[ARCHIVED THREAD] - The Bruce Lee Firearm Collection (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 5/27/2009 3:01:06 PM EDT
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Now most folks don't know this, and quite a few...especially modern martial artist, will react with the same horror to the notion that Bruce Lee owned guns that religious fundamentalists do when confronted by evidence of evolution. But the fact remains, Lee owned guns.
Now it is well known that many of his contemporary martial artists and associates such as Ed Parker were avid gun collectors and shooters. Ed Parker was known for his collection of AR-15s even in the late 60s and is often cited as being the one who got Elvis Presley involved in collecting what would come to be known as "black rifles." Other Lee associates such as Steven McQueen are known to have been NFA collectors. And despite Lee's martial prowess he is never known to have been dismissive of guns in his films. To the contrary in "Enter The Dragon" he quips the line 'Now why doesn't someone pull out a .45 and "bang" settle it?" as an alternative to a government agencies complicated infiltration by martial artist assassin scenario. Of course plot constructs had to be such that for whatever reason firearms were not an option in order to prevent the movie from being 15 minutes long. In another film "Return of the Dragon" when threatened by the Mob, Lee inquires about buying a gun for protection. A line that can still make modern martial arts devotees who think "real fighters don't need guns" cringe. Now it is not known exactly what firearms Lee owned. Despite his modern "non classical" approach to most things, he tended to gravitate towards the traditional when it came to his weapon collection. It is unlikely Parker convinced him to buy a AR-15 but a few sources suggest he did own a 1911 handgun and a .38 revolver (probably an early S&W). And from my personal collection of rare Bruce Lee photos here is the only "known" photo of firearms owned by Lee. 
He bought these two antique rifles in Rome while filming "Way of the Dragon" (released as Return of the Dragon in the US). And while most people know he was skilled with the nunchaku, most do not know he was skilled with many "traditional" Chinese weapons such as the Three Sectional Staff as seen here in another rare photo. 
And while many Lee devotees have seen footage of him doing a one handed, two finger push up almost nobody has seen him doing "thumb" push ups with arms extended above his head. I cannot begin to describe just how difficult this is to do. 
And one of my favorite Lee photos (although not terribly rare) is of Lee with his young son Brandon. Many martial artists were dismissive of Brandon when he began making films which incorporated martial arts and stated that he was never a serious student and only recently began his training prior to making films such as "Rapid Fire." This photo easily disproves that misconception as well. 
Well I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the man that was Bruce Lee. And despite having as much reason as any man to think "I don't need a gun", Lee was intelligent enough to know what works and what works best when it came to personal protection. And if a guy like Bruce Lee tells you "You might want to get a gun for protection", then the Sarah Brady "You don't need a gun" argument becomes that much more ridiculous. |
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it should no suprise to anyone. a well rounded martial artists should be perfectly functional in all weapons including modern ones. it's another tool in the bag. Yup, samurai were trained in swordsmanship, the spear, the bow, unarmed combat, and horsemanship. So all arfcommers need to take classes in jujitsu, bayonet thrusting, tactical driving, and backflip tomahawk throwing or else be considered full-retard by samurai standards. Awesome pics, we must see more!!!! 
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Where did you find these pictures? They are scans from my personal collection. Many came from people who knew him or trained under somebody who knew him. You got any more of these pictures? I have about 500+ rare Bruce Lee photos in my collection. I would have to scan and upload them though. |
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he knew more than just nunchaku and sectional staff. wing chun doesn't teach the sectional staff or nunchaku, so he learned those somewhere else, where his first weapon would have been a regular staff. with that instructor he could have went on to the saber, which he probably did. with wing chun he would have known the eight slash knives and no other weapons. (6-1/2 point pole is more of a training aid) he probably knew quite a few weapons actually, looks like he got around. I do know he did want to do a "sword" film next, and was capable of doing that.
as far as I know, military guns were regarded as novelties up till the 70's. not surprising that AR's weren't much in the picture. so let me explain the pushups with fingers. this will link the various observations of his 3-finger, 2-finger and thumb pushups all together. you start off using your fingers, all of them, palm off the ground, using the pads of the fingers, not only because you are strengthening the grabbing muscles of the fingers, but also because in traditional chinese medicine, there are qi channels going from the fingertips to the eyes, therefore tough fingertips supposedly can damage eyesight. but that doesn't explain other techniques where fingertips are toughened to penetrate soft targets, or why guitarists aren't blind in one eye. anyways... you start off with all fingers, then without the pinky, then with only the thumb, first finger and middle finger, then with only the thumb and first finger, then with only the thumb. 
here is a picture of what you might do with it. 
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He who knows not and knows not he knows not, He is a fool. Shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not, He is simple. Teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows, He is asleep. Awaken him. He who knows and knows that he knows, He is wise. Follow him. - Bruce Lee |
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Quoted: Quoted: Mr. Lee believed in all forms of self defense. Iv heard from one of his former students he would load up his entire class in vans and take them to the shooting range some days. I never knew that. The things you learn on arfcom. I learned that he was a hack on arfcom. |
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Ok, here are some more.
Here he is doing the more commonly seen one handed two finger push up he was famous for. 
Here is a shot of Bruce's well conditioned knuckles. By many accounts his back fist was similar to getting hit by a marble from a sling shot. 
So as the joke goes, what happens when you get Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in the same room? The answer is usually Bob Wall gets hurt. Here Chuck Norris (who is out of frame) is kicking a cigarette out of the mouth of Bob Wall while Bruce Lee looks on. This was done for a Hong Kong TV appearance. 
And here is a photo taken of a rehearsal for a fight sequence in the film "Enter the Dragon." 
I'll try and find some more photos of interest and get them scanned in later this week. |
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While we are on the subject, Youtube has some pretty good footage hosted.
For those who have never seen Lee in action the guy was incredibly fast, and all without special effect. While choreographed, the scene in "Enter The Dragon" with Bruce Lee and Bob Wall really showcases how fast and agile a fighter Bruce was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJGndrjP0i8 Bruce was also know for adding a bit of "realism" to the fight choreography, especially if those involved were trained martial artists. Bob Wall, who has the distinctions of having been Bruce Lee's favorite on screen punching bag (defeated by Bruce in 3 of his 4 films and killed by a Bruce Lee double in the last film Game of Death) and also being the highest paid martial arts instructor in the country, recounted many times just how "real" a fight scene with Bruce Lee could be. Additionally the History Channel recently aired "How Bruce Lee Changed The World" and it was pretty comprehensive and will be enlightening to many people. It's simply too bad he died so young, he had so much more to offer. |
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Are those matchlocks or flintlocks? Hard to tell, but they are probably wheel locks. From people I talked to who knew him, he seemed to really go for the seriously old stuff and paid some pretty high prices to get some of them. He was also a serious student of antique firearms and quite the expert when it came to identifying various examples. One of my favorite Lee photos is of his personally library, it was huge and covered a wide range of subjects. |
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iirc, earlier films such as from the Green Lantern tv series the action was too fast for people to catch, they had to speed up the cameras so when played back it was slower. but his nunchuks weren't so fast, they slowed down the cameras so it played back faster.
later films his nuchuks were too fast, so they speeded up cameras for slower playback. (I don't know why he didn't just do them slower in the first place) if I remember right. |
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Since the other Bruce Lee thread got ruined.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QHslHpK4-Q |
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Quoted: A friend of mine took some rather unique photos the other day. He stopped at the grave of Bruce and Brandon Lee and there was a naked asian woman sitting there on the bench. We have no idea what that was all about, anyone here know? Sign of the impending fapacolypse? |
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A friend of mine took some rather unique photos the other day. He stopped at the grave of Bruce and Brandon Lee and there was a naked asian woman sitting there on the bench. We have no idea what that was all about, anyone here know? Sign of the impending fapacolypse? LOL! |
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Ok, scanned a few more good ones. Most are not any kind of "action" photo but Bruce being himself.
This one was probably taken in his "Green Hornet" days. I don't know for sure. 
Here is Bruce and the late Sharon Tate on the set of "The Wrecking Crew" (1969). Bruce Lee was the martial arts adviser. This was also technically the first film Chuck Norris starred in although he is uncredited and in a very minor role. Joe Lewis and Ed Parker performed many of the martial arts scenes. Sharon Tate would be murdered by the Manson Family while pregnant later in 1969. 
A very young Bruce Lee and his motorcycle. 
Bruce Lee at the University of Washington where he majored in Philosophy. 
A simply wonderful shot of Brandon Lee playing at a Hong Kong park. 
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