The Way of the Dragon

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"Return of the Dragon" redirects here. Not to be confused with the Sisqó album Return of Dragon.

The Way of the Dragon
Hanyu Pinyin
Měng Lóng Guòjiāng
JyutpingMaang5 Lung5 Gwo3 Gong1
Directed byBruce Lee
Written byBruce Lee
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTadashi Nishimoto
(as Ho Lang-shan)
Edited byPeter Cheung
Music byJoseph Koo
Production
company
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Release date
  • 30 December 1972 (1972-12-30)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguagesMandarin
Cantonese
English
BudgetUS$130,000[2]
Box officeUS$130 million[3]

The Way of the Dragon

action comedy film co-produced and directed by Bruce Lee, who also stars in the lead role. This is Lee's only complete directorial film and the last one released during his lifetime. The film co-stars Nora Miao, Robert Wall, Wei Ping-ou and Chuck Norris
(playing his debut screen role).

The Way of the Dragon was released in Hong Kong on 30 December 1972, and in the United States in August 1974. The film went on to gross an estimated US$130 million worldwide (equivalent to over $700 million adjusted for inflation), against a tight budget of $130,000, earning a thousand times its budget. It was the highest-grossing

Hong Kong film up until Lee's next film Enter the Dragon
(1973).

The film is primarily set in a

martial artist
. The conflict between the restaurant staff and the gangsters soon escalates.

Plot

In

kung fu
. Tang advises Quen to be open-minded and make use of anything that works.

Before long, the gangsters appear at the restaurant and threaten the customers away while Tang is using the bathroom. Upset by Tang's poor timing, the staff question his skill and the usefulness of his style. When the gangsters later return, the staff engage the thugs in a fight, only to be beaten. However, Tang single-handedly defeats them, causing the staff to decide to train under him. Uncle Wang warns them that the gangsters will seek revenge, but Tang vows to protect the restaurant. Chen and Tang grow closer and she takes him on a tour of Rome, though Tang is unimpressed by the city. Ho, the crime boss's subordinate, returns with armed men and takes the restaurant staff hostage. Ho gives Tang a ticket to Hong Kong and tells him to go back. However, when his men escort Tang outside, Tang fights back and defeats the thugs with his two nunchakus, followed by the help of the restaurant staff.

Tang warns Ho not to return and the thugs leave the restaurant. The staff celebrate their victory, but the gang boss threatens to have Tang killed unless he leaves by Chinese New Year. Uncle Wang urges Chen to convince Tang to leave. When Tang refuses to abandon the restaurant, an assassin tries to kill him from a nearby rooftop with a sniper rifle. Already fidgety from nearby fireworks, Tang survives the attempt. He then tracks down and defeats the assassin after tricking him into wasting his ammunition. When he returns to the apartment, he finds that Chen is gone. Assuming that Ho has kidnapped her, Tang goes to the boss' headquarters with the restaurant staff, defeating his men. Tang issues a final warning to the boss to leave the restaurant alone. The staff again celebrate, but a telegram for Tang cuts this short when they learn that he has been summoned back to Hong Kong. Tang assures them that he will not leave until the situation is resolved. Ho hires two martial artists to challenge Tang – Japanese and European karate masters who initially refuse to work together.

Ho also recruits a world-class martial artist named Colt and leads some of the restaurant staff to an isolated spot under the pretence of a truce, where the two martial artists ambush them. These initially defeat the staff until Tang intervenes and leaves the staff to finish the last one. Ho lures Tang away to fight Colt at the Colosseum. Left behind, Uncle Wang knifes the two remaining members of the staff as he wants to sell the restaurant to the crime boss and return to Hong Kong as a rich man. In a decisive ten-minute battle, Tang disables Colt and kills him with reluctance after Colt refuses an opportunity for mercy. Tang then places Colt's gi and black belt atop his dead body as a gesture of respect, before discovering Ho and chasing after him out of the Colosseum. As Tang and Ho return to the ambush site, the mob boss arrives and shoots both Ho and Uncle Wang. Led by Chen, the police arrest the boss as he tries to kill Tang. With the matter finally resolved, Tang returns to Hong Kong, where Quen tells Chen that Tang is a loner who will never settle down.

Cast

Production

Bruce Lee formed his own production company, Concord Production Inc., with Golden Harvest founder Raymond Chow, and The Way of the Dragon was the company's first film.[7] As well as acting as its producer, Lee also wrote the script, directed the film and played percussion on the soundtrack.[8]

The film was originally intended as only for the Asian market,[9] but was ultimately "responsible for maintaining the momentum of martial arts films in America".[10] What makes it particularly memorable is the treatment of the fight in the Colosseum, with Chuck Norris making his film debut there. Lee filmed it "in long takes, framing it so that you could see their entire bodies. He used dramatic lighting, making both of them look larger-than-life."[11]

Box office

Prior to release, the film's initial tight budget of US$130,000 was already covered by pre-sales in Taiwan alone.[2] Upon release, the film earned HK$5,307,350.50 at the Hong Kong box office, beating previous records set by Lee's own films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, and making it the highest-grossing film of 1972 in Hong Kong.[12] The Way of the Dragon went on to gross HK$5.4 million, making it the highest-grossing film ever in Hong Kong up until then.[13]

In the United States and Canada, the film received a wide release in August 1974, topping the

Oriental Theater, the film drew long queues before opening, setting an all-time theater record with 4,000 tickets sold within several hours of its opening.[15] The film grossed $250,000 (equivalent to $1,500,000 in 2023) within two weeks of release at the Oriental Theater.[16]

At two other Chicago theaters in

distributor rentals during its initial run.[19] With later re-releases, the film went on to gross a total box office revenue of $85 million in the United States.[20]

In France, it became the eighth

Bombay theater alone, New Excelsior, the film earned an estimated ₹1.204 million in its first eight weeks.[27]

Against the film's final budget of $130,000, the film initially grossed US$50,000,000 (equivalent to $340,000,000 in 2023) worldwide,[28] before increasing its gross to $85 million[29] and then $100,000,000 (equivalent to $620,000,000 in 2023) by 1974.[30] It eventually grossed an estimated total of $130 million[3] (equivalent to approximately $870 million adjusted for inflation), earning 1,000 times its budget. It was the highest-grossing Hong Kong film up until Lee's next film, Enter the Dragon (1973).

Reception and legacy

fight scenes of all time.[34]

At the

Best Feature Film and was recognised for Best Film Editing. Later on, it ranked #95 in Empire magazine's list "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.[35] According to Gene Freese, the final fight between Lee and Norris is considered "by many to be the greatest movie fight ever" filmed. It has been listed as one of the greatest fight scenes of all time in a number of publications.[34]

In 1978, following Lee's death, an exploitation sequel was released titled Way of the Dragon 2, starring Bruce Le and Bolo Yeung.

During the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, Lee demonstrated and popularized a technique that would later be called the oblique kick.

pound-for-pound champion Jon Jones,[36] who cited Lee as an inspiration.[37]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The title puns on Lee's native name Siu-Lung (小龍, "little dragon"), while "crossing the river" is an idiom meaning "to leave China."[1]

References

  1. ^ Derbyshire, John. "The Virtual Attic — The Way of the Dragon". John Derbyshire's Home Page.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781883319250
    . At $130,000, the budget was slightly higher than his previous films but production costs were covered by pre-sales to Taiwan.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84403-762-9
    .
  4. ^ "The Way of the Dragon". The Criterion Collection. The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  5. ^ In the film, Robert Wall's character is referred to as Tom (English dub) or Bob (H.K. version). The end credits, however, refer to his character as Fred.
  6. ^ Derbyshire, John (15 October 2003). "Thug (Uncredited)". National Review Online. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
  7. ISBN 978-0-8048-3133-8
    . Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  8. ^ Tom Breihan, AV film club
  9. ^ Almar Haflidason, BBC home page
  10. ^ Jo Berry, Empire Magazine online, 3 March 2006
  11. ^ Tom Breihan, AV film club
  12. Sina News
    . 11 May 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  13. ISBN 978-1-60710-613-5
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-521-77602-8
    .
  15. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (8 August 1974). "Return of the Dragon Movie Review (1974)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  16. Newspapers.com
    .
  17. NewspaperArchive
    . For instance, in a film entitled "The Return of the Dragon," originally made several years but not released until after Lee's death, Lee has a climatic fight towards the end of the film with American karateka Chuck Norris, who happens to be white. On the day that I saw the film the theater was filled with Black folks (incidentally, Lee's films have played largely to Black, Puerto Rican, and Chinese audiences in America. Indeed, when "The Return of the Dragon" was released it grossed an unbelievable $185,000 in one week at two theaters in the Black section of Chicago) the audience cheered wildly for Lee almost as if they were witnessing a prizefight and not viewing a film.
  18. Newspapers.com
    .
  19. ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 46
  20. ISBN 978-1-317-45946-0
    . Lee was called back to Hollywood during the shooting of his third movie, The Way of the Dragon, which was completed in 1972 and released in 1973 in the United States, where it grossed $85 million.
  21. ^ "Charts - LES ENTREES EN FRANCE". JP's Box-Office (in French). 1974. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  22. ^ Soyer, Renaud (28 January 2013). "Bruce Lee Box Office". Box Office Story (in French). Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  23. ^ "The Way of The Dragon (1974) - Europe". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  24. ^ "キネマ旬報ベスト・テン85回全史 1924-2011". Kinema Junpo. Kinema Junposha. 2012. p. 332.
  25. ^ "ドラゴンへの道／猛龍過江（1972）". KungFu Tube (in Japanese). 21 April 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  26. ^ "영화정보" [Movie Information]. KOFIC (in Korean). Korean Film Council. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  27. ^ Khalid Mohamed (15 September 1979). "Bruce Lee storms Bombay once again with Return Of The Dragon". India Today. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  28. ^ Norris, Chuck (17 June 1977). "Chuck has makings of macho superstar". Nanaimo Daily News. p. 31. Retrieved 8 June 2020. He called me and said he'd like me to stage a duel and go the fight with him in the Coliseum in Rome. I guess it was okay, because the picture cost $150,000 and grossed $50 million.
  29. ISBN 978-0-283-07081-5
    . And with a mere $130,000 production budget, The Way of the Dragon went on to gross more than $85 million.
  30. ISBN 978-1-4583-1893-0
    . Lee first found success in The Big Boss and followed that with Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon which grossed an outstanding 100,000,000 dollars and firmly established itself as one of the world's all-time top films in commercial terms. Lee went on to top this with The Way of the Dragon and the cameras had barely stopped rolling when he began what was to be his final film Game of Death. (...) Now director Robert Clouse has completed Game of Death.
  31. ^ "Return of the Dragon (The Way of the Dragon) (1974)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  32. ^ Bell, Nicholas (25 August 2020). "Criterion Collection: Bruce Lee – His Greatest Hits". IONCINEMA.com. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  33. ^ Massie, Mike; Massie, Joel (15 August 1972). "Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon) (1972) - Movie Review". Gone With The Twins. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  34. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4766-2935-3
    . Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  35. ^ "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema: 93. The Fourth Man". Empire.
  36. ^ a b Fantaousakis, Kostas (29 December 2018). "UFC 232 - Jones vs. Gustafsson 2: Moves to look for". Bloody Elbow. Vox Media. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  37. ^ Razvi, Sam (19 March 2012). "Exclusive interview with UFC champion Jon Jones". Coach Mag. Retrieved 16 June 2020.

External links

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