Brandon Lee: To Kill a Crow by Stephen Marcellino

            
When most people hear the name Brandon Lee, they instinctively think one of the films that he is most famous for, The Crow. Incidentally, this is also the same film where Brandon met his untimely demise on set while filming. In the beginning of the movie, when Brandon’s character was shot, the gun that was supposed to have blanks loaded was instead loaded with a live bullet (The Crow, Accidents When Filming). Brandon died in the hospital and medical examiner later said that Brandon died from the injury inflicted from the bullet (1). This brought about a large amount of conspiracy theories surrounding his death and the connection to his father’s, whose death was also surrounded by suspicion and confusion involving the Triads (“Bruce and Brandon Lee- cursed or planned murders?”). This is one of the most evident and strongly sought after theory involving Brandon’s death.

           Growing up under the shadow of a martial arts legend and actor was not easy for Brandon. Because of his father’s career, he and his mother could never settle down in an area before getting uprooted due to a new acting role his father got (“Brandon Lee Biography”). After his father’s death, he still moved from place to place, finding it hard to stay in one city for too long because moving was the only life he knew (1).

            Brandon loved acting from the very first drama class that he took at Emmerson College (“Brandon Lee Biography”). Being raised by Bruce Lee, Brandon was also started learning martial arts as a young child. This eventually led to him starring in multiple martial arts movies like his father. Martial Arts movies was never Brandon’s true passion, although many of his movies were of this nature.

            After struggling internally and externally to pull himself out of the shadow of a martial arts legend and movie star, he achieved his own role in a film called The Crow based on the graphic novel under the same title. The graphic novel was written by James O’Barr and in the film iteration, a man named Eric Draven comes back from the dead to exact revenge on the group of gang members who brutally killed him and his fiancé (“Plot Summary”). Is it merely a coincidence that he died in the same scene where Eric Draven was shot and killed, or is it the work of something else going on that we are unaware of? The answer to this question has been sought after by many people, and this is where the conspiracists come in, to try to explain the unexplained.

            The circumstances surrounding Brandon’s death were suspect to say the least, leaving more questions than were answered. These circumstances were outstanding and in many cases appalling that there were so many “coincidences” that occurred on the day that the tragic scene that left one of America’s most beloved movie stars dead. On that day, common safety precautions like providing Brandon with a safety vest and having the shooter point away from the actor, which is common practice on close up shooting scenes (“The Bruce Lee Curse”). Another “coincidence” was that the weapon’s supervisor was sent home early that day, which was the one situation that first brought the reasons given by the media into question (1).

Many theories were presented by conspiracists all across the country in attempt to answer these questions. One of these theories being that Brandon’s death was planned by the illuminati and depicted in his father’s movie Game of Death (“Illuminutti”). In this film, there is a scene where Billy Lo, played by Bruce Lee, is supposed to play a scene where his character is supposed to be shot. Billy, however, is not very confident in the safety of someone shooting blanks at him, but does the scene despite it. In this scene, the actor that is supposed to use a prop gun, is using a real gun instead and shoots Billy Lo. When the director ended the scene, Billy Lo was found dead from a bullet to the head (“The Film Connoisseur: Game of Death (1978)”). This scene was all too familiar when it was reported that Brandon died of almost the very same way while filming The Crow (“Bruce Lee's Son, Brandon, Killed in Movie Accident."). For this reason, it is theorized that Brandon Lee’s death, along with his father’s, was planned by the nefarious group called the illuminati (1).

            Another theory is that the Chinese Mafia had Brandon killed after he had picked up where his father had left off in making martial arts films and practicing his father’s own style, Jeet Kune Do. Kung Fu before Bruce Lee came to the United States was a closed practice and was only to be taught by Chinese to other Chinese. Bruce Lee did not agree with this and taught Kung Fu to anyone who was dedicated enough and willing to learn, including his wife Linda. Through a series of events, it is theorized that the Triads were contracted to kill Bruce for his dishonor and insubordination. When it was seen that Brandon was following in his father’s footsteps, it is theorized that the same thing happened to him, thus ending Bruce Lee’s heritage and bloodline.

            Lastly, there is a theory that is not discussed often, mainly due to its necessity for acceptance of the unexplained. This is the theory that Brandon Lee’s death was no conspiracy and the tragic accident was just that, an accident. A survey done on the campus of College of the Mainland showed that only 3 out of 20 interviewed students believed this. History of other conspiracies, however, shows that this is the least favorite by any conspiracist, because it acknowledges that even though there are questions that need answers, there are no answers to be had.