Bruce Lee is the King of Kung Fu.

That’s it, really. Jackie Chan may be faster and funnier, and Jet Li, all the hip hop guys love him, and this new guy from Thailand, Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak), can apparently pass through solid objects, but Bruce Lee is the King, brother, the solid gold, bullet-proof, ding-dong daddy of them all – has been since his death in 1973, still is, always will be. Why, you ask? Because while all of the martial arts superstars since Bruce’s untimely departure have been unquestionable champs in one or two areas, whether it was fighting or agility or charm or humor, Bruce had all of the shit down pat. He was incredibly fast, staggeringly agile, a handsome bastard, a good actor (no, seriously), intensely dedicated to his particular talents (he invented a whole new form of kung fu, called jeet kune do), and capable of just about everything in regard to filmmaking, from producing and directing to stunt coordination. Plus, he had personal magnetism to beat the band – chicks dug him, and guys wanted to be him. And that magnetism made for major box office success, both in his own country and here in the States, which in turn, helped brought martial arts movies out of the grindhouse and into the mainstream, and created a demand for it – which led to guys like Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao and Jet Li and Sammo Hung, and yeah, even Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme – basically, all contenders to the throne of Bruce Lee. And while I’m not gonna knock any of those guys (even Jean-Claude), the fact of the matter is, they’re stars – Bruce Lee was a cultural icon.

And if ya don’t believe me, 20th Century Fox is making a heck of a case for Bruce Lee with this new five-disc Ultimate Collection boxed set. Now, here’s the deal – Enter the Dragon is not included in the set because it’s owned by Warner Bros., so all the nerds in the audience can close their trap about it or go over to Mobius Home Video Forum and launch a boycott. But even without Dragon, you’re still getting four classic Bruce Lee movies – Bruce’s debut in The Big Boss (which we saw Stateside as Fist of Fury), which is the movie that spawned the line used by every Bruce imitator since – “You want to fight, fight me.” It’s followed by Fist of Fury (again, which we saw as The Chinese Connection), in which Bruce single-handedly beats the entire nation of Japan into submission (the incredible “No Dogs and Chinese” scene is a major source of pride for Chinese fans), and then Bruce’s debut as producer, writer and director, Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon for us Yankees). This one’s ultra-boss for any number of reasons, but the real draw is the brawl between Bruce and an astoundingly hairy Chuck Norris in the bowels of the Coliseum in Rome. Hot stuff, especially when Bruce rips out a fistful of Chuck’s chest fluff, and then blows it off his hand with a sneer. I’m telling you – King of Kung Fu. Believe it.

Ultimate Collection also includes Bruce’s last legitimate film appearance, Game of Death, which he began in 1972, but was completed long after his death in 1979. There is a lot of shady business about Game – obvious doubles are used throughout, and in one jaw-dropping scene, a headshot of Bruce is superimposed in a mirror which hovers over a stunt actor’s torso. But on the plus side, you do get some wild fights, most notably between Bruce and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, whose extremely skinny frame and elongated limbs make him resemble a giant black praying mantis. Oh, and ‘70s super-fox Colleen Camp, who was in The Swinging Cheerleaders and Ebony, Ivory and Jade, also shows up, but even she can’t upstage Bruce in his badass yellow jump suit (and yes, The Bride wears the same one in Kill Bill, Vol. 1).

As for Game of Death II, well, let’s just say that while it’s a lousy movie, and Bruce’s “participation” is relegated to outtakes from Enter the Dragon and Game of Death, its inclusion in this set is somewhat appropriate, since for years after Bruce’s death, the Hong Kong film industry generated dozens of “Brucesploitation” movies, all built around crappy throwaway clips, like from The Green Hornet TV show, or featuring guys who bore some resemblance to him and were stuck with names like Bruce Le, Bruce Rhee, Dragon Lee, Conan Lee, and so on. The Bruce knockoffs, while uniformly bad, were a consistent subgenre in martial arts and exploitation movie circles, and I’m glad that they get a nod in this set.