Enter the Dragon

Vintage movie poster.

Today's movie can be defined in a single word: influential. How does a single movie achieve the title of one of the most influential flicks of all times? We'll try to find the answers right here as usual. Bruce Lee wasn't Bruce Lee in the world outside Asia before 1973, probably just a few connisseurs have heard of him or even had the chance of watching one of his early films. Enter the Dragon was the first movie exclusively conceived to conquer the non asian movie fans from around the globe. It was the first time where Bruce Lee spoke english in every sentenced uttered by himself while he wasn't getting rid of goons with his iron fist. With a relatively high budget invested in the movie production, the movie itself became the greatest martial arts movie of all times, the most influential and tragically, the one that would make Bruce Lee an icon beyond his demisse. 

Written by Michael Allin and directed by Robert Closue the movie also featured John Saxon, Jim Kelly and  Ahna Capri sharing the lead roles with ultimate martial arts master Bruce Lee. Lee, stars as a martial arts expert who is recruited by the British government to infiltrate an island fortress, under the cover of being invited to a martial arts tournament, to investigate a possible slavery/drug ring led by a former nemesis of his.

Indeed something smells bad at this isolated island fortress, as he discovers that his lifetime foe Han (played by Shih Kien) is the host of the tournament and is also the leader of the same gang that mercilessly murdered his sister. Soon enough, Lee, together with two other martial artists, Roper (John Saxon the great B classics actor) and Williams (played by Jim Kelly, another underrated talent), go to work kicking ass everywhere until the final showdown with the murderous, one-handed villain Han in the now classic "Hall of Mirrors" fight sequence.

"You don't wanna mess with me, son"

"Gee I'm about to shit in my pants, gotta hold on"

"Hey Roper, I've seen your suit somewhere else"

Martial arts in style.

"Enter the Dragon," is a joint American-Chinese production, intended to be Bruce Lee's introduction to Western audiences, but due to his tragic death just weeks before the film's American release, we will never know what he would have been capable of achieving in further releases. Even more tragically, his son Brandon Lee would experience a similar fate just like his father only 20 years later with "The  Crow" another instant cult classic based in a comic book.

There are so many classic fight scenes, which I can watch over and over without them ever becoming boring. Many of them still hold up very well, especially by XXI century standards, where fight scenes are mostly digitally enhanced or involve wires or impossible maneuvers a la Matrix style to make up for lack of actual stunt work; plus one has to remember that this film was made in 1973, in the days before wirework would become dominant in today's martial arts cinema. The Cavern Fight is probably one of the greatest scenes in the movie and in the world of martial arts films.

Many of the fights in this movie, more specially the ones where immortal martial arts master Bruce Lee is involved, have a surreal feeling to them. He brings a kind of grace to his action scenes that have yet to be topped by any actor alive today. Lee even brings many of his own personal philosophies to this film, which makes much sense and perhaps help to understand some of the more philosophical elements to the story. But more than anything, this was Bruce Lee's entrée to Americans; many people were introduced to martial arts cinema through "Enter the Dragon." Spawning a whole new breed of movie fans eager to find more asian martial arts films, in fact I can confidently tell you that this movie is the equivalent for Nirvana's Nevermind album which introduced the world to the Seattle grunge music scene. If you disagree ask yourself or search the web for the huge amount of asian martial arts films that were made during the 70's after Enter the Dragon's success.

"I inspired the very existence of Liu Kang & Fei Long"

"You broke my mouth with such a huge cock Bruce"

"How many times have I told you to comb your hair you idiot"

a Room full of mirrors.

There are also several cameos made by future martial arts stars that would eventually reach stardom, most notably Jackie Chan (as a henchman during the "Cavern Fight" sequence who has his neck broken by Lee) and Sammo Hung (as Lee's sparring partner in the opening fight sequence). The music score was brilliantly composed by Lalo Schifrin, a name in music scores. Photography is also a great achievement in the film, camera work takes us to beatiful sceneries and to deadly fists as well.

I could go on and on about what makes this movie a must for martial arts lovers, but as always, I think you have the final word about what makes this movie worth watching, and worth having in your private home video library. Bruce Lee was forever immortalized with this film and it will be cherished and praised forever.The film was recently released in the high definition in a great Blu-Ray disc that features plenty of documentaries and extra material to make the Enter the Dragon experience even richer than the DVD ultimate edition released some years ago.

Here's the movie trailer: