The Way of the Dragon (1972)

I've seen many martial arts movies and honestly I wasn't that impressed with 'Way of the Dragon' the first time I saw it. I was more into Jackie Chan movies (I still love Jackie Chan's movies from the 80's. A lot.), so I thought Bruce Lee was wooden and I didn't think he was as skilled as Jackie Chan. But the older I got, the more I got fond of Bruce Lee movies and Bruce Lee himself. What I realized was what Bruce did in his movies were something that only a very few could match. He had charisma, great martial arts skills, great acting skills and one of the few actors who had an "in your face" performance. Many actors have tried to match him but they often got comical instead of intense as Bruce did. This movie is a real gem and it is underrated compared to 'Enter the Dragon' and I like 'Way of the Dragon' more since I feel you could feel more of Bruce and his philosophy here. I feel what he tried to communicate in this movie was more important than his previous and later martial arts movies.Now the movie itself: it is made with a low budget so don't expect great production value. The script is good and actually well thought out, the fight scenes are still among the best I've seen and it has a bit of Bruce's humor here. It is not as big as 'Fist of Fury', meaning it is a bit more (if not a lot) realistic. Tang Lung (the main character) didn't fight 20+ martial artists at once, which in my opinion made the movie great since it wasn't exaggerated. It was humble in that sense. The fight scenes are much more realistic than most movies and more simpler so it is more down to earth than the other martial arts movies he's been in, less fantastic. Which in my opinion makes the movie better than most action movies. The acting in the movie was sufficient for me, but it is mostly due to the bad English dubbing the acting seemed unnatural. I am sure the acting makes a lot more sense in the Cantonese version. Nora Miao was especially quite good, she had the biggest emotional span in her acting and as usual, Bruce Lee was phenomenal.The plot is like taken from Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, even some of the camera angles that Sergio used are used here. They were magnificently used to create atmosphere and tension in the fight scenes. Tang Lung also has some resemblance to Clint Eastwood's 'The Man with No Name' character. Few words and more action. It is also a personal movie of Bruce Lee's where his character Tang Lung arrive at a foreign country and try to integrate, which he surely experienced when he moved to the US. It is also personal in that sense we get to see a lot more of his philosophy here, like shown in the scene where Tang meets the waiters of the restaurant for the first time. In that scene he said: "Foreign or not, if it works you should learn to use it", he wasn't degrading Karate he merely pointed out there is no need to be so narrow minded and only do it in one way. He really meant that use what works, use what is useful it has nothing to do with nationality. You don't need a uniform or a black belt to be a great martial artist, what you need is an open mind. The script is full of messages like that. So the script is full of philosophy and wit. Some humor too.Anyway, the final fight is one of the best. One of the movies that are on par with it is 'Wheels on Meals'. Great movie.

At it's heart "The way of dragon" is pretty much a B-class movie. The low budget is quite obvious in few places and the story is very thin. The plot is pretty much an excuse for the nonstop action. The characters are one dimensional .The acting isn't anything special ."The way of dragon" promises action and that's the main (if not only) reason to watch this movie. Bruce Lee is responsible for writing and directing this movie. The movie has a very nice flow and well directed action scenes. There is plenty of fights here and they are all well choreographed . The final showdown at the Colloseum is very exciting and memorable. Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris have a great fight which shows how well skilled they both are.The story has a sense of humor which is sometimes subtly shown in the movie (notice the cat watching Lee and Norris fight). It never takes itself too seriously and the lighthearted approach makes you forgive the otherwise thin storyline. There is even one good twist at the end of movie .The music is nice. The characters are black and white , good guys are likable (if not forgettable ) and the bad guys are fun like cartoon villains. Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris give the best performances in this movie. It's no Oscar worthy acting , but a very adequate performances. Norris probably gives the performance of his live here and his last scene here made me care for him and left me sad. That tells you something.After "Enter the dragon" this is probably Lee's best and well known movie. I give it 8/10.

"Fury of the Dragon" or "Return of the Dragon" or ¨Way of the Dragon¨ is a classic Chop-Socky in which wild fighting scenes provide an overwhelming view of Bruce lee's skills. A man named Tang Lung (Bruce Lee choreographed his own fight scenes) arrives in Rome to visit his relatives , he help his cousins (Nora Miao who along with Lee played ¨Fists of Fury¨) in the restaurant business . There Tang has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them and attempting to take over . The syndicate boss hires the best foreign martial artists (Robert Wall who played some films with Lee) to fight Tang , but he easily finishes them off . The American martial artist Colt (Chuck Norris film debut) is also hired and takes place a deadly ending combat .This violent Chop-Socky displays action-packed , thrills , fast-paced and wild fighting images . It is a corny , action-filled and violent film , being filmed in Rome , Italy . Breathtaking fights and embarrassing acting , the whole thing was shot without sound, with the actors looping their lines in post-production. Overwhelming final duel between Lee and Norris , in fact it was last movie to be filmed in the actual Roman Colosseum ; Bruce Lee had Chuck Norris put on weight so he would looks less impressive by comparison . This is a top-notch Kung-Fu movie with the unforgettable Bruce Lee , though he does not fight till almost 30 minutes into the movie. It was billed "Return of the Dragon" during its western release in order to cash in on the success of "Enter the Dragon" as its "sequel". Bruce Lee produced , directed and even wrote the death threat note which the mafia gave to Uncle Wang and also dubbed almost all of the English speaking characters in this film including one line for the boss . Bruce Lee formerly played one of the biggest international hit smashes , ¨Fist of Fury¨ , it was previously realized to his American box office ¨Enter the dragon¨. This one was made later but released before ¨Lee's Return of dragon¨ , and Lee had formerly starred ¨Fists of fury¨ or ¨The big boss¨. ¨Enter the dragon¨ was realized by an expert on Chop-Socky movies , Robert Clouse , and he directed Bruce Lee's last film . ¨Enter the Dragon¨ is his last complete movie character but his next film ¨ Game of death¨ was absurdly edited after his death . This Kung-Fu actioner titled ¨Return of Dragon¨ was realized by the same Bruce Lee . According to the Bruce Lee documentary, this is Linda Lee Cadwell's (Bruce's wife) favorite of all her husband's films. ¨Return of Dragon¨ is indispensable and essential seeing for Lee fans and Karate enthusiastic . It is not ¨Enter the Dragon¨ but his fans -who have so few to choose from- undoubtedly will want to see it again .

Actually , my personal favorite was Fist of Fury (Chinese Connection in the US) but this is also a very good movie and it seems that it was the favorite of his wife Linda Coldwell. Way of the Dragon was known as Return of the Dragon in the US and Chuck Norris must have had fond memories of this one. The illegal filming in the Colosseum in Rome must have been a very daring thing to do. The scene with the dart in a man's backside was quite funny. This was to my knowledge the only Bruce Lee film with some humour in it. The question "Is hore name Tang Lung?" (no spelling error by the way, just the accent the man was speaking) by the Korean guy is the line I think I remember best. It was Bruce's first attempt at directing and he did a very good job too.