Enter the Dragon (1973)

Enter the Dragon celebrates its 50^th Anniversary of its theatrical release.  A bittersweet moment for its’ star who passed away just days before the world premiere in Hong Kong.  The film made its North American Debut a few weeks later in Los Angeles on August 19, 1973, and was the first American produced martial arts film.  It maintained the distinction of being one of the highest grossing martial arts films for nearly 20 years.  Besides making Warner Brothers’ incredibly wealthy, it cemented Lee as a legend in both Hollywood and in the martial arts community. Looking back on his filmography his work is based on 5 theatrical films, and his television role as Kato in the Green Hornet.  That complete body of work pointed to or contributed to the trajectory of Enter the Dragon; and the confidence a studio had in backing Bruce Lee in this starring vehicle.

To commemorate the Anniversary of the Los Angeles Debut, a Blue Ray edition of Enter the Dragon will be available in the United States and Canada.  Followed a month later with the UK scheduled release of the Blue Ray and then parts of Europe.  Hardcore fans were upset on the announced special features in the anniversary edition as the common critique were nothing new from what has already been gathered or told are in the special features.  The documentaries and theatrical and 1998 cut versions are not new.  For the unfamiliar or casual fan, the Blue Ray will walk you through how Lee inspired a generation through testimonial interviews and footages.

Bruce Lee - majored in philosophy in the University of Washington and developed the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do (Way of the intercepting Fist), The scene in Enter the Dragon where Bruce Lee spare’s against Sammo Hung are the first images of the practice that will be known as MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) , but until that moment North American audiences had never seen or got a visual interpretation of MMA.  Lee was also known as a fierce street fighter; off camera he had many run ins with other martial art fighters.  Enter the Dragon showcased his intelligence and style of fighting when fighting opponents in a tournament.  At the Box office, Enter the Dragon cracked the top 10 grossing films of the UK in1974, ranking in 3^rd place just under Newman and Redford’s The Sting, and late William Friedkin classic The Exorcist.  In the United States it faired much lower in the overall box office, but over time the film has taken in over $300,000 in box office receipts, when considering inflation and actual theatrical attendance Enter the Dragon would have made $2 Billion at the Box office in comparison to today.