Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon aka. The Deadly Three, originally titled Blood and Steel is a 1973 Warner Brothers martial arts film starring martial artist Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It is the last completed film Bruce Lee appeared in before his death. He died six days before the movie was first released.
Cast
Bruce Lee
- Lee
John Saxon - Roper
Kien Shih - Han (as Shih Kien)
Ahna Capri
- Tania
Angela Mao - Su Lin (as Angela Mao Ying)
Jim Kelly - Williams
Robert Wall - Oharra (as Bob Wall)
Bolo Yeung - Bolo
(as Yang Sze)
Betty Chung - Mei Ling
Geoffrey Weeks - Braithwaite
Peter Archer - Parsons
Lee Yan Ho - Old Man
Marlene Clark - Roper's
Secretary
Allan Kent - Golfer
William Keller - Los Angeles Cop #1
Plot
Lee
(portrayed by Bruce Lee) is a Shaolin martial artist in Hong Kong. He possesses
great philosophical insight into martial arts as well as physical prowess, and
this has earned him an invitation to a martial arts tournament organized by the
mysterious Han (played by Shih Kien). Lee's Sifu informs him that Han was once
a Shaolin student as well, but he abandoned them and their moral code, abusing
his skills to gain wealth and power. A man named Braithwaite visits the Shaolin
temple to speak with Lee. Braithwaite is the representative of an international
intelligence organization that has been secretly investigating Han. The island
where Han's tournament is held every three years was purchased by Han after World
War II, when its nationality was uncertain. The island is now beyond international
jurisdiction. Han is a heroin and opium dealer, systematically building his customers'
dependence on the drugs to insure their continued business. He also runs a substantial
prostitution business on his island. Han's martial arts school and tournament
are a cover for Han to recruit new talent. Han reigns over his island like a king,
living decadently in a grand palace. However, though Braithwaite's organization
knows all of this, they lack proof. Several months ago, Braithwaite's organization
stationed a female operative, Mei Ling, on Han's island, as one of his palace
maidens (who double as prostitutes). They have had no further contact from her.
Braithwaite wants Lee to attend Han's tournament as a cover for him to obtain
proof of Han's illicit activities. He shows Lee a short video taken of Han and
his bodyguard Oharra (Robert Wall), who is a professional martial artist. Lee
agrees to enter the tournament.
Before leaving, Lee informs his father, who decides to tell Lee the truth about the death of his sister, so that he can pay proper respect at her grave on the way. During preparations for the previous tournament three years earlier, some of Han's men, led by Oharra, came to the city and attempted to rape Lee's sister. Lee's father scarred Oharra's face with a knife, but was knocked unconscious. Lee's sister was cornered, and she committed suicide with a shard of broken glass to avoid rape by Oharra and his men.
Although he intends to complete his mission honorably, Lee finds he must also take vengeance upon Oharra. He quietly asks forgiveness for what he is about to do at the graves of his mother and sister, before heading off for the Island aboard Han's private junk boat.
Also aboard are several other competitors. They include Roper (John Saxon), a white American playboy-gambler on the run from the mob, to whom he is heavily in debt; and Williams (Jim Kelly), a black American activist on the run from the law after defending himself against two racist white policemen in Los Angeles. War buddies from Vietnam, Roper and Williams are just a bit distrustful of the others. Roper gets to know Lee as they bet over a praying mantis fight being held on the deck of the boat, and later at the banquet hosted by Han on the island. At the banquet, Lee recognizes Mei Ling among Han's women. Later, as Tania (Han's beautiful and sexy hostess-in-charge) offers prostitutes to the fighters, Lee uses this as cover to establish contact with Mei Ling. Williams chooses five of the eight girls he is offered, and Roper chooses Tania herself, with whom he establishes a mild romantic relationship.
The tournament begins the next morning, with Williams and Roper easily winning their respective matches. Later that night, Lee, with equipment supplied by Mei Ling, begins searching the island for anything incriminating. Just as he finds a concealed entrance to an underground base, he is discovered by Han's guards. He disables them before they see his face, then returns to his room. On the way back, he is seen by Williams, who is exercising outside, despite it being forbidden to leave the palace at night. Williams, in turn, is seen by a guard.
The next morning, Han informs everyone that someone was seen outside the palace, but the most important thing is that his guards "performed their duties incompetently". He orders those involved to fight his head guard, Bolo (Bolo Yeung). Bolo sadistically murders the guards. Moments later, Lee is called to fight Oharra. Lee proves more than a match for Oharra, even when Oharra fights dishonorably. Finally Oharra attacks Lee with a pair of broken bottles, but Lee disarms and kills him. Han ends the tournament for the remainder of the day and summons Williams to his study. There, Han accuses Williams of assaulting his guards the previous night. Williams denies this and insults Han. Infuriated, Han murders Williams.
Han then takes Roper on a tour of his underground work area, showing him his drug manufacturing area, the women he forces into prostitution through drug dependency, and the slave labor he employs through captured homeless men. Han invites Roper to join him as a representative in the United States. Roper asks why Han has revealed so much without any guarantee of Roper's cooperation. Han then shows him Williams' mutilated corpse, making it clear that Roper will be killed if he does not cooperate.
That night, Lee returns to the underground base and successfully infiltrates it, discovering enough evidence to secure Han's arrest. Lee finds a radio transmitter, which he uses to contact Braithwaite and call for backup. However, he is captured while attempting to escape.
The next morning at on the tournament grounds, Roper is asked to fight Lee as a test of loyalty to Han. Roper refuses, and Han reassigns him to fight Bolo. Roper is victorious. Han then orders all of his guards to kill Lee and Roper. The two are hopelessly outnumbered, but they manage to hold their own until the arrival of the slave laborers, who have been freed by Mei Ling. The slave laborers join the battle against Han's guards, evening the odds. Lee pursues Han into a hall of mirrors and finally kills Han by kicking him onto the point of a spear.
Bruce Lee in Enter The DragonReturning outside, Lee
finds that Roper and the slave workers have defeated Han's remaining guards. However,
Tania has been killed in the fight. Lee and Roper exchange a reluctant thumbs-up.
Finally, Army helicopters arrive in response to Lee's radio distress call.
Enter the Dragon in popular culture
This movie is parodied in The Kentucky
Fried Movie as A Fistfull of Yen, complete with Lee quote, "This time, with
feeling."
Many of the moves performed by Bruce Lee in this film are used
as moves for the characters Marshall and Forest Law in the best selling video
game series Tekken.
Various moves and character nuances of Lee, seen and heard,
in the movie are the basis of moves and sound effects for the character Maxi from
Soul Calibur series and the nunchaku discipline from Soul Calibur III.
The
Super Street Fighter II character Fei Long is a tribute to Bruce Lee. Many of
the moves performed by Bruce Lee in this film are used as moves for Fei Long in
the series of games.
The classic Beat 'Em Up series Double Dragon has many
of its thugs named after characters from this film including Williams, Roper,
Oharra, and Bolo, not to mention the two main characters of the series have the
last name Lee.
The plot of the original Mortal Kombat video game is nearly
identical to Enter the Dragon, but with a distinctly supernatural twist. The official
comic book that could be purchased via mail order that came out with the game
even contained the famous quote "Let the tournament begin!"
Liu
Kang, from the Mortal Kombat series, is clearly based on Bruce Lee's character,
Lee. This is evident due to the fact that both are fighting to represent the Shaolin
Temples and are trying to restore honor in a corrupted tournament. Also, in the
first film, Liu Kang seeks to avenge the death of a family member, his brother,
just as Lee seeks to avenge the death of his sister.
Dance Dance Revolution
4th Mix Plus includes a remix of the movie's theme song arranged by Naoki Maeda
under the alias "B3-Project."
Pump It Up Zero (an arcade dance simulation
video game) has a mix of the theme song of Enter the Dragon, specially arranged
by South Korean hip hop group JTL. This group's first album is also named after
this movie, and the song that's featured in PIU Zero is also contained on it.
A scene from the movie is recreated in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, when
Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) stabs the pawn shop owner Maynard through the stomach
with a katana.
In episode 49 of Beast Wars, when Megatron reveals his new
dragon beast form on the reawakened Optimal Optimus, he bluntly states the phrase
"Enter the Dragon!" before pouncing on him.
There are several references
to Enter the Dragon in The Boondocks animated television show, most notably in
the episode Granddad's Fight. In that episode, Huey Quotes Bruce Lee when he asks
Granddad, "What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content!".
Huey also wears clothes that match Lee's exactly during a sequence where he is
training his granddad to fight. Also, in the episode "Let's Nab Oprah,"
Williams is given tribute in the character Bushido Brown, who goes as far to use
the line, "Man, you come straight out of a comic strip." It should probably
be noted that The Boondocks did, in fact, originate from a comic strip.
Jann
Lee from the Dead or Alive series uses several moves used by Bruce Lee and sometimes
says "Don't think. Feel".
The main theme of the movie was often
an introduction cover song to most Jamiroquai gigs of the Dynamite era.
Enter
the Dragon is the name of an episode of A.T.O.M.(alpha teens on machines) in which
the ninja assassin Dragon makes his first appearance.
Enter the Dragon is
also the name of an episode of 6teen which is mainly about the gang wondering
where the tickets are for Dragon Thunder.
The final fight of the film between
Lee and Han inspired similar scenes in two other films: In the 1984 film, Conan
the Destroyer, and the 1994 film,The Shadow, a fight occurs in a mirrored room
in which the hero has to destroy the multiple images before defeating the "real"
villain.
An article in The Onion from March 2004 covered a very similar style
of tournament held by Donald Rumsfeld.
The makers of Balls of Fury have referred
to their film as "the retarded ping-pong version of Enter the Dragon".
Indeed, the plots of the two films are remarkably similar.
Spyro: Enter the
Dragonfly's title seems to be based of this film's title.
The scene with the
mirrors (featuring Bruce Lee and Shih Kien was a homage to the funhouse climax
scene from Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai.
The scene where Williams
chooses a handful of girls to be his roommates on the island is echoed in Rush
Hour 2, where Detective Carter swipes many girls at the massage parlor.
Spanish
TV series Los ladrones van a la oficina references the title of the dubbed version,
"Operation: Dragon": Policeman Gutiérrez intends to use it for
a sting operation, but he is mocked as the words are recognized as the title of
the movie.
On set incidents
Bruce was bitten
by a cobra during filming of the scene in which he infiltrates Han's underground
lair. Fortunately the snake had been de-venomized prior to Bruce handling the
snake.
According to Bob Wall and John Saxon, Bruce Lee was challenged by an
extra. The 'challenge procedure' was to step up to Bruce and tap your foot three
times. Bob Wall recalled that the challenger was strong, young and skilful but
that Lee simply toyed with him before finally trapping his arm and leg and taking
him to the ground with a subduing lock hold. Bruce received many of these challenges
but when he did accept them he would always end it on a friendly note, even to
the extent of showing the challenger how they could improve, and what was flawed
with their attack. On the Enter the Dragon 25 Year anniversary DVD, this incident
was played down because of the way Bruce had handled it. To him it was no big
deal. It has been noted that anyone else would've have fired these challengers
but Bruce never did that. Bruce Lee was challenged by many actors and stunt men
wanting to prove themselves by defeating him in a fight.
In spite of popular
speculation about his death, it was proven after the official autopsy that he
died due to a brain anomaly called 'swelling of the brain' which was believed
to have been brought on by a hyper-sensitivity he had to an ingredient in an aspirin
he had taken called equagesic.
Lee had collapsed several times in May of 1973
during the dubbing of Enter the Dragon.
During the fight scene with Bob Wall,
Bruce Lee cut himself on glass bottles that were not the sugar glass props normally
used in the film industry.
During the making of 'Enter the Dragon', it has
been said that Bruce had developed a grudge against Bob Wall due to the cut injury
he had sustained when Wall had held onto the 'real glass' bottle during their
fight scene (where Oharra smashes the bottles). Wall and others deny these allegations
however, stating the whole event was blown out of proportion.
Its been reported
that the fight scene with Bob Wall, Bruce Lee sidekicked Wall so hard that the
extra positioned to catch Wall received a broken arm. However, Wall has stated
that if Bruce had really wanted to hurt him all he had to do was aim his sidekick
upward towards his throat but that he clearly did not do that. In addition Wall
was wearing padding under his gi jacket which provided some protection from the
full power of the kick. If you look closely you can see that Lee is holding back
and that the kick is actually more of a 'leg push', a technique often used in
stunt fighting.
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