The Clones of Bruce Lee

The Clones of Bruce Lee (Shen Wei San Meng Long) (1980)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Several different people; different sources tell me different things

Starring: Dragon Lee, Bruce Le, Bruce Lai, Bruce Thai, Jon T. Benn, Bolo Yeung

From: Filmline Enterprises/Filmark International Ltd.

It's a BRUCEPLOITATION movie... of course this was weird. So we're on the same page, for years after Bruce Lee's untimely death, there was an entire industry of films based on guys who resembled the late icon as the star of martial arts films, usually weird and sometimes bizarre like Clones was. That's a world I've barely scratched the surface of yet I know the genre's reputation.

We see Bruce (well, the body of someone who barely resembled him) wheeled into the hospital, where he “died of a heart attack” instead of the “swelling of the brain caused by an allergic reaction” that was his actual cause of death. Law enforcement in Hong Kong plus a professor create a trio of clones, cleverly named Bruce Lee 1, Bruce Lee 2, and Bruce Lee 3. They were “born” as adults; this is never adequately explained, nor are the “THOUGHTAL INJECTIONS” that the clones receive via what's best described as an upside-down salad bowl w/ wires attacked that's on their heads. BTW, the doctor that created the clones was Jon T. Benn of The Way of the Dragon fame & they train w/ Bolo Yeung of Enter the Dragon fame.

This is as ludicrous as you'd expect; I say that as a positive in this case. While none of the action was unforgettable by any means, at least there's a slew of martial arts throughout. One clone is in an adventure involving a gold-smuggling movie producer (he becomes an actor. Once the producer discovers Bruce Lee 1 is investigating him, he has the scheme to... have Bruce Lee 1 die via HAVING AN ON-SET “ACCIDENT” INVOLVING A GUN. No kidding) and the other two team up with the Thai version of Not Bruce Lee-appropriately known as BRUCE THAI-in Thailand to stop an evil scientist, known as Dr. Nye..no, not Bill. His scheme is straight out of a 30's serial.

This was fun nonsense featuring dubbed dialogue, stolen music (only some of which I recognized... there's Gonna Fly Now, the theme to The Spy Who Loved Me, and songs from The Warriors), way more full-frontal female flesh than I was anticipating, and nice scenery in both Hong Kong & Thailand. A movie as goofy as The Clones of Bruce Lee naturally won't appeal to all tastes; thankfully, I'm in the camp that can laugh at the thought process of having a film star multiple Lee impersonators.