Why did Bruce Lee make a funny face when he killed someone?

The 70’s was one of the best decades ever.  It was the era of bell bottoms, long hair, toe socks, peasant blouses. There was also disco, the Beatles,  the end of the Vietnam war and everything else in between but most importantly kung fu movies.  There was something about that golden era of kung fu movies that captivated my imagination.  Having a guy single handily defeat 30 foes at once was astonishing, and sometimes the good guy would be trapped and when the enemies would unhuddle they would find the hero somewhere else.  Some of these kung fu artists jumped 20 to 40ft in the air to get on top of roofs or trees which would defy physics, of course being small at the time, I thought this was actually possible.  One of the most recognizable stars during this golden era of martial arts was Bruce Lee. We don’t need to go in detail about his life and career however when it came down to putting Kung Fu in Hollywood, he was the man. 

 

We always wondered why in all the movies, when Bruce Lee killed someone, he made this face of surprise.  We researched around the internet as we always do to get answers and found out that facial expressions in kung fu are unique as music artists that play a guitar or drums or any other instrument (think of Carlos Santana playing guitar) .  Every person creates his or her own mannerisms which include facial expressions when performing physical activities and Bruce Lee was no different. Watch this small clip as Bruce Lee in the film “Enter the Dragon”.  Notice the epic face right before he puts a young Jackie Chan out of misery, classic !!