Bruce Lee Would Have Turned 86 on November 27, and Four Films Still Define His Legacy

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Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940, and he would have turned 86 this month. He died in Hong Kong on July 20, 1973, at just 32, and his legacy rests on a very small number of films.

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The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, both from 1971 and 1972, made him a star in Asia. The Way of the Dragon in 1972 was the one he wrote, directed and starred in, and it includes the famous fight with Chuck Norris at the Colosseum in Rome. Enter the Dragon was released in 1973, shortly after his death, and it was a Hollywood co-production that introduced him to a global audience.

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What sets him apart is the speed and the precision. I have seen modern action films with much bigger budgets that feel clumsy by comparison. He also appeared in the American series The Green Hornet as Kato, and he was one of the first Asian stars to be taken seriously in Western cinema.

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He was also a thinker. He wrote about martial arts as personal expression and developed his own system, Jeet Kune Do. The philosophy is as much a part of his reputation as the kicks.

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If you are new to him, which film would you start with? I would pick Enter the Dragon for the story and Fist of Fury for the energy.