REVIEW: They Still Call Me Bruce (1987)

Korean-born funnyman Johnny Yune stars in this in-name sequel to the cult classic comedy THEY CALL ME BRUCE (1982) with more emphasis on martial arts with more literal humor from the Yunester.

Yune plays Bruce Won, a Korean who has arrived to the United States. His quest is to find the man who saved his life during the Korean War, an former American G.I. named Ernie Brown. Landing in Houston, Bruce accidentally gets himself involved with a local crime ring led by the evil Mr. B (Carl Bensen), who uses a massage parlor as a front for his criminal activities. He soon meets a local neighborhood crime watch group called the NAGs and meets their martial arts master, Master McClane, who owes money to Mr. B for gambling debts.

McClane decides to take an early retirement and thinks Bruce is the perfect replacement. However, there poses one little problem: Bruce doesn’t know martial arts. However, with the full support of the NAGs, Bruce begins to learn martial arts while posing as a faux instructor. He befriends local orphan and student Billy (David Mendenhall) and soon finds a love interest in Polly (Bethany Wright), one of the girls working for Mr. B. Bruce’s world begins to unravel when he is forced in a fight against Mr. B’s champion, the Executioner (Donald Gibb) in a televised fight. Will Bruce be able to master the martial arts in time and more importantly, will he ever find the man who saved his life?

1982′s THEY CALL ME BRUCE became the cult classic that launched Korean-born comedian Johnny Yune as a man whom people thought was Bruce Lee. While the punchline is virutally the same as its predecessor, what helps is that the film’s martial arts theme is more emphasized here. At first, Bruce seems like an ordinary person and yes, we are treated to the comical training scenes. Using television and reading manuals to attempt to train turn out quite comical, which is okay for this genre.

While Johnny Yune may not be a Jackie Chan or a Sammo Hung in terms of combining martial arts and comedy, it is his brand of literal deadpan humor that heightens the film’s comedic element. Perhaps the film’s breakout comedic scene happens when he sees a psychiatrist who may or may not be the one who saved his life. A game of word association turns hysterical after the nurse shows up to assist. Another funny scene is Master McClane telling Bruce that he needs “his face” with Bruce responding that he knows a good plastic surgeon. Add to the humor a spoof of Rocky Balboa in the finale, played by a funny lookalike who does a pretty funny Stallone impersonation of this era.

Yune also has the intention of trying to pass off as Bruce Lee with a pose and saying the most famous line of the entire film, which does bring a stereotype of Asians, but with Yune originally hailing from Korea and the film being made in 1987, it is safe to say that it is okay this one time to let things slide.

The NAGs, which stand for Neighborhood Action Group, are led by Ronnie, played by Joey Travolta (yes, John’s brother) and like Yune, they have a comedian as a member of the team. A funny impressionist, Daniel Neiden makes the best of his role as Irving Wurlitzer, who goes from being Groucho Marx to even Dr. Ruth at one point describing the good things about acupuncture and pressure points.

Karate expert Allan Tackett, who makes a cameo as himself, handles the film’s martial arts sequences and fares well for a film of this budget and genre. While Tackett does quite a good job of making Yune and David Mendenhall look good in their fight scenes, he also has the pleasure of showcasing some relatively new talent as well. If one looks carefully, one can see future UNDISPUTED II fight choreographer J.J. Perry as one of the students in Master McClane’s dojo in one of his very first roles. Young star David Mendenhall, perhaps known for his role as Sylvester Stallone’s son in the arm wrestling flick OVER THE TOP (1986), looks quite good as a martial artist after training with Tackett and could have had a future as a potential action star. Even David’s sister Marissa looks good in one sparring scene as fellow student Sarah. Meanwhile, Donald Gibb practically combines elements of his two most famous characters, Ogre from REVENGE OF THE NERDS (1984) with Ray Jackson from BLOODSPORT (1987) to play the Executioner in his climatic bout with Yune.

THEY STILL CALL ME BRUCE is definitely a cult classic comedy with some pretty good and at times, comical martial arts fight scenes and training. It is sad that Johnny Yune never got passed playing the man everyone thinks was Bruce Lee, but he truly made the best of it here in this sequel.