OC Screenwriters Association

If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” ~ Bruce Lee

 

In 1973, the year that "Enter The Dragon" was released, the war in Vietname was ending, gas was $0.40/gallon; Skylab, Watergate and the Twin Towers being built were all happening.  Genetic engineering, the barcode and optical fiber were invented.  Movies "The Exorcist," "Deliverance," "The Sting" and Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon" were released. Notables Seth McFarlane, Oscar DeLa Hoya and David Chappelle were born...

 

...And Bruce Lee died six days before the release of his film that would change martial arts films forever,

 

It’s been 40 years since Bruce Lee almost single-handedly introduced martial arts movies to the United States.  There was an awareness, of course, of both the genre and Lee since he played the character of Kato on the TV show “The Green Hornet” (for a treat look up some of that old footage on YouTube) but no one in America had seen the kind of extended, brutal fight sequences that Lee brought to the screen in this film.

 

Martial arts in cinema was mostly limited to goofy fight scenes in action films like in James Bond movies where someone would “karate chop” the side of a neck and the opponent would go down and out.  Few in the U.S. were aware of the savagery and blood-letting that “Enter The Dragon” demonstrated.

 

There were never these types of hand-to-hand executions and deliberate pounding of opponents.  Even “Billy Jack” starring Hapkido-ist Tom Laughlin wasn’t about hitting, it was about loving.  Billy Jack’s whole persona was to solve problems peacefully but use martial arts if that failed; Lee wants to hurt and rain down punishment upon his opponents - totally opposite to say the protagonist in the TV show “Kung Fu,”  Kwai Chang Caine, who actively avoided confrontation, conflict and battle and whose balletic style of martial arts is in direct opposition to the vein-popping, eye-rolling, raged-filled Lee.

 

The brooding Lee and his fellow martial travelers John Saxon and Jim Kelly (Kelly’s first major role) were strutting bad boys with flaws and crappy attitudes.  We like them even though they seem to go against what we’ve known about martial artists being noble and humble.  Not these guys - they are in your face, smoking, drinking, and womanizing child-men who can kiss the girl and kick your ass.

 

And except for the internal moments where Lee remembers his sister, the swaggering Lee always seems to be above, distanced from the world in which we mere mortals live.  He’s not touchy-feely like Billy Jack or eye-averting like Kwai Chang Caine.  Like some Asian demigod sitting on a mountain and watching the combat, “call me when the light work is done,” he seems to say with his crooked grin and arching eyebrows.

 

Movies tend to reflect the times in which they are made.  “Enter The Dragon” is a perfect reflection of the early 70's when there was still a lot of societal conflict swirling from the turbulent 60's.  

 

Dragon was populated like the bridge of the starship Enterprise with all races equally represented.  There’s plenty of varied skin color and attitudes played out against the tapestry of the matches on the island because the winds of change were howling across the world and Lee felt that strongly.

 

First there’s Lee whose character comes from a uniquely Chinese institution, the Shaolins whose warrior-priest philosophy is prominent in various parts of the films.

 

Then there’s actor and martial artist John Saxon who plays a wise-cracking, golf-playing, gambler with eye-winking worldliness and charm.

 

And it’s no accident that Jim Kelly’s character attends a dojo (his own real dojo) run by what seems to be a black militant group similar to the Black Panthers; and then is clearly harassed for no reason by white cops as he heads home.  Dragon also shattered barriers in featuring interracial sex not seen before on the big or small screen in America as Kelly’s character was clearly portrayed as a man of...appetites assuaged by willing Asian and Caucasian partners.

 

Dragon obviously wouldn’t have been what it was without Lee.  His pure physicalness is awe-inspiring.  He is cut beyond the cut.  He’s smallish but no one would mess with this man if they got a glimpse of his insane hand and foot speed, or the pecs and abs under those flowing Chinese robes.  But more than that it was Lee’s attitude, the way he held himself.  Confidence oozed from him like sweat off a fat man’s back.  He stood and waited, welcomed you to fight him.  He wanted the battle, the blood - to be tested against the best to prove he was the best.

 

In many ways, Lee reminds me of Laker’s basketball star Kobe Bryant who always seems to play with a massive chip on his shoulder.  The driven Bryant has never shied away from a fight and neither did Lee whether it was the studios, his real-life martial arts opponents, or those who continually wanted to see him fail.  The movie Lee and real Lee were a lot alike in that they didn’t suffer fools graciously, especially those who bet against him - the measure of a true star’s ability to put away self-doubt and excel.

 

Lee’s arrogance was born from his skills.  He worked tirelessly for the right to stand and take on all challengers.  He was smart, capable and driven - all qualities you look for in a leader.  And lead he did.  Had he not died, he would have built an empire that would have remained unrivaled because he demanded nothing but the best from himself and those around him.  As it is, the pebble that was his short 33-year life is still rippling more than most who live in twice his lifetime.

 

“Enter The Dragon” was rewritten by the Renaissance man who was Bruce Lee, who wanted the film to reflect what he felt was the beauty of the Chinese culture.  We are warriors and philosophers, Lee proudly stated.  Neither defines us completely.  In many ways, Lee’s roles and attidues always reflected his dual (American/Chinese) citizenship.

 

Lee was trained in Wing Chun but had rejected one style as all-encompassing by the time Dragon was made.  He had already established Jeet-Kune Do (the style of no style) that borrowed from all disciplines freely, including American boxing.  “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash.”

 

In Dragon, Lee uses his “no-style” style effectively and tosses in weapons like rope, staves, clubs and nunchakus for good measure.  He also casually, literally throws in a cobra into battle as if to further emphasize his “use whatever is at hand” philosophy.

 

Stuntmen like a young Sammo Hung, who is seen in the opening fight that Lee choreographed, and Jackie Chan who is used as an extra on the island and as a stunt double when Lee’s character is supposed to be scaling a wall add a lot of credibility and excitement to the fight scenes.  Of course, the Chinese Hercules, Bolo Yeung, made quite an impression as he scowled and destroyed his way through all opponents.

 

“Enter the Dragon” was Lee’s first American film (Warner Brothers) and sadly, his last.  He died six days before the film was released of a cerebral edema (brain swelling) by some accounts.  Some say it was a reaction to an analgesic, some say a delayed reaction from a “death blow” and still others mention the apparent family curse that struck down both Lee and his son Brandon.

 

Many would find Dragon silly today.  It looks at times like an Austin Powers sendup with it’s cat-carrying, Swiss Army knife-handed villain, and staged fights in which no one is ever attacked by more than one opponent at a time.  But Dragon, like Lee, truly forever changed the way we view martial artists and films of this genre.  I would hope anyone viewing it today would understand that and appreciate it beyond the apparent.  

 

There is a tremendous amount of information available about Dragon and Lee, including several dozen documentaries and docu-dramas.  “Enter the Dragon” has won a myriad of honors, and is considered culturally significant by The National Film Registry as its influence continues today.   Dragon basically started a movement that continues to influence both the real world of martial arts and MMA, and the dream world of film and television.

 

For what it represented, for how it changed the world, for who it starred, there is no way I could give this film less than a Ju-dan, a ten out of ten.

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