Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power (1975)

 Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power (1975)
Aka Kung Fu Contra as Bonecas



Starring: Adriano Stuart, Helena Ramos, Maurício do Valle, Luely Figueiró, Nadir Fernandes, Célia Froes, Edgard Franco, Fábio Rocha, Walter Stuart, Lucimar Vilar
Director: Adriano Stuart
Action Director: Cladson de Oliveira Silva

To understand Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power, its creation and the plot, one must know a little bit about Brazilian history. What many people outside of South America don’t know is that Brazil is certainly NOT one big rainforest. While most of its territory is indeed located within the tropics, it’s home to a lot of different climates and biomes, from different types of tropical rainforest to the cerrado (sort of a tropical savannah) to even some semi-arid regions in the Northeast. The latter region is where I served my mission. From 2001 to 2003 I was a missionary in the state of Paraíba, located on the Eastern tip of all the Americas. From the coast to about 100 km inland, the climate is something along the lines of humid subtropical. However, once you cross the Borborema mountains, you’ll soon find yourself in a near desert-like region known as “Sertão.”

During most of Brazil’s history, the major political power focused itself in the Southeast as the result of a local economy based on gold, precious stones, and coffee. It was only after the collapse of the coffee industy that the government finally decided to start industrializing—much to the chagrins of the coffee barons in the southeast who held much of the political power. When the government began a rapid process of industrialization, much of the focus was on the Southeast. Why? Because the big urban centers in the Southeast was where the money was. The Northeast, to a certain extent, was essentially left to its own devices as the government often endorsed policies that strengthened the economy and industry in southeastern states like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais. The seat of power in the Northeast continued to lie with the plantation owners and big agricultural producers.

There was a certain political system in practice in the Northeast known as coronelismo. Basically, the important government positions were held by plantation owners and their friends and family. These owners designated themselves as “colonels” and would often buy loyalty from the lower class people in their jurisdictions (i.e. “if you vote for me, I’ll buy new pairs of shoes for everyone in your household”), or simply just gain their votes via threats and intimidation. As I understand it, this system still exists today outside of urban centers in much of the NE, albeit in a slightly modified form.

The cangaceiros arose during this time, who have since become romanticized as brave, heroic vigilantes who fought against the corrupt and greedy colonels. Basically bands of robbers and murderers, the cangaceiros often focused their raids on the rich plantations and farms, kidnapping the colonels and raping their women, frequently at the behest of another colonel. Some groups, however, were nothing more than common thugs who waylaid anybody unlucky enough to be travelling on their roads, be they associated with colonels or not. One might compare the cangaceiros to the Japanese ninja, as they were a despised social class who used their knowledge of the caatinga (which refers to the vegetation of the arid regions of NE Brazil) to their advantage and were often hired to do the colonels’ dirty work, such as debt collection and raids on rival colonels. These days, people tend to look at them the way people look at Robin Hood, rather than cold-blooded thieves, killers, and rapists.

While movies about the cangaceiros have been made since as far back as the 1930s, the genre really hit its stride in 1953 with the success of the film O Cangaceiro. It set the stage for dozens of movies to be made about the subject and the genre continued strong until the end of the 1960s. Some of the better entries in the genre apparently include A Morte Manda no Cangaço and Corisca, O Diabo Loiro. Even exploitation auteur Osvaldo de Oliveira, who made films so smutty that they’d give Jess Franco pause (and who worked on Kung Fu Contra as Bonecas as the director of photography), made a cangaceiro film called O Cangaceiro Sanguinário. Supposedly it focuses on the violence and sex more than the story, but I guess that was to be expected.

It was also at the end of the 60s—1968 to be exact—that the Brazilian government, then a right-wing military dictatorship, passed a law obligating Brazilian theaters to show a quota of domestic films. This led to an explosion in Brazilian cinema, now that audiences were given a steady diet of local fare to feast their eyes and ears on. Low-budget filmmakers found funding through local small businesses, especially those located in downtown São Paulo in a region known as the “Boca de Lixo” (trans. “Trash Mouth”). The Boca de Lixo had traditionally been the spot where Hollywood studios had set up their Brazilian offices back during the 1930s and 1940s. With as many theaters in the region as there were, Brazilian B-movies found a home and a built-in audience for their movies, now that foreign competition had been drastically reduced (places that didn’t show Brazilian films were shut down by the government).

The “Boca de Lixo”—referring to both the region where the films were shown and the filmmakers working out of the region—was best known for a local genre known as pornochanchada, which basically amounted to erotic comedies that featured copious female nudity, but little actual sex. However, filmmakers in the Boca de Lixo also produced films in the horror, cangaceiro, martial arts, and adventure genres. It was during the 1980s that the censorship imposed on the filmmakers by the dictatorship began to loosen, which meant that the adult films went from pornochanchada to more softcore fare, while changing audience tastes led to a decline in the popularity of cheap B-movies. The advent of hardcore porn following the end of the military dictatorship meant the end of the Boca de Lixo as a haven for cult movies. Ironically, the nail in the coffin for the Boca de Lixo was the Japanese arthouse/hardcore porn film In the Realm of the Senses. After that movie was literally forced on the theaters for “cultural” reasons, the fate of the Boca de Lixo was sealed as a region devoted only to pornographic films.

Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power was produced in 1975 at the height of the popularity of the Boca de Lixo. It aims to satirize both kung fu films, which were growing in popularity at the time, and the cangaceiro genre, which had seen its peak during the previous decade. As far as I’m concerned, the film is an abject failure at doing both, mainly because of Adriano Stuart’s listless direction and incompetent editing. I mean, for a film in which relatively little actually happens, 97 minutes is a rather long running time. To be perfectly honest, the film has no business being longer than 80 minutes. But we’ll get to the problems with pacing in a little bit.

The movie starts off with our hero, Chang (played the director, Adriano Stuart) wandering around the desert in the hinterlands of Pernambuco. The film never states outright—at least not that I caught—that the setting is Pernambuco, but Chang states later on that he’s half Chinese and half Pernambucano (with Australian and Korean grandparents…Har!), so I assume that the film is set there. Chang is dressed sort of like Caine from the old Kung Fu series, albeit with a certain twist: under his brown jacket is a pink midriff with the words “Kung Fu” emblazoned on it. This is the first of many attempts to ambiguously portray our hero’s sexuality. Anyway, Stuart must’ve really enjoyed the desert, since it takes him a good 25 friggin’ minutes before he reaches civilization and starts participating in the what little plot there is.

Meanwhile, in some Podunk town out in the sticks, a Chinese guy and his Brazilian wife go to the local general story to pick up some items. In this komic segment, the Chinese guy makes his order in Chinese, and then the Brazilian man at the counter plays some device that looks like an old tape deck, which translates the order to Portuguese. I find it interesting how many language jokes like to base themselves on the premise that every language EXCEPT the language in which the joke is being told is 100X more efficient, and thus a person can speak a couple of words and it’ll translate into a whole paragraph in the listener’s language. Said interracial couple is being spied on by the right-hand man of the local cangaceiro captain (who’ll be played by Maurício do Valle of As Meninas Querem…As Coroas Podem and Black God, White Devil).

Yes Man goes back to the camp and informs his boss, who’s in the middle of being straddled by one of the girls at the camp, of the big purchase being made. The captain, whom we’ll call “Capitão” orders his men to attack the Chinese man’s van. They surround it and order the couple to get out of dodge. Suddenly, one of the cangaceiros blows the man away with his rifle. The wife then takes a bullet herself. Their daughter, who was inside the family shack when that happened, steps out and starts grieving over her murdered parents. Capitão thinks said daughter is pretty and makes it his duty to rape her and, as we’ll find out later, kill her. Unfortunately for our villains, that happens to be the family of Chang, who’s still lollygagging about the desert. Later in the film there’s a bit of “humor” worthy of a Hong Kong film in which the heroine informs Chang that the Capitão had his way his sister, doing everything he wanted to her, and even things he didn’t want to do. Whatever that means.

The next victims of the cangaceiros are an old man and his daughter, Maria (Helena Ramos, one of the Boca de Lixo’s biggest starlets, who showed up in films like Roberta, a Geixa de Sexo and A Mulher Objeto), who are working at a stable or something. Much like Chang’s family, the cangaceiros shoot the man and try to rape Maria. Unfortunately for them, Maria is a martial artist and a fight scene breaks out. Although outnumbered, Maria is able to hold her own for a while until the thugs finally overpower her. It’s then that Chang finally arrives—after a random scene in which kids throw garbage at him and call him the Portuguese equivalent to “queer”—and dishes out the kung fu justice to the cangaceiros.

Chang helps Maria bury her father and she decides to stick by his side, his withdrawn demeanor notwithstanding. However, despite having lost her father a few hours (or so) before, Maria suddenly feels her juices flowing and starts coming on to Chang. Chang just sort of ignores her, although when he gets to leave and look for his family, Maria hops on his back and he gives her piggyback ride across town (I’m just telling you how it is, I didn’t write this stuff). That evening, Chang learns the truth of his family’s fate, which naturally makes him swear revenge against those responsible…but not before he gets some “Thank you” fellatio from Maria (which is implied, not shown).

The next day Chang and Maria head into town, where Chang gets into an argument with the adopted son (whom I think is Edgard Franco, another veteran of sleazy films like Escola Penal de Meninas Violentadas and As Meninas de Madame Laura) of the Colonel that the cangaceiros are in cahoots with. This is also the scene that introduces another character in the form of the Colonel’s daughter, Rosa (whom I sure is Nadir Fernandes of O Sexualista and Adultério, Regras do Jogo), who’ll participate in a subplot to this movie that I’m still not completely sure what it has to do with anything. Chang is arrested and thrown into jail, leaving Maria to come up with a way to bail him out.

Said opportunity arises, yet in a rather strange way. You see, in town there’s a bar/brothel called “Julina’s,” owned by a woman named Julina (played by Garimpeira do Sexo’s Célia Froes, although it might be Inferno Carnal’s Luely Figueiró). Capitão and his gang invade the brothel. While the latter get drunk and have random naked musical numbers with the girls (including Lucimar Vilar, who showed up in Adriano Stuart’s Jaws parody, Bacalhau), Capitão goes up to visit Julina, who’s in bed with whom I think is the equivalent to a sheriff’s deputy. Capitão kicks the guy out of the room and sleeps with Julina. The hapless deputy guy goes back to the jail, where the constable puts him in charge of watching over Chang’s cell. Maria shows up and starts seducing the guy, which puts him in the right position for Chang (through the bars) and Maria to beat the snot out of him. Chang gets out of his cell and the two head down to Julina’s for an extended brawl with the cangaceiros, during which it becomes clear that Maria is doing far more of the kung fu heavy lifting than Chang is. Must be a komedy thing.

During this time there’s a random aside in which the Colonel’s adopted son tries to seduce Rosa. The Colonel is against it, which guarantees that he’ll get a machete in the gut before the scene is over. At that point, Rosa goes over to Julina’s to become a quenga (i.e. a prostitute), since her father had made the declaration “I’d rather my daughter work at Julina’s than to be your wife.” I guess you gotta honor your father’s wishes, right? While the gay transvestite waiter is showing the girl around, they happen upon the room where Chang and Maria are interrupting their coitus so Chang can practice his mini saxophone (not a euphemism). Apparently both Chang and Rosa are attracted to each other, although this subplot is a bit harder to explain. When Chang and Maria leave the brothel—I guess I should point out that Julina is Maria’s mother—they run into the adopted son guy. Chang kills him with a hatchet and that’s that.

At this point, a bunch of local Colonels and constables, plus the town mayor—who’s a cowardly black guy in a top hat—decide to lead a final raid on the cangaceiros. There’s a big Old West-style standoff between the two parties, with the cangaceiros getting the upper hand until Chang and Maria show up. The fight becomes a kung fu free-for-all and the cangaceiros, though armed, are ultimately beaten in personal combat. Maria goes after Capitão, only to take a bullet in the chest when she reaches his camp. Chang shows up a few minutes later and fights with Capitão a little before stabbing him to death.

We now reach the last 10 minutes, which are interminable as the first 25. End movie, end!!!! Chang takes Maria back to her mother, who laments her daughter’s death. Chang says his last goodbye to Maria via a passionate kiss on the mouth, that Maria surprisingly participates in, despite being dead (“She’s only dead from the neck down,” says Chang). The insensitive bastard then tries to consummate his love with Rosa, only to find her in bed with a John (“I got tired of waiting,” she declares). Chang heads back for the desert, only to find the gay transvestite waiter waiting for him. The two leave the town, hand in hand. The end.

I guess the first think I should address is the level of sleaze in this movie. There isn’t a whole lot of trashiness on display, to be perfectly honest. I mean, considering the filmographies of the actors involved—most of the actors had their entire careers based around smut—this film is relatively tame. Despite the title, there is no gay sex on display; I’m pretty sure the dictatorship never would have allowed it. There are two instances in which a guy rubs another man’s behind, but it never gets more explicit than that. There three brief instances of female nudity. Lead actress Helena Ramos gives the audience a glimpse of her boobs in two scenes and Lucimar Vilar shows her stuff during the random song number. The sex tends to be brief and PG-13 level at the most, with the oral sex and rape being implied, not shown.

And that brings up the actual title of the film—in both English and Portuguese. The Portuguese title of the film translates into “Kung Fu vs. the Gays.” The fact of the matter is that the cangaceiros are decidedly not gay. There are some hints that Capitão’s personal Yes Man may be the Smithers to his Mr. Burns, but it’s never stated explicitly. While the cangaceiros do wear pink and purple, their taste is most definitely in women, even if it’s through rape. The same goes for Capitão. He occasionally acts a little fey, complete with a girly excited laugh, but he has sex with no less than three women (one through coercion) and is always surrounded by them while at the camp. There’s one scene with him and the Smithers in a tent that may be considered ambiguous, but otherwise they’re all heterosexual.

Where the real ambiguity comes in is in Chang’s character. His character starts out very ambiguous with regards to his sexual preferences and by the end, it’s pretty clear that he’s a bisexual, if not actually gay. Despite his pink shirt, he initially harasses the gay waiter when he arrives at Julina’s and seems to enjoy having Helena Ramos go down on him. Then there’s that whole bit with the blonde girl played by Nadir Fernandes. But if you pay attention, he’s rather unresponsive to Helena’s attempts to kiss him, both during their first tryst and again at the brothel. Further ambiguity is thrown in when he takes it upon himself to spank the gay waiter and his spanking slowly grows into a caressing. When you look at the end, that is, Chang getting together with the waiter, one may see his final kiss on Helena Ramos’s mouth as a farewell not only to her character, but to his heterosexuality as well. The bit in the blonde girl’s room was just the final nail on the coffin.

I personally found the most fascinating character to be Maria. She’s a loyal, take-charge type of woman who doesn’t think twice about getting her hands dirty while hitting the cangaceiros with the whole loaf of kung fu. In many ways, her character is more proactive than Chang, in more ways than one. It’s Maria that initiates all the sex between her and her partner, which sort of puts her in the Hollywood category of female heroines where sex is a major part of the character’s appeal. And yet, it’s Maria who hatches the plan to spring Chang from jail, who’s the first to go after the Capitão at the end, and who doesn’t take a break from the fighting during the brothel brawl. All those contribute to her becoming the most likable character in the movie and it makes it a shame that she doesn’t see a happier ending.

Unfortunately, not even Maria can make the movie easier to sit through. Too many scenes drone on and on, just sucking what little life there is out of the film. And then there’s the humor. Most of the comedy is silly and unfunny, save a few lines here and there. Casting a black man to be the mayor seems progressive, but feels racist when you see him being portrayed as a gutless coward comic relief. I suppose audiences may have felt that Chang’s speaking in the third person was funny back in 1975, but it isn’t today. There are some soccer references that only Brazilians (or people who have lived here for a while) will understand, such as the law enforcement arriving at a shootout waving the Corinthians flag (NOTE: the Corinthians is a popular soccer team in São Paulo). I think it’s a failed attempt at a joke, especially since most people today see the Corinthians fan base as little more than a bunch of lower-class thugs and hoodlums. It would’ve made more sense to make the cangaceiros Corinthians fans instead. There’s quite a bit of mileage out of the getting-hit-in-the-balls gag, which is to be expected in a movie like this.

While we’re on the subject of hitting, there’s the fighting, which is choreographed by Cladson de Oliveira Silva. I’m guessing Cladson was the head of the local capoeira school and was hired on the basis of being the only person in the area who knew martial arts. In 1975, there were three schools of choreography in Hong Kong films. There was form-based traditional kung fu, which was championed in Shaw Brothers films like Shaolin Avengers and the like. There was the blossoming Brucesploitation genre starring the likes of Bruce Li and Bruce Lai. Finally there was the basher style of choreography, which was choreographed punching and kicking, but tended to downplay authentic techniques. Sammo Hung and Angela Mao were the best at that, while Jimmy “the” Wang Yu and his wildly flailing arms stood at the other end. Cladson’s choreography is a rung or two below Jimmy Wang Yu’s fighting. It’s clumsy and sloppy, with punches being your typical Mississippi haymakers instead of more precise strikes. Kicking, which is abundant, rarely goes above waist level. Some of the stunt men are capoeira stylists—the end credits mention a capoeira school as being part of the action direction. It’s clear that Helena Ramos isn’t a martial artist, but she really puts a lot of gusto into her fight scenes and it’s obvious she’s having fun doing so. Adriano Stuart is a lot more athletic, and is able to perform a few jump kicks and leg locks, although he’s no Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee…or even Andy Lau for that matter. I’m pretty sure I could a find a few early 1970s bashers that have worse fighting than this film. I suppose it’s better than the obscure American film Karate: Hand of Death, for whatever that’s worth. Compared to films today, well, at least you can see the action. Oh, and I suppose we should give this movie credit for being a kung fu parody (sort of) three years before Jackie Chan made Half a Loaf of Kung FuSnake in the Eagle’s Shadow, and The Drunken Master.

In the end, Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power is little more than a curio: a kung fu-comedy-Western of sorts with a memorable name and a country of origin that most people wouldn’t expect such a film to be made in. But beyond Helena Ramos’s performance and some goofy choreography, there’s very little to recommend this movie.

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