Enter The Dragon

In 1966, a television series premiered starring Van Williams. It featured a protagonist wearing a green suit and mask and fought crime while having a day job as a newspaper publisher. However, it was the Green Hornet's sidekick, Kato that garnered the most attention. Kato was played by the up-and-coming martial arts superstar Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee took the world by storm with his martial arts displays in The Green Hornet. So much so, that he was offered to star in his own films. Between 1967 and 1973, Lee had starred in several films, which included The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon and Enter The Dragon. During that time, Bruce Lee had also developed his own unique style of martial arts, Jeet Kune Do(Way of the Intercepting Fist), which incorporated not only Wing Chun kung-fu, but other styles of martial arts. Enter The Dragon was Bruce Lee's final completed film before his untimely death in 1973.

Enter the Dragon opens on a small martial arts demonstration at a Shaolin temple in Hong Kong, between two fighters, Lee(Bruce Lee) and an unknown fighter(Sammo Hung). He is then informed by an Interpol agent, Braithwaite(Geoffrey Weeks) that an upcoming martial arts tournament is hosted by a renegade Shaolin monk, Han(Shih Kien). Braithwaite suspects Han of human trafficking and drug smuggling, and uses the tournament to further his schemes. Joining Lee is gambler Roper(John Saxon) and street-wise Williams(Jim Kelly).

Enter The Dragon opened to critical acclaim world-wide. With a stellar cast that includes not only John Saxon and Jim Kelly, it also featured several up-and-coming Asian martial arts stars including Bolo Yeung, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan(in a brief cameo appearance). Han's henchman, O'Hara is played by Karate expert Robert Wall, who also appeared in Way of the Dragon alongside kickboxing champion Chuck Norris. With a good story, great acting, memorable characters and stellar fight choreography by Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon is widely considered the greatest martial arts film ever, and withstands the test of time. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee didn't survive to see the film's success. As a result of an allergic reaction to pain medication, Bruce Lee passed away at the age of 32 in Hong Kong in 1973.

Bruce Lee is considered by many to be the one person who introduced Kung-Fu to the west and made martial arts as popular as it is today. Every martial arts movie that has been made so far has been influenced in some fashion by Bruce Lee. His enthusiasm for martial arts has inspired many people for over 30 years, and because of him, Jeet Kune Do became more popular, and stars like Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung became huge international stars as a result. Bruce Lee had two children, Shannon and Brandon Lee, who also followed in their father's footsteps. Sadly, Brandon was killed in 1993 in a freak accident while filming the gothic action film, The Crow. Shannon Lee left acting and became the CEO of Bruce Lee Enterprises and oversees the licensing of her father's name and likeness. Bruce Lee's legacy has and still is being felt all across the world today. As a martial arts actor, Bruce Lee had no equal, he was charismatic and funny. Enter The Dragon stands the test of time as one of the greatest movies ever made and the best Kung-Fu movie ever made. If there is any downside to Enter The Dragon, is that it was Lee's last completed film. Other than that, this movie is beyond reproach. There have been similar movies made after Enter The Dragon, but no-one in their right mind has attempted to re-make or re-imagine it. It is untouchable.

It should be noted that there have been movies made of Bruce Lee, the most popular of which is Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, which starred Jason Scott Lee as Bruce. But, while spectacular at times, failed to really explain Bruce Lee's life story. Enter The Dragon is the quintessential Bruce Lee film, but I would also recommend some of his earlier works, like Way of the Dragon, The Big Boss and The Chinese Connection. There are no words adequate enough to explain the influence Bruce Lee had on almost everything. Philosophy, martial arts, film, Bruce Lee has been a part of it all and none of it has been the same since, and no-one has come close to duplicating what Bruce Lee had accomplished in his short time on Earth. Enter The Dragon gets no rating, because it doesn't need one. It is without a doubt my personal favorite martial arts movie and it never gets old. It's one I would recommend without hesitation to anyone remotely interested in kung-fu movies.