"The Birth of Bruce Lee" Movie Coming Soon

A new $31 million film titled The Birth of Bruce Lee is being co-produced by companies in China and the United States. Despite the title, the film doesn't deal with Bruce Lee's childhood or early years. Instead, the feature focuses on Bruce Lee's infamous mid-1960's fight with Wong Jack Man in San Francisco's Chinatown. The fight was dramatized once already in a highly-fictionalized manner in the movie Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.

                                                       (Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon)


In real life, the challenge fight did not go as easy as Bruce Lee had hoped. The aftermath led Lee to change his philosophical approach to fighting and, more importantly, seek to publicize his new attitude towards fighting in the then-burgeoning martial arts magazine industry.

Lee would discard traditional kung fu systems and focus on his own personal non-classical art of Jeet Kune Do, the Way of the Intercepting Fist. (Non-martial arts fans should check out the Longstreet TV episode with Bruce Lee to learn more about JKD and Lee's fighting philosophy)

Classic Kung Fu Cinema

Bruce Lee's films might not be deemed classics by 'high brow' cinema scholars. Fans of popular culture and action cinema know Bruce Lee firmly established the growing martial arts movie sub-genre outside of Asia.

1971 saw the release of the Shaw Bros.' "Five Fingers of Death" into grindhouse theaters in the United States. This was the first "kung fu movie" to get any distribution in North America. Scores of such films had been produced in Hong Kong for years. Japan had produced a number of sword-fighting films. Although karate and kung fu was being featured in TV shows and movies, no one picked up any of these foreign films for release.

Eventually, Warner Bros. felt there there was decent financial potential in Hong Kong fight films and delivered Five Fingers of Death in limited release in 1972 and onto wider release in early 1973. The hunch turned out to be right. Five Fingers of Death turned out to be a hit.

                                 (Old-time grindhouse style trailer for Five Fingers of Death)

Summer 1973 saw Warner Bros. open "Enter the Dragon" to massive success. Bruce Lee's earlier films, made in Hong Kong in 1971 and 1972, were released in the United States in 1973 to huge box office success.

National General Pictures (The odd distribution company that brought the world Lee Marvin's Prime Cut (1972), John Wayne's Big Jake (1971) and Snoopy Come Home (1972) held the distribution rights to Fists of Fury and The Chinese Connection and released a massively successful double-feature. Reportedly, the double-feature pulled in $50 million in ticket sales....hard not to believe, the double-feature played in 2nd run theaters and drive-ins for several years.

(National General Pictures was long gone, but the double-feature lived on. Columbia Pictures continued to release the two films in theaters as late as 1981)

No word on the release date for the new biopic. As with Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Ip Man, The Birth of Bruce Lee is sure to be more fiction than fact.

Gangster Film Classics and 1970's Crime Cinema: Prime Cut with Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman

Prime Cut (1972) is one of those great 1970's crime film masterpieces that went from an original theatrical run then onto prime time, UHF, and cable TV reruns without a tremendous amount of fanfare. Starring Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman, the film features the big-screen debut of Sissy Spacek before she was would go onto major fame with Carrie (1975). While hardly one of the biggest hits of the early 1970s, the film has achieved a minor cult following and is held in high regard by classic film critics and scholars.

During its initial release, the film garnered its share of scorn for several salacious, envelope-pushing scenes.

In 1972, the MPAA rating system had been around for a few years, and R-Rated films crossed boundaries of previously verboten permissiveness in American films. Prime Cut's levels of violence and mature themes were still shocking for its day. Even though dozens upon dozens of films produced between 1970 and 1972 were far more violent and explicit, how Prime Cut presents its shocking scenes leaves viewers with lingering impressions.

While Prime Cut's subject matter and violence were unsettling for audiences being exposed to new trends in the cinema, the material draws a lot of its inspiration from pulp novels of prior generations. The salacious material in these many novels comes to life in a cinema classic directly brilliantly by Michael Ritchie.

Classic Gangster Film Plot - "Get Me The Money"

To say Prime Cut reveals a stunningly original plot wouldn't be honest. The plot is one cinema fans have seen time and time again. Someone owes the mob money. In this film, a bad guy (Gene Hackman) who decides he no longer has to follow the drumbeat of the mob owes $500,000 and won't pay. He defaults on the debt even though the narcotics and forced prostitution business generates millions. Tough guy Nick Devlin (played by Lee Marvin) leads a crew to recover the half-a-million. The job isn't easy. Previous tough-guy enforcers were killed trying to recover the loot and turned into sausage for their troubles. Literally turned into sausage.

The setting and backdrop are the weird hooks that sets this classic crime film apart from others. The film takes place in the shadow of a slaughterhouse/meatpacking company.

Prime Cut Embraces The Gritty Underworld of Middle America

Audiences first meet Devlin in Chicago, a town swallowed up by the brutality of the underworld. The assignment he takes sends him to Kansas City and the heartland. The beauty of Middle America is contrasted against the gritty, overcrowded feel of Chicago. Ritchie employs a brilliant editing/cinematography trick while capturing Devlin's long car drive (six hours, the character notes) to Kansas City. A series of European cinema-style close-ups, fades, jump cuts, and surreal images set a specific stylistic tone that is eliminated once Devlin arrives in Middle American farms' more pristine and natural land.

The visual irony draws a contrast between life in metropolitan Chicago and life in the rural outskirts of Kansas City. The film may be poking fun at John Boorman's Michelangelo Antonioni-inspired gangster film Point Blank (1967). The film also starred Lee Marvin and is considered a crime cinema classic. The over-the-top editing and cinematography in that film contributed to its failure with audiences. In Prime Cut, the artistic style of the previous gangster film is abandoned once Devlin arrives in Middle America. Things become a lot simpler but no less dangerous. The danger increases.

(Please read my analysis of Point Blank at Hubpages)

The other irony is hard to miss. Hidden behind the beauty and family-oriented nature of the idyllic farmland is a horrible criminal enterprise. The enterprise thrives because no one thinks of looking closely for one here. Or perhaps people turn a blind eye to evil.

Regardless of what irony exists - technologically and thematically - the character of Devlin has to deal with raw evil.

Lee Marvin - A Thug, A Hitman, and a Conscience

The character of Nick Devlin is an uncompromising and brutish hitman and thug enforcer. Lee Marvin plays the character in a dualistic manner. Against other thugs, Devlin has no qualms about being brutally violent. He tortures people to send a message, and he has no problems killing various henchmen. Yet, he feels a sense of sadness for Poppy (Spacek), and the other girls he discovers are being sold into slavery. For Devlin, there is a line he absolutely won't cross.

Business is business, and Devlin's business is handling jobs for the mob. Perhaps he justifies his violent tendencies because they are directed towards other killers or people who know the risks of getting involved in criminal life.

Devlin directs genuine pity towards Poppy and the other girls who are victims of the human trafficking ring. He cannot turn his eyes away from the horror and tries to put an end to it. Interestingly, the other men of his crew seem to understand his attitude. In the scene where Violet is abused, one of Devlin's henchmen can be seen showing an expression of sadness and disgust.

Long, drawn-out dialogue does not need to be written for the Devlin character to explain his moral convictions. Nor are endless flashbacks or extensive backstories required either. The film picks up with Devlin being contacted for the job after the last enforcer assigned was murdered.

Devlin sees his role of enforcer as a job. It is business. He deals with people involved in the business. The nature of his business does pull people into a dark world, sometimes, by mere circumstance. Poppy had nothing to do with the criminal underworld. She became its unwilling slave. Devlin realizes she is an innocent civilian and part of a world Devlin contributed to creating in his own way.

Devlin wants to help because he feels guilt.

Gene Hackman Goes Rogue

"You like guts?" Devlin asks upon walking up to a dining Mary Ann at the slave auction. Mary Ann is eating fried cow innards. He may have guts on a plate, but he has no real "guts." He is the worst kind of bullying coward and a brilliant movie "heavy."

The presence of Gene Hackman as the brutal, misogynistic villain is curious, to say the least. Or, perhaps, not. In 1970, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Award for I Never Sang For My Father and followed up with a turn as a vicious misogynistic villain in the ultra-violent western The Hunting Party (1970). 1971 saw Hackman establish himself as a worldwide superstar after winning a Best Actor Academy Award for his legendary role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. Hackman would follow Prime Cut with a much more grandiose role in the all-star, big-budget disaster extravaganza, The Poseidon Adventure. This is not to suggest Prime Cut is a bad film - it is an outstanding, underrated gangster film. Again, Prime Cut is an extremely violent and dark film, albeit ending on an upbeat note of hope.

And yes, Hackman's villain is dubbed Mary Ann. The feminine name is the name of his meatpacking business, so "Mary Ann" is a nickname of sorts. The name ironically plays opposite the vicious masculinity of a man involved in the human trafficking of young girls. Cuckolded by Devlin, who had an affair with his wife, Mary Ann directs his inner rage towards all women while continually trying to buy the affections of his unfaithful wife. Mary Ann is hardly a caring matriarch to these young women. Instead, he personifies male-centric violence towards women. The name also plays - in 1970's cinema-style - to the homoerotic subtext between Mary Ann and his "brother," the not-so-subtly nicknamed Weenie. 

The irony of the Mary Ann character extends to his dark vision of the American experience. Mary Ann looks down on Devlin because his Irish ancestors came to America after Mary Ann's. Mary Ann grows tired of Devlin's condescending attitude. Devlin does not exactly think fondly of drug dealing and human trafficking. Mary Ann's response is he understands America better than Devlin. America "wants" drugs and prostitution. Mary Ann is better in touch with society than Devlin and has a moral and cultural high ground to dismiss the hitman's low opinion.

Mary Ann may create the image of being a respectable person thanks to funding a local fair. The image is just that - an image. Underneath it all, Mary Ann is and always will be lowlife.

Onward to the Forgotten Film Library

Prime Cut is one of those films fans of classic movies and 1970's cinema note as an excellent, gritty Hollywood film. The film, sadly, is a mostly forgotten footnote in movie history. Prime Cut is cycled into cable TV schedules, as is the case with many minor cult films. Turner Classic Movies runs repeats every so often. Hopefully, each time the film does air, it will reach a new and appreciative audience.

Dracula (1931) Opening Theme - “Swan Lake” by Tchaikovsky Horrifies

Scores of memorable horror movies have presented equally outstanding scores. John Carpenter's Halloween and John Williams' work on Jaws are considered the two best examples of thrilling thriller scores. The classic Universal horror films did not produce many memorable original scores. The Creature from the Black Lagoon featured a memorably eerie score that expertly mixed the adventurous with the terrifying.

The original Bela Lugosi classic, Dracula (1931), chose to "borrow" stock music and insert the material into the film's opening credits. Opting for "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky as the opening theme to Dracula seems like a strange mismatch - until the music commences. 

The first chords heard on the soundtrack reveal a blaring noise that immediately draws the viewer's attention towards the screen and does so with an impending sense of doom. The brash few seconds of the opening quickly leads into a much softer tempo that maintains a vague sense of eeriness. To an audience in 1931, an audience that had no idea what to expect from Universal's Dracula, the first 30 seconds of the title theme present a combination of creepiness and dark - albeit upbeat - romance.

Yes, there is a cloud of dark, gothic in the air of this segment from "Swan Lake," which is why the music fits the film's opening so expertly.

The tempo then picks up to a much faster and more frantic pace. The music betrays a sense of the ominous danger upon moving in this auditory direction. Dracula is the supernatural embodiment of danger creeping into a romantic tale. The rapid change of pace, mood, and theme in "Swan Lake" is perfectly appropriate. The opening credits of Bela Lugosi's Dracula (1931) film does not require a gaudy, brooding, or shocking theme. The subtle nature and the ironic tempo change in "Swan Lake" fit the feature perfectly.

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Dracula and classic horror fans can check out my new book Universal Monsters and Neurotics: Children of the Night and Their Hang-Ups on Amazone Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.