bruce lee story

[churn-ging]

I just finished watching "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" and I have a couple of questions to ask all of you:

1. Did Bruce Lee actually get challenged by the other schools in the Bay Area because he was the first to teach non-chinese martial arts?

2. Did he really hurt his back during the fight and then came up with the idea of JKD and write a book about it?

3. When he was at the Long Beach tournament, did he really get booed by the audience when he was explaining JKD and then challenged someone to a fight and win?

After watching that movie, I'm now curious about his life.

[SifuLMDII]

Hello!

"Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" was a pathetic attempt to show Bruce Lee's career. If they had stuck to the real story and how everything really happened it would have been much more interesting. There were far too many inaccuracies in the story line. As we all know, however, that is Hollywood for you! The only good thing about the movie was that Jason Scott Lee did a good job of portraying Bruce Lee and Sifu Jerry Poteet trained him for the part! Most people do not know this, but Jason Scott Lee is actually a certified Full Instructor of Jeet Kune Do now!

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Did Bruce Lee actually get challenged by the other schools in the Bay Area because he was the first to teach non-chinese martial arts?

Bruce Lee was challenged in Oakland by Wong Jak Man of the My Jong Law Horn Kuen system of Chinese gung fu. Although Wong put up a good fight, he was still defeated!

2. Did he really hurt his back during the fight and then came up with the idea of JKD and write a book about it?

No, he hurt his back doing a barbell exercise called good mornings. He had too much weight on the bar without adequately warming up and damaged one of the sacral nerves in his lower back.

3. When he was at the Long Beach tournament, did he really get booed by the audience when he was explaining JKD and then challenged someone to a fight and win?

No! He gave an awesome demonstration at the Long Beach Internationals in 1964, which he was highly commended for! he did not fight anyone as the movie suggested! He did spar with two of his students though at his demonstration at the 1967 Long Beach Internationals. He also demonstrated sticking and trapping hands, as well as his one inch punch and his speed in striking and kicking.

There was an earlier movie made about Bruce Lee's career that was actually much better than Dragon. It is called "Bruce Lee, The Man & The Myth." Although it is hyped up a bit for the big screen, for the most part is is very good! The actor who plays Bruce Lee goes by the name Bruce Li, and does an excellent job of imitating Bruce Lee's style and expressions! He has also made a few more movies where he does an excellent job of imitating Bruce Lee.

[yuanfen]

SifuLMDII sez:
Bruce Lee was challenged in Oakland by Wong Jak Man of the My Jong Law Horn Kuen system of Chinese gung fu. Although Wong put up a good fight, he was still defeated!
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On another lista couple of years ago- someone who claimed knowing Wong Jak Man said- if memory serves---
1. Wong Jak Man didnt want to dignify Bruce Lee's claims witha reply.

2. No one won!

Me- I dont know!

[yuanfen]

PS- an old post from the net FWIW:

I READ AN INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM 1980 WHICH WAS ARCHIVED ON THE NET.It claims that Lee's celebrated fight with Wong in Oakland was ,in reality,far different from the commonly accepted version.This 1980 article implied,among other things,that Linda Lee has basically lied for all these years about the fight,that Bruce had attempted to use Bil Jee to Wong's eyes and throat on numerous occassions,that Bruce himself instigated the fight,and that Wong could have killed Bruce at any time,but was afraid of the American legal system.It also implies that the fight lasted far longer than three minutes.All of this is disturbing in light of the fact that many persons,including at least one martial arts magazine author,now believe that the account of Lee's fight with Wong in the movie DRAGON:THE BRUCE LEE STORY,was an actual event.Since very few persons who actually knew Lee and trained with him are still active in this MA community,I hope that someone can set the record straight.
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And another:
Dear Folks,
I hope this is the last time / place this question must be answered. I saw this on a Canadian website some 3 years
ago, sometime after my own website was formulated. I asked my instructor, Jesse Glover, for a definitive answer.
He told me he saw Bruce Lee and Linda two days after the occurance, and Bruce Lee was wearing dark glasses
because of cuts (which he witnessed) under and around the eyes from the fingerjabs thrown as Wong Jack Man was retreating
rapidly. Bruce Lee was essentially throwing rapid straight punches and hitting him in the back of the head, but not with enough force to finish him, as he was rapidly retreating...and Wong Jack Man was in a very low stance, as he did so.
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[SifuLMDII]

Hello!

I have heard and read several accounts of the Bruce Lee/Wong Jak Man incident. Many years (and I do mean MANY years) after the fight occurred Wong Jak Man told a different story about the fight. It was as if he were waiting to be sure without a doubt that Bruce Lee was really dead! I tend to believe what Linda Lee says about the fight, as she was there and witnessed all of it! The bottom line, however, is this: Does it really matter? Does this change the fact that Bruce Lee became one of the greatest martial artists that the twentieth century produced? NO! It doesn't! To put too much of your personal attention into this matter is basically wasting your own valuable time, which could be better spent training! Speaking of training, I've got some to do right now, so I'm outta here!

[LEGEND]

"Wong could have killed Bruce at any time"

Hard to believe this when Bruce was trying to kill him. If someone is trying to kill you in a fight...would u hold back??? LOL...

[OdderMensch]

Originally posted by churn-ging
I just finished watching "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" and I have a couple of questions to ask all of you:

1. Did Bruce Lee actually get challenged by the other schools in the Bay Area because he was the first to teach non-chinese martial arts?

After watching that movie, I'm now curious about his life.

SOmrthing else that I learned was that JWM himself had nonasian students at the time. He 'challenged' Bruce beacuse Bruce was referiing to himself as a Sifu, or master, and JWM didn't believe he was.

[HuangKaiVun]

Personally, I side with Bruce Lee's story.

No offense to Wong (who was a highly skilled Northern Shaolin stylist), but Lee's story just sounds so much more like the real life encounters that happen between two stylists of any form of fighting.

I've seen pictures of Wong, and I have great respect for him. However, there's nothing I saw that indicated that he had the skill to take out a vicious combatant like Lee. If you truly train to fight regularly, it shows in your physique and carriage. Maybe I'm wrong, but I saw it in Lee and not in Wong. Give me Wong to fight over Lee anyday.

A lot of traditionalists will look at a younger man and automatically assume that that man is an incompetent due to his age. I'm going through the same thing myself, so I know what it's all about. But just because a person is young doesn't mean that he's ignorant - or that he can't fight. A lot of older masters think they know more about my style than I do, and they DON'T. A simple sparring match would set that to rest.

I know that if I was to fight either Wong or Lee, the fight I'd be in would be pretty quick and brutal and UGLY. There'd be none of the dancing around that Wong insisted happened during the fight.

We'd lock horns, maybe even go to the ground, and then a clinch or submission would be applied. 30 seconds at the most, especially since we wouldn't be fighting under UFC or NHB rules.