Enter the Dragon

Enter the Dragon
Traditional Chinese 龍爭虎鬥
Simplified Chinese 龙争虎斗
Enter the Dragon

Theatrical release poster
Traditional 龍爭虎鬥
Simplified 龙争虎斗
Mandarin Lóng Zhēng Hǔ Dòu
Cantonese Lung4 Zang1 Fu2 Dau3
Directed by Robert Clouse
Bruce Lee (uncredited)
Produced by Raymond Chow
Fred Weintraub
Paul Heller
Bruce Lee
Written by Michael Allin
Starring Bruce Lee
John Saxon
Ahna Capri
Robert Wall
Shih Kien
Jim Kelly
Bolo Yeung
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography Gilbert Hubbs
Edited by Yao Chung Chang
Kurt Hirschler
George Watters
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Golden Harvest
Release dates
  • 26 July 1973 (1973-07-26) (Hong Kong)
  • 17 August 1973 (1973-08-17) (United States)
Running time
 99 minutes
(English International Cut)
102 minutes
(Current Restored Version)
Country Hong Kong
United States
Language English and Cantonese
Budget $850,000
Box office HK$3,307,520.40
(Hong Kong)
$22 million (USA)[1]

Enter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse; starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. This was Bruce Lee's final film appearance (footage was shot and used in what became Game of Death) before his death on 20 July 1973, at the age of 32. The film was first released on 26 July 1973 in Hong Kong, six days after Lee's death. Lee was also one of the film's writers.

Often considered one of the greatest martial arts films of all time, in 2004, Enter the Dragon was deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" in the United States and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.[2]

Enter the Dragon was the first Chinese martial arts film to have been produced by a major Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., and was produced in association with Lee's Concord Production Inc. The film is largely set in Hong Kong.

Among the stuntmen for the film were members of the Seven Little Fortunes, including Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. This was arguably instrumental in the trio's further association with Golden Harvest studios, which later launched their careers. The portly Hung is shown fighting Lee in the opening sequence of the movie and Chan shows up as a henchman when Lee is discovered inside Han's underground lair.

The finished version of the film was not significantly different from the original screenplay. Bruce Lee did not revise the script. Bruce Lee directed the film's opening Shaolin Monastery fight sequence. Lee wanted to use the film as a vehicle for expressing what he saw as the beauty of his Chinese culture, rather than it being just another action film. The original script contained most of the dialogue in the movie.[3] Bolo Yeung went on to make several martial arts films, most notably the Jean-Claude Van Damme films Bloodsport (1987) and Double Impact (1991).

Plot

Lee (Bruce Lee) is a Shaolin martial artist from Hong Kong who possesses great philosophical insight into martial arts as well as physical prowess. He receives an invitation to a martial arts competition on an island organised by the mysterious Mr. Han (Shih Kien). Lee learns from his Sifu (teacher) that Han was also once a Shaolin student, but had been expelled from their order for abusing their code of conduct. The island is beyond international jurisdiction.

Joining him are other competitors including Roper (John Saxon), a down-on-his-luck white American playboy-gambler on the run from the mob, and Williams (Jim Kelly), an African-American activist on the run after defending himself against two racist white policemen in Los Angeles. Roper and Williams are old friends who also have a betting scam going: one will under-perform until the other can get a bet on the outcome at good odds. Both win their first fights easily. Lee, Roper, and Williams all find themselves at odds with their host, the mysterious Han.

Lee has more personal reasons for dealing with Han, whose bodyguard, Oharra, was responsible for the death of Lee’s sister.

Over the course of the tournament, the protagonists discover that Han uses his tournament as a front to recruit new talent for his drug running and prostitution operations. Now that they know the truth, Han gives them one choice: join him or die fighting. They choose to fight.

Cast

Production

Jackie Chan's character gets his neck snapped by Bruce Lee

The scene in which Lee states that his style was the style of "Fighting Without Fighting" and then lures Parsons into boarding a dinghy is based upon a famous anecdote involving the 16th century samurai Tsukahara Bokuden.[9][10]

Jackie Chan appears as a guard during the underground lair battle scene and gets his neck snapped by Lee. He also performed several stunts for the film, including the scene where Lee's character quickly climbs a rooftop at night. However Yuen Wah was Lee's main stunt double for the film, most notably for the more acrobatic feats in the film, such as flipping over the abbot's arms at the beginning and the scene where Lee does a back-flip when O'Hara catches his leg during their fight.

The title of the film was originally intended to be Blood and Steel.

Enter The Dragon was filmed without sound. All of the dialogue and effects were dubbed in during post-production.

Music

Further information: Enter the Dragon (soundtrack)

Argentinian musician Lalo Schifrin composed the film's musical score. While Schifrin was widely known at the time for his jazz scores, he also incorporated funk and traditional film score elements into the film's soundtrack.[11]

Reaction

Box office

In 1973, Enter the Dragon grossed an estimated $21,483,063 in North America,[1] on a tight budget of $850,000.[12]

In India, the movie opened to full houses. In Hong Kong, the film grossed HK$3,307,536[13]—huge business for the time, but substantially less than Lee's Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon.

Critical response

The film was well received by critics and is regarded by many as one of the best films of 1973.[14][15][16][17] Critics have referred to Enter the Dragon as "a low-rent James Bond thriller",[18][19] a "remake of Doctor No" with elements of Fu Manchu.[20] J.C. Maçek III of PopMatters wrote, "Of course the real showcase here is the obvious star here, Bruce Lee, whose performance as an actor and a fighter are the most enhanced by the perfect sound and video transfer. While Kelly was a famous martial artist and a surprisingly good actor and Saxon was a famous actor and a surprisingly good martial artist, Lee proves to be a master of both fields."[21]

The film currently holds a 95% approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, with 43 reviews counted and an average rating of 7.8/10.[22] In 2004, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[23]

The film also ranks No. 474 on Empire magazine's 2008 list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[24]

Legacy

Cartoon by Neal Adams depicting the final fight between Lee and Han from Enter the Dragon (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, October 1975).

The film has been parodied and referenced in places such as the 1976 film The Pink Panther Strikes Again, the satirical publication The Onion,[25] the Japanese game-show Takeshi's Castle, and the 1977 John Landis comedy anthology film Kentucky Fried Movie (in its lengthy "A Fistful of Yen" sequence, basically a comedic, note for note remake of Dragon) and also in the film Balls of Fury. It was also parodied on television in That '70s Show during the episode "Jackie Moves On" with regular character Fez taking on the Bruce Lee role. Several clips from the film are comically used during the theatre scene in The Last Dragon.

In August 2007, the now defunct Warner Independent Pictures announced that television producer Kurt Sutter would be remaking the film as a noir-style thriller entitled Awaken the Dragon.[26]

The film was considered for two of the American Film Institute's 100 series lists. Lee's character was considered a possible candidate for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains list.[27] The film itself was also a candidate for AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies.[28]

The popular video game Mortal Kombat borrows multiple plot elements from Enter The Dragon.

The popular 1980s martial arts video game Double Dragon features two enemies named Roper and Williams, a reference to the two characters Roper and Williams from Enter The Dragon.

American Film Institute recognition

Home video releases

DVD

Universe (Hong Kong)

Fortune Star – Bruce Lee Ultimate DVD Collection (Hong Kong)

Zoke Culture (China)

Warner – 30th Anniversary Special Edition (America)

Warner – 25th Anniversary Special Edition (America)

Warner – Limited Edition (United Kingdom)

Blu-ray

Kam & Ronson (Hong Kong)

Warner (North America and South America)

Warner (40th Anniversary Edition – Remastered)

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Enter-the-Dragon#tab=summary
  2. ↑ "National Film Registry Titles of the U.S. Library of Congress (1989–2009)". AMC Filmsite.org. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  3. ↑ Fred Weintraub Producer of Enter the Dragon
  4. ↑ Ryfle, Steve (10 January 2010). "DVD set is devoted to '70s martial arts star Jim Kelly". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Car Accident Claims Ahna Capri". Inside Kung Fu. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  6. ↑ "Lee's Dragon co-star dies at 96". BBC. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  7. ↑ "Bob Wall Interview: "Pulling No Punches"". Black Belt. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  8. ↑ "A King of Kung Fu Films Savors Work and Honors". The New York Times. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  9. ↑ "Bruce Lee Said What?". Martialdirect.com. 12 August 2007.
  10. ↑ "Bully Busters Art of Fighting without Fighting". Nineblue.com. 12 August 2007.
  11. ↑ Guarisco, Donald. "Lalo Schifrin: Enter the Dragon [Music from the Motion Picture] – Review". All Music Guide. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  12. ↑ Variety says the film earned $4.25 million in North American rentals in 1973. See "Big Rental Films of 1973", Variety, 9 January 1974 p 19
  13. ↑ "Enter The Dragon (1973)". IMDB. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  14. ↑ http://variety.com/1973/film/reviews/enter-the-dragon-1200423093/
  15. ↑ "The Greatest Films of 1973". AMC Filmsite.org. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  16. ↑ "The Best Movies of 1973 by Rank". Films101.com. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  17. ↑ "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1973". IMDb. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  18. ↑ Enter the Dragon, TV Guide Movie Review. TV Guide. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  19. ↑ The Fourth Virgin Film Guide by James Pallot and the editors of CineBooks, published by Virgin Books, 1995
  20. ↑ Hong Kong Action Cinema by Bey Logan, published by Titan Books, 1995
  21. ↑ Maçek III, J.C. (21 June 2013). "Tournament of Death, Tour de Force: 'Enter the Dragon: 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray'". PopMatters.
  22. ↑ "Enter the Dragon Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  23. ↑ "Enter the Dragon: Award Wins and Nominations". IMDb. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  24. ↑ "Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  25. ↑ Rumsfeld Hosts No-Holds-Barred Martial Arts Tournament At Remote Island Fortress | The Onion – America's Finest News Source
  26. ↑ Fleming, Michael (9 August 2007). "Warners to remake 'Enter the Dragon'". Variety. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  27. ↑ "The 50 Greatest Heroes and the 50 Greatest Villains of All Time: The 400 Nominated Characters" (PDF). AFI.com. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  28. ↑ "America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies: The 400 Nominated Films" (PDF). AFI.com. Retrieved 30 July 2011.

External links

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