Return of the Dragon (The Way of the Dragon)

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Return of the Dragon (The Way of the Dragon)

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Return of the Dragon (The Way ...

Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Chung-Hsin Huang, Nora Miao, Ping-Ao Wei

Bruce Lee wrote and directed Return of the Dragon, his third film, a mix of hard-edged kung fu and goofy humor. Once again he plays the country boy who travels to a foreign land, in this case I...( read more  read more... )taly, where his restaurant-owning cousins face trouble from the local syndicate. Their strong-arm tactics have driven customers away and now threaten the family, but Lee refuses to buckle under their pressure and takes them on in a series of impressive confrontations. The film ends with a memorable showdown with world-champion karate artist Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum (though much of it is staged in a rather cheap studio set), a brutal, almost inhuman battle that revels in the intense punishment taken by the combatants. Norris is one of Lee's best opponents and a marvelous physical contrast: brawny and hairy, using power and blunt karate moves while lean, wiry Lee counters with speed, gymnastic prowess, and balletic grace. The mix of comedy and kung fu comes off as camp at times, but that's hardly the reason to see the film. When Lee gets into action, whether he's taking on a gang of knife-wielding thugs or dueling Norris to the death, he becomes the total focus. Originally titled The Way of the Dragon, this film was renamed in the wake of Enter the Dragon to cash in on that movie's popularity. --Sean Axmaker

Id: 11066295

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Return of the Dragon (The Way of the Dragon) Recent Reviews
  • stopitgoaway
    October 15, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    The Way Of The Dragon had the potential to be Bruce's best film in my opinion but was bogged down by the dubbing and acting. But it still stands solid as one great Bruce Lee film and boasts the greatest fight scene ever in my opinion. Bruce plays Tang Lung who travels to Rome to ...( read more)help his family battle local gangsters who are trying to take over their resturaunt. Bruce almost plays a Charlie Chaplin type role here which would later be more fitting to Jackie Chan's slapstick style. Much like the Big Boss the first Bruce fight scene is way into the film but in my opinion this good because it creates a good build up, the nunchuka scene is second only to the one in Fist Of Fury or the uncut Game Of Death. The fight scene in the Roman Colliseum deserves the credit it gets because of one simple reason, its a simple fight, there are no gimmicks, sure its set in the colliseum and the fight is supposed to reflect two roman gladiators but there are no weapons and no sweet talk. It truly has epic scale. The thing that also makes this fight scene work is the end when Tang Lung out of respect covers Colt with his Karate jacket. There may have been better fights since on screen and I havn't seen many Hong Kong films with Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen etc but this is the first great one on one fight, therefore it set the standard.

    There will indeed never be another Bruce Lee. I find it fascinating to imagine what Bruce would have done if he had lived, the 80's and 90's would have been very different if Arnie, Stallone, Wiilis, Seagal and Van Damme had Bruce to compete with, Bruce is sometimes critcised for being a bad actor, but i disagree, if anyone has seen his episodes of `Longstreet' or `Marlowe' they will see that Bruce could convincingly carry a dramatic scene given the right script and no dubbing and he oozed charisma, and he showed glimpses of good acting in Enter The Dragon.

    Being a Bruce fan i kind of wish that Jet Li would do the films that bruce did or was planning on doing, Jet's early work in Honk Kong like the Shaolin Temple or more recent stuff like Fist Of Legend(remake of Fist Of Fury) and Once Upon A Time In China was very promising and it seemed he was the successor to Bruce but instead now he's doing crap in Hollywood with DMX and Jason Statham. Strangely the mediocre Lethal Weapon 4 is Jet's best Hollywood film, Maybe Jet should do a project with John Woo, it would be interesting and they'd probably get the best out of each other.
  • RiderOfTheStorms
    June 16, 2008
    RiderOfTheStorms
    My favourite Bruce Lee film
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    February 3, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Chuck Norris vs Bruce Lee, end of story.
  • KhrisP
    March 3, 2007
    KhrisP
    Bruce Lee v Chuck Norris in Rome! Cool!!!
  • cartersimo
    December 20, 2006
    cartersimo
    Bruce was the best
  • SkywalkerJones
    December 7, 2009
    SkywalkerJones
    Movement number 4: Dragon seeks path. Hi-yah!" (Tang kicks, knocking a hoodlum unconscious) "Dragon whips his tail!-Tang Long

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    Director:Bruce Lee
    Cast:Bruce Lee,Chuck Norris,Nora Miao,Robert Wall
    Genre:Action,Martial Arts
    Year of release:1972
    Running Time:97 minutes

    Plot:
    Bruce Lee wrote and directed Return of the Dragon, his third film, a mix of hard-edged kung fu and goofy humor. Once again he plays the country boy who travels to a foreign land, in this case Italy, where his restaurant-owning cousins face trouble from the local syndicate. Their strong-arm tactics have driven customers away and now threaten the family, but Lee refuses to buckle under their pressure and takes them on in a series of impressive confrontations. The film ends with a memorable showdown with world-champion karate artist Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum (though much of it is staged in a rather cheap studio set), a brutal, almost inhuman battle that revels in the intense punishment taken by the combatants. Norris is one of Lee's best opponents and a marvelous physical contrast: brawny and hairy, using power and blunt karate moves while lean, wiry Lee counters with speed, gymnastic prowess, and balletic grace. The mix of comedy and kung fu comes off as camp at times, but that's hardly the reason to see the film. When Lee gets into action, whether he's taking on a gang of knife-wielding thugs or dueling Norris to the death, he becomes the total focus.

    Review soon...
  • jonathanswinter
    November 5, 2009
    jonathanswinter
    Decent but not as good as the original..
  • wfeather1
    September 11, 2009
    wfeather1
    Bruce Lee demonstrates why without ever being a tournament champion that he was one of the best martial artists of all times. His speed and technique easily out class the other real martial artisits this film presents. His fight with Chuck Norris in this film is legendary.

    Al...( read more)so known as Fury of the Dragon (Europe: English title)
    Mang lung goh kong (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
    Return of the Dragon (USA)
    Revenge of the Dragon (USA) (cable TV title)
    The Way of the Dragon (Hong Kong: English title)
  • flbeachboy
    August 27, 2009
    flbeachboy
    Add a review (optional)...
  • Korkaneenee
    August 1, 2009
    Korkaneenee
    oh my lordy! that was totally sweet! no wonder quentin tarentino is so into that stuff! it's so cool! :D i need to watch old movies like this more often! (by the way, that half of a star... is because Chuck Norris lost. I'm blaming it on the lack of beard in this movie. Do you kn...( read more)ow what's under his beard? Another fist.)
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