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A BETTER YESTERDAY – EP. 2: THE ONCE AND FUTURE DRAGON
In this second episode of A Better Yesterday, Ross O’Brien continues his deep-dive with Hong Kong Cinemissimo Bey Logan, focusing on how Bruce Lee swam through the streams of both Hong Kong and American pop culture to become the most iconic figure in martial arts cinema history.
Was Bruce Lee a once-in-history anomaly, or the inevitable product of Hong Kong’s cultural crosswinds? Looking at his San Francisco birth to Hong Kong childhood in a Cantonese opera family, his early child-star film roles, and his immersion in multiple martial arts lineages, Bey also examines the overlooked influence of filmmakers like Ng Cho-fan, who gave young Bruce screencraft—and a strong sense of social conscience.
We look at Bruce’s martial arts philosophy — Jeet Kune Do — and how his ideas about cross-training, ranges of combat, and “being like water” prefigured modern MMA. Then we turn to Bruce’s uneasy Hollywood years: the promise and limits of *The Green Hornet* and *Longstreet*, the language-and-accent barrier that kept him out of leading roles, and the almost-made philosophical epic *The Silent Flute* with James Coburn and Sterling Silliphant. When that project stalls and Hollywood won’t build a vehicle around him, Bruce reluctantly turns back to Hong Kong — setting the stage for *The Big Boss*.
*The Big Boss* is a deceptively simple “naive villager vs. heroin syndicate” plot. But this rough-edged, modestly budgeted actioner—with its embedded class politics, and quiet innovation in updating kung fu cinema to a post–French Connection era of globalized crime—detonated at the Hong Kong box office, instantly turning Bruce into the biggest action star in Asia.
Join the pair in another ramble, about Bruce Lee as migrant kid, street fighter, philosopher, movie star, and global myth.
Films, series, and works discussed:
*Born Free* (1966)
*Golden Gate Girl* (1941)
*The Orphan* (1960)
*The Green Hornet* (TV, 1966–1967)
*Longstreet* (TV, 1971–1972)
*Kung Fu* (TV, 1972–1975)
*The Big Boss* / *Fists of Fury* (1971)
*Fist of Fury* / *The Chinese Connection* (1972)
*The Chinese Boxer* (1970)
*The Way of the Dragon* (1972)
*Game of Death* (1972–1978)
*Enter the Dragon* (1973)
*The Silent Flute* / *Circle of Iron* (1978)
This episode was recorded in a quiet corner of The New Era Martial Arts Club and was mixed and produced, as ever, by Mark Haskins of Post-Op Media. Check out Bey’s books at www.reeleast.com!
YOUR HOSTS
Bey Logan (A Better Yesterday)
Bey Logan is a Hong Kong-based screenwriter, producer and martial arts film historian. His films include Jackie Chan’s ‘The Medallion’ and ‘The Twins Effect’, Sammo Hung’s ‘Dragon Squad’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny’, which starred Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh. He has produced documentaries about Bruce Lee, as well as a book entitled ‘Bruce Lee and I’. Bey’s recent publications include the two-volume ‘36 Chambers of Kung Fu Cinema’.
Ross O’Brien (A Better Yesterday)
Ross O’Brien writes about technology and economics in Asia from a fishing village on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. Most evenings he stares out at the South China Sea, fretting about what the salt air is doing to his comic books and Del Rey paperbacks. He has no film credits to speak of, unless you count the voice-overs he did for Vidal Sassoon shampoo commercials when he was hard up in Singapore in the 1990s.
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