Movies: Enter the Dragon

1973 kung-fu spy movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Bruce Lee's recruited to participate in a martial arts tournament on an island to check out what's really going on there with Han, an alleged criminal with an array of fake hands. He meets some new friends and kicks some ass.

Less a traditional chop-suey flick than a James Bond-esque excursion with Bruce's pectoral and abdomen muscles replacing 007's gimmicks. This movie actually doesn't need a plot; it's all about Bruce Lee's presence. Whenever Lee's on the screen in this, it's impossible to take your eyes off him. You don't even want to blink. He's just so quick and so powerful, and his every gesture is like a work of art. Lee's the focus of Enter the Dragon, and he fills the screen, always right in the center. And I'm not a homosexual or anything, but what a physical specimen this guy was. Enter the Dragon takes a while to build with all this plot stuff and character development getting in the way, but it's all undeniably cool. You get a cool cast with Chinese Hercules himself Bolo Yeung, a different kind of physical specimen but always fun to see; Robert Wall, one of the seventh funkiest white men to ever live; super-suave John Saxon; cooler-than-cool black samurai Jim Kelly; and the nearly-recognizable Kien Shih/Shih Kien with all those "hand" weapons including, I think, a rake attachment. How cool would a Han action figure be, by the way? One Han gripe: He swipes at Bruce Lee pretty well and scratches him up a bit, the only character in the movie to really do any damage to the hero. There's one scene where he sneaks up behind him and cat-scratches him. Why didn't he just stab him there? Once the action in this one gets going, it's a lot of fun watching Bruce Lee slink around, but the real excitement comes in the thrilling final twenty-five minutes, building to a Lady of Shanghai-like hall of mirrors sequence which would have caused me to cream my jeans if I hadn't just seen him doing his nunchaku thang a few minutes earlier and already shot my wad. And if I even owned a pair of jeans to cream. Some early philosophical mumbo-jumbo doesn't distract from the central message of Enter the Dragon: Bruce Lee is a total badass.

9 comments:

BarryDecember 27, 2011 at 3:39 PM
This is a great movie, and the only really accessible to the west film Lee ever did. (Return of the Dragon, Fists of Fury and The Chinese Connection were very much a product of Hong Kong, and tougher for Americans to relate to.) Its Lees only film directed by an American, and that makes all the difference for us western folk. I like every single major character in this film, and enjoy every single fight scene. Of particular note are Lee beating the holy crap out of poor Robert Wall, (A world champion in Karate, by the way) Lees speed is so jaw dropping impossible, that you think there has to be camera trickery or something, as he smacks Wall upside the head over and over. Then of course there is the scene inside the drug den, where Lee uses various weapons to kick ass to countless henchmen (Including Jackie Chan, who was an extra in this movie.) You referenced the nunchucks, which is another example of Lees impossible to believe speed.

I love this movie...every minute of it. You should now watch Kentucky Fried Movie, which uses a parody of Enter the Dragon to frame the entire film. Its hilarious if you have just seen Dragon, so you can catch every reference.

A 20 for me. Pure action entertainment.
KairowDecember 27, 2011 at 8:05 PM
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=200659993931

"Mr. Han, you come straight out of a comic book"

20/20
ShaneDecember 27, 2011 at 8:24 PM
Geez! Am I too low on this one? That's two 20/20's and I know Cory's going to give it a 20/20.
l@rstonovichDecember 28, 2011 at 12:11 AM
They sell nunchakus at the local kwik-e-mart. tonight i told the russian dude that is was cool they were were the only mini mart that sold "numchucks". he said what are they. i pointed to them and said, "if bruce lee comes back he can get them here." he said "that would be cool." your soul gets taxed for each point you subtract from Enter The Dragon.
coryDecember 28, 2011 at 12:30 AM
What Barry said. Greatest martial arts film of all time, by far, and Lee at his unbelievable best. Yes, Shane I give it a 20/20. You insult Bruce with your 17. Had you seen this before?
ShaneDecember 28, 2011 at 7:51 AM
That's ok...I've insulted a great deal of people, most who could kick my ass. Add Bruce to the list, I guess.

Yes, I've seen this one multiple times.

If Bruce Lee comes back, I hope he gets started immediately on 'Game of Death III'!
ShaneDecember 28, 2011 at 8:45 AM
I just checked, and I've given only one other martial arts movie a 17 (none higher)...should I bump this up to a 20/20 to succumb to peer pressure and apparently keep my soul from being taxed?

That's a rhetorical question.

'Ip Man,' by the way. Saves you from looking.
l@rstonovichApril 22, 2012 at 12:31 AM
watching Return of the Dragon. snippet of Once Upon The Time In The West soundtrack when Chuck Norris enters. felt it was important to tell you that.
ShaneApril 22, 2012 at 7:32 AM
You felt correctly...

I still feel terrible for giving this less than a 20. I don't know what got into me!