The Legend of Bruce Lee is a 2008 Chinese biographical martial arts television series based on the life story of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.
| The Legend of Bruce Lee 李小龍傳奇 | |
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Part Four: Oakland.
Bruce buys a house for him and Linda and opens a bigger Kung Fu school with the help of his friends Jesse, Kimura and Uncle Shao. The rent, however, was too expensive for Bruce, so Uncle Shao decides to lend him the money.
Meanwhile, the kung fu masters in America become enraged with Bruce for putting up a martial arts school without approaching Master Wang, the president of the Chinese Martial Arts Association in California.
On top of this, Bruce also teaches many non-Chinese students, which is strictly prohibited among the Chinese. The masters challenge Bruce to an official match against Yellow Brat.
Should he lose, Bruce is either to close down his school or to stop teaching non-Chinese people.
But should he win, Bruce will be allowed to continue running his school whichever way he wanted. The two fight fiercely against each other, but the battle is interrupted when Linda unexpectedly goes into labor.
The match is stopped, and Yellow Brat allows Bruce 15 days before they will have to fight again.
Bruce goes home to Hong Kong after receiving the grim news that his father has died.
He returns to America for his match with Yellow Brat. Master Wang, seeing how the match was going to inevitably end, declares Bruce the winner.
This enrages Yellow Brat, and in a fit of fury, strikes Bruce on the back with a large piece of wood. This seriously injures Bruce and paralyzes him from the waist down.
He is told by his doctors that he may never walk again, let alone practice martial arts.
Horrified by this news, Bruce becomes depressed and withdrawn, claiming that he would rather die than not be able to practice his Kung Fu.
However, stern and encouraging words from Linda makes him become determined to walk again even while knowing it would take a miracle for him to heal. Master Wang visits Bruce along with the other Kung Fu masters. Together, they all apologize for what Yellow Brat did and knelt down to beg for Bruce's forgiveness.
Bruce bids them all to rise, saying that instead of fighting amongst themselves, they Chinese must stand united. His words earned him profound respect from the masters, especially from Wang.
His paraplegia confines Bruce to a wheelchair. Unable to teach anymore, he ordered his friends to close down the school, and they reluctantly oblige.
With Linda's help, Bruce writes a book about his martial arts theories.
Linda decides to bring Brandon home, who had been staying with her mother since Bruce injured his back. She makes Brandon stand on his own and tells him to walk to Bruce.
To Bruce's horror, Brandon starts falling. Fueled by fear for his son, Bruce reflexively reaches for Brandon, and, to his and Linda's surprise, was able to stand up.
Bruce slowly regains his strength and starts training again.
Together with Uncle Shao and Kimura, he decides to call his style "Jeet Kune Do". They reopen the Kung Fu school, and the news of Bruce's miraculous recovery entices many people to become his students.
Bruce also decides to join the Karate national championship.
Inosanto tells him that Bruce's only true rivals in the competition are Rolex, the defending champion and Piao Zhengyi, a taekwondo genius.
Knowing that Bruce's current skills will not be enough to defeat Rolex, Inosanto advises Bruce to spar with Piao and exchange techniques with him.
Rolex, on the other hand, was helped by Ed Parker, Yamamoto and Wally Jay.
The two finally meet in the championship match. As Bruce and Rolex are almost evenly skilled, the fight was difficult for them both.
Rolex proved to be a formidable opponent, but Bruce prevails in the end. Bruce's fame in the world of martial arts piques the interest of George, a Hollywood producer.
He talks to Bruce about making a movie featuring Bruce and his Jeet Kune Do.
Bruce is delighted at the notion, for he feels that it was time to change the rather ludicrous portrayals of his people in movies.
He saw movies as the medium through which the world would change their impressions of the Chinese.
Part Five: Hollywood.
Bruce decides to pursue Hollywood. In order to do so, he leaves Oakland and moves to Los Angeles with Linda and Brandon. He also decides to leave the Kung Fu school to Kimura and Uncle Chao.
George, Bruce and the screenwriter Robert brainstorm over the movie's plot, which they then called Kung Fu. George's boss Mr.
William sees the great potential in the movie; however, he was not convinced that a Chinese man like Bruce should play the lead.
Without George's knowledge, William arranges for the Hollywood actor Robert Douglas to be taught Kung Fu by Bruce, so that he could be the lead actor for the movie.
Bruce and George find out about William's intentions. Bruce is so enraged at the deception that he even accuses George of being in on the lie.
Nevertheless, Bruce refuses to go back to Oakland, and makes a living by training Los Angeles police officers instead.
Bruce goes to Hong Kong with Linda and Brandon. He pays a visit to Master Ye, who, as it turns out, was offended when Bruce created Jeet Kune Do.
He felt that Bruce was being arrogant and disrespectful. Bruce assures Master Ye that Jeet Kune Do is a practical style of fighting that owes much to Master Ye's Yong Chun Chuan.
George once again comes to Bruce with a television project. Still wary of another deception, Bruce meets George with skepticism.
However, George gives him a contract and a $2000 deposit upfront.
This removes Bruce's doubts and he agrees to work on the TV series The Green Hornet as Kato.
The Green Hornet turns into a hit series and a second season is promised, but Mr.
William decides to discontinue the show.
Still determined to let Bruce star in a movie, George convinces Bruce to work on the movie Silent Flute.
As with their past ideas, Silent Flute will feature kung fu. Mr. William grants George permission to make the movie, with the condition that it will be filmed in India. George and Bruce attempt to satisfy this term; however, they could not find suitable taping locations in India. George tells Mr.
William about their predicament, and Mr. William confesses the truth: he has $800,000 deposited in India that he can only use in India.
The only reason he had agreed to make the movie was so the money would not be wasted.
Mr. William then gives them the choice of either filming in India, or cancelling the project entirely.
Bruce refuses to compromise, and the movie is cancelled.
Part Six: Rise to Fame in Hong Kong.
The movie industry, however, had not fully closed its doors on Bruce.
The Hong Kong film company Golden Harvest seeks him out with a movie project, The Big Boss.
The company president, Mr. Chow, saw Bruce Lee as the way to saving Golden Harvest from going into bankruptcy. They travel to Thailand, the shooting location for the movie.
While the movie was being made, the master Thai boxer King Charles sends Bruce a letter of challenge.
Bruce happily accepts the challenge but spends some time first to learn about Thai Boxing.
He also tells King Charles that their duel will be filmed, and if Bruce won, he will get to use the footage in The Big Boss.
He and King Charles fight, and Bruce wins.
In addition to the footage of the fight, King Charles also teaches Bruce about the secret of his ferocious knee technique: heavy iron shoes, of which he gives Bruce a pair.
The Big Boss becomes a box office success and Bruce becomes a famous and sought-after movie star in Hong Kong and in other nearby Asian countries.
Though he receives other offers from other companies, Bruce decides to stay with Golden Harvest, to the relief and appreciation of Mr. Chow. Mr. Chow gives Bruce a fully furnished house as a gift, and Linda comes to Hong Kong along with Brandon and Shannon to live with Bruce.
Bruce starts working on his second movie, Fist of Fury, but demanding beforehand that he be given the authority that a director has.
Mr. Chow obliges, but this arrangement causes some friction between Bruce and the movie director, Director Ho.
Bruce had been working nonstop on the script of Way of the Dragon, a movie that he planned to direct himself.
Mr. Chow is hesitant, in letting Bruce write and direct his own movie, but his doubts disappear upon reading Bruce's script.
Mr. Chow also suggests that Bruce start up his own production company under Golden Harvest. This way, Bruce will be able to fulfill all of his visions. Bruce agrees and starts the production of Way of the Dragon.
Part Seven: International Fame and Death.
The success of Way of the Dragon far exceeds those of Bruce's previous films, catapulting him into international stardom.
Hollywood hears of his success in Asia. Mr. William, realizing his mistake in not pursuing Bruce before, sends George to offer Bruce another movie, Blood and Steel. Wary of yet another possibility of being lied to, in addition to the fact that he is currently making the movie Game of Death, Bruce refuses at first. Bruce talks to Mr. Chow, who then assures him that he may work with Hollywood.
He advised Bruce to represent Golden Harvest so that the project will become a joint project between them and Hollywood. Bruce accepts the offer and postpones the making of Game of Death in order to work with Hollywood.
He then changes the movie title of Blood and Steel into Enter the Dragon. In the middle of making the movie, Bruce collapses due to overwork was rushed to a hospital.
A series of prank calls in the middle of the night starts to occur in the Lee household, promptly scaring Linda. Meanwhile, still in the hospital for further examinations, Bruce becomes bored and decides to go home despite his doctor's advice.
He then receives a call from Ah Lin saying that Master Ye has died. Bruce attends the wake but does not go to the funeral.
He visits Master Ye's grave afterward, expressing his fear that Master Ye is angry at him for creating Jeet Kune Do.
Perhaps influenced by Master Ye's death, Bruce buys a life insurance policy. He then resumes the production of his movie Game of Death.
His head aches from time to time, but he refuses to rest, which makes Linda fear for his health.
It is then revealed that it was Yellow Brat who had been harassing Linda with the late-night phone calls. He challenges Bruce to yet another fight.
Linda and Bruce talk about the Yellow Brat's challenge. Linda is against it, but Bruce argues that Yellow Brat will continue harassing them if Bruce does not accept the challenge.
Linda, Kimura, Professor Inosanto, along with Bruce's brothers from Yong Chun Chuan serve as spectators in the fight. Bruce defeats Yellow Brat but does not deliver a finishing blow.
The scene ends with Linda offering a towel to Yellow Brat. Yellow Brat accepts the towel and appears to have a change of heart.
Bruce then visits Xiao Man's home and goes to a meeting with her and Mr. Chow to discuss their upcoming projects.
Meanwhile, Linda anxiously waits for Bruce to come home. Bruce suffers another headache and complains of dizziness, so he was made to lie down on a couch.
Xiao Man gives him a pain reliever and he falls asleep. He doesn't regain consciousness and was therefore rushed to a hospital, where he is then pronounced to be dead.
The last part of the episode features the original newspaper articles, as well as old footage on the nationwide mourning of Bruce's death.
Bruce's grave is visited by Linda and Bruce's friends. A voice narrates how Bruce Lee greatly influenced the world's view on the Chinese and their Kung Fu, along with his contributions to Kung Fu films.
The episode ends with a faint voice whispering, "Shh... don't wake him."
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