A lot of people know the fight scene in Quentin Tarantino Once upon a time in Hollywood a moment when Brad Pitt’s stuntman Cliff Booth throws Mike Moh’s Bruce Lee into a car. Although this is a fictional sequence from a mostly fantasy story, one thing is clear: everyone wanted a piece of Bruce Lee.
Although he died aged just 32 in 1973, Lee went on to become a revered martial artist and one of cinema’s top badass. He trained with Wing Chun grandmaster Yip Man and cut his teeth in street fighting in Hong Kong before moving to America and making a name for himself on the world stage.
There he became such a hot property that he trained the likes of Chuck Norris, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Sharon Tate before starring in a handful of acclaimed martial arts films in Hong Kong in the early 1970s, including the big boss and Fist of fury. However, Lee’s most famous moment came in the form of 1973 Enter the dragon. As the first Hollywood martial arts film, it turned out to be an important moment in history. This was also compounded by the fact that it was the last title Lee completed before his death, with its premiere only a month after his passing.
While he had already starred in a host of classic martial arts films, it was on the set of Enter the dragon that his legend was carved in stone. It is also on the set that an extra imagined his chances and challenged him in combat. However, as expected, he was no match for Lee.
The story comes from Bolo Yeung, who played a henchman of the film’s villain. In a rare interview, he recalled that Lee was challenged by one of the extras who wanted to test his Jeet Kune Do, a style of martial arts and philosophy founded by Lee. Typically, Lee accepted the challenge and the fight began. According to Yeung’s account, both fighters landed punches, but ultimately Lee was too fast for his opponent. Using “incredible” speed, he won the fight with a high kick.
History is just another reason why the scene and portrayal of Bruce Lee in Once upon a time in Hollywood is quite inconceivable. If anyone was going to throw anyone into a car, it was Bruce Lee.
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