The Way of the Dragon

Unrated

8/7/19741h 40m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ The Colosseum . . the battleground of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. ~

Overview:

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.

Director:

Bruce Lee

Status:

Released

Language:

Cantonese

Buget:

$130,000.00

Revenue:

$27,000,000.00

Key words:

martial arts
kung fu
rome, italy
colosseum
fight
culture clash
italy
gangster
restaurant
crime boss
chinese mafia
fistfight
honor
fish out of water
hong kong
east asian lead
combat
hoodlum
nunchaku
action hero
property

Cast

Bruce Lee

~ as ~

Tang Lung

Nora Miao

~ as ~

Chen Ching Hua

Chuck Norris

~ as ~

Colt

Wei Ping-ao

~ as ~

Huang Tsung-Hsun

~ as ~

'Uncle' Wang

Robert Wall

~ as ~

Fred

Hwang In-shik

~ as ~

Japanese Fighter

Chin Ti

~ as ~

Ah Quen

Tony Liu

~ as ~

Tony

Little Unicorn

~ as ~

Jimmy

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 6 month(s) ago
6
You can certainly see that the camera loved the charismatic Bruce Lee in this otherwise rather predicable action adventure. He's the young "Tang" who arrives in Rome from Hong Kong to help out in a family restaurant that's under siege from the local mafia who want the premises for themselves. His arrival is quite timely as his adeptness with Kung Fu helps him to eradicate the local enforcers with comfortable ease. In the end they decide to get serious - perhaps the building is on an oil well, or something, so draft in the legendary "Colt" (Chuck Norris) who has the young upstart "Tang" firmly in his sights. There is astonishing agility on display here from an array of experts in this, and other, martial arts that showcase their athleticism and fleetness-of-foot using hands, improvised weapons, balance and precision to exhibit the artistic elements of this deadly form of combat really well. Away from those precisely staged activities, though, the rest of this is a rather ordinarily constructed drama that makes as much of visionary director Lee's limitations as an actor as it extols his skills as a fighter. Essentially, we can live without many of the first eighty minutes, especially the romantic interludes which come across as particularly wooden, and just settle down for a denouement that would have had Nero himself gripped from his throne in the ancient Coliseum.