A Tribute to Bruce Lee and Nora Miao
The music used for this tribute is from the 1987 Cantonese song "My Story (我的故事)" by Danny Chan.
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Sweethearts 1996 (Full Length Version)
The following is the full-length version of my all-time favorite Janeane Garofalo film "Sweethearts" (which she also produced). To me, this is the best, and the most underrated, film she ever did. It could also possibly be one of the most underrated, and over-looked, movies of the 1990's.
To me, Janeane Garofalo deserved at least ONE award for her portrayal of a 31-year-old suicidal woman, suffering from “Bi-Polar Disorder” and “Manic Depression”.
I am very disappointed that there isn't at least one interview of Janeane Garofalo talking about this movie. Perhaps, it was possibly because the film was so over-looked by the media and the critics alike. The film was not given proper advertisement: from the trailers, to even the VHS and DVD covers. This caused the film to suffer even more in its underrated status.
If I had a chance to meet Janeane Garofalo, I would immediately ask her about this film. Hopefully, whoever watches this film, and reads this introductory comment: if they do have the chance to speak to her in a recorded interview, hopefully they will ask her about this film FOR me. Please do the same if you were to ever meet Margaret Cho and Bobcat Goldthwait. That would be very much appreciated.
Speaking of Margaret Cho, she was in this film as well. Her character in this movie was one of my favorite characters that she has ever portrayed in her entire film career.
Besides her performance in the extremely powerful movie “It’s My Party” (which I HIGHLY recommend), not one time have I ever heard Margaret Cho talk about this film either.
Besides Janeane Garofalo and Margaret Cho, the rest of the cast - Mitch Rouse from the movie “Rudy”, and comedian/actor/filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait - are also in this film. They, too, are my favorite characters that I have ever seen of them in a movie.
Even if 3 out of 4 of the actors were mostly stand-up comedians (with the exception of Mitch Rouse), everyone put their best efforts in this dominantly-dramatic film.
Besides the beautiful cinematography, the film also has a great soundtrack and score that suit the film so well from beginning to end. Unfortunately, there was no soundtrack made for distribution.
Personally, this film is very relatable, because I, myself, battle with Clinical Depression, Chronic Anxiety, and Bi-Polar Disorder. I’ve had Depression since I was 12 years old. I was diagnosed at that age after my first suicide attempt. A few years later, I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder, followed by Chronic Anxiety.
A few years ago, I used to be a patient at an “Adult Psychiatric Day Clinic” to help me with my illnesses. Me, along with the rest of the out-patients, attended there for the same reason.
One day, I made a request to the staff members for this film to be shown in "Cinema Therapy" - as I thought it would be very helpful to share this film with the rest of the patients. Unfortunately, because of the large backlog of films that were pending for “Cinema Therapy”, this film was not able to be seen.
Instead, I loaned out my DVD copy of this movie to some of the patients who had it so much worse than me, who never had the chance to see the film in "Cinema Therapy", as much as they wanted to.
After watching the film, as soon as they gave the DVD back to me, every one of them immediately told me how much they absolutely loved it. They most definitely praised Janeane Garofalo's performance.
Well, without further ado, here is the film. :)))
I just want to give a side-note, that this film, unfortunately, has never seen a Blu-Ray release. It is only on VHS and DVD, and is rarely, if not ever, shown on television (I’m not sure if this film was released on Laserdisc).
The only DVD copy that was made here in the United States was not put together like most of the common films on DVD and Blu-Ray. This is in regards to the widescreen resolution. I own the DVD copy of this movie, and it is presented in 85mm widescreen. However, the bad news is that this IS the kind of widescreen edition that does not fill a 16x9 screen. Because of the demand for this film to be seen in its entirety, and because there is absolutely no full-version of this movie (and rarely any clips) on Youtube, I decided to take on the responsibility, and the risk, by ripping my DVD copy into wmv format, so that I can upload it on my channel for all of you.
In the process, through very careful calculation (which took a lot of time – very much worth the effort), I tried to expand the widescreen, so that it could fit the 16x9 screens. Unfortunately, due to the limited technology that I have in my possession, mixed with my lack of knowledge of this kind of procedure, as a result of trying to expand the film to a 16x9 screen (which was a success), the quality of the playback was very very poor. I tried every setting there was to fix the problem - but to no avail. Instead, I decided to rip the DVD again, leaving the widescreen exactly the way it is presented on DVD - for the sake of quality. Hopefully, this DVD widescreen format that is shown in this video will be bearable to all of you.
I would like to thank Mr. David Larrabee (The Garofaholic), for helping me with the private test-screening, to make sure that this ripped copy was in perfect picture - and sound-quality - condition for all of you.
I want to thank Janeane Garofalo, Maragret Cho, Mitch Rouse, Bobcat Goldthwait, along with the rest of the cast and crew, for making this film – especially in compliment to the people of the psychiatric community.
Even if Janeane Garofalo's character is suicidal, and made the choices that she made to cope with her illnesses: this film does not encourage suicide in any way, shape, or form. It is an anti-suicidal film, with a mixture of educating Mitch Rouse’s character, and hopefully, the audience.
Just to warn you: there are some scenes of sexual humor (which I honestly found hilarious); however, regarding the important, and unavoidable, topic of suicide and mental illness, I would rather not put this film under “age restriction” for the COPPA Law. As a result, if children under the age of 13 watch this film, please watch this movie with adult companionship, so it can be talked about afterwards as a form of discussion.
I would like to humbly ask Janeane Garofalo, the filmmakers, and the copyright owners, to please allow this very important film to be showcased for everyone here, and to please not shut it down.
You can take the monetized assets for this upload (if it DOES get to that point). Money, to me, is not the motivation for this upload (that along with ALL the uploads on this channel). Also, please consider making not only another DVD edition of this film, with special features and an appropriate widescreen format, but please also give this film a Blu-Ray release.
In the meantime, if you want to purchase this film, you can start with "Amazon" and “e-Bay”.
For all the first-timers: this film is not entirely serious. It is a fun, funny, and cathartic escape – at least I thought so. I do hope that all of you enjoy this very special film. :)))
With Love and Respect,
Scott :)))
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A Review, Commentary, and First-Time Reacting to Some Features of the "Bruce Lee Arrow Box Set"
The following video focuses on me and my best friend, Mr. Dean Coleman, reviewing, reacting, and doing commentary on some of the video and film features of the brand-new “Arrow Bruce Lee Box set”.
I am from the United States, and Dean is from the U.K.
This video is a recorded video call between me and Dean, who, like me, is also a very active member in the Bruce Lee Facebook Fan groups.
He is also a moderator for the Facebook fan group: "Bruce Lee is the Only Dragon", which was how I met him almost 5 years ago.
Dean just purchased the "Bruce Lee Arrow Box Set", and we both wanted to see, review, react, and do commentary on some of the features in some of those disks.
Specifically, we watch briefly a few clips from the Mandarin Version of “Fist of Fury” (the official language of the film), and we also watch some of the special features of the 1978 version of “The Game of Death”.
Besides introducing to the majority of you the official language version of the film - which is Mandarin - we also reveal, at the same time, the version differences between the English Dubbed version (Chinese Connection) and the original Mandarin Version of “Fist of Fury”, in which there are a few differences.
As we were watching “Fist of Fury”, Dean educates to me and to all of you how the scene of Bruce Lee’s character fighting the Japanese students in the dojo was cut in the UK version.
Prior to 2001, the Bruce Lee films that were distributed to the UK were severely censored.
Any scenes that included Bruce Lee’s Nunchakus were completely removed.
For a Bruce Lee fan, just imagine that.
It is like the UK censoring all of the footage of Michael Jackson doing the Moonwalk.
So Dean reveals during the Dojo fight how the scene was constructed in the UK version without the Nunchakus being shown.
Also in the video, Dean and I view from the "Arrow Bruce Lee Box Set" all of the version differences of the 1978 version of “The Game of Death” that were in the special features.
While watching these clips, Dean and I talk about the version differences of the 1978 version of “The Game of Death” that we remember growing up watching.
Dean grew up with the Cantonese Version of “The Game of Death”, so as we were watching the Cantonese version of the 1978 "Game of Death", Dean gives an educational breakdown of the scenes in that version and compares it to the original U.S. version (which is the official version of the '78 film).
We also take a brief look for the first time the Japanese Version of the 1978 Version of "The Game of Death" – which we never knew existed.
And we also take a look at some of fight sequences in the Mandarin Version.
Dean and I also react to the area of the "'78 Game of Death Special Features" where Colleen Camp, for the first time ever - as far as I know - describes her experience in making the 1978 version of "The Game of Death".
To me, the anticipation of her finally talking about her experience in making this film for the first time was very much worth it.
So like 2 kids in a toy store, Dean and I spend the whole time reacting for the first time the differences that we most likely never saw before.
And it was all captured on this video.
I want to give a very special "THANK YOU' to "Fortune Star", "Miramax", and "Fanatik FIlms" for giving us their great generosity in allowing this video to be shared with all of you.
I do not take for granted their generosity. Not for a single second.
I want to thank Arrow films for their effort in making this box set.
And the most important under God in Heaven: I want to thank all of you very much for taking the time to see this.
We hope you all enjoy.
As Bruce Lee says to Mr. Longstreet,
"May it Be Well with you."
PS - If you want to see Dean Coleman's Youtube page, here is an interesting link that will introduce you to his Youtube channel....
This is his rendition of the extremely butchered UK cut of "The Way of the Dragon"....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PQXLAN_VAo
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No Retreat, No Surrender (VHS U.S. Version)
The following video is the unfortunately rare VHS U.S. Version of “No Retreat, No Surrender”.
Not to be confused with the so-called "Expanded International Cut", which is actually the original version of the film: I consider this re-cut U.S. version of “No Retreat, No Surrender” to be the true definitive version.
This is the story of a young man… a major Bruce Lee fanatic… who had the heart of a warrior, and a spirit that was bigger than the universe.
His potential was so great, that no human being in the entire world, not even his father who was a Karate Expert (and his Sensei), was capable of bringing out his full potential.
If it took having to visit him through “spiritual apparition”, through God’s Grace and authorization, only Bruce Lee himself was capable of teaching this very worthy student.
This young man.... is Jason Stillwell.
Unfortunately, even if this was Corey Yuen’s first American directorial debut, this U.S. Version of "No Retreat, No Surrender" was NOT the original version of the film. It was a cut version of the original that was considerably different, and, to me, should’ve been the original.
God Bless “New World Pictures” who saw the great potential of this film, and decided to re-cut the film, taking out unnecessary scenes and clips - that should’ve never been there in the first place - plus, they re-scored the film and the theme song.
This version of the film even had a much better-suited intro, using a very nice silhouette of Bruce Lee, with Chinese characters on both sides of him. I DO thank Corey Yuen for allowing that introduction to happen.
I think that "No Retreat, No Surrender" - especially this version - did such a great job in portraying Bruce Lee and his philosophies with accuracy and integrity. It is a wonder, to me, why this film was one of the very few Bruce Lee-type films that was able to get authorization to film at Bruce Lee's grave-site (respectively).
Yes, Bruce Lee's dubbed voice in this version was a lot deeper than how Bruce Lee's voice really sounds (plus, I do admit that the man who dubbed Bruce Lee’s voice in the original version was closer to how Bruce Lee’s voice really was). However, to me, the voice used in the U.S. version is very forgiving. As a matter of fact, and maybe it is because of the voice that was portrayed in the U.S. version, the chemistry between Bruce Lee and Jason Stillwell was a lot stronger in this version than how it was portrayed in the original version.
This particular version of “No Retreat, No Surrender” was only released on VHS and Laserdisc (I’m not sure if it was on Betamax).
Unfortunately, and for some unknown reason, it never had a DVD release, nor a Blu-Ray release. It stopped after the VHS and Laserdisc.
That is, until 2017, thanks to, in the highest of respect, a company called “Kino Lorber”, who took on the task to finally release this version to us on DVD and Blu-ray.
Prior to that, it WAS released on DVD and Blu-Ray, but it was only the original version. In other countries, it was retitled: “Karate Tiger”.
The only way you could’ve owned the U.S. version on DVD and Blu-Ray, was if you either bought the VHS, and ripped a copy to a blank DVD or Blu-Ray, or you found a website that did it for you.
There WAS a U.K. version of “No Retreat, No Surrender” that used the U.S. version as a template. Unfortunately, there were scenes even cut out in THAT version, due to the strict U.K. censorship laws.
Original nor not, one of the greatest highlights of this movie... was “Jean Claude Van Damme”. :)))
For some unknown reason, Jean Claude Van Damme has never ONCE talked about his role in this movie in any interviews.
Out of all the films that he has done, especially "Bloodsport" (which I love), to me, “No Retreat, No Surrender” is still the best film Jean Claude Van Damme ever did. He was absolutely AMAZING in this movie!!! The irony about this, is that he was only in the beginning of the film, and the climax of the film. However, as small of a part as it was, it was not forgotten.
This was the first American martial art film that used the Hong Kong style choreography. Prior to that, even if it was very common in Hong Kong to see that kind of action in their movies, nobody in the United States, in 1986, had ever seen that kind of action before in an American motion picture. That’s what made this film innovative.
For those of you who have not seen this film, and for those of you who HAVE seen this film (The original "Karate Tiger" version): in all humility, I would highly recommend that you see this "U.S. version" before making any final conclusions.
Personally, this U.S. version of the film deeply inspired me. This was actually the first version of the film that I saw, before I found out 2 decades later, thanks to Youtube, that the U.S. version was not the original.
It was my Grandfather who introduced me to this film (the U.S. version) when I was 13 years old, in the summer of 1994. After I saw this for the first time, I was immediately hooked to this film.
It was also because of this film, that I began to exercise like a fiend; and I also began eating stubbornly healthy. Those devotions continue to this day. :)))
When I find myself physically and mentally slipping away in life, which has happened so many times over the years, I go back to this movie. It then gives me gasoline to get back into shape.
Overall, out of all the films that I have seen and loved (and there are many), the U.S. version of “No Retreat, No Surrender” is still, by far, in my top 5 favorite films of all time.
I am very very proud to share with all of you this U.S. version, that personally I hope will one day obliterate all the versions that were made – including the original.
With all-due respect, I really hope that the copyright owners will allow this uploaded video to stay on without it getting blocked, especially when they are the ones getting monetized for this – which is fine with me.
If you want to own this particular version of “No Retreat, No Surrender” on DVD and Blu-ray, go to Amazon or ebay, and type in the following numbers in the search: 738329206383. That is the film’s UPC code.
Once you enter it, it will take you directly to the film’s page. Of all the “No Retreat, No Surrender” DVD and Blu-ray versions that are out there, that edition - the "Kino Lorber" DVD and Blu-ray edition - are the only editions that contain this U.S. version.
I really hope that more companies, such as “Shout Factory”, will come forward, buy the rights to the U.S. version, and release their own editions. The more the merrier.
I really hope you enjoy this special upload. :)))
Also, stay tuned for an upcoming “Video Podcast Episode” where I will explain further about everything that I have said above about this version of the film.
As Bruce Lee says to Mr. Longstreet:
“May it be Well with you.” :)))
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A Bruce Lee "Behind-The-Scenes" Slideshow
The following video is a slideshow, showcasing the behind-the-scenes photos on the making of Bruce Lee’s films.
Along with the behind-the-scenes photos, I looked very carefully through each of Bruce Lee’s movies, frame-by-frame, to find the right "film screenshot" that was based on that particular behind-the-scenes photo.
Each image in this slideshow displays both the behind-the-scenes photo, and the screenshot from the film that the behind-the-scenes photo is based on.
The collaborated images range from…
- Rehearsal photos, and the film screenshot that the rehearsal was based on.
- Behind-the-scenes pictures of the camera crew filming the actual scene that would be in the final movie. The “film’s screenshot” is what the cameraman sees.
- Behind-the-scenes pictures of the camera crew filming an “outtake” of a scene. The “film screenshot” is the closest that I was able to find to compliment that outtake photo.
- This slideshow also includes the behind-the-scenes photos of the filming of the actual scene that would be in the final film - except you can see the “studio lights” above them as the scene is being recorded. The film screenshot that compliments the photo is either the exact shot that the behind-the-scenes photo was positioned during the recording of that scene, or a screenshot that was as close to it as I could find.
The music that I used for this slideshow is a 1995 Mandarin song titled “謝謝你愛過我” (Thank You for Loving Me), by Cantonese/Mandarin singer: “Winnie Lau”.
Thank you very much for watching, and I really hope you all enjoy. :)))
As Bruce Lee says to Mr. Longstreet:
“May it be Well with you.” :)))
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A Tribute to Bruce Lee
This video is just another addition to the many tributes all over the world that deeply honors this man with all of their hearts. :))))
To help commemorate this very inspirational man, the music that I used for this tribute is from my all-time favorite Cantonese song (人在風雨中 - The Man in the Storm), released in 1989, by my all-time FAVORITE Cantonese/Mandarin signer: Wong Kit (a.k.a. Dave Wang).
Keep in mind, I did not say that the song, and the singer, are "One of my all-time favorites". These ARE my all-time favorites!!! I am putting in the Best for this tribute. :)))
I hope each and every one of you enjoys this "addition". :)))
As Bruce Lee says to Mr. Longstreet:
"May it be well with you." :))))
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