Return of the Dragon (1973)

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. 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 Amazon.com

Nice Collectible

This movie is good to have if you are a Bruce Lee fan. I consider it a nice collectible. October 3, 2007

Bruce's finest hour

According to Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee pitched the idea of their climactic, gladiatorial duel in the Roman Colloseum to him over the telephone. Norris, who was World Karate Champion at the time, responded "So you want to beat the World Champion?", and without missing a beat, Lee replied, "No, I want to kill the World Champion."

THE WAY OF THE DRAGON (the title Bruce gave his film, later titled RETURN OF THE DRAGON to link it to Bruce's signature piece) was Bruce's directorial debut, and features a cheesy story involving Bruce protecting a Chinese resturant from local Italian mafioso's, but the real sotry of the movie comes in the end.

During his climactic face-off in the Colloseum against Chuck Norris, Bruce stubbornly clings to his traditionalist method of Kung fu, and ends up getting his butt kicked. He then realizes that he must embody the essence of water: flow. Constant, ceaseless, unending flow. With this principal in mind, Bruce rises to his feet and adopts a more bouyant approach, and before long, he is victorious in one of the silver screen's most amazing (and brutal) martial arts duels.

Watch THE WAY OF THE DRAGON for this classic match up of two legends; even after thirty five years, the battle is as powerful as ever, and Bruce's philoshophy of flow has never been better represented. October 3, 2007

Bruce takes charge of his Films

While I very much like this action/comedy, it isn't the best of Bruce's films. The story and comedy are very old hat but his fight scenes(especially with Norris at the Coliseum) are as good as ever put on screen! It shows that along with the footage shot for "Game Of Death" that Lee Would have made a gifted director and writer had he lived. May 21, 2007

Just say WOW!

The story isn't that good. The humour is awful. Some of the sets are a joke. But the action? Man, you just can't fault this baby. The twin nunchaku sequence is superb. The fight with Bob Wall is unbelievable. But the true triumph is the Chuck Norris fight. Has to be one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed. Fantastic. The choreography (entirely Lee's work) is matched only by the final execution. This is a true lesson from a true master on how cinematic fight scenes should be built, performed and filmed. Stunning. August 8, 2006

Horrible Quality

This movie has bad quality it is dubed in they have deep voices and it sounds bad.If you want a good bruce Lee movie get Enter the Dragon I thought it would be a good movie but I was worng.It was not even a hollywood movie maybe if you were a big fan of Bruce Lee you could handle the bad quality. June 11, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...