Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

The scene made cliff booth look like silent but the most powerful man on set and he will show bruce lee who's the man. It's the age old trick of hyping up the villain only to be beaten by hero and hero seems like the more powerful person by the end. Tarantino is basically using cinematic language to say stuff that is offensive but is hiding behind the fact that its in a movie to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.

Bottom line is tarantino appeals to a certain type of audience. The problem with these audience is that they want to feel like their inner demons are brought to life and validated when watching a tarantino movie. That's what they go to his movies for and that's the reason they are so dedicated to him.

In OUTIH there are 2 scenes where he does that. When cliff booth is on boat with his wife , the scene played only the parts where his wife is nagging him and cuts back. So that scene is meant to suggest that "you can't really blame him for killing his nagging wife". Had the flashback was to a scene where his wife loved him..the audience would be on her side. The same with brad pitt vs bruce lee. One common argument is that the fight was not finished so bruce lee would have won the fight had it gone on. But the fight abruptly ended when Brad Pitt was taking the lead, leading audience to be on pitts side by that round. I don't judge his choices but i don't buy the B.S that he left both these scenes ambiguous.

It will be interesting to see if and when someone defends him on this.

Re: Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

Hot potato topic i reckon

Why wouldn't he leave it ambiguous? I mean you don't seem to like it but you're pushing the topic for discussion. So by that respect, maybe he got exactly what he wants: people talking about his movie.

Too, we often see what we take in with us. The glass is half empty or half full kind of thing. It's how you choose to percieve it.

I was of the mind Bruce Lee did not at all take this "stunt man" seriously and ego is what got him put through the door. Had the third round played out I doubt he would have held as much back. With that said it leaves a nice mystery for fans to argue over forever. Like the contents of Wallace's briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Also it was a necessary display of Cliff's capabilities for what's expected of the final confrontation. And Don't forget that Lee got the first kick in and put Cliff right on his ass. So they were both seriously underestimating each other.

That's not a defense btw. It's how i read the scene as it happened. I wouldn't say he's hiding behind anything. If he wanted to 'say' something through his movie to avoid saying it himself then Cliff would have won. Or Lee would have won. He left that for us to argue specifically not to make a statement. Because no one won! There WAS no statement. And making such a statement does not serve the plot at all. What it does is to provide a reference for Cliff's strength and a bonus for fans to debate. See OP for proof.

Re: Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

Cliff does throw Bruce into a car so hard it crumples the entire side of the car and Bruce is able to get back up without a problem, which definitely adds to the theory that Cliff is an unreliable narrator.

It's a similar thing with the flashback-within-a-flashback about his wife that is framed in such a way that the audience expects to seem him fire the speargun, but I question the idea of whether or not you're meant to "not blame him" for potentially killing his wife since we are already aware that this is why Cliff can't find any work except as Rick's personal assistant instead of his stunt double (regardless of whether or not it is actually true). Might as well ask whether or not Patrick Bateman really killed anyone.

Re: Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

I think people are taking this scene too seriously. It's just light poking fun at the dead serious samurai image his legacy has built up. Not to mention this movie takes place in 1969, two years before the iconic series of samurai movies happened. Maybe he hadn't fully developed his skills yet.

Re: Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

Bruce Lee did not do "samurai" movies (unless you want to count fighting Japanese people in Fist of Fury).

Re: Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

Sorry, must have gotten my terminology wrong.

Re: Tarantino owns Dead Bruce Lee
 

I get why people are upset about Tarantino's interpretation of Lee but on the same token they realize this was not the actual events of the Manson murders right? The whole thing is made up including Lee's persona.