Enter the Dragon was a breakthrough movie from the greatest martial arts movie star of all time: Bruce Lee.
Lee united several worlds. Although he grew up in Hong Kong, he was born in the United States and therefore in the US, so it wasn’t such a hasty decision to leave Hong Kong and return to the US when he was young.
And so it was fitting that he was the first actor and martial artist to bring the genre to the United States. Enter the Dragon was a hit several decades before Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger. And it was the first martial arts film to be co-produced by a Hong Kong film company (Golden Harvest) and an American producer (Fred Weintraub).
The script writer supposedly didn’t know much about the genre. If he came up with the basic theme of a martial arts hero heading to an isolated island controlled by a bad guy, he would create a new mold. It is not known how many subsequent films have borrowed that theme.
He’s not well known, but Lee had deep roots in the film industry, even before his martial arts studies: he appeared in his first film as a baby.
He had a great desire to become an American television star. Enter the Dragon was going to be her entrance into that world, her revenge for not getting the leading role in Kung Fu. Apparently he wasn’t until after that, when he returned to Hong Kong to start making movies there, she found out that he was already a star in Asia. When they saw The Green Hornet, Asian audiences recognized the fighting skill he displayed as Kato. In fact, throughout Asia, the show was known as The Kato Show. Nobody cared about the Anglo Green Hornet blade.
Chinese martial artists and filmmakers are quite competitive, always looking to outdo each other and produce something more wild and spectacular. Therefore, the fight scenes in Enter the Dragon now look rather tame. It’s also painfully obvious that except for the prominent martial artists, the rest are just extras with no particular kung fu skills.
However, there is no doubt that Lee had a fighting charisma that no one has duplicated since, no matter how skilled he is in kung fu. I recently watched Donnie Yen play the role of Lee in a Hong Kong TV remake of Fist of Fury.
Donnie was dancing, making strange noises and making faces, but it seemed like a sad imitation of reality. When he plays himself, he is legitimately a star. But he is not Bruce Lee.
And it was amazing to see once again that Lee was so small, almost skinny. Despite having the ripped muscles in kung fu, he doesn’t seem capable of taking on the bad guys he did.
Of course, in real life he might not be able to defeat them. But there is no doubt that he had an extraordinary ability far beyond his size. And he was a great teacher, although he apparently infuriated many of the older teachers because he didn’t believe in styles, just the right move for that time, place, and opponent.
It’s certainly sad that Bruce Lee didn’t live to see Enter the Dragon make its first worldwide appearance. It was the last full-length film he completed before his death.
