The transcript below is from the video “The Way of the Dragon Extra: I Saw Bruce Lee Did A 16-Feet High Flying Kick!” by BruceLeeRealFight.

BruceLeeRealFight:

Welcome to BruceLeeRealFight channel.

The man in this interview is a Hong Kong actor Anders Nelson. In Bruce Lee’s 1972 movie The Way of the Dragon, there is a popular back alley restaurant fight scene, involved a group of evil gang members. Anders Nelson was one of the thugs who attacked Bruce Lee from behind with a thick lead pipe which is actually wooden. He then ended up on the wrong end of Bruce Lee’s nunchaku sticks.

Anders Nelson was one of the luckiest people on earth who actually worked with Bruce Lee. According to him, he saw Bruce Lee jump 16 feet up in the air to kick off a can on the rafter in the studio, with no trampoline, completely unassisted.

Anders Nelsson (Actor & Musician):

And I remember particularly he had put a soft drink can up in the rafters of the Golden Harvest studios and they must have been, I’m not a very good judge of distance, but it looked like 12-16 feet up in the air. And he was just trying to kick this can off that rafter with no trampoline, no nothing, completely unassisted, just going from zero and just leaping up and kicking it. And his body would turn upside down, his foot kicked the can and he sort of did a somersault and landed on his feet. And he just kept going until he did it. And the whole crew, the extras, everyone in the studio was just mesmerized by this because it was really a superhuman effort. And he just would not stop, not even to take a breath or to wipe his brow, just kept on and on and on until he perfected it. He was a superhero. No, I’m not surprised at all that he’s become really an icon and a Chinese hero and it was really well deserved.

BruceLeeRealFight:

The Way of the Dragon isn’t the most famous film Bruce Lee made but like many of his movies, it became a conduit for Bruce Lee to express his martial arts and philosophy to the world. Anders Nelson’s acting career started as a small role in this film but that has given him a lot of opportunities to act in countless Hong Kong TV dramas since then. According to Anders Nelson, Bruce Lee was very good to the extras and the crew on all his movies. He always sits together with the extras and stuntmen during break time. He made sure everyone was treated with a good lunch. This is why Anders Nelson feels grateful for that although he was pummeled by Bruce Lee with real nunchaku twice and left him a scar.

Anders Nelsson (Actor & Musician):

I would say, apart from the music that the one thing that impressed me most of all was that he just never rested, not a single second when we had lunch breaks, tea breaks, coffee breaks. He was trying to either prove something to himself or to perfect some move that he was working on.

BruceLeeRealFight:

So, what do you think after listening to what Anders Nelson said about Bruce Lee? What do you think about the 16 feet high kicks performed by Bruce Lee on the set of The Way of the Dragon in 1972? Other than Anders, many extras on the set saw Bruce Lee jump kicks too. It was definitely a real deal. What do you think then? Please do not hesitate to leave your comment and please hit the like button and share this video out if you love it.

Anders Nelsson (Actor & Musician):

But you know there are Elvis fans and, there are Beatles fans and Michael Jackson fans and why not Bruce Lee fans?