In a recent phone conversation with brother Peter Teymouraz we got on the subject of James Mitose and the Hawaiian kempo heritage. Peter brought up a very interesting point that I never thought of before when I was addressing the "Mitose controversy". He was discussing how everyone, (I'm paraphrasing), dis's Mitose for his visit to Mr. Parker's school when he demonstrated that technique against a punch attack where he dropped down to the floor and punched the attacker on the instep. I, myself, was taken aback by that. Peter reminded me, however, that the late Bruce Lee did the same technique in the original 10 minutes of footage he filmed with Kareem Abdul Jabar in "Game of Death" which was spliced in at the end of the movie. Now, don't get me wrong. I know the movie wasn't a good flick, with all the camera tricks, speeded up film, splice ins and a poor script which had nothing to do with Lee's original plans but I'm speaking only of that 10 minute or so part at the end that Lee, himself, filmed in the yellow jump suit.
I believe that was called the 'Pagoda' scene where Lee had to go up several floors and fight masters of various arts to get to the top floor where he faced Kareem who represented "no style" (which in reality was what Lee preached in real life). My point being this was a well thought out scene by Lee with much hidden meaning and symbolism. He took his later fight scenes very seriously and every move was well thought out. I believe he had no control over the quality of his earlier movies. Again, my point is maybe we missed something of what Mitose demonstated in Mr. Parker's dojo that day. I never heard anyone criticize Lee's actual footage that he filmed shortly before his untimely death which made up only a miniscule part of that movie. This was Mr. Teymourez's contention and it made me think. He's right, no one really said anything negative on Lee's last film sequences, they're classic! Yet, we constantly hear of the 'ridiculous' technique Mitose demonstrated in front of Gm. Parker and his students. In my research of James Mitose I always stated I would be open minded and unbiased in a search for the truth, the good with the bad. I'm just suggesting a different perspective from this part of his life which is still criticized today. ;)Thanks, 'Brother Peter for pointing this out to me, maybe it wasn't so 'ridiculous' afterall. I saw the movie many years ago, I will have to review it again.
Opinions?
