It was 51 years ago today, July 20, that Bruce Lee tragically passed away. The martial arts legend was only 32 at the time. While we never got to see just how high he could take his career, even in his short life, he left behind a number of indelible movies that are a blast to watch. In fact, you can watch four of them right now for free online in honor of Bruce Lee.
Lee's The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death are streaming on free, ad-supported streaming services; all four are on Pluto TV, while The Big Boss and Fist of Fury are on Tubi. And all it'll cost you is some patience as ads play a handful of times during the movie.
These are just some of the vast library of free movies online that are available on Pluto TV and Tubi and other similar streaming platforms (ie Amazon Freevee, The Roku Channel). If you're interested in watching these classic martial arts movies from the legend himself, here are some more details on each.
The Big Boss was released in 1971 in Hong Kong before it made its way to the US in 1972 and marked Lee's first major leading role. The movie was made by Hong Kong-based production company Golden Harvest, which produced all four of these movies. In The Big Boss, Lee plays a young man sworn to a path of non-violence, but that is put to the test when his cousins start to go missing from their jobs.
Lee followed the success of The Big Boss with Fist of Fury (also known as The Chinese Connection) in 1972. Here Lee stars as a martial arts student who seeks vengeance for the death of his teacher.
That same year he made The Way of the Dragon. This movie, which Lee also wrote and directed, sees his character head to Italy and ends up defending relatives he has there against violent members of a gang, one of which is played by Chuck Norris. Yes, if you've ever wondered what the movie is where Bruce Lee fights Chuck Norris against the backdrop of the Colosseum, The Way of the Dragon is it.
Finally, there's Game of Death. Lee originally starred, wrote and was directing the movie, but he was never able to finish it before his death. His Enter the Dragon director, Robert Clouse, came to put the available footage together into a finished product, which was released in 1978. Though the result differed from Lee's original story and was ultimately not that well received, it does offer a few iconic movie nuggets: one, Lee fought NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and also the yellow jumpsuit he wore was a likely inspiration for the costume of the Bride in Kill Bill Vol. 1.
If you don't want to deal with ads, you can rent all of these movies on digital on-demand platforms as well. FYI, if you're looking for Enter the Dragon, that is only available on digital on-demand platforms.
