Kung-Fu Wednesday | Lesson 3

canstock1038972 Kung Fu Wednesday | Lesson 3

The Beginning

This will be the last lesson in what I am calling the beginner phase. So far, in Lesson 1 and Lesson 2, the student has been introduced to Jet Li and his blockbuster franchise (we will call that lesson Wax On), and Jackie Chan with one of his first blockbusters (Wax Off). Our next Lesson (Paint the Fence, natch) will once again continue the theme of having a Western familiar actor. This actor is the reason that Jackie Chan and Jet Li can have their films marketed to Western audiences. Of course I mean The Dragon himself, Bruce Lee.

Kung-Fu Genesis

The first thing that one should know about Lee was that, well, he was a bad ass in everything. First of all he mastered the Chinese boxing style of Wing Chun. Wing Chun, among other things, is distinctive from Jet Li and Jakie Chan’s Wushu form of martial arts in that it specializes in close combat instead of the other often referenced animal style fluidity of Wushu.

Lee learned Wing Chun from legendary Chinese Wing Chun Grandmaster Ip Man (a phenomenal movie about Ip Man starring Donnie Yen). Due to the Chinese secrecy regarding their martial arts and racial exclusion, Ip Man was forced to train Lee in secret because of Lee’s German ancestry on his mother’s side. That one on one training coupled with Lee’s natural fighting skill helped Lee develop into a devastating fighter.

Bruce Lee13 246x300 Kung Fu Wednesday | Lesson 3 Badassery does not stop there. Lee, who started spending more and more time in the West, soon came to the conclusion that Wing Chun style of boxing was too strict and did not allow for improvisation and defense/offense in a street fighting style of encounter. So Lee developed his own system of martial arts, training, and nutrition called Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do fused styles, training, nutrition, and philosophy into something that, roughly, made one into a fucking ninja’s daddy. There is a very pure linage of Jeet instructors. There are very few, but those that instruct in it are no more than one person removed from Lee’s personal certification.

One last proof of Bruce Lee’s complete ownership of the definition of Badass. Two anecdotes lifted form his wiki page:

Lee also appeared at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships[39] and performed various demonstrations, including the famous “unstoppable punch” against USKA world karate champion Vic Moore. Lee told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the face, and all he had to do was to try and block it. Lee took several steps back and asked if Moore was ready, when Moore nodded in affirmation, Lee glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then threw a straight punch directly at Moore’s face, and stopped before impact. In eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches.[42]

Yeah, a world karate champ could not even block a punch he knew was coming. And what happens when one taunts Bruce Lee?

Bob Wall, USPK karate champion and co-star in Enter the Dragon, recalled one encounter that transpired after a film extra kept taunting Lee. The extra yelled that Lee was “a movie star, not a martial artist,” that he “wasn’t much of a fighter.” Lee answered his taunts by asking him to jump down from the wall he was sitting on. Wall described Lee’s opponent as “a gang-banger type of guy from Hong Kong,” a “damned good martial artist,” and observed that he was fast, strong, and bigger than Bruce.[44]

“This kid was good. He was strong and fast, and he was really trying to punch Bruce’s brains in. But Bruce just methodically took him apart.”[45] “Bruce kept moving so well, this kid couldn’t touch him…Then all of a sudden, Bruce got him and rammed his ass with the wall and swept him up, proceeding to drop him and plant his knee into his opponent’s chest, locked his arm out straight, and nailed him in the face repeatedly.”[46] — Bob Wall

Movie Recommendation

bruce lee beats up chuck norris 290x300 Kung Fu Wednesday | Lesson 3 “Enter the Dragon” is English language and “Fist of Fury” has the jaw-dropping dojo fight, but only one movie has the unbelievable alley nunchuk fight and Bruce Lee beating the ever-love shit out of Chuck Norris. Yes, THAT Chuck Norris. If Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer, then someone got a new lease on life that day, my friends.

THE WAY OF THE DRAGON The plot is that Dragon (Lee) goes to Italy to visit his relatives who own a restaurant. The story is fairly typical in that the restaurant is being “taxed” by a local gang that is used to having their own way. Unfortunately for them Lee is in town and makes an open mockery of the gang by beating the hell out of them in just about every way possible. The gang is not too happy with this, so they bring in a big, giant American named Colt (Chuck Norris). In the finale Colt and Dragon meet in the freaking Colosseum. Lee plays around at first until Norris kicks him in the face. Once. Then all hell breaks loose.

So my students do not feel cheated, here is the clip of the dojo fight scene from “Fist of Fury” mentioned above.