Young Bruce Lee (1976)

Not to be confused with The Young Bruce Lee, a Bruceploitation film starring Bruce Le, this documentary is basically a rare collection of extended scenes from dramatic films Bruce starred in as a child interspersed with brief footage from at least one film where Ho Chung-tao (AKA Bruce Li) plays Bruce, in addition to several trailers for Bruce’s martial arts films. As this documentary is roughly constructed and contains virtually no martial arts action it will likely only appeal to diehard Bruce Lee fans. Should you count yourself in this category, this collection of Bruce’s earliest film roles is a fascinating look at a film and martial arts legend in the making. Perhaps more importantly, it shows that Lee had tremendous charisma even as a child and displayed promising acting ability.

The only valuable portion of this documentary is the first fifty minutes which includes approximately fifteen minute scenes from four of Lee’s early films, each of which are professionally dubbed into English. 1950’s The Kid is Lee’s second film in which he is only ten. He plays a disgruntled child in a lower-class family who befriends a thief and begins a life of crime until the thief tells him to straighten out. The second one has Lee playing possibly his darkest role as The Bad Boy. Here he is a bully who gets his comeuppance when several children take cues from the heroic tale of the Monkey King in an animated dream sequence to use a little magic on him. Carnival puts Lee in a weepy drama as he joins his sister in begging for money as his family remains destitute. In contrast, the second half of this footage features Lee doing an entertaining street performance that shows off his little seen comedic abilities. The final film footage comes from The Orphan (1960), Lee’s last film before he moved to the United States. In this uncharacteristic role, Lee is the victim who finds himself kidnapped by an escaped convict who turns out to be his illegitimate father.

The rest of documentary is crammed with useless Bruceploitation film footage starring Ho Chung-tao and trailers for The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and Way of the Dragon. Overlaid throughout The Young Bruce Lee is basic narration that provides no real insight into Lee’s childhood either within or outside the film industry. But as long as you know what you’re not getting, The Young Bruce Lee can still be a valuable look at Lee’s early acting performances as none of these films are readily available in their entirety.