Why does everyone think Bruce Lee is so good?

Question

Like how can they really tell he was an amazing fighter because aren't movies choreographed?

Answer 1

Because he was so good. He didn't just fight in movies.

Answer 2

Because he was.

Of course movies are choreographed, but Lee was a terrifying real life fighter as well. Being born in both the year and day of the dragon, it was assumed he was special at an early age.

His accomplishments include:

Breaking out of traditional martial arts. Truly Bruce was the first to truly say that there is no one way that is perfection, only the culmination of philosophy and fighting techniques. Take what works and discard what doesn't. This is what lead to the MMA movement today, and he was recently honored by the UFC for that fact.

The "one inch punch" powerful enough to destroy a person at only one inch. Not fictional, under goading Lee demonstrated this at least once and sent the man flying into the swimming pool with a large welt on his chest, even though he was wearing heavy padding.

God like speed--through years of training Bruce Lee had strikes almost unparallel in speed. However, he also had power behind them. They actually had to slow down certain filmed portions of his fighting, where most Chinese movies had to comically speed up their "actors".

Teaching martial arts to the masses--When Lee first came to America he was told not to teach to "non-Chinese" and was challenged when he told them, "I teach who I want". He chased and beat their selected "Champion".

The list goes on and on....

Answer 3

You need to read and study more of Bruce Lee's background.

Bruce Lee had proven himself a capable martial artist in the United States in front of many expert practitioners. It was said he "quieted the critics" in his blind folded demonstrations of Wing Chun blocking techniques. Like Stephen Segal, Bruce Lee was an excellent & legitimate practitioner of the Martial Arts way before he ever got into films.

While Bruce Lee introduced the martial arts to the popular mind in the United States, and astounded many Americans, on his return to China he was considered average. The Chinese director of many of Bruce Lee's Hong Kong action flicks, Mr. Run Run Shaw, was "not impressed" with Bruce Lee. That is how good they are in China.

Answer 4

It's not so much a question of whether he was good, but more a question of how good he could've been. He was considered an icon and ahead of his time. And the fact that he died in the prime of his life just as he was able to make his international breakthrough in movies made it all the more intriguing. People can't help but wonder how things would've turned out had he not died. As for the question of how people can really tell he was an amazing person, well before the people of today's generation who were weaned on cable television and playstation were born, a long time ago people actually read books as a past time. And there were many books and auto-biographies on the life of Bruce Lee as well as a couple of books which he wrote himself. There were also magazine and TV interviews of his students, friends and colleagues in the both the showbiz and martial arts community during the time of his death. And those people who grew up during his era followed his life the way fans today follow the life and careers of their fave heroes like Chuck Norris or Michael Jordan or the Rock. Just because they starred in movies doesn't mean they were just actors and weren't any good in their respective fields offscreen.

Answer 5

Alright, I can understand your confusion, but truely, Bruce Lee WAS a great martial artist, fighter, phillosopher, and human being.
For one, he was less than 1% body fat.

For another, has anyone seen his one-inch punch? http://youtube.com/watch?v=keS3OTNger8

He did all his own stunts

He trained under Master Yip Man in China, and took many of his cherished secrets to the grave.

He graduated from the UW(University of Washington) after studying Phillosophy.

He did many demonstrations in reality, and taught to others while not on camera.

He was an instructor of martial arts to actors in martial arts movies, not a fake.

He created his own style of martial arts that is simply a way of fighting, as he said it, and he called it Jeet Kun Do, meaning "The way of the intercepting fist".

He actually met and trained Chuck Norris at a time when they were in Game of Death together, and Norris once admitted that Lee would win in an actual fight, and it was true and still is.

Bruce Lee WAS a great person and martial artist, and I know it's easy to think he's just an actor, but he did his own stunts and I don't think he's ever used wirework. Maybe once for the absolutely humanly impossible stunts, but I have yet to find one.

Answer 6

Bruce lee was a great if not the greatest known martial artist of our time.I have seen the man demonstrate in the early 70's with Bill Wall,Chuck Norris,Bill Wallace,Benny Rodriquez and all those Icons that kick started the martial arts crave in this country.I seen the one inch punch knock a 270 plus pound-er slide across the floor by this little man.If he wasn't so good why did all the he roe's on TV at the time take lessons from the man? He taught Jabbar,Steve McQueen,Elvis and so on.

Answer 7

he was a great fighter yes but the best in the world no.He even said that Ali would beat him in a fight simply from his foot work. and yes he was fast as hell but the reason he had to slow his kicks/punches were because of the time era of the video recorders it was just so blurry that it didn't look rite on film. If you really want to know who the best fighter was it was O'Senei he created and taught a style that he later called Aikido.

Answer 8

He was the first to popularize martial arts outside of the orient.
He invented his own martial art-Jeet Kun Do, (whilst recovering fron a broken back).
He choreographed his own(and other peoples) fight scenes.

I suggest you take time to watch Dragon:the Bruce Lee Story(based on his widow's book) and then watch his movies,then you may understand why he's thought of as one of the best martial artists to have ever lived.

Answer 9

Bruce was a martial artist first and an actor 2nd. Most other martial art actors are the opposite. They are actors first. Bruce unlike most of them has been in real fights using his skills. Were they video taped or documented? No, they weren't. But hey it was the 1960's and 70's their were no camera phones or hand held video cameras, and how do you document a street fight. Bruce Lee was good because he was constantly improving. He didn't restrict himself like many traditional artists do today.

Answer 10

At the end of the day whether you like him or not he dedicated his life to the art of fighting and as such one would assume that he was pretty good at it.

There are not many people around that have spent the amount of time and energy in developing his level of skills and sheer power.

Even if nothing else he could hit like a steam train and that's good enough in most fights.

Answer 11

when i started learning martial arts- i thought a punch was just a punch, and a kick was just a kick... after i began training i realized that a punch was no longer a punch and a kick was more than just a kick.... now that i understand my art, a punch really is just a punch--and a kick really is just a kick....

thats Lee's quote... not word for word, but im sure you get the idea...

bruce lee was great because of what he understood...and what he passed on. his ability was incredible, but this small compared to his thirst for the martial arts. he is an icon for all of us who eat sleep and dream martial arts.

he taught you dispite your race... something that was not allowed in kung fu back then----this makes him the some what of a martin luther king jr of the martial arts community.