The Way of the Dragon (1972)

A man visits his relatives at their restaurant in Italy and has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them.

Director:

Bruce Lee

Writer:

Bruce Lee (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Nora Miao

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Lee	...	Tang Lung / Dragon
Nora Miao	...	Chen Ching Hua
Chuck Norris	...	Colt
Ping Ou Wei	...	Ho (as Paul Wei Ping-Ao)
Chung-Hsin Huang	...	'Uncle' Wang (as Wang Chung Hsin)
Robert Wall	...	Bob
Ing-Sik Whang	...	Japanese Fighter
Di Chin	...	Ah Quen (as Ti Chin)
Tony Liu	...	Tony
Little Unicorn	...	Jimmy
Malisa Longo	...	Italian Beauty
Fu Ching Chen	...	Tommy (as Tommy Chen)
Wu Ngan	...	Waiter
Lo-Ba Chen	...	Robert (as Robert Chen)
Jon T. Benn	...	Thugs' Boss

Storyline

Tang Lung arrives in Rome to help his cousins in the restaurant business. They are being pressured to sell their property to the syndicate, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. When Tang arrives he poses a new threat to the syndicate, and they are unable to defeat him. The syndicate boss hires the best Japanese and European martial artists to fight Tang, but he easily finishes them off. The American martial artist Colt is hired and has a showdown with Tang in Rome's famous Colosseum.

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Plot Keywords:

restaurant | threat | showdown | fight | italy | 

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Taglines:

The Colosseum . . the battleground of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris [Video Australia]

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States]

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin Cantonese English Italian

Release Date:

14 August 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Return of the Dragon

Filming Locations:

Via Vittorio Veneto, Rome Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$130,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Concord Productions Inc., Golden Harvest Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 133 min (extended) 86 min (censored)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the Chinese language versions of the film (Cantonese and Mandarin), Korean actor Wong In-Sik actually spoke both English ("Who can do Karate better than the Japanese?") and Japanese ("Omae wa Tang Long ka?" meaning "Are you Tang Long?).

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Goofs

In an early fight scene at the restaurant, one of the protection racket heavies shapes up to Lee's character. He's seen apathetically in a boxing stance of sorts. When Lee performs a roundhouse kick, the scene (from behind the 'thug') clearly shows him with his arms behind his back and hands near/on his hips so that the kick is delivered unchallenged. He then clearly waves his arms forward from that position to up in the air, which creates a more dramatic effect as to the power of the kick, i.e. knocking him that far off balance.

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Quotes

Tang Lung: These slums are just like ours.

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Connections

Spoofed in Der kleine Dicke mit dem Superschlag (1978)

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Soundtracks

As A Judgement
(Colt's Theme)
by Ennio Morricone

User Reviews

Bruce Lee at his best

Movement #4...dragon seeks path.

That one scene sets the whole film for me.

I will definitely say I really love this film. No matter how many countless times I've seen it ever since I was a kid watching it on the Big Apple movie (old skool!!). This movie introduced me to kung fu and the legend Bruce Lee. His character is very interesting in this one, because he's a stranger in another land (Rome). The people he's supposed to help don't even trust him (hilarious scenes of awkwardness between Bruce and Miss Chen). Ha Goon plays a great comic relief (CHINESE BOXING!). Although the movie takes a dark turn, there are many moments of laughs. I will never forget that you can't order "chinese spare ribs". For the action, Bruce dominates as he takes on a whole gang of thugs using everything from fists and kicks to darts, a pole, and of course his awesome nunchuk scene (MOMMA MIA!!). I love the sound effects when Bruce hits his opponents and the WOOSH sound is great!! His training scenes show that Bruce Lee had 0% body fat and is good motivation for working out. The finale between he and Chuck is a classic kung fu moment. Great shots before the fight including the cat too!!

This is a great film. Another example of a great martial artist.