A top-notch martial arts basic related in type to the John Wick franchise might have seen none apart from Bruce Lee play its lead character. Launched in 1973, the identical 12 months as Enter the Dragon, A Man Referred to as Tiger was a Hong Kong motion thriller from Lo Wei, who famously directed Bruce Lee’s first two kung fu movies, The Huge Boss and Fist of Fury.
Set in twentieth century Japan, A Man Referred to as Tiger stars martial arts legend Jimmy Wang Yu as Chin Fu, a kung fu professional who turns into a one-man-army in his quest to defeat a Japanese gang and get revenge for his lifeless father. It is a function that is now rightfully considered one in every of Jimmy Wang Yu’s greatest performances, however there was a time when it might have gone to Lee as a substitute.
Bruce Lee Was Supposed To Star In A Man Referred to as Tiger
In response to Matthew Polly’s biography of the star, Bruce Lee: A Life, A Man Referred to as Tiger was meant to be Bruce Lee’s third collaboration with Lo Wei for Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest. Nevertheless, Bruce Lee was opposed to creating the movie, as he was extra eager about directing, starring, and writing his personal film, which might change into Approach of the Dragon.
As Polly writes in guide, this need happened largely in response to Bruce Lee’s burgeoning rivalry with Jimmy Wang Yu, who had remodeled the martial arts film style through The Chinese language Boxer in 1970. Wang Yu had served because the movie’s author, director, and star, allegedly main Bruce Lee to hunt an identical problem.
Lee’s choice to pursue his personal thought for a martial arts movie did not kill Lo Wei’s plans, nevertheless. The director moved ahead with the movie regardless, however with Jimmy Wang Yu taking part in the function he had in thoughts for Bruce Lee. And it might appear that the choice was no coincidence; based on Polly, Lo Wei in all probability did forged Wang Yu as a slight to Lee.
A Man Referred to as Tiger Is An Underrated Martial Arts Basic
After all, it goes with out saying that A Man Referred to as Tiger would most take pleasure in a a lot larger legacy than the one it has immediately if Bruce Lee had agreed to star. However that does not imply it suffers from his absence; Jimmy Wang Yu handily carries A Man Referred to as Tiger, turning Chin Fu right into a drive to be reckoned with.
Jimmy Wang Yu could not have had the electrifying, real-life martial arts abilities of Bruce Lee, however because of motion pictures like The One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese language Boxer, he appeared proper at residence within the function of a vengeance-obsessed, single-minded martial artist with no qualms about killing his enemies.
Not not like the bloody crusades that Keanu Reeves would embark on as John Wick a long time later, Wang Yu’s Chin Fu dazzles together with his no-nonsense, unforgiving ways as he single-handedly makes brief work of dozens of gangsters. Brilliantly underscoring the violence that he unleashes in A Man Referred to as Tiger is his go well with, which fits from white to blood-soaked purple earlier than the preventing ends.