Opération Dragon

As a child, one of my first and best friends was a strange boy who worshiped the ground Bruce Lee walked on - cutting his hair, taking Jiu Jitsu and Hapkido lessons, and often stalking around with that intense animal fury that only Lee could create all over his 7 year old face. My friend took a lot of abuse for this and other odd behaviors with dignity that his hero would have applauded. Unfortunately, Mr. Lee passed from this world very young, leaving a legend and a pair of shoes that have never really been filled. For most Americans, this is the only Hollywood film worthy of mention with his name in the cast.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jackie Chan and Jet Li and even the few Chow Yun Fat roles involving martial arts, but each of these actors have their own, very big, personalities, and - at least in the case of Chan - have built their own unique legend. Unlike his successors, what Lee excelled at was the intense physicality and drama of his performance. He worked every muscle of his body in every beautifully choreographed fight scene of Enter The Dragon, and made art out of violence in ways that today's Hollywood gun violence schlock-directors can only dream of. And Enter the Dragon is one of his most stunning vehicles.

The pseudo-Taoisms are kept to a minimum and concentrated near the beginning of this film. Lee enters a martial arts tournament to avenge the murder of his sister, and to defend the honor of the Shao Lin Temple, where he helps to train young martial artists. John Saxon, a down-on-his luck playboy and brigand is the closest thing to a co-star, and comes to the tournament hoping for a solution to his financial problems. The tournament is hosted by a mass-murdering heroin manufacturer who hides his production facilities, literally, beneath a martial arts school, using the instructors and students in the school as an army of body guards. Kien Shih is absolutely compelling as the evil Han, even if his fight scenes are, at times, a bit less convincing than the master Lee's. Lee and Shih are the performance highlights of the film. Though Saxon does a passable job, his performance is a bit fibrous at times.

Worth seeing for the sets and settings alone, this film is driven well by its fast pace, simple but engaging story line, and the sheer talent of Bruce Lee. Of course, there are the usual problems of the martial arts genre - villains whose sense of honor for the most part only applies to life-threatening situations fighting would-be heroes, the lack of any weapons besides fists and unused knives, unnecessary nude scenes - it is very easy to overlook these problems and just enjoy the film.

Highly recommended.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Then again in the early 2k on a dvd which I own.

Revisited it recently with my family.

This time Lee plays a martial arts instructor who is approached by the British Intelligence and is persuaded to attend a martial arts tournament on a private island owned by Han, a crime lord.

Lee's assignment is to gather evidence that will prove Han's involvement in drug trafficking and prostitution.

The movie has amazing star cast, few top notch martial arts fight scenes n wonderful music score.

This one is not as intense as Fist of Fury but very entertaining.

The villain Han is not intimidating or a convincing fighter yet he is able to take down the character of Jim Kelly.

We have Sammo Hung in an uncredited role in the opening fight scene against Lee at the start of the film.

We also have Jackie Chan in a blink n miss role as the henchman who grabs Lee from behind n later Lee holds Chan by his hair.

We have Bolo Yeung before he became the usual villain in JCVD's movies.

Enter the Dragon along with Game of Death were the foundation for fighting games. Both these movies inspired various martial arts n action movies.

In Fist of Fury, Lee's character bites the leg of a Russian fighter during a duel.

In this movie John Saxon's character bites the leg of Bolo Yeung during a duel.

In the years since his bizarre and tragic death, martial arts legend and master Bruce Lee has become a sort of icon within the Kung-fu movie circuit.

The last film that he completed before his death, 1973's "Enter the Dragon," has become not only a masterful showcase for Lee's talents (both fighting and acting), but in the 31 years since its release has become perhaps the definitive martial arts movie of all time.

Lee, in his first and last English-speaking performance, stars as a martial arts expert who is recruited by the British government to infiltrate an island fortress, under the cover of being invited to a martial arts tournament, to investigate a possible slavery/drug ring led by a former nemesis of his.

Indeed something is amiss at this isolated island fortress, as he discovers that his nemesis Han (Shih Kien) is the host of the tournament and is also the leader of the same gang that murdered his sister. Soon enough, Lee, together with two other martial artists, Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly), go to work kicking a** everywhere until the final showdown with the murderous, one-handed villain Han in the classic "Hall of Mirrors" fight sequence.

"Enter the Dragon," a joint American-Chinese production, was intended to be Bruce Lee's introduction to Western audiences, but due to his tragic death just weeks before the film's American release, we will never know what he would have been capable of here in the states. Even more tragically, his son Brandon Lee would experience a similar fate just like his father only 20 years later with "The Crow."

There are so many classic fight scenes, which I can watch over and over without them ever becoming boring. Many of them still hold up very well, especially by 2004's standards, where fight scenes are mostly digitally enhanced or involve "wire" or "Matrix-fu" to make up for lack of actual stunt work; plus one has to remember that this film was made in 1973, in the days before wirework would become dominant in today's martial arts cinema. The "Cavern Fight" is probably my favorite fight sequence of all time, in any martial arts movie.

Many of the fights in this movie, more specially the ones where Lee is involved, have a surreal feeling to them. He brings a kind of grace to his action scenes that have yet to be topped by any actor alive today. Lee even brings many of his own personal philosophies to this film, which makes much sense and perhaps help to understand some of the more philosophical elements to the story. But more than anything, this was Bruce Lee's entrée to Americans; many people, including myself, were introduced to martial arts cinema through "Enter the Dragon."

There are also several cameos made by future martial arts stars that would eventually reach stardom, most notably Jackie Chan (as a henchman during the "Cavern Fight" sequence who has his neck broken by Lee) and Sammo Hung (as Lee's sparring partner in the opening fight sequence).

I could go on and on about what makes this movie immortal, but I feel I should let you see what makes it great. Bruce Lee was forever immortalized with this film and it will be cherished and praised forever.

I've read about Bruce Lee, and I knew he was very versatile - actor, martial artist, philosopher, etc. But I'd never sat down and watched one of his films before, mainly because the opportunity to do so doesn't come up very often. So last night, when Turner Classic Movies had a Bruce Lee double feature on with a guest discussing Lee's films, I took that opportunity to watch "Enter The Dragon".

The plot involves Lee, a skilled martial arts instructor, being recruited by British intelligence to enter a martial arts contest held by crime lord Han on his own private island. While there, Lee is supposed to look for evidence of Han's criminal activity. Han talks a big game about honor during the matches, but if things don't go his way he does not fight fair. And that includes Han having various prosthetics for his missing left hand that include knives and spikes.

There's no doubt Lee is a charismatic presence that commands one's attention. The choreography is so tightly performed (and also blocked out by Bruce Lee himself) that it's hard not to be dazzled. And I say that as somebody who really knows nothing about the martial arts.

I'd say that one aspect I found humorous were the lines given to African American martial artist Jim Kelly. They were typical of the kinds of lines and roles given to African American actors during the 70s at the height of the popularity of blaxploitation films. If you've seen Hollywood Shuffle - and if you haven't you should - it is hard not to notice such stereotyping. Still I'd recommend this film if you are curious about the film work of Bruce Lee.

Even though it is more than 25 years since Enter the Dragon was first released, to this day it is still hailed as the landmark of martial arts films.

Used primarily as a vehicle for the late, great Bruce Lee this movie has a thin plot, little actual character development and the acting isn't fantastic.....it was never meant to be another Citizen Kane. Its merit lies purely in the action content. If you were to ask any learned martial artist I'm sure that 9 out of 10 would tell you that the fight sequences are unparalleled, even today. The fluidity of Lee is astounding. Unlike most martial arts films of that time the fighting is very realistic, and has a somewhat visceral quality. There is also the use of traditional Oriental weapons (nunchaku, escrima sticks, etc..), although the British censors in their wisdom have seen fit the cut the nunchaku sequence, and I'm afraid, like any censored movie, it just isn't the same watching when you know you aren't getting the full monty, so to speak.

Still, on the whole one of my personal favourites and a must see for any action or seventies film fan. If you get the opportunity see the remastered American version with added footage....I've got one,envy me!!!