A HONG KONG KUNG FU CLASSIC

This year marks the half-century anniversary of the release of The Way of the Dragon (1 June 1972). Here are 10 things you mightn’t know about the Bruce Lee film.

#1 It was made for US$130,000 and reaped $130 million at the box office, so it earnt a thousand times its budget!

#2 It was released in the US with a slightly different title: Return of the Dragon.

#3 Lee’s character Tang Lung is a “country bumpkin” from Hong Kong who finds himself in Rome, protecting a Chinese restaurant from the Mafia.

#4 The film’s climactic fight scene is set in the Colosseum in Rome, though the actual fight was filmed in the studio in Hong Kong.

#5 Bruce Lee’s adversary in the fight is none other than Chuck Norris.

#6 The film is often described as Norris’ debut performance; in fact, he had a cameo in a 1968 Dean Martin film.

#7 Lee not only played the lead in the film; he produced and directed it, wrote the script, choreographed the fights and, apparently, played percussion on the soundtrack!

#8 The film is said to have helped popularise a fight move called the “oblique kick”, today used by MMA fighters, including American Jon Jones.

#9 One notable quote from the film sees Bruce Lee’s character being asked what he thinks of Rome’s ancient relics; he replies, “It’s a waste, all of this. In Hong Kong, I would build on it. Make money!”

#10 Despite still getting decent reviews in the Bruce Lee canon to this day, the film is criticised for its terrible, sometimes comical, dubbing.