Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 12, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest and Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K sets.

In the vein of Everything Everywhere All At Once, could it be that Arrow Video and Shout! Factory are actually "each other" in alternate universes? Of course that's said in jest, but considering the following facts. Arrow has given martial arts fans holiday presents of a kind for two years running with Shawscope Volume One and Shawscope Volume Two, and Shout! is now starting to trot out their own collections with Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume One, Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Two, and Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Three. There's also a corollary if reversed situation in that Shout! released Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection years ago and now Arrow is following suit with its own collection, all of which may give credence to my obviously whimsical proposition. (For purposes of this obviously joking comparison, we're just going to flat out ignore Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits from Criterion, as well as any number of other releases in various regions that have come out through the years.) As Bruce Lee fans in particular will probably know, the Shout! release of Lee films was afflicted with so many problems that it was actually recalled (more than once, kind of humorously), resulting in me having to revisit some of the films several times as Shout! attempted to remedy various problems (I got a downright hilarious private message from our site administrator at one point with this hilarious photo of a train wreck when the second or third recall was announced). One can only hope that the Arrow release doesn't encounter that series of unfortunate events (I'm hoping against hope we would know by now if it had any major issues), but it's another really stunning collection from the label, with generally secure technical merits and some outstanding supplements, along with some handsome deluxe packaging.

Even this set from Arrow gets into some of the aspects of so-called "Brucesploitation", but as this documentary makes abundantly clear (as if The Game of Death hadn't already), there was probably no more devoted exploiter than Golden Harvest. This documentary was rushed out in the wake of Lee's tragic death, and it has the kind of smarmy feeling of a tabloid article at times, including scenes from Lee's funeral (which of course were featured in the aforementioned film). This has some passingly interesting information on Lee and his brief time as a television and film superstar, but it never really attempts to delve much past the surface of things, something that the ensuing The Legend arguably did a bit better.

Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's beautiful hardback book included with this release contains the following information on the transfer of this film and its disc mate:

High definition masters of the two documentaries, Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend and Bruce Lee: The Legend, were supplied to Arrow Films by Fortune Star Media Limited. Additional optimisation and audio conforming on both films was undertaken on behalf of Arrow Films by Brandon Bentley.

Most of the film clips in this piece look rather good, if maybe not quite at the lustrous levels seen in the actual transfers, but a lot of the contemporary "newsreel"-ish footage, especially of the funeral and some of the subsequent moments like Linda and the kids arriving to take the body back to America, can look pretty shoddy. There's therefore an undeniably heterogeneous appearance to things, with varying quality levels with regard to everything from palette reproduction to detail levels to the resolution of grain.

Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that is a little thin sounding, especially with regard to the omnipresent narration. That said, all spoken material is delivered without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend and Bruce Lee: Legend on one disc, with the following supplementary material:

• The Legend: Alternate Video Version (HD; 1:23:56)


• A Tour of Golden Harvest Studios (HD; 7:13) features Russell Cawthorne.


• Enter the Dragon: Alternate HK Credits (HD; 2:17)


• Theatrical Trailers

  The Man & The Legend (HD; 2:24)

  
  

  The Legend (HD; 2:06)

• Image Gallery (HD)

Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend smacks of a quickie documentary slapped together to cash in on Lee's tragic death, and if it's accepted as such, it provides a decent amount of information. Technical merits are generally solid for those who may be considering making a purchase.