Aug 11, 2026 · 1 hr 19 min · 21 segments
By 2011, the classic pulp character The Green Hornet had already been featured on the radio (where he was first born), movie screens (in a couple serials from the '40s), TV screens (in the 1966 series…
Bruce Lee didn't lose on-screen fights, and for good reason.
It was not only his strict professional policy to ensure his characters would establish Chinese pride and effectively show off his own creative martial art, Jeet Kune Do, but also, during his incredible 1971 to 1973 run, which saw the release of four films that made Lee an international icon and kickstarted a global kung fu movie craze that spanned the 70s and beyond, audiences didn't want to see Lee defeated.
Oh, sure, he would face tough challenges from opponents seemingly his equal, such as Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1978 posthumous release Game of Death.
But still, Lee would always rally and vanquish his opponents, and that's what fans, enamored with his badass persona, wanted to see.
Which might help at least partly explain why a certain sequence in the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was so controversial, as it not only depicted Lee arguably losing a fight, but this wasn't even meant to be one of Lee's fictional characters, but rather the actual Bruce Lee himself.
Of course, it was not the actual Bruce Lee in the film, but a Lee played by Korean-American actor and martial artist Mike Moe.
In the scene, an arrogant, boastful Lee, seen bragging about how he would cripple Cassius Clay in a real fight, subsequently engages in an impromptu best-of-three, first-hit-the-ground sparring match against the tough Hollywood stuntman Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, on the set of the 1966 TV show The Green Hornet, the series that first made Lee a star in America.
In the first round, Lee easily kicks Booth to the ground, but in round two, Booth violently throws Lee into the side of a car.
Round three is interrupted before an official victor can be declared, though even the fact that Booth and Lee are seen evenly fighting to a possible standstill was more than some fans like to see.
It's notable that Tarantino's original script did call for Booth to win, but Brad Pitt objected to this, arguing for the unresolved outcome instead.
Still, even in its eventual form, the scene drew criticisms and condemnations from not only many of Lee's fans, but also some who knew him, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who called the scene sloppy and racist, and Lee's daughter Shannon, who said it was painful to see her father portrayed as a jerk, and called Tarantino an arrogant asshole for his depiction of Lee.
Tarantino's refusal to cut the scene even led to the film's release in China being canceled.
In his own defense, Tarantino argued there was historical basis for his depiction of Li, pointing out that Li's widow Linda had allegedly said Li felt he could beat Muhammad Ali in her biography of her late husband.
More significantly, Tarantino pointed to alleged stories of how the stuntman on the Green Hornet series did consider Lee arrogant, and hated working with him because of how rough he was with them in their fight scenes.
Lee's co-star, Van Williams, who played the titular Green Hornet, has claimed Lee dislocated a set designer's jaw with his habit of randomly high-kicking people on set, and Bruce Lee's friend and stuntman Gene LaBelle has stated he was tasked with calming Bruce down on set, acknowledging how much the other stuntmen dreaded working with him.
However true those claims may be, it should also be noted that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place in Tarantino's fictionalized fantasy version of reality.
The movie also ends with Cliff Booth and fictional movie star Rick Dalton defeating the Manson family and sparing the life of Sharon Tate.
That Tarantino included Lee at all in his tribute to what he sees as the glory days of the movie business is arguably just more testament to the enduring status of Lee's legacy and legend.
After all, it's doubtful that, years from now, anyone will similarly make a movie featuring a behind-the-scenes sequence from the 2000s movie inspired by Lee's first iconic role.
The year is 2011, and Sony and Columbia Pictures are ready to unleash a new comedic take on a classic pulp character of radio, television, and comics, and in the process, hopefully launch the next big superhero movie franchise with The Green Hornet.
Bruce Lee didn't lose on-screen fights, and for good reason.
It was not only his strict professional policy to ensure his characters would establish Chinese pride and effectively show off his own creative martial art, Jeet Kune Do, but also, during his incredible 1971 to 1973 run, which saw the release of four films that made Lee an international icon and kickstarted a global kung fu movie craze that spanned the 70s and beyond, audiences didn't want to see Lee defeated.
Oh, sure, he would face tough challenges from opponents seemingly his equal, such as Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1978 posthumous release Game of Death.
But still, Lee would always rally and vanquish his opponents, and that's what fans, enamored with his badass persona, wanted to see.
Which might help at least partly explain why a certain sequence in the 2019 Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was so controversial, as it not only depicted Lee arguably losing a fight, but this wasn't even meant to be one of Lee's fictional characters, but rather the actual Bruce Lee himself.
Of course, it was not the actual Bruce Lee in the film, but a Lee played by Korean-American actor and martial artist Mike Moe.
In the scene, an arrogant, boastful Lee, seen bragging about how he would cripple Cassius Clay in a real fight, subsequently engages in an impromptu best-of-three, first-hit-the-ground sparring match against the tough Hollywood stuntman Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, on the set of the 1966 TV show The Green Hornet, the series that first made Lee a star in America.
In the first round, Lee easily kicks Booth to the ground, but in round two, Booth violently throws Lee into the side of a car.
Round three is interrupted before an official victor can be declared, though even the fact that Booth and Lee are seen evenly fighting to a possible standstill was more than some fans like to see.
It's notable that Tarantino's original script did call for Booth to win, but Brad Pitt objected to this, arguing for the unresolved outcome instead.
Still, even in its eventual form, the scene drew criticisms and condemnations from not only many of Lee's fans, but also some who knew him, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who called the scene sloppy and racist, and Lee's daughter Shannon, who said it was painful to see her father portrayed as a jerk, and called Tarantino an arrogant asshole for his depiction of Lee.
Tarantino's refusal to cut the scene even led to the film's release in China being canceled.
In his own defense, Tarantino argued there was historical basis for his depiction of Li, pointing out that Li's widow Linda had allegedly said Li felt he could beat Muhammad Ali in her biography of her late husband.
More significantly, Tarantino pointed to alleged stories of how the stuntman on the Green Hornet series did consider Lee arrogant, and hated working with him because of how rough he was with them in their fight scenes.
Lee's co-star, Van Williams, who played the titular Green Hornet, has claimed Lee dislocated a set designer's jaw with his habit of randomly high-kicking people on set, and Bruce Lee's friend and stuntman Gene LaBelle has stated he was tasked with calming Bruce down on set, acknowledging how much the other stuntmen dreaded working with him.
However true those claims may be, it should also be noted that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place in Tarantino's fictionalized fantasy version of reality.
The movie also ends with Cliff Booth and fictional movie star Rick Dalton defeating the Manson family and sparing the life of Sharon Tate.
That Tarantino included Lee at all in his tribute to what he sees as the glory days of the movie business is arguably just more testament to the enduring status of Lee's legacy and legend.
After all, it's doubtful that, years from now, anyone will similarly make a movie featuring a behind-the-scenes sequence from the 2000s movie inspired by Lee's first iconic role.
The year is 2011, and Sony and Columbia Pictures are ready to unleash a new comedic take on a classic pulp character of radio, television, and comics, and in the process, hopefully launch the next big superhero movie franchise with The Green Hornet.
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