Bruce Lee and Bruceploitation 101

04/28/21 • 35 min

2 Listeners

When Bruce Lee died on June 20, 1973, Hollywood and Hong Kong scrambled to replace him, creating a misbegotten genre called "Bruceploitation."

But Bruce Lee was, of course, irreplaceable.

On the latest episode of The Industry, Dan Delgado details the rise of Bruce Lee — and the foolish, quixotic attempts to find any actor who could match him in terms of fighting prowess, charm and charisma.

All together now: Good luck with that.

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When Bruce Lee died on June 20, 1973, Hollywood and Hong Kong scrambled to replace him, creating a misbegotten genre called "Bruceploitation."

But Bruce Lee was, of course, irreplaceable.

All together now: Good luck with that.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Lions and Tigers and Stitches, Oh My! The Making of Roar

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Roar is the story of a family — including Tippi Hedren and real-life daughter Melanie Griffith — stalked by lions and tigers on an African nature preserve.

When it was finally released in the United States in 2015 — nearly 40 years after it began its five-year, accident-filled shoot — savvy distribution company Drafhouse Films used the tagline, "No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Film. Seventy Cast and Crew Members Were."

Have we mentioned that Roar was intended as a family comedy?

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Next Episode

Comrade Cukor: When Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor and Cicely Tyson Invaded The Soviet Union

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In the 1970s, in an attempt to thaw the Cold War, the U.S. and USSR decided to co-produce a film: Cinematic detente!

The United States would provide big Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Cicely Tyson. They would be directed by the legendary George Cukor. The Soviet Union agreed to provide the crew, equipment, locations, and of course some ballet dancers.

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Also, be sure to check out the We Know Jack Show Podcast!

Sources for this episode:

Shaw, T. (2012). Nightmare on Nevsky Prospekt: The Blue Bird as a Curious Instance of U.S.-Soviet Film Collaboration during the Cold War. Journal of Cold War Studies, 14 (1), 3-33. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26924108

Olsen, Lynne. Will Soviet-US Film Find Happiness? Ft. Myers News-Press, March 4, 1975

Cooper, Arthur & Friendly, Jr, Alfred. Hooray for Hollygrad! Newsweek, March 31, 1975

Reed, Rex. 'Bluebird' limps rather than soars on detente. Long Beach Press Telegram, August 17,1975.

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