Bob Wall: Come on, let's do lunch.
MPM: Are you still a tough guy?
Bob Wall: Well I don't know if I'm a tough guy but lets just say nobody has ever beaten me up. I consider myself an 'educator'. And I 'educate' someone about every 4 or 5 months whether it be a robber, a criminal, when I see a criminal I adjust them radically. I'm 59 years old and I train, quite a bit in arm locks, dead locks, and chokes. So I'm able to alter the attitudes of people. One of my goals is to live to be a hundred.
MPM: Just some quick easy questions just for my personal knowledge. Which Bruce Lee film is your favorite?
Bob Wall: My favorite is ETD. And my second favorite is GOD. The reason being because , having done it with the worst director on the planet ,it could have been great the fact is that without Raymond Chow, putting up the money doing it, there was nuggets in there, it was like going through **** to get nuggets, and the reality is , I know what it could've been, knowing what we were able to do in spite of that idiot (Clouse), it was all the obstacles , imagine if Bruce was alive, what we could have done with that film but you have a dead hero and an idiot director. So I think its not given the credit it deserves but the fact is it's one of the highest grossing martial arts films, it outgrossed all the 'Karate Kid' films .
MPM: Cool deal.
Bob Wall: And on the other side, I certainly liked WOTD because it was filmed as a comedy and while its not the greatest film in the world, but it can play side by side with GOD, because there's nuggets in WOTD just like in GOD but I liked GOD better.
MPM: Any other Bruce Lee projects coming out that you know of?
Bob Wall: I wanted to do...I mean, I have probably about a million dollars worth of Bruce Lee memoribilia , letters he's written me, tremendous amounts of books , some articles of clothing he wore on WOTD, a couple of pairs of his nunchuks, I have taped recordings, I have film of Bruce teaching Steve McQueen and James Coburn. I have like 2 hours of that stuff of Bruce instructing them. I have footage of Bruce kicking the 300 lb bag. But the best thing I have is the original uncut version of ETD from the original negatives. Warner Bros. had called and said 'Hey come over and get what you want. We're burning everything tomorrow.' I went over and started taking stuff, a little more , a little more, and they told me to just take the whole thing. I have all original stills from the movie. I have great still sets from WOTD and GOD. People have asked why haven't I shown this stuff....
MPM: You should!
Bob Wall: I went to Vegas , the Imperial Palace, to have a show we had about 6000 ft so we started off with 1500 ft with Brandon and Bruce , we would have Bruce 'grow up' because I have 5 of his kid films . I have a film of him and his father when he was 5 years old. I have film of Bruce and Brandon when Brandon was five years old on a demo on HK television . I have so much great stuff. I would interacted them . Imperial Palace had bought two of Bruce's cars, his Mecedes Benz and the Green Hornet car so we were going to have a phenomenal thing, we went to several meetings, with Bruce's attorney (Marshall?) and we were getting ready to sign the contract, and Linda killed it . She didn't want to lose it to gambling. I have film of Bruce and Brandon when Brandon was five years old on a demo on HK television . I have so much great stuff. I would interacted them . Imperial Palace had bought two of Bruce's cars, his Mecedes Benz and the Green Hornet car so we were going to have a phenomenal thing, we went to several meetings, with teh Imperial Palace owner, with Bruce's attorney (Marshall?) and we were getting ready to sign the contract, and Linda killed it . She didn't want to lose it to gambling.
But I set up the Elvis Presley estate museum(?) and last year and it made $21 million. Dead heroes don't grow old. They continue to find a new generation that discovers them. And Bruce is one of those heroes. Tragically he died at 32 but he changed the film industry so I know it will be a success.
MPM: You're holding back on us man.
Bob Wall: Well, I'm just waiting for the right time so the public can view it. So anything else I can answer for you?
MPM: No that will be it man. You did a great deal already.
Bob Wall: I'd love to read that book that you mentioned...
MPM: Yeah I'll definitely send it. You gave me the photos, I'll send you the book.
Bob Wall: You got the photos okay?
MPM: Yeah they're great!
Bob Wall: I thought you might enjoy them.
MPM: They're up on my wall.
Bob Wall: A lot of people don't remember to acknowledge. Now I always ask . In the old days, I never did . Its nice to hear 'Gee thanks, you took the time to send the photographs, autograph, pay for the postage.' Because they're so much stuff out there that I don't hear about and I love memoribilia . At any rate, it's a pleasure, I'm glad I was able to help out ...
MPM: I really appreciate this. Thank you Bob Wall.
Bob Wall: It was my pleasure.