Bruce Lee Warner Bros Enter the Dragon petition
40th anniversary
Let me know if any of you go to see it.
Classic Hollywood: Remembering Bruce Lee and martial arts films
His 1973 film ‘Enter the Dragon’ helped usher in the martial arts epic. The academy’s ‘Stephen Chin Collection’ honors the genre.
“Enter the Dragon” (1973) stars Bruce Lee as a master martial artist who wants revenge on the gang that killed his sister. (Stephen Chin Collection)
By Susan King, Los Angeles Times
April 15, 2013, 5:00 a.m.
Forty years ago, the cinematic landscape was undergoing a seismic shift. Young Turk filmmakers such as George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin and Terrence Malick were exploring unique and challenging themes. The black exploitation film was not only thriving but also enjoying crossover appeal.
But probably no one in Hollywood was prepared for the martial arts mania that erupted the summer of 1973 when Warner Bros. released the kung fu epic “Enter the Dragon,” starring the legendary Bruce Lee, who died at 32 shortly before the U.S opening. “Enter the Dragon” was the first kung fu film produced by a major Hollywood studio and heralded an influx of kung fu films from Hong Kong — several starring Lee clones such as Bruce Li, Bruce Lai and Dragon Lee.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ exhibition, “Kick Ass!: Kung Fu Posters From the Stephen Chin Collection,” captures that time when movie audiences had an insatiable appetite for the nonstop action, breathless pacing and astonishing stunts depicted in these films.
“There was an intensity, realism, dynamism and energy to this stuff that no one had ever seen before,” said Chin, a producer and screenwriter who donated his collection to the academy in 2011.
That influence continued into such contemporary films as Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” martial arts thrillers and the animated “Kung Fu Panda.”
Academy curator Ellen Harrington noted that the martial arts genre “burst into peoples’ consciousness. It was a real cultural moment. And the posters are an incredibly important part of the way these movies were publicized. The art is incredibly dynamic, full of action.”
The 80 pieces in the exhibition — Chin’s collection numbers more than 800 — includes U.S. and international posters from martial arts films such as 1978’s “Enter the Fat Dragon” with Sammo Hung. There’s also martial-arts-related skateboards, kung fu manuals, lunch boxes and even a bottle of Hai Karate cologne (“Be careful how you use it,” was the ad slogan).
The academy is opening the exhibition with a 40th anniversary screening of “Enter the Dragon.”
Bruce Lee, who choreographed and staged the dazzling fights, plays a martial arts expert who, in his quest to seek revenge on the gang that killed his sister, enters an exhaustive martial arts competition sponsored by the gang’s kingpin. John Saxon and Jim Kelly also star in the fast-paced film that includes martial-arts superstars Jackie Chan and Hung in early roles.
Saxon and Bob Wall, who also appeared in the film, producers Paul Heller and Fred Weintraub, cinematographer Gil Hubbs, screenwriter Michael Allin and Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, will be on hand to discuss the charismatic actor.
Weintraub, who knew Lee, was told that if he came up with a script, Lee would be open to doing the movie. Lee was impressed with Allin’s first draft and flew to Los Angeles to meet with him and the producers.
“I had a lot of story conversations with Bruce and I did a rewrite according to his notes,” Allin recalled. But later the two had a falling out while they were on location in Hong Kong.
Despite difficulties with the legend, Lee was “very good at what he did,” said Allin. “He was an angel in terms of his skill. Warners thought he was going to be a really big deal.”
Lee was certainly a really big deal to Chin, who grew up in Toronto. “When I was a kid, I was constantly bullied and beaten up for being Chinese,” he said.
But Chin’s bullying days were over when Lee entered the cinematic landscape.
“It was a profound transformation,” said Chin. “For me as a kid, to go from being mocked to being admired was amazing.”
Among the highlights of the exhibition, which continues through August, are a U.S. six-sheet poster of “Enter the Dragon” and an oversized Italian poster for “Five Fingers of Death.”
‘Enter the Dragon’
Where: Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Admission: $5
‘Kick Ass! Kung Fu Posters From the Stephen Chin Collection’
Where: The Academy Grand Lobby Gallery, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
When: Thursday-Aug. 25, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; noon-6 p.m. weekends
Admission: Free
Information: http://www.oscars.org
Sweet sweepstakes this time
Enter to win ENTER THE DRAGON 40TH ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTORS EDITION! Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 06/27/13. Good luck everyone!
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Interview with Linda Lee Cadwell for the 40th anniversary of Enter the Dragon
I’d cut and paste but just click the link instead:
http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/enter-dragon-turns-40-didn-t-know-bruce-175002143.html
Thanks for the link-up IronFist! Great read! Good to know how things are going with the family. Anyone who has had members pass away untimely can identify with the BruceGuanDao legacy. 
I feel his rage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYnLVM0AEiE
Slightly OT
Musicians prepare to battle like Bruce Lee at Institute of Contemporary Arts
Experimental installation Enter the Dragon combines music and martial arts in project inspired by iconic mirror scene in 1973 Hollywood film
Zhang Ding says the ICAs Enter the Dragon installation will involve 26 musicians, bands, producers and DJs. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
Hannah Ellis-Petersen
Wednesday 14 October 2015 07.08 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 14 October 2015 11.11 EDT
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is to host a two-week installation during which live bands will perform in a hall of mirrors inspired by the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon.
The mutating sound sculpture, brainchild of Chinese artist Zhang Ding, will involve 26 musicians, bands, producers and DJs. Each night two of them will play on opposite sides of the London gallery. The artists will each play their own songs to an audience of 100 before gradually collaborating in a live improvisation.
Musicians taking part in the installation, also called Enter the Dragon, include Bo Ningen, the Japanese acid punk band, the electronic musician Tapes, Vision Fortune, the experimental drone duo, and producer Lord Tusk.
Ding said he was inspired by his passion for martial arts and music: I was very interested in martial arts films and I started to think about how I could bring together music and martial arts. Like in music, in martial arts there are different styles and schools, and so I wanted to find a way to bring this old eastern philosophy of communication when fighting, but between bands instead they are competing but also drawing on each other. And so I wanted to find a point where western and eastern people are familiar, which is why I chose Bruce Lees Enter the Dragon.
Ding visited several music venues across London in his search for emerging talent for the project. The ICA also worked with Hackney-based station NTS Radio, associate artists at the gallery. NTS advertised an open submission for musicians through its website and also linked up with several UK and international NTS-associated musicians to ensure the project included a variety of new talent.
Man in the mirror: Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon
Matt Williams, the shows curator, said: Each performance is going to be so unique so its all very much an experiment none of us know whats going to happen.
Ding, who has made several pieces involving live music including transforming a Shangai art gallery into a nightclub, said the ICA project was as much about watching the audience as the improvising bands. The most important thing is they feel like this is a party, he said. By doing this project, I have almost given up the identity of the artist; it involves everyone putting themselves into the installation I was just the starting point, the person who will lead the audiences and the musicians into the space what they do when they enter the dragon is up to them.
Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura, from NTS radio, who helped compile the programme of artists, said there had been a wide variety of submissions, with musicians energised by the prospect of something this experimental and a little bit different.
Thorlu-Bangura said she was looking forward to seeing Bill Kouligas perform with Amnesia Scanner; British-born, Berlin-based house music producer Heatsick v London-based music producer Lukid; and electronic musician Tapes against R&B singer Throwing Shade, a pairing she predicted would be weird but great.
R&B singer Throwing Shade, who will perform with electronic musician Tapes. Photograph: Spike Morris
The installation highlights the ICAs increasing interest in the amalgamation of music and contemporary art. In recent months, the gallery has collaborated with artists such as Björks producer Arca, who played his first live show in the gallery, and techno DJ Evian Christ, as well as hosting nights by Boiler Room and the London-based label Blackest Ever Black.
I arrived here five years ago and the ICA was in a very difficult period of its life financially, and we had to scrap the music programme because it just wasnt viable, Williams said. So we started working with associate artists, like band Factory Floor and now NTS, to develop a relationship with musicians and find ways to put on gigs, but also make it a visual experience. Now we are seeing a real explosion of those collaborations between art and emerging music, not just at the ICA but in galleries across the country.
Enter the Dragon, in collaboration with K11 Art Foundation, runs until 25 October. Tickets are available here.
sounds like an intriguing project.
Better late then never
Enter The Legend: ‘Dragon’ Turns 45
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August 17, 2018 4:53 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
JUSTIN RICHMOND
Bruce Lee on the set of Enter the Dragon.
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
When the seminal martial arts film Enter the Dragon premiered in August 1973 — 45 years ago this weekend — it was exactly what Bruce Lee had been waiting for: A starring role in a Hollywood production.
Kung fu meets blaxploitation, and all action, Enter the Dragon was a hit at the box office. It grossed over $20 million in the United States, even beating out a Steve McQueen film, and was Warner Brothers’ top grossing film internationally that year.
It sparked an explosion of martial arts movies — which until then had largely only existed in Hong Kong. It was supposed to make Bruce Lee a star.
“Enter the Dragon was really a very precious project for him,” says Shannon Lee, Bruce’s daughter. “And the one that he had been waiting for.”
[QUOTE]What Bruce Lee wanted to do was to create a heroic Asian male character, but it simply didn’t exist.
Matthew Polly
But a month before the film’s premiere, he died. Instead of becoming a star, he became a legend.
Before martial arts films, Lee was a child actor in Hong Kong.
He played mostly dramatic roles. One film, The Orphan, actually made him a bit of a celebrity there — his performance was compared to James Dean’s in Rebel Without a Cause.
But any fame he had quickly disappeared when he left Hong Kong for the U.S., where he moved when his family felt he was getting in too much trouble at home. Lee, who had been a martial arts student since his early teens, decided to make a living as an instructor.
He didn’t plan on acting but was discovered by a TV producer. William Dozier, who produced the popular Batman TV series, cast Bruce Lee as sidekick Kato in The Green Hornet.
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The Green Hornet debuted on ABC on Sept. 9, 1966. Oddly enough, the original Star Trek series, featuring George Takei as Sulu, premiered the same week. Both shows were significant for casting Asian-American males in prominent roles on TV.
That was far from the norm.
“Up until The Green Hornet, it really was pretty much a wasteland as far as Asian-American continuous representation on television,” says Jeff Yang, a writer and host of the podcast They Call Us Bruce.
The Green Hornet didn’t catch on like the Batman series and was canceled after only a year. After a few more guest spots on TV and a movie, Lee was ready to play a new type of character — one that didn’t yet exist for Asian males in Hollywood.
Bruce Lee
A Life
by Matthew Polly
Hardcover, 640 pages purchase
“What Bruce Lee wanted to do was to create a heroic Asian male character,” says Matthew Polly, author of the new biography Bruce Lee: A Life. “But it simply didn’t exist. There were only two types of roles — Fu Manchu, the villain, and Charlie Chan, the model minority. And both of these characters were played by white actors in multiple films during the '50s and '60s.”
It was about this time Lee caught a lucky break.
He went back to Hong Kong to visit family and was greeted at the airport by producers eager to cast him. It had been over a decade since his last role in Hong Kong, but The Green Hornet had been playing there — except there it was called The Kato Show. Lee was again a star.
He decided to make martial arts films for Hong Kong audiences. He made three: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon. All were hits in Hong Kong. So Lee reached out to a producer he knew at Warner Brothers.
Which is where Enter the Dragon, well, enters. A co-production between Lee’s Hong Kong studio, Golden Harvest, and Warner Brothers, it was the first martial arts film produced by an American studio. Lee was finally the heroic Asian star of a Hollywood movie. And he kicked butt.
Lee died a month before the film’s release in the U.S. and didn’t get to see the lasting influence it would have.
Without ‘Enter the Dragon’ most of the video games that we associate now with martial arts — certainly all of the television shows and films that have come afterwards … would not be the same.
Jeff Yang
“Without Enter the Dragon most of the video games that we associate now with martial arts — certainly all of the television shows and films that have come afterwards … would not be the same,” Yang says.
“You know, we take for granted now that Hollywood action movies, they have martial arts, they have fight choreography, they do all this amazing stuff,” says Phil Yu, the writer behind the site Angry Asian Man. “Before then we hadn’t really seen martial arts in that context in a Hollywood film.”
Lee’s influence stretched beyond the screen. The Wu-Tang Clan’s first album, one of the landmarks of hip-hop, was called Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in honor of Lee’s last film.
“Man, I used to bang my hands on the wall trying to get iron palms, scrape my hands with beans,” says the RZA. “I got stretch marks on my shoulders because of kung fu things I was trying to do.”
Forty-five years after his death, Lee still turns up all over popular culture — just this week, Quentin Tarantino announced a new actor in his upcoming 1969 period piece, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. The role? Bruce Lee.[/QUOTE]
THREADS:
Enter the Dragon
Bruce Lee: A Life by Matt Polly
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Han’s hand
Prop Store - Ultimate Movie Collectables - London - Los Angeles
[URL=“https://propstore.com/featured/enter-the-dragon-1973/lot-140-entertainment-memorabilia-live-auction-hans-shih-kien-knife-hand/”]Lot 140 - Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction - Hans (Shih Kien) Knife Hand
Enter the Dragon (1973)
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Stock #128934
In Auction Now
This lot will be sold on Tuesday, 1st December (day 1 of the auction.) Lots 1-463 will be sold on day 1 (lots 464-913 will be sold on day 2). The auction will begin at 2:00 pm GMT. Lots are sold sequentially so there is no preset ending time. A live streaming broadcast of the auction will be available on auction days.
Han’s (Shih Kien) knife hand from Robert Clouse’s martial arts film Enter The Dragon. The villainous crime lord Han had several different weaponised attachments to replace his severed hand, and he used his knife hand in the climactic fight against Lee (Bruce Lee), inflicting the iconic scars. Lee wanted the villain to have a unique and terrifying weapon, with this hand designed by Lee’s student and friend George Lee. This piece was exhibited at a 2014 SENI show at the London Soccerdome, alongside many other pieces of Lee memorabilia. It is one of two metal sets known to exist, and another wooden set was also used during the fight.
The weapon is made of metal with four real, sharpened knives attached to a metal block. It features a removable handle, allowing it to be held by Kien and his double during filming. There is some wear from age and production use, including some scuffing and scratches on the main block. It comes with a letter of authenticity signed by George Lee. Dimensions: 43.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 6 cm (17 1/2" x 3" x 2 1/2")
Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000 M
Certificate of Authenticity This item comes with a Prop Store Certificate of Authenticity.
This item is on consignment and is sold under the margin scheme for collector’s items; no VAT is due.
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Enter The Dragon | 4K Ultra HD Official Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment
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IN THEATERS AUG 13 & AUG 16
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Enter the Dragon 50th Anniversary
Bruce Lee explodes onto the screen in the film that rocketed him to international superstardom, Enter The Dragon. Recruited by an intelligence agency, martial arts student Lee (Lee–Fists of Fury, The Chinese Connection) participates in a brutal tournament at a remote island fortress in an attempt to gather enough evidence to convict the international drug-trafficker responsible for the murder of Lee’s sister. In the now-classic fight-to-the-death finish, two men enter a mirrored maze, but only one will exit…NOTE: Though uncredited, future superstars Chuck Norris, playing a messenger, and Jackie Chan, as Oharra’s henchman, appear in this 1973 martial arts spectacular.
I might just have to check this out - I’d love to see it on the big screen one more time. 
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1325033]I might just have to check this out - I’d love to see it on the big screen one more time. [/QUOTE]
Another Bruce Lee thing to check out: https://vrscout.com/news/ar-murals-bring-bruce-lee-to-life-in-ny-la/
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The Hong Kong Kung Fu Movies You Need to Watch Next If You Already Love Bruce Lee
My latest feature for Den of Geek: The Hong Kong Kung Fu Movies You Need to Watch Next If You Already Love Bruce Lee
This was tasked for in regards to EtD’s 50th next week.
The Many Ways Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon Changed Martial Arts Movies Forever
The Many Ways Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon Changed Martial Arts Movies Forever ~ My Latest Feature for Den of Geek
Our winners are announced
Obsession Just Beat Bruce Lee
Chris Snellgrove
Updated Tue, July 7, 2026 at 10:30 PM PDT
3 min read
Key takeawaysPowered by Yahoo Scout. Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
- Curry Barker’s horror film Obsession, made for $750,000, has become the highest-grossing movie ever produced for less than a million dollars, surpassing the record previously held by Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon.
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In the world of Obsession, the One Wish Willow is an obscenely powerful artifact that you can buy over the counter. With a single wish, you can achieve fabulous wealth, get your crush to obsess with you…anything you want, really, though your desires are likely to backfire. Despite its fantastic premise, Obsession is relatively grounded, so we never see the One Wish Willow grant anyone kung-fu fighting skills, a la The Matrix. Despite this, however, Obsession just managed to inexplicably defeat the greatest martial arts master who ever lived: Bruce Lee!
Recently, Curry Barker’s horror film, which was made for a measly $750,000, reached an astounding new record by earning over $400 million worldwide. For context, that’s far more than The Mandalorian and Grogu, which has earned $334 million against a budget of $165 million. Now, Obsession is officially the highest-grossing movie that was made for less than a million dollars. To achieve that record, it had to earn more than the most beloved kung-fu film in Hollywood history: Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon.
A Bloody Great Achievement
It’s kind of astounding to think that Obsession came out eight weeks ago. It only took this horror film two months to become the biggest film of the summer (at least, until Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes out), despite some heavy competition. Like, who could have imagined a micro-budget spooky film from a virtually unknown director could trounce everyone from Supergirl to He-Man? Now, eight months after its release, Obsession has passed an important landmark, earning $400 million worldwide against a budget of $750,000. Now, it’s officially the highest-grossing movie ever made for under a million dollars.
Previously, that record was held by the Bruce Lee kung-fu classic Enter the Dragon. That martial arts masterpiece was made for $850,000; after it came out in 1973, it earned a total of $400 million at the box office before it left theaters for good. For over half a century, no film managed to beat this ratio of low budget and high box office earnings, though a few movies deserve honorable mention. For example, Rocky earned $225 million against a $1 million budget, and The Blair Witch Project earned $248.6 million against the same budget Obsession had: $750,000.
Bruce All Fighty
At the risk of glazing Curry Barker too much, the comparison to Blair Witch really highlights what a cinematic achievement Obsession is. Back in 1999, $750,000 was enough to create a found footage horror movie with amateur actors and bad cameras. Now, that same budget can be used to create a polished film with amazing cinematography and professional acting. Does that make breakout star Inde Navarette the new Bruce Lee, though? It depends on your perspective. Obsession earned more than what Enter the Dragon earned pre-inflation; if we account for inflation, Lee’s own breakout film earned over $2 billion in today’s dollars.
Regardless of inflation, however, surpassing a beloved '70s Bruce Lee movie is another amazing accomplishment for Obsession. The little horror film that could continues to prove that you don’t need a huge budget in order to make a successful movie: you just need a good script, talented actors, and a director with a genuine vision. Those have always been the ingredients for great movies, and as Barker recently reminded The Hollywood Reporter, younger audiences in particular are “tired of slop” and are “hungry for movies that are original.” Now, if only the studios pumping out endless sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots would get the freaking memo!