Men of the Dragon

Back in '74, the late Bruce Lee's breakthrough flick ENTER THE DRAGON introduced America to the idea of Oriental martial arts adventures. Sure, we'd seen martial arts in flicks before, but it was mostly a few judo flips and karate chops in spy flicks. This was something new, exciting, and exotic.

So of course TV execs had to figure out ways to get in on this new genre. I remember the ABC Movie of the Week ads announcing "the FIRST martial Arts movie made for television!" Okay, they were obviously ignoring the earlier KUNG FU..... Anyway, the ad got me interested....

The flick was pretty good. Jared Martin and Katie Saylor play siblings who have returned to Hong Kong to visit their childhood friend Robert Ito. Unfortunately, Katie gets kidnapped by a white slavery ring run by Joseph Wiseman. Drugged, stripped, locked in a bordello, Katie doesn't have much to do for a while except be the damsel in distress, waiting for the good guys to rescue her. Martin and Ito, martial arts devotees (and hence "The Men of the Dragon") are more than up to the challenge of battling their way through the villain's forces (ever notice how no one in a martial arts flick has ever heard of a gun????). Saylor gets in on the final battle, as all three join up to kick Dr No.... I mean, Balashev's ass.

I suspect the idea had been to do a series of MotD flicks for ABC; certainly the ending leaves the groundwork for a series. But, rather than be "the FIRST martial Arts movie made for television!", MotD turned out to be the ONLY martial Arts movie made for television.... Oh well.

Jared Martin and Katie Saylor were reunited a couple years later for the fantasy series FANTASTIC JOURNEY. Robert Ito hit the big time as Sam on QUINCY.

One odd note-- although, as a TV movie, there was no overt nudity on screen, Katie's nude back is shown, at least in the original version. The second time the flick aired, her disrobing was reduced to a head-and-shoulders shot. Many of the ABC Movies of the Week were also given European theatrical releases with expanded, explicit nude scenes by the actresses involved, which makes me wonder if there was a lot more to that scene than we Americans saw on the TV.

Network knockoffs of successful theatrical releases has always been the norm, so it came as no surprise that the groundbreaking ENTER THE DRAGON should give rise to the telefilm MEN OF THE DRAGON. While it lacks the integrity of Bruce Lee's masterpiece, MEN OF THE DRAGON does boast some decent production values (most of it appears to have been shot on location in China). The music echoes Lalo Schifrin's score for ENTER THE DRAGON and many of the sound effects sound like they were lifted directly from the film. Unfortunately, MEN OF THE DRAGON is SO derivative that it's hard to evaluate it properly: as a "remake" (or a "re-imagining," as today's Unimaginative filmmakers tend to put it), it's not bad; as a rip-off, it's spot on; as a martial arts movie, it's about as by-the-numbers as it gets, with choreography of the Chuck Norris variety- which is to say, choreography that LOOKS like choreography, with few if any above-the-waist kicks and little or nothing in the way of Originality. MEN OF THE DRAGON followed close on the heels of ENTER THE DRAGON; it's just too bad that it also clung so tightly to its coattails. The IDEA of a team of martial artists combating Evil in the Orient is STILL a viable idea- as long as it's done with REAL Asian Martial Artists, in Asia. (Mark my words: if done right, such a show would put to shame derivative shows like THE WALKING DEAD.) If THAT'S out of the question, a series about a rivalry between opposing schools of Mixed Martial Artists in THIS country would work.

As an 11 year old in 1974, I watched "Men of the Dragon" when it was first on TV. I remember the disrobing scene with Katie Salor vividly.

The scene is more of a mind control scene. Basically, Salor plays a tough, Kung Fu expert in her own right that is kidnapped with the intend of being sold into white slavery. She resists being held captive. So she is given a drug to make her obedient so she could be sold into slavery. To prove the drug was working, she is marched in front of the bad guy and her clothes removed. She stands in front of him fully nude. Of course only her bare back is to the camera. But the bad guy scans her with his eyes from head to toe and back again. It was hot for TV.

I have been looking for this flick on VHS, DVD, our internet for years just to see this scene. Anyone have it?

Update Jun 20/2008 - Finally found this scene. look on Youtube>>> http://youtube.com/watch?v=26W2k7GU6n0