Bio
Bruce Lee (Lee Hsiao Lung), was born in San Fransisco in November 1940 the son of a famous Chinese opera singer. Bruce moved to Hong Kong when he soon became a child star in the growing Eastern film industry. His first film was called The birth of Mankind, his last film which was uncompleted at the time of his death in 1973 was called Game of Death. Bruce was a loner and was constantly getting himself into fights, with this in mind he looked towards Kung Fu as a way of disciplining himself. The famous Yip Men taught Bruce his basic skills, but it was not long before he was mastering the master. Yip Men was acknowledged to be one of the greatest authorities on the subject of Wing Chun a branch of the Chinese Martial Arts. Bruce mastered this before progressing to his own style of Jeet Kune Do.
Jeet Kune Do
Way of the Intercepting Fist
Jeet Kune Do (also "Jeet Kun Do", "JKD," or "Jeet Kuen Do") is a hybrid martial arts system and life philosophy founded by world renowned martial artist Bruce Lee in 1967 with direct, non classical and straightforward movements. The system works on the use of different 'tools' for different situations. These situations are broken down into ranges (Kicking, Punching, Trapping and Grappling), with techniques flowing smoothly between them. It is referred to as a "style without style". Unlike more traditional martial arts, Jeet Kune Do is not fixed or patterned, and is a philosophy with guiding thoughts. It was named for the concept of interception, or attacking your opponent while he is about to attack. However the name Jeet Kune Do was often said by Bruce Lee to be just a name. He himself often referred to it as "The art of expressing the human body" in his writings and in interviews. Through his studies Bruce came to believe that styles had become too rigid, and unrealistic. He called martial art competitions of the day "Dry land swimming". He believed that combat was spontaneous, and that a martial artist cannot predict it, only react to it, and that a good martial artist should "Be like water" and move fluidly without hesitation.
Legacy
There are a few names that are recognizable no matter where you in the world. In ever corner of the world people have heard of Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee. Despite starring in just five martial arts movies, Bruce Lee�s name is legendary, and even little children in rural Africa know who he is. Bruce Lee is largely responsible for the worldwide popularity of the martial arts movies that we have today. Before him, these films were extremely popular in Asia, where they had been made for many years, but it took a cross-over star like Lee to really capture the imagination. And once it did, nothing could stop it becoming the most popular of all types of action films. Sadly Bruce Lee did not see what he created. He died in 1973 just days before the release of what many would consider the first major international martial arts blockbuster, Enter The Dragon. This was the first Chinese martial arts film that was produced by a major Hollywood production company, and remains to this day a classic. It not only starred Bruce Lee and American martial artist Jim Kelly, it also featured two other future superstars of the genre, Sammo Hung, who would go onto direct many classics too, and another legend, the fantastic Jackie Chan. Both though had bit parts in this movie. Five years after his death, Bruce Lee�s fifth and final movie, Game of Death was released. All five of these movies are still watched regularly by movie lovers, and are also considered to have influenced many other films, and helped the martial arts film become part of mainstream cinema. 27 years later the genre reached new heights when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was nominated for an Academy Award Best Picture. With dialogue in Mandarin and English subtitles, the movie showed just how much this genre had evolved, and also how much the world had accepted it. For years most of the Asian movies had been dubbed for English-speaking audiences, but soon people began to respect the quality of the stories more and the original soundtracks were kept. Though many film buffs had been enjoying some of the brilliant films from all over Asia for many years, for most movies like The Seven Samurai, made in 1954 by Japanese legend Akira Kurosawa, remained unknown. It was of course the movie that influenced the hit Western, The Magnificent Seven, and many others. Kurosawa�s movies have been remade in Hollywood many times, and have influenced directors like Quentin Tarantino amongst others. Nowadays almost every action movie made has martial arts in it. Asian stars lie Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Tony Jaa are global superstars, and many have also starred in top Hollywood productions. They of course have a great deal to thank Bruce Lee for, but so do Hollywood martial artists like Chuck Norris, Jim Kelly, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. It may once have been just a cult genre, seen by a few, but in the past thirty years, martial arts movies have become a fixed fixture in mainstream cinema, influencing many other genres, thanks to its innovative techniques and choreography.
