In , a group of American and Chinese filmmakers gathered together in Hong Kong to make a film that was supposed to transform Bruce Lee —then a Hong Kong action star best known to American audiences for a few TV appearances—into an international sensation. Today, 45 years after its release, Enter the Dragon remains one of the greatest martial arts films ever made. It cemented the legend of Lee after his untimely death just weeks before the U. In the late s, Bruce Lee was a martial arts instructor-turned-actor with an eye on becoming a major star after appearances in television series like The Green Hornet and Ironside.
Lee contributed to the project on a conceptual level, but Warner Bros. Frustrated and stagnant in America, Lee accepted an offer from Hong Kong producer Raymond Chow to come make martial arts films with him. Lee was encouraged in this endeavor by Warner Bros. Fists of Fury , The Chinese Connection , and The Way of the Dragon —all of which made him an immediate superstar in Hong Kong, so much so that he had to wear disguises to walk around in public.
That was enough to finally convince Warner Bros. Enter the Dragon was made quickly, on a tight schedule, and with a budget much more constrained than what we commonly associate with action movies today.
Additionally, did Bruce Lee died during the making of Enter the Dragon? Expectations were high when filming began in Hong Kong in January But on July 20, , just six days before Enter the Dragon was set to be released, Bruce Lee died , suddenly and mysteriously. That question, almost as much as his kung fu skills, has defined Bruce Lee's stardom.
Bruce Lee dubbed almost all of the English speaking characters in this film including one line for the boss. Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris allegedly made real contact during their fight scenes. It would be Bruce Lee's final completed film appearance before his death on 20 July at age Last Updated: 5th May, Lee's voice was dubbed in nearly all his films up to Enter the Dragon.
His bird-call battle cries were of course dubbed. He was given this dub of a deep voiced tough guy. Erkuden Dembitz Professional. What is the best Bruce Lee movie? Bladimiro Backe Professional. Could Bruce Lee speak Mandarin? Bruce Lee spoke Cantonese which is from his upbringing in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is spoken, whereas Mandarin is spoken in China and other parts of Asia.
But there's not much recorded evidence of him speaking Cantonese there are some recordings though , he almost always seemed to speak English later on. Why is it called Enter the Dragon? The movie wasn't originally called Enter the Dragon. Doriana Mulerman Explainer. He immediately apologized and insisted that Chan would work on all of his movies after that, but he died before he could keep the promise. The part of Williams was originally intended to be played by Rockne Tarkington.
When all hell breaks loose in the final fight in the courtyard, if you watch the right-hand side of the screen you can catch a glimpse of Bruce Lee running around frantically choreographing the fight. Kien Shih, who played Han, did not speak English, he just simply mouthed the lines as best as he could.
Chinese-American actor Keye Luke overdubbed his dialogue. Biker movie legend William Smith was supposed to play Roper but was unavailable at the time of the shoot. I'm not making this up! I try not to spend it all in one place. The opening credits appear eight minutes and thirty seconds into the movie. The producers wanted the movie's production design to resemble the comic strip "Terry and the Pirates".
According to director Robert Clouse , when director of photography Gil Hubbs arrived at Golden Harvest Studios, he found most of the camera equipment in disrepair and with none of the lenses he wanted to use.
Hubbs took the initiative of hiring the equipment he needed from another supplier, upsetting the producers and Golden Harvest, who were presented with additional costs. Even so, the entire movie was shot using just two cameras and three lenses. The second cameraman, Charles Lowe , was presented with similar problems in the lighting department, where equipment was so badly rusted it was, in his words, "now only good for one last stand in India".
The John Landis comedy anthology film Kentucky Fried Movie , in its lengthy "A Fistful of Yen" sequence, features a comedic, note for note remake of this movie.
Black Samson co-stars Rockne Tarkington and William Smith were the original actors intended to play the characters of Williams and Roper. This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine 1, The movie says "introducing Jim Kelly", which is not true. Kelly appeared in his first movie one year earlier: "Melinda". Marlene Clark, who played John Saxon's secretary, said in an interview that the stylish red hat she wore was hers. I'm a hat person anyway, and when I pulled out that Big Apple, everyone said, 'Yes!
Put it on! What was meant was "extraordinary". One assumes that the meaning was lost in the translation. The fourth wall is broken briefly when just after Roper's flashback, a Chinese child stands up in the ship to the left of Roper's boat, in the top of the left corner of the screen.
The flat-bottomed boat Williams Jim Kelly travels on is known as a sampan. Sampan means "three planks" in Cantonese. Cameo Jackie Chan : Appears twice in the film. Towards the end of the movie in the big cave fight scene. Lee grabs his hair for a while before breaking his neck.
He is also one of the stuntmen that Lee hits when he wields two sticks according to Chan. Spoilers The trivia items below may give away important plot points. Bruce Lee defeats 51 opponents in a cave fight scene. Roper's and Williams' roles were reversed by John Saxon 's agent. Kien Shih did not speak English, and mouthed his lines as best as he could.
Chinese-American actor Keye Luke dubbed his dialogue. Luke also narrated an earlier scene depicting the death of Bruce Lee 's sister. Bruce Lee suffered some on-set injuries. His hand was severely cut while shooting O'Hara's death scene, when Bob Wall mistimed his thrust of the broken bottle towards Lee fake glass was not available. When Lee held the poisonous snake that guarded the secret entrance to Han's drug lab, the snake bit him.
Fortunately, the snake's venom gland had been removed. Jackie Chan is villain that falls into acid pond. Originally, Roper was meant to fight Han and die, and Williams was supposed to survive through to the end, fighting Han's men with Lee. John Saxon 's agent complained to the producers, so Roper was the one who survived. The initial flashback sequences reveal the motivation for each of the principal characters going to Han's Island. Kelly is on the run from the police, Saxon is on the run from the mob but Lee, in addition to his intelligence gathering mission, seeks revenge for the murder of his sister and restoring the honor of the Shaolin temple.
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