Enter the Dragon
Short description
A martial arts expert named Lee is recruited by Western intelligence to infiltrate a reclusive crime lord's island stronghold. The island is run by Han, who uses a martial arts school as a front for smuggling and other illegal operations. Lee enters under cover as a competitor in Han's tournament, which draws fighters from around the world. Among them are Roper, an American on the run from gambling debts, and Williams, a fellow Vietnam veteran. Lee's mission is complicated by his own reasons for wanting to confront Han, and the tournament turns out to be a trap for everyone involved.
Bruce Lee stars as Lee and also produced the film. Robert Clouse directed from a screenplay by Michael Allin, and the cast includes John Saxon as Roper, Jim Kelly as Williams, Sek Kin as Han, Ahna Capri as Tania and Robert Wall as Oharra. The film was released in August 1973 and runs 102 minutes. It was Clouse's first directing credit, followed by Game of Death in 1978, The Big Brawl in 1980 and Deadly Eyes in 1982.
The film made about 22 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for an action release of its time. On IMDb it holds 7.6 out of 10 from over 111,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 7.4 out of 10 from more than 2,000 votes. A critics' rating of 7.8 out of 10 from 78 reviews is close to those audience scores, indicating broad approval across viewers and reviewers. With 31 credited cast members, the production is a Hong Kong and American co-production.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming lasted from February to May 1973.
- Filming took place in Hong Kong and Los Angeles from January 25 to April 2, 1973.
- One of Bruce Lee's strikes actually broke through Jackie Chan's defense and hit him in the face. Lee immediately apologized and promised Chan that he would appear in all of Lee's future films, but unfortunately, his untimely death prevented him from fulfilling this promise.
- Bruce Lee broke mirrors by clutching a small piece of metal in his fist.
- Bruce Lee and producer Raymond Chow often argued, and once Lee even stormed off the set in anger. He felt that Chow was trying to assert himself as the film's author and was withholding information, while Chow was convinced that all business matters were his responsibility and that he was not obliged to consult Lee on every trivial detail.
- The film was shot without sound, and all dialogues and sound effects were added later during post-production. The only exception was the scene in which Geoffrey Wix's character speaks with Bruce Lee's character and offers him a job as an undercover agent. In this instance, all voices and sounds were recorded directly on set.
- Fights periodically broke out on set between the stunt performers and the extras portraying the rival triad clans.
- The praying mantises had to be imported from Hawaii. The insects were unwilling to fight each other in front of the camera.
- Over 8,000 mirrors were used in the fight scene in the Hall of Mirrors.
- Bruce Lee personally trained the women playing Han's daughters so that they could hold their own against the character played by John Saxon.
- The sets were built from scratch by hand by 500 Chinese workers using available materials. Treated pieces of wood served as the prison's steel bars, as treating the wood proved to be cheaper than purchasing pre-treated timber.
- Bruce Lee was concerned about his character. He was unsure whether Western audiences would accept a Chinese protagonist, and he didn't know how it would be received in China. According to director Robert Clouse, screenwriter Michael Allin regularly mocked Lee. Lee tried to ignore him, but Allin persisted. Knowing about the actor's difficulty pronouncing the letter 'R', he deliberately wrote lines containing as many words with that letter as possible. This eventually led to Lee snapping one day, declaring that he would no longer work with Allin, and demanding that the screenwriter be replaced.
- Bruce Lee understood that this film could make him an international star; this made him nervous, and he once disappeared from the set for several consecutive days. Studio management pressured director Robert Clouse, who, while waiting for Lee's return, filmed other scenes that did not require Lee's participation.
- Both Chinese and Americans worked on the film, which resulted in communication difficulties. There were not enough translators, and the Chinese language lacked adequate equivalents for many English slang words and terms. Similar difficulties arose when translating from Chinese into English.
- The film was aggressively promoted in the US before its release. The budget for the extensive and multifaceted advertising campaign exceeded one million dollars. It included free karate lessons, the distribution of printed materials—including comics, posters, and photographs—numerous interviews with the cast, and their public appearances at various events.
- During the filming of this movie, Bruce Lee suffered several injuries. While filming the death scene of Robert Wall's character, Lee's arm was seriously cut because he miscalculated the timing of a strike with a broken bottle (as prop glass did not exist at the time). Later, Lee was bitten by a venomous snake guarding the secret passage to Han's laboratory—but fortunately, the reptile's venom glands had been removed in advance.
- It was initially intended that John Saxon's character would die in the fight with Han, while the character played by Jim Kelly would survive until the end and fight side-by-side with Lee's character against Han's men. Saxon did not like this arrangement and informed his agent, who complained to the producers; as a result, Saxon's character survived and Kelly's character was killed.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
