Viking Night
Enter the Dragon
By Bruce Hall
December 21, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com

One of the men is a badass. The other is wearing yellow.
Most consumers have no problem loving a huge budget blockbuster. Movies that are meant to appeal to the widest possible audience usually do just that. But some films have a narrower vision, or simply contain more complex meaning than meets the eye. They aren't always art, and they aren't always even very successful. But for a devoted and eccentric few, they're the best entertainment money can buy. Once, beginning with Erik the Viking, a group of dedicated irregulars gathered weekly in a dingy dorm room to watch these films and discuss how what pleases the few might also appeal to the many. Time has separated the others in those discussions so that I alone remain to ponder the wider significance of cult cinema. But while the room is cleaner and I no longer have to skip class to do it, I still think of my far off friends whenever I hold Viking Night.

Those who said that Bruce Lee could never be a movie star are probably the same people who told Frank Sinatra he couldn’t sing. Lee was one of those people who could do pretty much whatever he set out to do, because he was a force of nature. So was his legend while he was alive, and even more so in the years following his death. It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when Asians existed in American entertainment only as stereotypes, and even the great Bruce Lee was looked upon as just another immigrant. But as legendary a figure as he remains today, it isn’t anything like it was for kids growing up in the 1970s and 80s. Bruce Lee was the sort of pop culture icon we don’t have many of any more – he wasn’t just playing a character on screen, he really was those guys; he really could do all that stuff. Bruce Lee was the real deal, and he was unlike anything or anyone Westerners had ever seen.

All of this makes it the more ironic that Lee’s final film role would be his first backed by an American studio, and the first to be widely available in the United States. And it would be the one that made him an international star and launch the legend of Bruce Lee into eternity. But for all its significance, Enter the Dragon is a movie that almost everyone has heard of, yet few have seen or can remember with any clarity. But to those who remain fans of Lee, of martial arts, or just film in general, Enter the Dragon is a milestone.

By today’s standards the story is quaint: A young Shaolin monk named Lee (I told you he was playing himself) is commissioned by his Order to eliminate a rogue member named Han. Han is suspected by international authorities of having connections to drugs and prostitution, so it isn’t hard to see why the clean living, image conscious Shaolin have a problem with it.

Han lives on a secluded island near Hong Kong, in international waters. He runs a martial arts school there as a front company, and holds a competition every three years to crown the best fighter in the world. It is to be here that Lee carries out his mission. It doesn’t hurt that in addition to being pretty evil himself, Han’s right hand man was responsible for the death of Lee’s sister – the kid sure isn’t lacking motivation. Lee is joined at the tournament by Roper (John Saxon), a kung-fu con man on the run from a fistful of debt. Roper’s friend Williams (Jim Kelly) is an African American activist on the run from police corruption.

Each man is at the tournament for his own purposes but end up on the same side as Lee’s snooping triggers Han’s anger and opens them all up to retribution. Lee doesn’t have long to avenge his sister and uncover enough evidence to bring down Han’s empire before the power mad crime lord closes in on them. Sure, this would be eye-rolling stuff were it to be released in 2010, but at the time this was the sort of intrigue only available in a certain series of Sean Connery flicks – so it is no accident that Enter the Dragon was a hit, and Lee’s role as an Asian 007 was just the sort of exotic twist that younger audiences craved.



I hadn’t seen this movie in a while and it struck me how much fun it is. It amazes me how despite decades of imitation and parody, the story remains pretty engaging. Lee was a natural action hero and a serviceable actor, and his incredible athletic ability all but eliminated the need for special effects. If Lee was an Asian Bond there was no need for ejector seats or exploding ball point pens - the man was a walking Swiss Army knife, no trick photography necessary.

John Saxon is a little hard to buy as a martial arts expert - his total lack of flexibility plus some rather obvious editing make it clear he needed help being a badass. But Roper is a likable Lothario who wears his heart on his sleeve, and Saxon’s modest acting chops are sufficient to highlight the character’s unexpected warmth. Jim Kelly is no actor (or a quarterback) and while his character is entertaining enough, he isn’t given enough screen time to dispel Chris Rock’s theory that African Americans don’t last very long in action movies. But at the time, it was significant enough for a black man to be cast in a significant starring role that did not require him to be the object of parody. There’s just enough depth to make you feel a little attached to the three of them, and in a movie like this, that’s enough. This brings me to the most complicated part of Bruce Lee’s legacy, and one of the most controversial aspects of Enter the Dragon.

Bruce Lee sought to introduce what he saw as the beauty and philosophical depth of Chinese culture to the world through the self empowerment of physical discipline. This included his films, his books, and his approach toward martial arts. One of the reasons for Lee’s enduring popularity is that his intellectual leanings and personal habits infused every aspect of his life and his work, and for many this was an inspiring thing.

How well this all comes across in Lee’s most famous film is debatable - the extended version of Enter the Dragon contains a smattering of metaphysical meandering, but it is quickly lost in the blur of flying fists and broken bones. And yet had he lived, Lee might have found that success makes it easier to dictate the content of your work and how it is presented to others.

His dream of creating films that spoke to the mind as well as the body may not have turned out to be so far fetched, after all. It is tempting to think that the slow transition of modern martial arts films from imitation and camp to serious meditation might have taken less time had Lee been around to help. But for every visionary there are legions of artistic, energetic individuals who possess the same creative instincts but lack the resources or force of will to create opportunities for themselves. Pioneers often have the most impact through those who follow them, and Bruce Lee is no exception to this. Sometimes opening the door enough for others to walk through is enough, even if you aren’t there to take the next step yourself. .

Enter the Dragon is no more perfect a film than any other, and the story might have been a tad derivative even at the time - there’s more than a little Bond here, a little Eastwood there. But it remains a taut, well executed thriller that’s no less a blast to watch for the tenth time as it was for the first. Besides, taking existing ideas into new territory is what creativity is all about! Kurosawa cribbed Shakespeare, Sergio Leone borrowed from Kurosawa, Jackie Chan borrowed from Bruce Lee, and there aren’t many Asian actors today who don’t owe something to Jackie Chan.

So, here we are today with more entertainment choices - good and bad - than any of these men would ever have thought possible. Maybe the greatest legacy of Bruce Lee, and of Enter the Dragon is that both paved new ways, both inspired others to achieve and dream, and both have yet to be equaled or surpassed. Certainly, creating something so enduring that it inspires others to follow you is the greatest legacy any artist can have. So despite what might have been, the lasting impression that Bruce Lee left on the world in his brief time here was worth the short visit, and his crowning achievement in film continues to be the bar by which all competitors are measured.