THE WAY OF THE DRAGON猛龍過江
BRUCE LEE’S THE Way of the Dragon is my favourite film of all time. I revisit it whenever I’m free. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it. But, when I was flying Cathay Pacific recently, I chose to watch it over any of the new blockbusters or critical darlings that were showing.
I was very young when I watched The Way of the Dragon for the first time. My older brother, who was a huge Bruce Lee fan, took me to see it and brought me into Lee’s world. When the advert for the film was on TV during dinner, my entire family would stop and watch it. We didn’t even want to miss 30 seconds of it. That’s how crazy we were about it at the time.
Lee always conveyed positive messages in his films. He helped the weak; he was righteous; he had a real passion for martial arts and his technique was astounding. Unlike some martial arts stars today, Lee didn’t rely on editing and stunt doubles.
The scene many people remember is the fight between Lee and Chuck Norris (above). Lee was probably the first director to use slow-motion long takes in a fight scene; and his innovative filmmaking techniques are another reason this is such a classic.
The Way of the Dragon has had an effect on how I direct action scenes. It taught me to not add things that distract from the action. I also learned that realism was what makes a fight scene spectacular, so I began to reject flashy things in my action sequences. Wirework makes action look like it defies the laws of physics, so I don’t like to use it in my films.
Audiences today demand different things from martial arts films. They’re used to seeing explosions and destruction. A film with only punches and kicks won’t satisfy them anymore. I can’t imagine an action film that can surpass The Way of the
Dragon, but I think young people won’t get the same sense of excitement that people of my generation felt when they watch the film now.
李小龍的《猛龍過江》是我最喜歡的電影，只要有空就會重看，不斷回味，而我也不知道自己究竟看過多少遍了，就連最近一次乘搭國泰航空時，看著機上琳瑯滿目的電影，結果還是選擇重溫《猛龍過江》；對我來說， 這是一部百看不厭的電影。
我第一次看《猛龍過江》的時候年紀很小。哥哥是李小龍迷，是他帶我去看這部電影，從而帶領我進入李小龍的世界。記得印象最深刻，是當年一家人在吃晚飯時，若看見電視上播放《猛龍過江》的廣告，大家就會馬上停下來，聚精會神的觀賞，即使只是一個 30秒的廣告我們都不願錯過，可見我們當時有多瘋狂！
李小龍的電影帶給觀眾十分正面的訊息，他不但鋤強扶弱，更充滿正義感。他對功夫的熱愛毋庸置疑，拳腳亦是真材實料，技巧令人欽佩，更不像現在許多武打明星那樣，需要倚靠後期剪接和替身。
大家想必對李小龍和羅禮士（左圖）對打的場面印象深刻。他用慢動作長鏡頭去拍攝這一場打鬥，在當時可說是開創先河之舉，由此可見李小龍對電影手法的掌握和靈活運用，造就了這部經典之作。
《猛龍過江》對我拍動作片也有影響。我認為拍這類電影必須直截了當，不需加插額外的枝節去分散注意力。此外，我發現打鬥場面要精采，就要有真實感，所以我拒絕花巧的東西。我的作品很少使用吊威也，因為視覺上亦不符合人體力學。
現在的觀眾對功夫片的要求已經不同，他們看慣了爆炸和摧毀等場面，只靠拳腳來支撐的電影，他們是不會滿足的。我很難想像未來會有武打動作電影可以超越《猛龍過江》成為經典，不過我卻明白，現在的年輕人看這部電影時，未必會像我們這一代有如此深刻的感受了。