It’s best not to include Game of Death, which was stitched together after Lee’s death from footage he had filmed for a project that was postponed once Hollywood finally backed him with Enter the Dragon. His filmography is slight: The Big Boss (1971) Fist of Fury (1972) The Way of the Dragon (1972) Enter the Dragon (1973). The astonishing thing about Bruce Lee is how he became a global star in a handful of movies in the space of a few years (he appeared as a child actor in a number of Cantonese films). Lee remains an important cultural figure for a number of reasons, which Polly covers competently with thorough research. However, if you are a Lee fan, as I am, you will be glad to see his life and work given permanence and fresh appraisal. Polly’s book could prove too much for someone with a casual interest, even, and it will certainly hold little appeal to anyone else. Some will wonder at 650 pages on an entertainer who probably has little relevance to anyone born in the new millennium Bruce Lee in all likelihood will only appeal to blokes of a certain vintage. I longed for more moments such as this while reading A Life.

As Bob Wall, who played O’Hara in Enter the Dragon, said: “One of the reasons Chuck doesn’t like to talk about The Way of the Dragon is because he thinks he looks like a fat moose.” One-nil to Bruce, in what is one of the greatest martial arts scenes in cinematic history. But it also wouldn’t have been lost on Lee – who had extensive television and film experience compared with the novice Norris – that those 20lb would soften Norris’s muscular definition compared with Lee’s physique on camera. “It will make you look a more formidable opponent.”Īs Polly relates, this may have been true. “There’s only three weeks before filming,” Norris protested. “I’m almost 140,” Lee said, “I want you to gain 20 pounds.” “How do you want me to prepare?” he asked Lee. Both men had a genuine friendship, though, so Norris got on board. Lee convinced Chuck Norris to appear in The Way of the Dragon by saying their fight would be the highlight of the film, even though Norris was unhappy he would have to lose. There’s an anecdote in Matthew Polly’s solid, if unspectacular, door stopper of a biography on Bruce Lee that sums up the kung fu star’s ambition, vision, commitment and, ultimately, ruthlessness.

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