The Clones of Bruce Lee

Lore & Background

The film's plot begins on July 20, 1973, immediately after the death of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong. Colonel Colin of the Special Branch of Investigations asks Professor Lucas, a brilliant scientist, to take samples of the late master's brain tissue. Using these samples, Lucas creates three perfect clones of Lee: Bruce Lee #1, Bruce Lee #2, and Bruce Lee #3. They are trained in martial arts by Bolo Yeung and Chiang Tao, and their mission is to fight crime in Southeast Asia. Bruce Lee #1 goes undercover as an actor for a corrupt, gold-smuggling producer who plans to have him die on camera. Meanwhile, the other two clones go to Thailand where they meet up with Chuck Lee Sing, a local SBI agent who is not a clone but who also resembles Bruce Lee. They have been assigned to kill Dr. Ngai, a mad scientist who is plotting to take over the world with his army of bronze automatons: men whose skin turns to metal when they are injected with Ngai's special formula. The clones successfully complete their missions and return to Hong Kong. But Professor Lucas, disgruntled because he feels he was not properly rewarded by the SBI for creating the clones, pits them against one another. The professor's female assistants stop the three clones from fighting amongst themselves, and Lucas sends out a small army of men to dispatch the clones. By the end of the film, Bruce Lee #3 has been killed—but so have all of Professor Lucas's henchmen (including the two kung-fu instructors, both defeated by Bruce Lee 1). Bruce Lee #2 finishes off Lucas's personal bodyguard and the professor is arrested.

Reader's Guide

The Clones of Bruce Lee is a key entry in the Bruceploitation subgenre, a cycle of films that emerged after Bruce Lee's 1973 death, featuring actors who imitated his appearance and fighting style. The film is notable for assembling three prominent Lee imitators—Dragon Lee, Bruce Le, and Bruce Lai—alongside Bolo Yeung, who gained fame as the villain Bolo in Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon, and Jon T. Benn, who played the mob boss in Way of the Dragon. The film contains the only fight scene between Bruce Le and Dragon Lee. Critical reception has been mixed: Mark Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema likened it to 'the Plan 9 from Outer Space of Hong Kong cinema,' calling it 'the very definition of bad filmmaking and sleazy exploitation,' while noting 'some decent kung fu action, particularly with Bolo.' A review on The Bad Movie Report found it less enjoyable, criticizing a 'deadening sameness about the fight scenes' that makes up 95% of the film. Despite its low quality, the film's bizarre plot—involving mad scientists, bronze automatons, and clones—has given it a cult status among fans of exploitation cinema.

Did You Know?

• Jon T. Benn, who plays Professor Lucas, is familiar to Bruce Lee fans as the mob boss from Way of the Dragon.
• Bolo Yeung, who appears in this film, won fame for his portrayal of the muscular villain Bolo in Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon.
• The film is also known in English as Death Penalty on Three Robots.