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Enter the Dragon
Directed by	Robert Clouse
Produced by	Fred Weintraub Paul Heller
Written by	Michael Allin
Starring	Bruce Lee John Saxon Ahna Capri Shih Kien Robert Wall Angela Mao Betty Chung Geoffrey Weeks Yang Sze Peter Archer Jim Kelly Bolo Yeung
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	July 26, 1973 August 17, 1973
Running time	98 min.
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Enter the Dragon (《龍爭虎鬥》) 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 the month before it was released.

It is considered by many to be the definitive Kung Fu film, and was the first Kung Fu film to have been made by a Hollywood studio. It has one of the most influential martial arts scenes ever made - the Nunchaku scene. The film is largely set in Hong Kong (see Hong Kong in films).

Although they had acted in films and Peking opera decades before, the Seven Little Fortunes, including Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, were stuntmen for the film. This was arguably instrumental in Jackie Chan's and Sammo Hung's further association with Golden Harvest studios, which later launched their career.

The finished version of the film was significantly different from the original drafts. Bruce Lee was ultimately successful in using the film as a vehicle for expressing what he saw as the beauty of his culture, rather than just another action movie.

The Warner Brothers Special Edition video includes footage from the only live interview of Bruce Lee, as well as a few minutes of movie footage, philosophical in tone, cut from the original theatrical release.

Contents 1 Plot 2 On Set Incidents 3 Additional information 4 Enter The Dragon in popular culture 5 Trivia 6 Box office 7 DVD releases 8 Further Reading/Sources 9 Cast includes

"Enter the Dragon" follows three international martial artists during their participation in a fighting tournament on an island run by a crimelord called Han. The island is beyond international jurisdiction. Lee (played by Bruce Lee), Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly) each have their own reasons for entering the tournament initially, though they all find themselves at odds with their host, the mysterious Han (played by Kien Shih).

For Lee, an intelligence agency recruits him to investigate Han's operations using his participation in the tournament as cover and since Han forbids firearms on the island, Lee's martial arts skill would be vital in case of trouble. Lee also has more personal reasons for dealing with Han, who left Lee's Shaolin temple in disgrace and whose students are revealed to have been responsible for the death of Lee’s sister.

Roper and Williams are former army buddies who have had to leave the U.S. in a hurry. Gambler Roper is wanted by the mob, black activist Williams is wanted by the cops.

In the course of the tournament, the protagonists discover that Han uses his untouchable island and the tournament as a front to recruit new talent for his drug running and prostitution operation.

• Bruce was bitten by a cobra during filming of the scene in which he infiltrates Han's base.

• According to Bob Wall and John Saxon, Bruce Lee beat up an actor who was taunting him, but on the Enter The Dragon DVD, this incident was played down. Bruce Lee was said to have been challenged by many actors and stunt men wanting to prove themselves by defeating him in a fight.

• Some of the extras were thugs who used their fighting skills to enforce local protection rackets. During a fight, Lee is said to have literally smashed the teeth out of a man's mouth. This led to speculation that his death, soon after the film was completed, was a Triad revenge.^{[citation needed]}

• During the fight scene with Bob Wall, Bruce Lee cut himself on glass bottles that weren't sugar glass props.

• During the making of Enter The Dragon, it is said that Bob Wall never quite got along with Bruce Lee and at the fight on the parade ground (where Oharra smashes the bottles) the attack at Lee was more than just a managed fight. Wall and others deny these allegations however, stating the whole event was blown out of proportion.^{[citation needed]}

• It is often regarded as one of the most influential films of all time, kickstarting the Kung Fu movie genre during the '70s in the West and establishing Bruce Lee as a popular culture icon.

• In October 1973, Enter The Dragon was the box office No. 1 in the United States.

• The production budget was only $850,000 and the filming was completed less than 3 months.

• By 1977, Enter the Dragon was listed as one of the twenty most profitable movies in the history of cinema.^{[citation needed]}

• In 2004, it was deemed "culturally significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

• 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 videogame series Tekken.

• 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.

• The plot of the original Mortal Kombat (arcade game) 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 ordered that came out with the game even contained the famous quote "Let the Tournament begin!"

• Liu Kang, from the Mortal Kombat series, seems to be based mostly 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 Mortal Kombat (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 Samurai sword.

• 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.

• Jann Lee from the Dead Or Alive series uses several moves used by Bruce Lee and sometimes says "Dont't think. Feel".

• The main theme of the movie was often an introduction cover song to most Jamiroquai gigs of the Dynamite era.

• Sammo Hung appears as Bruce Lee's sparring opponent at the beginning of the movie.

• Jackie Chan appears briefly in a couple of scenes, as one of the guards or henchmen with Oharra. The first is when he is kicked in the groin while coming onto Lee's sister. He is wearing the light blue clothing. He is also the only person to get any serious type of damage on Lee's sister. (Punches, a kick, and pushing her head into the wall) Later on, he gets his neck snapped by Bruce Lee during a battle with several guards, where Bruce Lee demonstrates his abilities with a number of weapons including the nunchakus.

• According to HK stuntman Phillip Ko Fei, Bruce was challenged by a tiger/crane kung fu stylist who was an extra who claimed Lee was a phony on the set of Enter the Dragon. Lee, who was furious of the claim, accepted the challenge to prove that his martial arts were indeed the real deal. The fight only lasted 30 seconds with Bruce pummeling the the kung fu man with a series of straight punches to the face, low line kicks to his shins/knees/thighs and finally ended with the guy being smashed to the wall with his hair pulled and his arms trapped by Bruce. After Lee forced the kung fu stylist to submit, he showed some class by telling him to go back to work instead of firing him. This fight was witnessed by Fred Weintraub & Bob Wall

• Bruce Lee was initially against the idea of the now famous hall of mirrors scene. He did not think it would work^{[citation needed]}.

Enter the Dragon was a huge success during its original theatrical release. It grossed an estimated $25,000,000 in North America[1], and an estimated $90,000,000 worldwide[2], off a very modest $850,000 budget.

In Hong Kong, the film grossed HKD $3,307,536[3] - huge business for the time, but substantially less than Lee's Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon

Warner Brothers

• Released: July 1, 1998

• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic

• Sound: English (5.1), French (5.1), Spanish (5.1)

• Supplements: Introduction and interview with Linda Lee Caldwell; Commentary by Paul Heller and Michael Allin; Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon documentary; Bruce Lee: In His Own Words documentary; Backyard Workout documentary; Trailers and TV spots; Production notes

• Region 1

Warner Brothers

• Released: May 18, 2004

• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic

• Sound: English (5.1), English (1.0)

• Supplements: Commentary by Paul Heller and Michael Allin; Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon documentary; Bruce Lee: In His Own Words documentary; Backyard Workout documentary; Blood and Steel documentary; Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey documentary; Bruce Lee: Curse of the Dragon documentary; Trailers and TV spots

• Region 1

Universe (Hong Kong)

• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) letterboxed

• Sound: Cantonese (5.1), Madarin (5.1)

• All regions

• http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/G/greatest/results/control.jsp?resultspage=81
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/10/09/enter_the_dragon_1973_review.shtml#rating#rating

Bruce Lee John Saxon Kien Shih Ahna Capri Angela Mao Jim Kelly Robert Wall Bolo Yeung Betty Chung Geoffrey Weeks Peter Archer Ho Lee Yan Marlene Clark Allan Kent William Keller Mickey Caruso Pat E. Johnson

Darnell Garcia Mike Bissell Jackie Chan (stuntman, uncredited) Roy Chiao (uncredited) Paul M. Heller (uncredited) Sammo Hung (martial artist, uncredited) Lam Ching Ying (uncredited) Tony Liu (uncredited) Keye Luke (voice, uncredited) Chuck Norris (uncredited) Hidy Ochiai (uncredited) Steve Sanders (uncredited) Wei Tung (uncredited) Donnie Williams (uncredited) Tadashi Yamashita (uncredited) Yuen Biao (uncredited) Yuen Wah (uncredited)