Bruce Lee Fridays, 10pm every Friday in November on Syfy
(Sky channel 129, Virgin Media channel 135, Talk Talk channel 22)
Legend has it that Bruce Lee once kicked a horse under the chin. Its descendants are known today as giraffes.
Yes, while some martial artists are fast, others strong and one or two have the wisdom of an ancient philosopher, there has only ever been one Bruce Lee. He was the original kung fu megastar ? a wise, majestic and sublimely graceful master who persuaded a generation of men to shut the fridge door with a roundhouse kick while shouting the word ?hai-ya!? And now Syfy is kicking up a storm in memory of the action star who paved the way for the likes of Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen.
In THE WAY OF THE DRAGON (Friday 5 November) Lee plays a Hong Kong country boy helping a relative whose Chinese restaurant in Italy is threatened by vicious American karate experts. Former karate champion turned-actor Chuck Norris also takes a bow. Watch out for the gripping climax, when Lee and Norris fight to the death in Rome?s famous Colosseum.
Lee is at his death-defying best in FIST OF FURY (Friday 12 November) . The rivalry between the pupils of Chinese and Japanese martial arts schools gets out of hand when a student dies, leading to a battle that threatens to claim more lives. Lee is as charismatic as ever in this high-kicking adventure, with support from Nora Miao and James Tien.
GAME OF DEATH (Friday 19 November) will forever be tinged with tragedy as Lee was in the middle of shooting it when he died. A double was drafted in to complete the filming, with the resulting footage carefully edited together. The thriller co-starring Gig Young is well worth a look as it sees the man himself as an actor who fakes his own demise to wreak revenge on his enemies.
Finally, cinema buffs will be pleased to see Lee in one of his earliest roles in THE BIG BOSS (Friday 26 November). It?s the tale of an ice factory worker who decides it?s about time his crooked boss was punished for trafficking in heroin, and sets about the task himself. The furniture may take a bit of a pounding after watching these great movies as middle-aged men roll back the years and practise their roundhouse kicks, but in terms of pure entertainment, this celebration of a legend promises more fireworks than Bonfire Night.
Find out more at http://www.syfy.co.uk
