Why did Bruce Lee hate martial arts movies? Here’s what he said in the past

Despite being one of the greatest icons of martial arts cinema in the entire history of the genre, apparently to the mythical Bruce Lee did not like much what he saw on the big screen dedicated to kung fu, and this both before and after his debut in American cinema with The Big Boss della Golden Harvest.

Before Lee became number one in the genre, major martial arts films were produced by Shaw brothers, whose studio was the top of the industry. In this regard, although he never revealed which ones of these titles of the Shaw brothers had seen, Lee said he had watched some of these productions before signing his first two-film deal with Golden Harvest in 1971.

From this revelation, through several statements by Lee himself reported in his official biography written by Matthew Polly, it is clear how much Lee did not like these films, described by Lee as “horrible, superficial and one-dimensional“And he seemed to apply the same judgment to the state of Chinese cinema in general. His most important observation was that “you could fight and act on the big screen at the same time“, indicating on your part a dissatisfaction with the actors chosen for the main roles in these films.

Another main problem was the choreography. Lee preferred more practical and realistic action scenes over the kind of kung fu dance optioned by many and in vogue. He also thought about the fight scenes shouldn’t last too long but just a couple of minutes.

What do you think about it? Tell us in the comments.

We leave you to our special dedicated to the icon Bruce Lee.

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