The Way of the Dragon (1972) Meng long guo jiang (original title)

Director:

Bruce Lee

Writer:

Bruce Lee (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 December 1972 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Fight | Gangster | Showdown | Italy | Colosseum

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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
Unicorn Chan	...	Jimmy
Malisa Longo	...	Italian Beauty
Fu Ching Chen	...	Tommy (as Tommy Chen)
Wu Ngan	...	Waiter
Robert Chen	...	Robert
Jon T. Benn	...	Thugs' Boss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Baker	...	Thug (uncredited)
Yuen Biao	...	Thug (uncredited)
Riccardo Billi	...	Bank Manager (uncredited)
Russell Cawthorne	...	Man at Airport (uncredited)
Franz Colangeli	...	Man at Airport (uncredited)
John Derbyshire	...	Thug (uncredited)
Alexander Grand	...	Thug (uncredited)
Jim James	...	Thug (uncredited)
Ching-Ying Lam	...	Thug (uncredited)
Giuseppe Marrocco	...	Man at Airport (uncredited)
Andre Morgan	...	Thug (uncredited)
Anders Nelson	...	Thug (uncredited)
Ho Pich	...	Thugs' Chief (uncredited)

Directed by
Bruce Lee

Writing credits
Bruce Lee		(screenplay)

Produced by
Raymond Chow	....	producer
Bruce Lee	....	producer

Original Music by
Joseph Koo

Cinematography by
Tadashi Nishimoto		(as Ho Lang Shang)

Film Editing by
Yao Chung Chang		(as Chang Yao Chung)

Art Direction by
Hsin Chien		(as Chen Hsin)

Makeup Department
Tse Ming Hsieh	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Chaplin Chang	....	production manager
Chi-Chung Kwan	....	production manager (as Kuan Chih Chung)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yao-chang Chih	....	assistant director (as Chih Yao Chang)

Art Department
Shun-chang Huang	....	props
Chan Chap Hung	....	titles design
Wan-On Shing	....	props

Sound Department
Shao Lung Chou	....	sound recordist
Ping Wong	....	dubbing (as Ping Wang)

Stunts
Robert Baker	....	stunts
Yuen Biao	....	stunts
Unicorn Chan	....	assistant martial arts director
Ching-Ying Lam	....	stunts
Bruce Lee	....	martial arts director
Robert Wall	....	stunts
Wah Yuen	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Hui-yan Cheng	....	gaffer
Hsi-Ming Liang	....	assistant cinematographer (as Liang Hsi Min)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sheng-hsi Chu	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Simon Broderick	....	colorist

Other crew
Tung Jo Chang	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Concord Productions Inc.
• Golden Harvest Company

Distributors

• Media Asia Group (1972-) (worldwide) (all media)
• Media Asia Distribution (1972) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Astral Films (1974) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Bryanston Distributing (1974) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Cathay Films Ltd. (1974) (UK) (theatrical)
• Compagnie Française de Distribution Cinématographique (CFDC) (1974) (France) (theatrical)
• Gloria (1975) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Succéfilm AB (1984) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• United Film & Entertainment Marketing (1989) (Finland) (VHS)
• Finnkino Video (1993) (Finland) (VHS)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Future Film (2001) (Finland) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Spike Co. Ltd. (2002) (Japan) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (VHS)
• Hong Kong Legends (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Nelonen (2003) (Finland) (TV)
• Atlas-Video (19??) (Finland) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Cinema Classics (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Cinematográfica F.J. (Brazil) (VHS)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Rank Video Library (1986) (UK) (VHS) (cut version)
• Universum Film (UFA) (199?) (Germany) (DVD)
• Universum Film (UFA) (19??) (Germany) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Meng long guo jiang" - Hong Kong (original title)
"Fury of the Dragon" - Europe (English title)
"Return of the Dragon" - USA (dubbed version)
"Revenge of the Dragon" - USA (cable TV title)

Runtime:

100 min | USA:90 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:14A | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:(Banned) (1975) | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) (1975) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | New Zealand:M | UK:X (original rating) | Norway:18 (video premiere) (1982) | Norway:(Banned) (1975-2003) (cinema release) | Norway:(Banned) (video) (1988-1995) | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-16 (cut: 1989) | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating: 2001) | South Korea:15 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2011)

Filming Locations:

La Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Concord Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The whole thing was shot without sound, with the actors looping their lines in post-production.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the opening credits it lists "Directed and Scriped" by Bruce Lee. It should read "Scripted", with a T.

Quotes:

Boss:What I want, I get. And I want that restaurant!
Ho:Yes, Boss. Yes, Boss.
Boss:"Yes, Boss. Yes, Boss." Haven't you wasted enough time!
Ho:But I... but I always do my best.
Boss:Then how you failed?
Ho:Ah! I found that they're being helped by a man named... Tang Lung.
Boss:A man? Only *one* man?
Ho:Ahh, but this man knows Chinese Gung-Fu.
Boss:[incredulously] Kung-Fu?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Californication: The Way of the Fist (#5.2)" (2012)

Soundtrack:

As A Judgement

Adorable mixture of silly slapstick and ritual violence.

If, like me, you have only seen Bruce Lee in the wonderful, but portentous, ENTER THE DRAGON, than you might be surprised by this quite potty earlier film. In ENTER THE DRAGON, Lee was amused, but sombre; a fighting machine, pivotal piece in a deadly serious mythological puzzle, his strength never in doubt.

The first third of this film couldn't be more different. Played as (very funny) comedy, Lee is passive (we first see him waiting for someone), a figure of fun, a fish out of water, exagerratedly polite, bewildered by alien custom and language, as well as his own bowels. A number of scuffles take part early on in which he takes no part, and which make us doubt his prowess.

Lee directed this film, and his visual conception is much more inventive that Robert Clouse's (ENTER). Although it lacks the insane invention of A TOUCH OF ZEN, or the dizzy verve of Tsui Hark's films, Lee is not content with simple ego gratification. His two directorial mentors seem to be Melville and Leone. The former (hugely influenced by Oriental martial discipline himself) gave him a hero who is narcissistic (check the opening shot), whole; whose physical prowess is ironically the result of mental superiority, an almost Zen laid-backness; concealing the coiled, taut, muscle-burst of Lee's beautiful body.

Kung Fu is primarily an art of self-defense, and this film returns to these roots: its conception of protecting the oppressed rings throughout the film (in the seemingly gratuitous picture-postcard scenes, Lee makes the connection between European colonial splendour, and the poverty and repression of Hong Kong). Chuck Norris's character has betrayed Kung Fu by siding with the oppressor - his art is bestial and clumsy, lacking the spare geometric elegance of Lee's.

But Kung fu's self-defense is also a defence of one's 'self' (this is where Melville comes in) - it protects one from any threat to one's powerful wholeness, especially women (and men. There is a slight whiff of homophobia, mitigated by the outrageous campness of the film (all that red! The whole idea of SHANE recast in a restaurant!). This is ironic, since it is the proof of Lee's martial art power that makes the initially sceptical heroine (very stylish and lovely) fall for his charms (and who can blame her?).

Lee's second master is Sergio Leone, from whom he has learnt an irreverent approach to genre, with jokey zooms, close-ups and cuts; mocking, yet mournful and melancholic Morricone-esque music; a ritual stand-off between mythical archetypes (an awesome set-piece in the Colosseum), with the film's heart belonging to the slightly silly, but loveable, subsidiary characters.

The use of these iconoclastic directors adds a reflective and critical dimension to a genre previously (in its most populist form) a showcase for male vanity (although Lee never lets us forget how gorgeous and sweetly small and cuddly he is). A supremely entertaining film which unexpectedly achieves a climactic power and melancholy.