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mission - to
avenge his sister who has lost her life after being attacked
by a gang of Han's henchmen. There is yet another sub plot
which is touched upon which is the idea of Han being an
estranged Shoalin (monk?) who has disgraced the Shaolin
temple. Combine these three elements with a large international
cast of martial arts film stars, along with an exciting
martial arts tournament and it's no surprise that Enter
the Dragon is regarded by many as the greatest martial arts
film of all time.
The
director of the film, Robert Clouse, managed to convince
Bruce Lee to make his character less exaggerated and more
sophisticated than in previous Bruce Lee films. Sure enough,
Enter the Dragon brings the audience a different Bruce Lee
that on Lee's previous outings; this time round Lee is a
man of impeccable dress sense, he is always calm and in
control, he is highly intellectual, he never raises his
voice, he is well educated and cultured.
From a martial
arts perspective, Enter the Dragon appears to deliver much
more than just dazzling kung-fu entertainment. The film
gives the audience a rare insight into some of the philosophies
and practices of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. We even have
the privilege of watching Lee's character lecturing a young
martial arts student on some Jeet Kune Do principles. Needless
to say, much of Bruce Lee's dialogue from Enter the Dragon
has been (and still is) heavily scrutinised and quoted by
countless martial arts teachers and students across the
world. Thanks to Enter the Dragon, the martial arts community
now has a selection of seemingly sacred catchphrases in
which they can indulge themselves for many generations.
Phrases such as;"the art of fighting without fighting",
"like a finger pointing the way to the moon"
and "you need emotional content" are constantly
cropping up in martial arts books, clubs, videos and websites
across the world.
Enter the Dragon
differs from other Bruce Lee films in several other ways.
This is the only Bruce Lee film where we get to see impressive
fight scenes that do not involve Bruce Lee at all. Ok, so
there were fight scenes where Lee was not present in some
of his other martial arts films, but all of these previous
fight scenes were very brief and appear to be nothing more
than token gestures- dispensable additions that serve no
purpose other than to make Bruce Lee look good, or to make
the baddies look more bad. Enter the Dragon is different.
In Enter the Dragon all of the fight scenes are incredibly
impressive. We have black belt Hap Ki Do champion Angela
Mao Ying at the helm of a superb fight scene near the start
of the film. We have the pleasure of watching international
middle-weight karate champion, Jim Kelly at his best. We
have Yang Sze, the Shatogun Champion of Asia giving us a
rousing display as the ruthless Bolo. And, even though he
may not have been a lifetime dedicated martial arts practitioner,
the fight scenes with John Saxon are also very entertaining.
In terms of
overall production value, no rational human being could
seriously dispute Enter the Dragon's rightful place as the
greatest of all the Bruce Lee films. Every aspect of the
film has clearly been worked at and polished for what must
have seemed like an eternity. Even the soundtrack is regarded
by many in the music industry as being one of the great
masterpieces of the 70s!
All of Bruce
Lee's other films depend 100% of the presence of Bruce Lee.
If you had replaced Bruce Lee with any other actor at the
time then it seems unlikely that his other films would have
been remembered. With Enter the Dragon however, there is
a glimmer of hope that the film could have stood up in its'
own right.
Of course, whether
or not Enter the Dragon is Bruce Lee's greatest film in
terms of martial arts action is another issue altogether
and one that is probably best left to the martial arts community.
Another issue that is uncertain is whether or not Enter
the Dragon is Bruce Lee's best film in terms of revealing
Bruce's true, jovial personality. Close friends and family
have been quick to point out that in real life, Bruce Lee
was a completely different person altogether from the intense
and inexpressive character we see in Enter the Dragon.
-David Connelly
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