" might have died out long before Jackie Chan or Jet Li could reinvent the wheel.
These movies weren't just copies; they were a weird evolution. Since they couldn't match Bruce's charisma, they turned up the volume on everything else. The fights got bloodier. The stunts got more dangerous. The plots got... well, they got "creative." You had Bruce clones fighting mummies, gorillas, and James Bond knock-offs. It was the Wild West of cinema.
The Tragedy of the Typecast
Imagine being a world-class martial artist and your only job is to pretend to be someone else. Forever.
Most of these performers lived in Lee’s shadow and never escaped. Ho Chung-tao eventually quit the business, frustrated that he was never allowed to be anything other than a shadow. He once remarked in interviews how much he regretted the "Bruce Li" moniker. It’s a recurring theme in the documentary The Dragon Lives Again (which, ironically, is also the title of a Bruceploitation movie where Bruce Lee fights Popeye and Dracula in the afterlife).
- Bruce Li: The most respected "clone" who eventually became a physical education teacher.
- Dragon Lee: Became a massive star in his own right in South Korea, though still tied to the Lee image.
- Bruce Le: Continued in the industry for years, eventually moving into directing and producing.
The Bizarre "Game of Death" Obsession
When Bruce Lee died, he had only filmed a fraction of Game of Death. The footage was legendary: Bruce in the yellow tracksuit, fighting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Golden Harvest, the studio, didn't want to waste that footage.
So, in 1978, they released a "finished" version. They used stand-ins, cardboard cutouts of Bruce’s face taped to mirrors, and footage from his actual movies spliced in. It's one of the most famous examples of Bruceploitation, even though it was an "official" movie. It essentially gave the green light to every other low-budget studio to do the same. If the big guys could use a fake Bruce, why couldn't everyone else?
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This led to a surge in films like Enter the Game of Death, The Clones of Bruce Lee (yes, that’s an actual movie title where a scientist literally clones Bruce Lee three times), and Goodbye Bruce Lee. The titles were designed to confuse you. They wanted you to think you were seeing a lost Bruce Lee movie. Kinda shady? Definitely. But it created a subculture that survives to this day.
Recognizing the Talent Behind the Mimicry
We should be fair here. Just because they were clones doesn't mean they weren't talented.
Take Yuen Biao. Before he was a superstar alongside Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, he was a stunt double for Bruce Lee in the 1978 Game of Death. He was doing the acrobatics Bruce didn't do. These films were training grounds. The choreography in some Bruce Li films, like The Iron Dragon Strikes Back, is actually top-tier. If you ignore the fact that the lead is trying to sound like Bruce, you’ll see some of the best hand-to-hand combat of that era.
The intensity was real. The injuries were real. The sweat was definitely real.
The Lasting Legacy of the Fake Dragon
Today, we look back at the clones of Bruce Lee with a mix of irony and genuine appreciation. Cult film distributors like Severin Films have released massive Blu-ray box sets dedicated to Bruceploitation. Why? Because these movies represent a unique moment in pop culture history where a single man's influence was so massive that the industry literally tried to manufacture a replacement in a lab.
They couldn't, of course. There was only one Bruce Lee. His speed, his philosophy, and his screen presence were lightning in a bottle. But the clones gave us a "What If?" scenario that lasted for a decade. They gave us the yellow tracksuit as a permanent icon. They gave us the nunchaku obsession.
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How to Explore Bruceploitation Today
If you’re looking to dive into this weird world, don't just pick any random movie. You'll get burned. Start with the "good" stuff.
First, watch The Dragon Lives Again. It is absolutely insane. Bruce Lee (played by Bruce Li) is in Hell. He meets Popeye. He meets James Bond. He meets The Exorcist. It is perhaps the peak of "What were they thinking?" cinema.
Next, check out The Chinese Stuntman. This was Bruce Li’s attempt to do something a bit more meta and serious. It’s actually a solid action flick. Finally, watch the documentary Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee. It features interviews with the actual actors—now older men—who talk about what it was like to be part of this bizarre industry.
Moving Past the Imitation
To truly appreciate this era, you have to stop comparing them to the real Bruce Lee. You've got to take them for what they are: high-energy, low-budget, 1970s action cinema.
- Focus on the choreography: Look for names like Yuen Woo-ping or Sammo Hung in the credits; they often worked on these sets.
- Acknowledge the athleticism: These guys were performing stunts that would require CGI today.
- Understand the context: This was a pre-internet world where fans were desperate for more content from their idol.
The era of the clones of Bruce Lee eventually faded when Jackie Chan broke through with Drunken Master. Jackie proved that the only way to follow a legend was to be the exact opposite. Bruce Lee was the stoic, invincible god; Jackie was the bumbling, vulnerable human. Once audiences realized they wanted a new hero instead of a copy of an old one, the clones hung up their suits.
But for a few years in the 70s, the Dragon lived again. And again. And again. In some of the weirdest, loudest, and most entertaining movies ever made.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Cinephile
- Seek out "Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee" (2023): This documentary is the definitive resource. It separates the facts from the urban legends and gives the actors their due respect.
- Compare the "Big Three": Watch one film each from Bruce Li, Bruce Le, and Dragon Lee. You’ll quickly notice the different "flavors" of mimicry—Li is the actor, Le is the kicker, and Dragon Lee is the physical powerhouse.
- Check the Credits: Look for the real names of these actors (Ho Chung-tao, Huang Kin-lung, Moon Kyong-seok). Finding their non-Bruce work reveals their true range and helps dismantle the "clone" stigma.
- Support Boutique Labels: Companies like Severin or Arrow Video often restore these films. Watching a cleaned-up version is a completely different experience than a grainy YouTube rip.