Way of the Dragon…Return of the Dragon

Way of the Dragon Smash Hit!

I remember when Way of the Dragon, or Return of the Dragon as it was called in the beginning…didn’t come out. Or, if it did, it wasn’t in my neighborhood! instead, I found it years later in a video tape store.

Still, late or soon, Way of the Dragon was one of the best of the Bruce Lee cinematic efforts.

way of the dragon

Poster from Way of the Dragon

Oh, Way of the Dragon was corny, but the fighting…Good Lard, the fighting was absolutely impeccable!

Enter the Dragon, you see, whetted our appetite for nunchucks. Way of the Dragon was the ten course meal that satisfied that craving.

When Bruce opens up in the alley behind the restaurant it was the MOST AMAZING display of nunchukery ever seen!

And, funny thing, that wasn’t the highlight of the movie!

But, before we get to the highlight, Way of the Dragon was basically a kung fu chop socky flix done in the seventies Shaw Brothers realm.

Bad dialogue. Actors that jumped in the background until it was their turn to get slaughtered, and the only redeeming feature, from that viewpoint, was that it was Bruce Lee doing the slaughtering.

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Bruce at his nunchuka best!

The basic plot of Way of the Drago is that Bruce is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help his uncle’s restaurant. Once there he is looked down on as a wimp…gets in trouble for beating up bad guys…and finally…Beat Up the Bad Guys! Yee haw!

This movie, incidentally, was filmed in Hong Kong. They shot a couple of scenes in Rome, but then there was permit trouble or some such, and the whole thing went home to Hong Kong where kung fu is kung fu.

Now, the best part of The Way of the Dragon.

Chuck Norris in the Coliseum.

Chuck and Bruce have at it in one of the best fight scenes ever!

Chuck and Bruce have at it in one of the best fight scenes ever!

It was one of Chuck’s first movie roles, if not the first, and he plays a great bad guy. He’s not just the guy in the black hat, he is the guy with the black chest hairs! A lot of them!

So they face off, rip into each other, and we get to see the power of Chuck Norris in full bloom. He punches, he swing kicks, he dirties Bruce’s face. But, like a kitten playing with a mouse, or rat, in this case, Bruce rises to the challenge. In a furious slugfest he manages to pluck out Chuck’s chest hairs and win the fight.

But, don’t believe me. Pick up Way of the Dragon somewhere. On the net, at a garage sale…find the Way of the Dragon, watch it, and get a glimpse of the Little Dragon at his best.

Click here if you want to know something about what it takes to be a martial arts movie star, maybe you can make your own Way of the Dragon smash hit some day!

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