“Dragon Bruce Lee, Part II” Korean Poster
AKA: Dragon Lee Fights Again
Director: To Man-Bo
Co-director: Lee Eun
Cast: Dragon Lee (Mun Kyong-sok), Lee Suk-jin, Cheung Lik, Ju Eun-seop, Jang Ryeok, Bolo Yeung, Tien Feng, Philip Ko Fei, Sham Chin Bo, To Wai Wo
Running Time: 75 min.
By Ian Whittle
OK, this is rather complicated. A 1930’s set kung fu movie starring Dragon Lee that, depending on what version you own, is a sequel to one of three different movies!
Dragon Lee plays a resistance fighter on the run from the Japanese (who are led by Bolo in a nifty Hitler moustache!), who takes shelter with a patriotic family headed by Philip Ko (in not entirely convincing old age make-up). Meanwhile Nick Cheung (credited as Jackie Cheung) is a pickpocket/rebel, and his crippled sister (Lau Ying-hung) is an expert musician. Which comes in handy, as Ko’s wife has a nervous condition that can only be soothed by music (no, seriously, it’s important!)
The film it most closely resembles is Last Fist of Fury (which was incorporated into The Real Bruce Lee), and the title suggests it is a sequel to Dragon Lee Fights Back, which also stars Dragon Lee and Nick Cheung, but that was a modern day film! The Korean title is Jeong Mu Gate 81, which suggests this is essentially a new variation on Fist of Fury. And just to make matters even more confusing, this is known on video as BIG BOSS II, causing confusion with the real Big Boss II (1976), which was a Lo Lieh film guest starring Bruce Le, and which remains frustratingly unavaliable on home video!
This stands out from most of the Dragon Lee movies in that Godfrey Ho seems to have nothing to with it. Consequently the English dubbing is better (Vaughan Savidge wasn’t involved with this one either) and the sound effects are more in keeping with your typical Hong Kong movie so there are less bizzare bird chirps and electronic bleeps going off during the fight scenes. Production values are higher (slightly), the fights are more intricatly choreographed, and the stakes in the story seem more important – a World War II themed resistance plot is always going to be more interested that the squabble over the farm in Golden Dragon, Silver Snake.
As ever with these co-productions, I can’t decide if it is a HK movie made in Korea, or a Korean movie with more Hong Kong guest stars than usual. You (and maybe the accountants) be the judge! The film itself can’t decide if it takes place in China or Korea, as the costumes are all over the place. Dragon Lee’s impressivley bouffant hair suggests the 80s has well and truly arrived!
Interestingly, on the English dub anyway, two clips from Last Fist of Fury and Clones of Bruce Lee are spliced in, including the music (Gonna Fly Now!!!) and sound FX from those two productions. This practice would carry over into the Asso Asia acquired Dragon Lee movies, but also seems to be have been adopted for a few Bruce Le movies. The soundtrack for the film proper is mostly John Barry’s majestic score for Disney’s The Black Hole, but the title music is from the Costa-Gravas movie Z. Quite why someone thought it would be appropiate for a kung fu movie is beyond me.
If you can stomach the ridiculous melodrama (especially involving the musical medicine!), bizarre acting and rickety quality, you will be rewarded with a fun piece of nonsense. And Dragon Lee vs Bolo is much better then John Saxon vs Bolo!
Ian Whittle’s Rating: 6/10
Oh man, watching Dragon Lee fight without the accompanying electronic bleeps feels equivalent to watching a Bruce Lee fight without the high pitched battle cries! Entertaining review, and I’m a strong advocate for the world being a better place thanks to Dragon Lee being in it. Shamefully, I’ve never seen this one (nor ‘Dragon Lee Fights Back’, which I need to seek out if it has a contemporary setting!), but your review has me convinced I should rectify that shortly!
“Oh man, watching Dragon Lee fight without the accompanying electronic bleeps feels equivalent to watching a Bruce Lee fight without the high pitched battle cries!”
So…Big Boss then 😉
Ok, I checked this out last night! Definitely a Hong Kong movie shot in Korea (which explains Godfrey Ho’s lack of involvement – can’t purchase a movie for HK distribution if it’s already a HK movie!).
I have to be honest, I actually missed the zaniness that comes as standard with Korean kung-fu flicks. No inappropriate wirework, no dubbing that makes you feel like your brain is melting, nobody in knitted balaclavas being attempted to be passed off as ninjas, and yes…no electronic bleeps.
Even the plot was coherent, to the point that I felt like it was dragging in some places. At least Lee’s fight against Bolo was superior to their wet leaf of a match in the previous years ‘The Clones of Bruce Lee’. I guess I’ve just gotten too used to finishing Dragon Lee flicks and thinking “What the hell did I just watch!?”, whereas here it felt like I’d just watched another cookie-cutter kung-fu flick. I concur with your 6!
I thought Godfrey Ho’s genuine productions The Magnificent and Dragon, The Hero were both decent.