Teenage Boys Were Prohibited From Imitating Bruce Lee’s Character From His Historic Film in 1960

While Bruce Lee’s 1960 movie Mr Orphan was a tremendous success, this achievement had unfortunate repercussions on teenage boys. In 2018, Matthew Polly’s biography named Bruce Lee: A life disclosed the negative effect of Lee’s success on teenage boys who tried to imitate Lee. The biography also related the strict action the teachers had to take to put a stop to it.

Lee played a controversial role in the movie The Orphan. He portrayed the role of Ah Sum, an unruly orphan who gains the friendship of the school’s principal and enrolls in the school. The character of Lee in the movie is also a pickpocket who steals things to earn a living. Disturbing the school’s normal routine, Ah Sum also smokes in the movie. So what were the students imitating that teachers had to prohibit them from acting out?

Bruce Lee’s imitation led to chaos and created a menace for the teachers

Matthew Polly’s biography recounted how the character of Ah Sum affected the students’ minds so much so that they tried to imitate how Lee smoked cigarettes. This indicates the immense popularity of The Orphan which became the first Hong Kong movie to receive international acclaim, breaking previous box office records. Further, the biography related how the students tried to copy Lee’s cha-cha dance routine in the movie. In the movie, whenever the principal tries to help Ah Sum, Lee’s character instead does a cha-cha dance and ignores the principal.

Later, the biography also mentioned the severe action a principal recommended to stop students from emulating Lee. According to the principal, a banner needed to be put outside the school’s entrance to prohibit students from emulating Lee’s Ah Sum’s character.

Read More: A Devastating Landslide Allowed Bruce Lee to Reestablish His Image in 1972

The Orphan wasn’t The Little Phoenix’s only movie that got popular. Another of Lee’s movies that achieved tremendous fame was the 1973 film Enter The Dragon. A scene that became well-known across the globe was the climax, fought between Chuck Norris and Lee in the movie. Once, Norris shed light on the true story behind this climax scene.

Chuck Norris’s account of the climax scene that entertained millions

Norris recalled that the Enter the Dragon crew didn’t have any legal permit to shoot this scene. According to Norris, The Little Phoenix had to resort to bribery to get permission to shoot the scene. Further, the crew had a limited time of 60 minutes to complete shooting the scene. Norris remarked that after an hour, the Enter the Dragon team was told to pack up by the officials. He later said that for him, the scene was, “The Classic Martial Arts Fight Scene of All Time.” According to a report by the newsfeed WAMU, the movie earned more than $20 million in the United States.

The report of Lee’s imitation by young teenage boys, raises an important debate about whether movies such as The Orphan should be shown to very young audiences. What do you think should be done to prevent any negative effects of movies on young, impressionable children? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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