It lives?

As you know Yahoo shutdown their web hosting service GeoCities back in October 2009 which is unfortunate because that was the home of Bruceploitation.  I  just assumed the old Bruceploitaiton website was gone from the web forever, but apparently all the GeoCities websites were archived under Reocities. That's right, Bruceploitation still lives.  Funny thing is that I had no clue about it and was only told about it today in an e-mail from an old reader.  Thanks for the tip Ryan!

Check out the archived site at http://www.reocities.com/many_bruces/, but don't read too hard because I was reading some stuff today and noticed a few spelling and grammatical errors.  It's driving me crazy I can't fix them!

DYNAMITE (magazine review)

After Bruce Lee died his star status continued to climb, eventually landing him on the cover of the classic kid's magazine Dynamite with issue #17 in November of 1975.  Today kids can find information on their idols almost instantly with the help of the internet, but back then it was probably a little more difficult.  Yes, it's a kid's magazine, but kids probably ate it up.

The article called, BRUCE LEE LIVES! is pretty short at only three pages, well two pages if you don't count the pictures.  It goes through the basics of Bruce's story from a kung fu crazy teenager up until his death.  It even talks about how some people think he's still alive and others believe his was killed because he was giving away kung fu secrets.  A basic article that probably couldn't be more that a couple pages anyway, but I imagine it entertained plenty of kids  when it came out. 

There is also another story titled THE MANY STATES OF KUNG FU-SION.  It talks about different styles of martial arts such as kung fu, karate, jujitsu, judo as well as the spirit of martial arts.  Martial arts aren't for beating people up and the stuff you see in movies isn't real, but it's a way to excercise your mind and body.  One thing's for sure, it's a healthy way to get your kicks!  I actually stole that last thing from the article.

If articles on Bruce Lee and the martial arts aren't enough for you there is also an article on Archie, joke about grapes, dogs dressed in funny clothes, a Terry Bradshaw article, Green Goblin facts and more!  Also be sure to check out next month's issue with free stickers!  Wow, I should look into getting a subscription.

click to embiggen

I can't even remember where I bought this magazine or why I bought it considering the cover is such horrible shape.  Stupid punk kid drawing all over the cover of his Dynamite magazine.  I hope someone gave him a wedgie!  I'm pretty I was at some collectible/comic/record/flea market/etc thing and couldn't find anything except this magazine.  Since I had gone all the way there I felt that I should at least buy something and this was the only thing that appealed to me just because Bruce Lee was on the cover.  He still looks cool!

CHINATOWN CONNECTION (movie review)

Year: 1988
Starring: Bruce Ly, Lee Majors II, William Ghent, Fitz Houston, Art Comacho, Brinke Stevens
Directed by: Jean-Paul Ouellette
Running time: 96 minutes

Lee Majors II is Warren Houston a LA cop forced to partner with John Lee Chan played by Bruce Ly after Chan's partner is shot in the line of duty.  Houston is one of those classic lone wolf cops who doesn't need a partner, especially one like Chan who doesn't like to use his gun.  Chan trains the "kung fu cops", a group of policemen/woman who are sent to him because they lack discipline and control.  Together Chan and Houston team up to find who is putting poisoned cocaine on the streets of LA.

I was in the the middle of this when my friend walked in and started watching it with me.  He came in during a scene in which Houston (Lee Majors II) is attacked in his apartment by a killer dressed all in black wielding a pair of swords.  Houston is crawling around on the carpet trying to load his pistol as his attacker stands over him swing his swords around hitting crap off his desk and table.  He is basically right in front of him and the guy is swinging side to side and not down.  My friend says, "That is a terrible ninja." to which I replied, "Well, this is a terrible movie, so what do you expect!"

I can forgive a movie if the story is bad, the acting sucks, etc as long as the action is entertaining.  In CHINATOWN CONNECTION the action is just boring, the gun fights are a snore and the fight scenes are just sloppy.  Bruce Ly aka Henry Yu Yung also is the martial art choreographer on the movie.  Henry Yu Yung is a Chinese actor who has had parts in many Hong Kong movies including classics like CHINATOWN KID, THE 36th CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN and THE AVENGING EAGLE.  In CHINATOWN CONNECTION he is dubbed and it is almost as awful as his hair cut.   

So they rename Henry Yu Yung as Bruce Ly so people will associate him with Bruce Lee, but the exploitation doesn't stop there because they've also got Lee Majors II.   Turns out Lee Majors II isn't a rip off of Lee Majors, but Lee Majors actual son.  But wouldn't that make him Lee Majors Jr?  I guess Lee Majors was going for something a little more classy like King Henry VIII by using roman numerals.  I will keep that in mind if I have kids.

Anyway, unless this is on TV and it's free then don't go out of your way to watch it or buy it.  Unfortunately, I already bought it so I could write this review so I'm screwed.  Don't make the same mistake I did.  I want my money back.  I mean you it's pretty sad when in the movie credits the producers thank Royal Crown Cola.  Even in third world countries they can get Coca-Cola!