Marcial Arts films
Marcial Arts films
Despite being a novice in martial arts, John witnessed the make-up of some fight scenes, there he could see the warmups and other techniques used by different martial artists, however, he has no doubt about who was the best: " It was but clear that Bruce was much better than any of them, including Chuck Norris. Of course, Bruce Lee stood out from the great champions who participated in the film. In all the fight scenes it was palpable that all wanted to prove they were the best; there was a kind of rivalry between them, it was something like " I can do better than you ", however, Bruce Lee was light years ahead. Simply, I can not make a comparison, because there was not." John never addressed this issue while filming with Chuck Norris, Bob Wall or Ing Sik Whang, however, he had the chance to do it much later with one of his protagonists. His statements leave no doubt: " On one occasion I was in Manila( Philippines), a few years after filming " The Way of the Dragon ", I was in a small bar, escorted by two little beauties, one on each side. Then I looked up, and saw that at the other end of the bar sat Chuck Norris, also with a girl on each side. Upon greeting and chatting for a while, we decided to have dinner together. After some lively conversation, I asked him: ' Tell me Chuck, who would have won if you had actually fought to death, your or Bruce?' Chuck showed no hesitation or doubt to answer: ' Bruce, of course, no one could beat him!'. Chuck was himself a World Karate Champion, so I think that his opinion has some value."
Some martial arts experts and actors do believe that Bruce was nothing of special in the fighting arts, they think he was just a movie product, or someone who, failing that, had the ability to make up a whole choreography. On this subject John thinks: " They don ' t know what they are saying, they are just jealous of not being able to do it as good as Bruce. To me there is an unquestionable fact: it ' s been more than 30 years and no one so far has been able to overcome his achievements."
Perhaps John speaks knowingly; he has shared the screen with some of the clones of the Dragon in " The Clones of Bruce Lee ", 1977, in which he played a teacher. In it he worked with Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, Bruce Thai and Bruce Lai. The goal of all these " actors ", at a cinematographical level, was to fill the void Bruce Lee had left, however, John is very clear: " It ' s not trying to imitate his grimaces or shouts; is a matter of talent, charisma and genious. Also, Bruce Lee was not a bad actor, being still a boy he rolled over 20 films, he had started when he was 6 and his father was also an actor, it was in his blood."
What is out of the question is that Bruce Lee took root among the public, to the point that over 30 years later, his fame is still fresh. And not only his, but also that of all those who were lucky enough to meet him and work with him: " You can ' t even imagine the millions of fans Bruce Lee has in China; every day when I go out someone stops in the street and asks me: Hey, didn ' t you work with Bruce Lee in one of his films?" If people recognize John Benn after so long, it must be for two reasons: one, because they have not forgotten Bruce Lee, and two, the years must have treated him very well. " More or less, I ' m just the same, before I had no hair, and now, I still have no hair; now about the fame, I ' m nothing compared to Bruce Lee, however, his life must have been hell in Hong Kong; it was difficult for him to walk down the street because there was always a lot of fans who wanted to talk to him and be with him."
Bruce Lee fans are to be found everywhere, not only in the past but also the present. When the guitarist Carlos Santana arrived in Hong Kong, the first thing he did was ask for the Bruce Lee Museum, to which they responded that it just didn ' t exist. This was not an isolated case, many tourists and fans made the same question on his arrival in the colony, so John decided to open a Bruce Lee Museum & Café & Restaurant in Hong Kong. " That was the only Hong Kong Museum of Bruce. It was a three-story building with a
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