Bruce Lee smiling in his famous yellow costume
By
Nicholas Raymond
Published Feb 27, 2026, 10:00 PM EST
Nicholas Raymond is an author and journalist based out of Alabama, where he proudly roots for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. A graduate of the University of Montevallo, he has a degree in mass communication with a concentration in journalism.
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A top-notch martial arts classic similar in style to the John Wick franchise could have seen none other than Bruce Lee play its lead character. Released in 1973, the same year as Enter the Dragon, A Man Called Tiger was a Hong Kong action thriller from Lo Wei, who famously directed Bruce Lee's first two kung fu films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury.
Set in 20th century Japan, A Man Called Tiger stars martial arts legend Jimmy Wang Yu as Chin Fu, a kung fu expert who becomes a one-man-army in his quest to defeat a Japanese gang and get revenge for his dead father. It's a role that's now rightfully regarded as one of Jimmy Wang Yu's best performances, but there was a time when it could have gone to Lee instead.
Bruce Lee Was Supposed To Star In A Man Called Tiger
According to Matthew Polly's biography of the star, Bruce Lee: A Life, A Man Called Tiger was meant to be Bruce Lee's third collaboration with Lo Wei for Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest. However, Bruce Lee was opposed to making the film, as he was more interested in directing, starring, and writing his own movie, which would become Way of the Dragon.
As Polly writes in book, this desire came about largely in response to Bruce Lee's burgeoning rivalry with Jimmy Wang Yu, who had transformed the martial arts movie genre via The Chinese Boxer in 1970. Wang Yu had served as the film's writer, director, and star, allegedly leading Bruce Lee to seek a similar challenge.
Lee's decision to pursue his own idea for a martial arts film didn't kill Lo Wei's plans, however. The director moved forward with the film regardless, but with Jimmy Wang Yu playing the role he had in mind for Bruce Lee. And it would seem that the decision was no coincidence; according to Polly, Lo Wei probably did cast Wang Yu as a slight to Lee.
A Man Called Tiger Is An Underrated Martial Arts Classic
Of course, it goes without saying that A Man Called Tiger would most enjoy a much greater legacy than the one it has today if Bruce Lee had agreed to star. But that doesn't mean it suffers from his absence; Jimmy Wang Yu handily carries A Man Called Tiger, turning Chin Fu into a force to be reckoned with.
Jimmy Wang Yu may not have had the electrifying, real-life martial arts talents of Bruce Lee, but thanks to movies like The One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese Boxer, he seemed right at home in the role of a vengeance-obsessed, single-minded martial artist with no qualms about killing his enemies.
Not unlike the bloody crusades that Keanu Reeves would embark on as John Wick decades later, Wang Yu's Chin Fu dazzles with his no-nonsense, unforgiving tactics as he single-handedly makes short work of dozens of gangsters. Brilliantly underscoring the violence that he unleashes in A Man Called Tiger is his suit, which goes from white to blood-soaked red before the fighting ends.
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