Enter the Dragon was a breakthrough movie by the greatest martial arts movie star of all time -- Bruce Lee.
Lee bridged a number of worlds.
Although raised in Hong Kong, he was born in the United States, and so a U.
S.
So it wasn't such a rash decision to leave Hong Kong and return to the States when he was a young man.
And so it was fitting that he was the first martial artist and actor 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 movie co-produced by a Hong Kong movie company (Golden Harvest) and an American producer (Fred Weintraub).
The writer of the screenplay supposedly didn't know much about the genre.
If he came up with the basic theme of a martial arts hero going to an isolated island controlled by a bad guy, he created a new mold.
There's no telling how many subsequent movies have borrowed that theme.
It's not widely known, but Lee had deep roots in the movie industry, predating even his study of the martial arts - he appeared in his first film while still a baby.
He had a great desire to become a star on American television.
Enter the Dragon was to have been his entree into that world, his revenge for not being given the starring role in Kung Fu.
Apparently, it wasn't until after that, when he returned to Hong Kong to begin making movies there, he learned he was already a star in Asia.
When they watched The Green Hornet, Asian audiences had recognized the fighting skill he displayed as Kato.
In fact, across Asia the show was known as The Kato Show.
Nobody cared about the lame anglo Green Hornet.
Chinese movie makers and martial artists are quite competitive, always looking to one-up each other and produce something wilder and more spectacular.
Therefore, the fight scenes in Enter the Dragon now look fairly tame.
It's also painfully obvious that, except for the prominent martial artists, the others are just extras with no particular kung fu skills.
However, there's no doubt that Lee had a fighting charisma that nobody has duplicated since, no matter how skilled in kung fu.
I recently watched Donnie Yen play Lee's role in a Hong Kong television remake of Fist of Fury.
Donnie danced around, make strange sounds and grimaced, but he just looked like a sad imitation of the real thing.
When he plays himself he's rightfully a star.
But he's not Bruce Lee.
And it was amazing to see once again that Lee was so small, almost skinny.
Despite having the most ripped muscles in kung fu, he doesn't look capable of taking on the bad guys that he did.
Of course, in real life maybe he couldn't defeat them.
But there's no doubt he had extraordinary skill way beyond his size.
And he was a great teacher, though he apparently angered many of the older teachers because he didn't believe in styles -- only 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 world premier.
It was the last full length movie he completed before his death.
Lee bridged a number of worlds.
Although raised in Hong Kong, he was born in the United States, and so a U.
S.
So it wasn't such a rash decision to leave Hong Kong and return to the States when he was a young man.
And so it was fitting that he was the first martial artist and actor 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 movie co-produced by a Hong Kong movie company (Golden Harvest) and an American producer (Fred Weintraub).
The writer of the screenplay supposedly didn't know much about the genre.
If he came up with the basic theme of a martial arts hero going to an isolated island controlled by a bad guy, he created a new mold.
There's no telling how many subsequent movies have borrowed that theme.
It's not widely known, but Lee had deep roots in the movie industry, predating even his study of the martial arts - he appeared in his first film while still a baby.
He had a great desire to become a star on American television.
Enter the Dragon was to have been his entree into that world, his revenge for not being given the starring role in Kung Fu.
Apparently, it wasn't until after that, when he returned to Hong Kong to begin making movies there, he learned he was already a star in Asia.
When they watched The Green Hornet, Asian audiences had recognized the fighting skill he displayed as Kato.
In fact, across Asia the show was known as The Kato Show.
Nobody cared about the lame anglo Green Hornet.
Chinese movie makers and martial artists are quite competitive, always looking to one-up each other and produce something wilder and more spectacular.
Therefore, the fight scenes in Enter the Dragon now look fairly tame.
It's also painfully obvious that, except for the prominent martial artists, the others are just extras with no particular kung fu skills.
However, there's no doubt that Lee had a fighting charisma that nobody has duplicated since, no matter how skilled in kung fu.
I recently watched Donnie Yen play Lee's role in a Hong Kong television remake of Fist of Fury.
Donnie danced around, make strange sounds and grimaced, but he just looked like a sad imitation of the real thing.
When he plays himself he's rightfully a star.
But he's not Bruce Lee.
And it was amazing to see once again that Lee was so small, almost skinny.
Despite having the most ripped muscles in kung fu, he doesn't look capable of taking on the bad guys that he did.
Of course, in real life maybe he couldn't defeat them.
But there's no doubt he had extraordinary skill way beyond his size.
And he was a great teacher, though he apparently angered many of the older teachers because he didn't believe in styles -- only 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 world premier.
It was the last full length movie he completed before his death.
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