The Way of the Dragon (1972)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Upon the death of her father a young woman named "Chen Ching-Hua" (Nora Miao) inherits a Chinese restaurant in the heart of Rome. Unfortunately, a mobster decides that he wants possession of it and begins to pressure Ms. Chen in the hope that she will eventually sign it over to him. Not wanting to sell it she write to her uncle in Hong Kong who sends a young man named "Tang Lung" (Bruce Lee) to fix things. However, Ms. Chen is disappointed when he arrives because rather than being a lawyer or a savvy businessman Tang Lung has no discernible skills that will help at all. Anyway, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this film is basically the extended version of "Return of the Dragon" with two particular scenes more fully covered. The first scene involves Tang Lung going into a restaurant in the airport at the beginning of the movie and the second gives more detail about his adventure with a prostitute. Both scenes are somewhat comical but neither really affect the overall storyline. In any case, this movie is clearly one of the better martial arts films ever made with Bruce Lee clearly being the main attraction but with both Nora Miao and Chuck Norris (as "Colt") providing excellent support. That said I would definitely recommend this movie for all fans of this genre and rate it as above average.

This potential gem directed by and starring Bruce Lee is flawed by appalling technical quality that restoration cannot fix. Early sequences in the film are dogged by out-of-focus shooting, perhaps from a camera with a backfocus problem. The chromatic characteristics of the film stock appeal, but much of the imaging is just ratty, grainy and murky. The dubbing is inanely bad. Lee emerges as a noble star prepossessed with themes of taking on badness and vanquishing it, and a climactic fight sequence is well-choreographed and performed. The story is set in Rome and seems imbued with vague spaghetti Western themes, and these are hackneyed enough to dim Lee's rising star. But as a piece of art that rounds out Lee's repertoire, divulges more about his mystique while commanding respect, and has some highly stagecrafted, riveting, engaging sequences, this film certainly deserves watching.

Tang Lung (Bruce) is a Chinese native and something of a wide-eyed innocent when he comes to the big European city of Rome to help his relatives, who run a restaurant in the Eternal City. But a big problem arises when gangsters declare that they want the restaurant and the property it's on for themselves. Initially Lung's family are helpless and confused about what to do next, then they find out that Lung is a Kung Fu master. Lung staves off the gangsters by fighting wave after wave of thugs and baddies sent by the higher-ups in the nefarious syndicate. For a while, the restaurant seems secure. But then the bad guys bring out the big guns by calling in Colt (Chuck), an American Martial Arts master who flies to Rome with the sole reason of defeating Lung in a fight. The climax of the movie sees the two titans have it out in the legendary Colosseum. Who will emerge victorious? The Way of the Dragon (or Return of the Dragon, as it was marketed after the success of Enter the Dragon), was a Golden Harvest production written and directed by Bruce Lee, and he also co-produced, starred in, and of course was credited as Action Director and Martial Arts Instructor on the film. Bruce's talent was immense and seemed to be growing at this point in his career; unfortunately for the world, he passed away the next year after the release of this film. Of course, this led to many producers trying to fill the void left by the legend and his huge popularity, leading to such names as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and our personal favorite, Bruce Rhee. Just to name a few. But for our purposes here at Comeuppance, it was nice to actually see a BRUCE LEE film, as opposed to some of the movies that appeared in his wake. It puts things into perspective when you can go back and see the originator, instead of one of the imitators.Don't get us wrong, many of the movies featuring the "imitators" are fun in their own right and certainly have their charms, but there's nothing like an actual Bruce Lee film, and, sadly, there aren't that many of them to choose from. Here, though, starting from the cool, Spaghetti Western-style animated opening titles sequence, we go into a very 70's world: big cars, big collars, pea soup-colored home decor, and of course Bruce Lee was still alive. Maybe someday we'll be able to go back to the 70's. Of course, it was also a time when a young Chuck Norris, sans facial hair (but with plenty of hair everywhere else, as Bruce humorously points out during their fight scene), was just coming on the movie scene. Chuck doesn't appear until about an hour into the movie, as he's the baddies' "secret weapon" brought in to bring Bruce down, but, like Slaughter in San Francisco (1974), Chuck plays a villain with limited screen time. He had yet to establish himself as a hero, and of course when he comes up against Bruce Lee, the fur's gonna fly! The movie does get off to something of a slow start, and the pacing is kind of odd, especially by today's standards, but really there's no shortage of Bruce action. It was a time when terms like "Kung Fu" and "Nunchucks" were brand new in the American (and the non-Asian world's?) lexicon, so that was interesting to see. The dubbing is...unfortunate, but typical for productions of this time and place. That's how it is on the Inter-Vid VHS, and it's unlikely to be any better on many of this movie's other releases. A widescreen, subtitled, remastered DVD would be awesome, but it's probably an impossibility, because of the way the movie was shot. The only other real complaint we have is that it's kind of repetitive, plot-wise, but that's a minor quibble, we're just grateful this film exists in the first place. It would be fascinating to think what Bruce would be doing if he was around today.There's a really good chance he'd be making DTV movies with the action stars of our day like Scott Adkins and Gary Daniels, among others. Or perhaps he'd be making movies in Hong Kong with Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Or maybe both, there's no way of knowing. But Return of the Dragon remains an important part of the Bruce legacy.

It may have Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in it - but those are the only bright spots on an otherwise laughable film.Was this film made by an Italian tourism board? On the way to the restaurant at the heart of the film, they happen to drive past every Roman monument. Furthermore, the film is terribly lit and shot. More than once, the film is out of focus. There are needless zoom-ins and zoom-outs. These film techniques work in fight sequences but not more low-key scenes.Maybe humour is just lost in translation, but the jokes where Bruce Lee has to go to the toilet (which ceased to be amusing quick) are laughably embarrassing to watch. The pace of the movie is very bad. One of the aforementioned toilet scenes has the girl of the film waiting for Bruce Lee while he's in her bathroom. I also fail to see how any assassin would use a shotgun for taking someone out from afar. The cinematography is also very poor.Thankfully, the fighting scenes deliver and Bruce Lee is on form. His fight scene with Chuck Norris is the film's highlight, but even that is filled with nonsense. Why, exactly, is there a little cat that the director feels compelled to cut to every 30 seconds? When there is a dramatic zoom-in, zoom-out on Lee and Norris, we get another close-up of the cat, ZOOMING IN AND OUT OF IT! Why?! (And thankfully, Chuck Norris would realize he looks better in a beard, and spare us shots of his hairy shoulders.) In terms of fighting, Way of the Dragon is a good watch, but so many pointless shots could simply have been, and should have been, cut. I'm almost positive the makers of The Hangover watched this film, as the main henchman could very well be Leslie Chow's cousin. He adds some comedic elements, but apart from him and the fighting scenes, Way of the Dragon isn't even an unravelled patch on Enter The Dragon.