This poster is about as much as Bruce Lee has to do with the film, by the way.
Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave is a 1976 South Korean martial arts film, directed by Lee Doo-yong. Despite what the title suggests, it has nothing to do with an undead Bruce Lee; rather, it's a redubbed version of a film originally called America Bangmungaeg (Visitor in America), with its only connections to Lee being lead actor Jun Chong getting credited as "Bruce K.L. Lea", and a pre-title sequence showing Lee jumping out of his grave.The storyline features a Taiwanese martial artist named Wong Han travelling to Los Angeles to meet up with his old friend Go Hok Han, who turns out to have died under mysterious circumstances. While investigating his friend's death, Wong Han befriends a waitress named Susan, and discovers that Go Hok Han may have been coerced into working with a drug smuggling ring.
Tropes include:
- Artistic License – Law: Wong Han is told by the police chief after being suspected of murder that he could potentially get the death penalty. Yet he's bailed out for just $2,500, an amount more in line with what you'd expect if he were charged with felony assault, never mind murder or even manslaughter. Additionally, the chief repeatedly demands proof of Wong Han's innocence; it's his job to present proof that Wong Han is guilty of murder (and premeditated murder at that, given that he threatens him with the death penalty), not the other way around. To say nothing of the fact that the police would almost certainly have found an axe covered in the drug smuggler's fingerprints at the scene, which would have further supported Wong Han's claims.
- Bittersweet Ending: With the emphasis very much on the "bitter" part. Wong Han discovers the truth about Go Hok Han and the drug smuggling ring, but Susan dies, while Go Hok Han turns out to have been using Wong Han as his Unwitting Pawn, nearly killing Wong Han into the bargain.
- Black Dude Dies First: The black drug smuggler is the first person to die on-screen, and the first person to die overall in the storyline except for Go Hok Han's body double.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: While the overall plot is translated well enough that you can follow what's going on, some of the individual scenes end up being near-incomprehensible, most notably when Wong Han is interrogated by the police.
- Covers Always Lie: While the film does technically feature a scene with Bruce Lee jumping out of his grave, as depicted on the poster, it has nothing to do with the rest of the plot. And what definitely falls into the category of being an outright lie is depicting one of the drug smugglers as some kind of demon — in reality, the smuggler in question is a Starter Villain who Wong Han kills pretty easily.
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole:
- Due to the film apparently being shortened in the English dubbing process, various bits of the plot had to be changed to let the story make some kind of sense. Most notably, this results in the completely nonsensical scene where Sasaki wakes up Wong Han and tries to warn him against investigating Go Hok Han's death any further, then suddenly advises him to seek out Welby at the racetrack if he wants more information, before trying to kill him and Susan.
- In a lesser example, the flashback scene with Wong Han and Go Hok Han in Taiwan was the pre-title sequence in America Bangmungaeg, but was spliced into Wong Han's cab ride in order to make room for the Cold Open with "Bruce Lee" jumping out of his grave. This can make the film's opening difficult to follow.
- Dub Name Change: The America Bangmungaeg counterparts of Wong Han and Go Hok Han were named Han Wook and Han Ji-hyeok respectively. In a more minor example, the samurai drug smuggler was called Suzuki in America Bangmungaeg, but Sasaki in the English translation.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the flashback sequence Wong Han states that his goal is to lead an honorable life and find fulfilment, while Go Hok Han is only concerned with getting as rich as possible. This sets up the former's Incorruptible Pure Pureness, and foreshadows the latter's collaborating with the drug ring.
- Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": While three of the five drug smugglers have names — the samurai is called Sasaki, the Mexican wrestler is Mark (or possibly Marc) Welby, and the cowboy is also called Mark — the other two are just referred to as "a black man" and "a white man" respectively.
- The Generic Guy: One of the drug smugglers is simply referred to as "a white man", and has literally no other defining characteristics, other than bearing a slight resemblance to Charles Bronson.
- Hong Kong Dub: Technically it's a South Korean film, but the dubbing is every bit as inept as you'd expect. Even characters saying things as simple as "yes", "no", or "okay" often have the words come out several seconds after their lips have stopped moving.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: When Wong Han takes out the cowboy drug smuggler in the climax, the cowboy manages to fire off one last shot right as Wong Han hits him, with the shot killing Susan.
- Invincible Hero: Wong Han spends most of the storyline effortlessly beating up anyone who tries going up against him; the only person who so much as inconveniences him for most of the storyline is Welby, who is much bigger and stronger than him, and fighting him in a discipline (wrestling) Wong Han has no experience with. Surprisingly enough this is averted in the finale, where Wong Han loses to Go Hok Han in a Curb-Stomp Battle, and is only saved from death when the police chief shoots Go Hok Han dead.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Sasaki openly asks Wong Han why he should help him, and then immediately does just that by telling him to look for Welby at the racetrack. On top of that, when Wong Han asks Sasaki if he was responsible for Go Hok Han's death, Sasaki asks why he would want to commit a murder... and then promptly tries to murder both Wong Han and Susan (presumably this was a bad translation choice, with the original line being Sasaki asking why he would want to kill someone who was useful to him).
- Kick the Dog: Not content with merely mugging Wong Han, the cab driver decides to run him down as well. He ends up Hoist by His Own Petard, however, as Wong Han kicks him through the window of his cab.
- Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: While some of the plot holes were added to the film as part of the English dubbing process, there's no explanation in the Korean original as to why the drug smugglers are all dressed up in goofy costumes.
- Never Trust a Title: The film does technically start with a scene of "Bruce Lee" leaping from his grave, but that's as much as the title has to do with the proceedings.
- Police Are Useless: The chief of police and an officer accompanying him are both shown to be bigoted towards Asian people, uninterested in helping Wong Han, and accuse him of murdering the black drug smuggler when the death was a self-defence killing. However, the police to at least show up in time to stop Wong Han from being killed by Go Hok Han in the final scene.
- Rasputinian Death: Welby is shot ten times by the cowboy drug smuggler in the finale, and doesn't fall to the ground until after the tenth shot.
- Related in the Adaptation: Inverted; the America Bangmungaeg counterparts of Wong Han and Go Hok Han were brothers. Here, they're just a pair of former colleagues from a martial arts school in Taiwan.
- Shoot the Hostage: In the climax, Wong Han holds Welby hostage to try and talk down the cowboy drug smuggler. The cowboy's reaction is to just shoot Welby. Ten times.
- Soft Glass:
- Zig-zagged in the scene where Wong Han kicks at the cab driver through the window. Wong Han himself isn't hurt, but the glass cuts up the driver's face something fierce.
- Exaggerated when Wong Han leaps straight through a window to attack the black drug smuggler. The drug smuggler is killed by the impact, but Wong Han is totally unscathed, to the point where the police chief specifically cites it as a reason to doubt his claim that he killed the smuggler in self-defence.
- Tempting Fate: After trying to mug Wong Han, the crooked cab driver has the gall to ask him not only for the full fare, but a tip as well. Wong Han repays him with another kick to the face.
- Unwitting Pawn: Wong Han turns out to have been this to Go Hok Han, who faked his own death and tried to have Wong Han transport $1 million worth of cocaine back to Taipei for him.
