Bruce Lee is, without question, the greatest martial arts film star to ever live. And now the late actor is finally getting the home video collection he deserves thanks to the prestigious Criterion Collection.
The new seven-disc Blu-ray collection from Criterion is called Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits, and it includes the five films for which Lee is best known in the U.S.: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, The Way of the Dragon, and of course, Enter the Dragon. The first four films mentioned are all presented in restored 4K versions, while Enter the Dragon receives new 2K restorations of both the original theatrical cut and the longer special edition.
You’re probably wondering why a five-movie collection requires seven Blu-ray discs, and that’s because the set — in true Criterion fashion — includes a ton of special features. There’s loads of extra footage, commentaries, interviews, documentaries, and even a bonus film in an HD version of Game of Death II. The full list of special content can be viewed below, courtesy of Maxim.
- Alternate audio soundtracks for the films, including original English-dubbed tracks and a 5.1 surround soundtrack for the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon
- Six audio commentaries: on The Big Boss by Bruce Lee expert Brandon Bentley; on The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, and The Way of the Dragon by Hong Kong-film expert Mike Leeder; and on the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon by producer Paul Heller
- High-definition presentation of Game of Death II, the 1981 sequel to Game of Death
- Game of Death Redux, a new presentation of Lee’s original Game of Death footage, produced by Alan Canvan
- New interviews on all five films with Lee biographer Matthew Polly
- New interview with producer Andre Morgan about Golden Harvest, the company behind Hong Kong’s top martial-arts stars, including Lee
- New program about English-language dubbing with voice performers Michael Kaye (the English-speaking voice of Lee’s Chen Zhen in Fist of Fury) and Vaughan Savidge
- New interview with author Grady Hendrix about the “Bruceploitation” subgenre that followed Lee’s death, and a selection of Bruceploitation trailers
- Blood and Steel, a 2004 documentary about the making of Enter the Dragon
- Multiple programs and documentaries about Lee’s life and philosophies, including Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend (1973) and Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (1998)
- Interviews with Linda Lee Cadwell, Lee’s widow, and many of Lee’s collaborators and admirers, including actors Jon T. Benn, Riki Hashimoto, Nora Miao, Robert Wall, Yuen Wah, and Simon Yam and directors Clarence Fok, Sammo Hung, and Wong Jing
- Promotional materials
- New English subtitle translations and subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- An essay by critic Jeff Chang
That’s a whole lot of Bruce Lee content, and you can experience it for yourself when the collection goes on sale on July 14.
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