Enveloped by controversy for almost thirty years, the Bruce Lee exploitation movies have a bad reputation. Early offerings of scandal, rumours and lies have attached a stranglehold to the genre from which it will never fully escape. Strangely, amongst today's heroes of high octane Hong Kong action, the "old school" Bruceploitation oddities and stars seem more popular now than ever before. The critics and Bruce Lee purists said it wouldn't last. How wrong they were! With a whole spate of new releases this past year, the "Clones of Bruce Lee" remain a force to be reckoned with as Bruceploitation fights back from the grave!

After the arrival of the "Manufactured Master" Bruce Li and the "King Of Bruceploitation" Bruce Le, came the third and most outlandish of all interpretations; Dragon Lee. A native of Korea and Taekwondo student of Hwang Jang Lee, the Dragon could fool no one. Looking like Bruce Lee morphed with Bolo Yeung, Dragon, sometimes credited as Bruce Lei, was a bizarre, exaggerated distortion of the prototype in every imaginable way. The facial expressions, kung fu style and charisma were all so over the top that Dragon Lee was a walking, talking, kung fu caricature. More Bruce Lee, than Bruce Lee himself!

Whilst his best work within the genre was undoubtedly camp, cult, classic, "The Clones Of Bruce Lee", Dragon would go on to be one of the biggest stars of the exploitation game. Although he allegedly appeared in more "mainstream" kung fu productions, the aforementioned adjective and Dragon Lee never really belonged in the same sentence. With great performances in such titles as "The Dragon, The Hero", "Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger", and "Martial Monks Of Shaolin Temple", Lee developed a legion of fans. A massive success with a line of "spin off" merchandise in his native Korea, Dragon would later gain international recognition thanks to American movie mogul Serafim Karalexis.

Born in Greece in 1944, Karalexis began running a cinema showcasing the works of underground filmmakers whilst studying at Boston University�s School Of Fine Arts. In 1968 he imported the movie, "I Am Curious Yellow" into the States. This was the first, "art inspired" soft-core erotic film to achieve nation-wide success. However, bringing this film to "the land of the free" ironically brought Serafim to the attention of the supreme judicial system. The case was dropped but only when a number of more explicit productions were also imported and became successful across the country. Karalexis continued to distribute and promote "adult" films until he attended a screening of "King Boxer" known in the USA as "Five Fingers Of Death". The next day he was on a plane to Hong Kong for a meeting at Shaw Brothers studios.

"The Duel", starring Ti Lung and David Chiang was quickly brought back to the States and distributed under the title of "Duel Of The Iron Fist". The film grossed five million dollars and Karalexis knew he had found a winning formula in kung fu. However, six months later whilst keeping a watchful eye on his earnings, the shrewd distributor noticed a change in the fans. The typical audience was now primarily formed of Afro-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Orientals. With this in mind Karalexis would create a new hero for a new generation. From over two hundred hopefuls, Karate Champ, Ron Van Clief was chosen to be the next martial movie superstar. "Tough Guy", when released in the States as "The Black Dragon" outgrossed all of the exploitation entrepreneurs previous efforts and Van Clief was immediately signed to a three picture deal.

As the Bruceploitation bandwagon was beginning to roll across America, Serafim Karalexis would generate one of the better entries to the genre. "The Black Dragon's Revenge" saw Van Clief head to Hong Kong to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Bruce Lee. The mindless premise was basically an excuse for a number of well choreographed fight scenes featuring the titular hero alongside fellow martial artist, Charles "La Pantera" Bonet. The "Black Dragon" himself was now a huge success and Van Clief would go on to appear in a number of cult action flicks, most notably "The Way Of The Black Dragon". Karalexis would also later attempt to sell Bonet as the next big thing. "La Pantera" teamed up with part-time Lee impersonator, Bill Louie for the cult hit, "Death Promise" and scored yet another success for the Greek tycoon.

Now that the Karalexis had discovered the Bruce Lee exploitation movies there was no stopping him. Using previously bought clips from Bruce Lee's childhood movies, together with a little footage of Bruce Li and an early Dragon Lee movie he produced "The Real Bruce Lee". The picture cost 250,000 U.S. Dollars to make and was used to introduce Dragon Lee onto the U.S. market. Quickly becoming a huge success both cinematically and on home video, when released in the U.K. the British audience got the better deal. The U.K. video version of this movie contained an additional twenty minutes of fight footage, unseen in America, which as all British fans will agree, doesn't happen very often!

Soon after, Karalexis teamed his two biggest stars to go one on one in the 1979 production, "Kung Fu Fever". Dragon Lee got the most screentime with Van Clief doing the rounds as bad guy. This was certainly not the best movie that either man had appeared in, but it paled it comparison to the ridiculous, no-brainer, "Fist Of Fear, Touch Of Death" from Aquarius Promotions. It is unimaginable just what Ron Van Clief was thinking when he agreed to appear in "Fist Of Fear.." even more surprising was the involvement of legendary Blaxploitation star Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. This film represents the worst example of a money making rip off to ever make it to celluloid featuring a whole host of stars and celebrities who should have known better. Revolving around a martial arts tournament and the premise that Bruce Lee may have been killed by the "death touch" the movie was conceived about five years too late. However, tournament scenes, intercut with re-dubbed footage of a young Lee, "Longstreet" excerpts and a cheap kung fu movie, would have remained a disaster no matter when it was released. Unfortunately the public were fooled once again and this surreal, pseudo-documentary was a big success.

Oddly, in the years closely following Bruce Lee's death, one of the most controversial Bruceploitation figures came from a very unlikely source, "Enter The Dragon" co-star, Jim Kelly. After his unforgettable performance as "Williams" in "Enter..", Director and Producer, Robert Clouse and Fred Weintraub single handedly chose Kelly to fill the void left by Lee. The release of Jim's first starring vehicle, "Black Belt Jones" would begin an amazing, overlong debate by martial arts movie enthusiasts in several genre magazines. With hindsight this production was an entertaining entry into the Blaxploitation genre, and a movie that would shortly be followed by a successful female variant in "Cleopatra Jones". The problem with "Black Belt" was the sound effects and Jim Kelly's battlecries, all of which seemed a little too familiar for moviegoers of the time. Whether or not Kelly was attempting to be the next Bruce Lee is somewhat questionable, but the negativity didn't stop Warner Brothers producing an inferior sequel in the form of "Hot Potato".

Jim Kelly could have been a big star, but after appearing in a dumb movie, with a dumb title, he soon deteriorated into Blaxploitation B-Movie limbo. It was a disappointing climax for the man who at one time felt he would become, "the number one world-wide box office champion - black or white!" Sadly, "One Down, Two To Go" and the exploitation vehicle "Death Dimension", whilst both reasonably successful, placed Kelly far below several other stars on the Blaxploitation honours list. The latter production was cheaply used by distributor Harry Hope as an introductory vehicle for latest "clone", Myron Bruce Lee. Unfortunately for Kelly, after years of perseverance, it is "Cleopatra Jones" that is still remembered as a cult classic, whilst "Black Belt" to most audiences remains the "nearly man".