Enter the Dragon
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| Enter the Dragon | |
|---|---|
| File:Enter The Dragon Poster.jpg | |
| Directed by | Robert Clouse |
| Written by | Michael Allin |
| Produced by | Fred Weintraub Paul Heller |
| Starring | Bruce Lee John Saxon Ahna Capri Shih Kien Robert Wall Angela Mao Betty Chung Geoffrey Weeks Peter Archer Jim Kelly Bolo Yeung |
| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
Release dates | .svg){kind=small} July 26, 1973  August 17, 1973 |
Running time | 98 min. |
| Language | English |
Enter the Dragon (《龍爭虎鬥》) aka. The Deadly Three, originally titled Blood and Steel is a 1973 Warner Brothers martial arts film starring martial artist Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It is the last completed film Bruce Lee appeared in before his death. He died six days before the movie was first released.
It was the first Kung Fu film to have been made by a Hollywood studio. It has one of the most influential martial arts scenes ever made -- the Nunchaku scene[citation needed]. The film is largely set in Hong Kong (see Hong Kong in films).
Although they had acted in films and Peking opera decades before, the Seven Little Fortunes, including Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, were stuntmen for the film. This was arguably instrumental in Jackie Chan's and Sammo Hung's further association with Golden Harvest studios, which later launched their career.
The finished version of the film was significantly different from the original drafts. Bruce Lee was ultimately successful in using the film as a vehicle for expressing what he saw as the beauty of his culture, rather than just another action movie [citation needed].
The Warner Brothers Special Edition video includes footage from the only live interview of Bruce Lee, as well as a few minutes of movie footage, philosophical in tone, cut from the original theatrical release.
Plot
Enter the Dragon follows three international martial artists -- Lee (played by Bruce Lee), Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly) -- during their participation in a fighting tournament on an island controlled by the crimelord and renegade Shaolin student Han (played by Shih Kien). The island is beyond international jurisdiction. Lee, Roper, and Williams each have their own reasons for entering the tournament, but they all find themselves at odds with their host, the mysterious Han.
Lee is recruited by an intelligence agency to investigate Han's operations using his participation in the tournament as cover. Since Han forbids firearms on the island, Lee's martial arts skills could prove vital in case of trouble. Lee also has more personal reasons for dealing with Han, who left Lee's Shaolin temple in disgrace and whose bodyguard, Oharra, was responsible for the death of Lee’s sister.
Roper and Williams are former army buddies who have had to leave the U.S. in a hurry. Gambler Roper has gotten himself into trouble with the mob, and Williams has assaulted a pair of racist policemen and stolen their car to make his getaway. Han's island, beyond international jurisdiction, provides a convenient place for them to lay low.
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 — and once they know the truth, Han will give them but one choice: Join him or die fighting. However, he may have underestimated just how talented these fighters are...
Cast
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Box office
Enter the Dragon was a huge success during its original theatrical release. It grossed an estimated $25,000,000 in North America[1], and an estimated $90,000,000 worldwide[1], off a very modest $850,000 budget, making it one of the most profitable film ever made.
In Hong Kong, the film grossed HKD $3,307,536[1]— huge business for the time, but substantially less than Lee's Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon
On set incidents
- Bruce was bitten by a cobra during filming of the scene in which he infiltrates Han's base.
- According to Bob Wall and John Saxon, Bruce Lee beat up an actor who was taunting him, but on the Enter the Dragon DVD, this incident was played down. Bruce Lee was said to have been challenged by many actors and stunt men wanting to prove themselves by defeating him in a fight.
- Some of the extras were thugs who used their fighting skills to enforce local protection rackets. During a fight, Lee is said to have smashed the teeth out of a man's mouth. This led to speculation that his death, soon after the film was completed, was a Triad revenge. [citation needed]
- During the fight scene with Bob Wall, Bruce Lee cut himself on glass bottles that were not sugar glass props.
- During the making of Enter the Dragon, it is said that Bob Wall never quite got along with Bruce Lee and at the fight on the parade ground (where Oharra smashes the bottles) the attack at Lee was more than just a managed fight. Wall and others deny these allegations however, stating the whole event was blown out of proportion.[citation needed]
- During the fight scene with Bob Wall, Bruce Lee sidekicked Wall so hard that the extra positioned to catch Wall received a broken arm.
- The scene where Williams chooses a handful of girls to be his roommates on the island is echoed in Rush Hour 2, where Detective Carter swipes many girls at the massage parlor.
Additional information
- It is often regarded as one of the most influential films of all time[citation needed], kick-starting the Kung Fu movie genre during the 1970s in the West and establishing Bruce Lee as a popular culture icon.
- In October 1973, Enter the Dragon was the number one box office movie in the United States.
- The production budget was only $850,000 and the filming was completed in less than 3 months.
- By 1977, Enter the Dragon was listed as one of the twenty most profitable movies in the history of cinema.[citation needed]
- In 2004, it was deemed "culturally significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Enter the Dragon in popular culture
 | This article may contain minor, trivial or unrelated fictional references. |
- This movie is parodied in The Kentucky Fried Movie as A Fistfull of Yen, complete with Lee quote, "This time, with feeling."
- Many of the moves performed by Bruce Lee in this film are used as moves for the characters Marshall and Forest Law in the best selling video game series Tekken.
- Various moves and character nuances of Lee, seen and heard, in the movie are the basis of moves and sound effects for the character Maxi from Soul Calibur series and the nunchaku discipline from Soul Calibur III.
- The Super Street Fighter II character Fei Long is a tribute to Bruce Lee. Many of the moves performed by Bruce Lee in this film are used as moves for Fei Long in the series of games.
- The classic Beat 'Em Up series Double Dragon has many of its thugs named after characters from this film including Williams, Roper, Oharra, and Bolo, not to mention the two main characters of the series have the last name Lee.
- The plot of the original Mortal Kombat video game is nearly identical to Enter the Dragon, but with a distinctly supernatural twist. The official comic book that could be purchased via mail order that came out with the game even contained the famous quote "Let the tournament begin!"
- Liu Kang, from the Mortal Kombat series, seems to be based mostly on Bruce Lee's character, Lee. This is evident due to the fact that both are fighting to represent the Shaolin Temples and are trying to restore honor in a corrupted tournament. Also, in the first film, Liu Kang seeks to avenge the death of a family member, his brother, just as Lee seeks to avenge the death of his sister.
- Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix Plus includes a remix of the movie's theme song arranged by Naoki Maeda under the alias "B3-Project."
- Pump It Up Zero (an arcade dance simulation video game) has a mix of the theme song of Enter the Dragon, specially arranged by South Korean hip hop group JTL. This group's first album is also named after this movie, and the song that's featured in PIU Zero is also contained on it.
- A scene from the movie is recreated in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, when Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) stabs the pawn shop owner Maynard through the stomach with a katana.
- In episode 49 of Beast Wars, when Megatron reveals his new dragon beast form on the reawakened Optimal Optimus, he bluntly states the phrase "Enter the Dragon!" before pouncing on him.
- There are several references to Enter the Dragon in The Boondocks animated television show, most notably in the episode Granddad's Fight. In that episode, Huey Quotes Bruce Lee when he asks Granddad, "What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content!". Huey also wears clothes that match Lee's exactly during a sequence where he is training his granddad to fight. Also, in the episode "Let's Nab Oprah," Williams is given tribute in the character Bushido Brown, who goes as far to use the line, "Man, you come straight out of a comic strip." It should probably be noted that The Boondocks did, in fact, originate from a comic strip.
- Jann Lee from the Dead or Alive series uses several moves used by Bruce Lee and sometimes says "Don't think. Feel".
- The main theme of the movie was often an introduction cover song to most Jamiroquai gigs of the Dynamite era.
- Enter the Dragon is the name of an episode of A.T.O.M.(alpha teens on machines) in which the ninja assassin Dragon makes his first appearance.
- Enter the Dragon is also the name of an episode of 6teen which is mainly about the gang wondering where the tickets are for Dragon Thunder.
- In an episode of 'Family Matters', Steve Urkel gets revenge on some neighborhood bullies by creating a machine that gives him the martial arts knowledge of Bruce Lee. He even battles them dressed in the black & yellow uniform Lee wore in the movie and quoted several of the memorable lines such as 'Boards don't hit back'.
- The final fight of the film between Lee and Han inspired similar scenes in two other films: In the 1984 film, Conan the Destroyer, and the 1994 film,The Shadow, a fight occurs in a mirrored room in which the hero has to destroy the multiple images before defeating the "real" villain.
- An article [1] in The Onion from March 2004 covered a very similar style of tournament held by Donald Rumsfeld.
- The makers of Balls of Fury have referred to their film as "the retarded ping-pong version of Enter the Dragon". Indeed, the plots of the two films are remarkably similar.
- Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly's title seems to be based of this film's title.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- Sammo Hung appears as Bruce Lee's sparring opponent at the beginning of the movie.
- Jackie Chan appears briefly in a couple of scenes, as one of the guards or henchmen with Oharra. The first is when he is kicked in the groin while coming onto Lee's sister. He is wearing the light blue clothing. He is also the only person to get any serious type of damage on Lee's sister. (Punches, a kick, and pushing her head into the wall) Later on, he gets his neck snapped by Bruce Lee during a battle with several guards, where Bruce Lee demonstrates his abilities with a number of weapons including the nunchakus.
- The scene in which Lee's character 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[2][3] .
- According to Shannon Lee, who appeared on a Spike TV special, airing the film, she states there was a debate on deciding the title, as the film originally was supposed to be named "Blood and Steel" or "Han's Isle". The film was named "Enter the Dragon", as she states her father was known as "the dragon".
Remake
In August 2007, Warner Independent Pictures announced that television producer Kurt Sutter would be remaking the film as a noir-style thriller entitled Awaken the Dragon. [4]
DVD releases
Warner Brothers
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic
- Sound: English (5.1), French (5.1), Spanish (5.1)
- Supplements: Introduction and interview with Linda Lee Caldwell; Commentary by Paul Heller and Michael Allin; Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon documentary; Bruce Lee: In His Own Words documentary; Backyard Workout documentary; Trailers and TV spots; Production notes
- Region 1
Warner Brothers
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic
- Sound: English (5.1), English (1.0)
- Supplements: Commentary by Paul Heller and Michael Allin; Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon documentary; Bruce Lee: In His Own Words documentary; Backyard Workout documentary; Blood and Steel documentary; Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey documentary; Bruce Lee: Curse of the Dragon documentary; Trailers and TV spots
- Region 1
Universe (Hong Kong)
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) letterboxed
- Sound: Cantonese (5.1), Madarin (5.1)
- All regions
HD-DVD Release
Warner Brothers
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2:40:1
- Sound: English (5.1), French (1.0), Spanish
- Supplements: Interview with Linda Lee Caldwell, The Making of ENTER THE DRAGON, A Warrior's Journey, The Curse of the Dragon, Bruce Lee: In His Own Words, Hong Kong with ENTER THE DRAGON, Backyard Workout with Bruce, Theatrical Trailer, and TV Spots
- Region 1
Blu Ray Release
Warner Brothers
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2:40:1
- Sound: English (5.1), French (1.0), Spanish
- Supplements: Interview with Linda Lee Caldwell, The Making of ENTER THE DRAGON, A Warrior's Journey, The Curse of the Dragon, Bruce Lee: In His Own Words, Hong Kong with ENTER THE DRAGON, Backyard Workout with Bruce, Theatrical Trailer, and TV Spots (Special features are the same as the HD-DVD Release)
- Region 1
References
- ^ a b c "IMDB: Box office business". Retrieved 2007-08-26.
- ^ www.martialdirect.com/articles/bruceleept1.htm (2007-08-12). "Bruce Lee Said What?".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ www.nineblue.com/kids/news_details.aspx?user_id=31 (2007-08-12). "Bully Busters Art of Fighting without Fighting".
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Fleming, Michael (2007=08-09). "Warners to remake 'Enter the Dragon'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
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