Enter the Dragon

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So here it is... more than 30 years since the original theatrical release of Enter the Dragon, Warner Brothers releases the definitive 2 DVD Special Edition. It's a fine offering, long overdue, and considering the reasonable price, really offers a lot of nice extras, though most of them have been available elsewhere and have therefore been seen before (at least by rabid fans like me).

To start with, there is of course the movie Enter the Dragon (ETD) - Bruce Lee's magnum opus that was not released until after his unfortunate death in 1973, but sealed his immortality. The plot is simple enough - Bruce is a modern day Shaolin monk who is somehow enlisted by the British/Hong Kong government to infiltrate the island of Dr. Han (Shieh Kien), a crusty old renegade Shaolin gone bad who holds a yearly martial arts tournament to recruit talent for an international opium and prostitution racket. Roper (John Saxon), or "Loper" as Bruce says his name, is the established Hollywood caucasian star brought in because of reservations about Bruce's ability to carry the film, while Williams (Jim Kelly) is the token blaxploitation character who, this being the 70's, is kind of a Shaft/Superfly ass-kicker and, in the spirit of horror movies, is the first to die at the hand of Han - actually, at his artificial, interchangeable, iron, and oftentimes bladed hand. Even Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, as young Hong Kong stuntment before they became stars in their own right, make infamous appearances as guys on the receiving end of Bruce's wrath. But the real point, or value, of this movie is that Bruce Lee shines throughout with his incredible fight sequences - he once again casts Bob Wall as whipping boy, hitting him with lightning fast punches, an insane skip side kick, and a great groin shot that still makes me wince despite hundreds of viewings; he has some fantastic weapons sequences with staff, double escrima sticks, and nunchaku; and he more than lives up to his reputation as the "man with three legs" as he demolishes armies of scrawny Asian guys whose gung fu is pitiful in comparison (check out the guy laughing in the background as Bruce connects three successive roundhouse kicks to one sap's head in the final mob fight). This was totally innovative and amazing in 1973 as the first ever martial arts movie made in Hollywood and despite all the subsequent copycats and modern day wire-fu flicks, no one has ever matched Bruce's intensity, charisma, and moves. There are some classic dramatic sequences as well with Bruce speaking English in his own voice (unlike all of his Hong Kong movies whose English versions are horribly dubbed), such as Bruce teaching a student and rapping him on the head as he expounds some homespun Zen philosophy or Bruce poignantly asking "why doesn't someone just pull a .45 and settle it?" Incidentally, this is the uncut version of the movie with some extra scenes not included in the theatrical release - basically Bruce talking quasi-philosophy (well, actually, it's someone else dubbing in Bruce's voice) with his Shaolin elder that he later recalls in the final fight sequence.

Of course, few people who buy this DVD don't know all this already, so what's new? Well, there is a commentary track by producers Paul Heller and Fred Weintraub - there's some interesting tidbits, but overall it's disappointingly uninspired. Then there's "Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter the Dragon" - a newly produced documentary short that includes some rare and new footage - a clip from Bruce's Hong Kong TV appearance in which he breaks 4 dangling boards; an interview with John Saxon, Lalo Schifrin, and the kid who gets smacked on the head by Bruce in the movie (now apparently a well-known Hong Kong director); and several minutes of on-location footage shot with Ahna Capri's handheld Super 8 camera that has never been seen before (it's short of amazing, but it's new and therefore gold to diehard fans). On disc 1 there's also a soporific Linda Lee (Cadwell) interview, another "making of" featurette with on-location footage shot by the AD, John Little's short "In His Own Words" featuring most of the Pierre Burton interview, and some old black and white movies (with sound) of Bruce kicking his buddies and hitting his heavy bag in his Los Angeles backyard - though these have all been previously available in one place or another (including the 25th Anniversary ETD DVD).

Disc 2 includes all of the TV and theatrical trailers for the movie (somewhat repetitive) and two previously released Warner Brothers documentaries - Warrior's Journey, which captures and knits together the lost Game of Death footage (GOD) in its available entirety, and Curse of the Dragon, a George Takei (Sulu of Star Trek fame) narrated documentary released around the time of Brandon Lee's death. These are both decent films, with Warrior's Journey a real gem with the GOD footage - the definitive way to watch Bruce in widescreen duel nunchakus with Dan Inosanto and try to deconstruct Kareem Abdul Jabbar's fighting style while sporting the iconic yellow and black tracksuit revived by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol 1. Curse of the Dragon is interview heavy (Kareem, Taky Kimura, Paul Heller, James Coburn, etc.) but also includes clips from Bruce's childhood movies, his Green Hornet screen test, his appearance at Ed Parker's Long Beach Karate touurnament, and some backyard work-out footage with Coburn. But once again, these films have already been released before on their own, so while decent, they're less than revelatory.

And so, what we have here is by far the best available version of ETD that now exists and probably ever will, complete with a lot of nice extras, most of which have been available elsewhere. It's nice to have it all in one package (there's no apparent need to sell Warrior's Journey as a standalone product anymore) at a reasonable price. On the other hand, Lee worshippers will no doubt wish that there was more - why not include the complete Green Hornet screen test, or a Jim Kelly or Jackie Chan interview or commentary track, the complete James Coburn training session footage, all of the Ahna Capri film, more ETD outtakes, or maybe even "Kentucky Fried Movie," a parody of ETD released many years ago... but what can you do - Bruce died 31 years ago and this is the legacy he left behind.

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