Bruce Lee's comical buffoonery

RETURN OF THE DRAGON aka WAY OF THE DRAGON (1972)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I am a huge Bruce Lee fan. I always thought, and still do, that Bruce Lee was the greatest martial-arts fighter who ever graced the silver screen. "Return of the Dragon" was Lee's writing and directorial debut, as well as being the chief fight choreographer, and after the amazingly intense "The Chinese Connection," it seemed he could do no wrong. Well, Bruce Lee was an amazing fighter but not the most astute writer or director in the world.

Lee plays a country bumpkin named Tang Lung, whose services in the martial-arts are required in Rome. You see, Lung's relatives own a Chinese restaurant and the Mafia wants to control it. The owners refuse and so the chief Mafia goon's minions try to irritate them and beat them to a pulp. Not if Lung can help it, though the relatives are not so sure. But this is a Bruce Lee movie and you know Lee will get to fight at some point.

The action scenes are electric and tantalizing. Particularly memorable is Lee's handling of two nunchakus at once or his fight with an American martial-artist (Chuck Norris) at the Roman Coliseum. The fight scenes in general are so damn good that you wish it was in the service of a better story. There is a cruel twist in the final reel but not much else that is story driven. The Mafioso goons are hardly much of a threat. When the story doesn't work and there's no action, we get discussions on Japanese karate vs. Chinese karate, and some unfunny attempts at humor (though I like the goon that tries to use a nunchaku). As an example in displaying the comical buffoonery of a country bumpkin, Lee does a Three Stooges routine that will make you squirm and cringe.

"Return of the Dragon" (alternate title outside the U.S. was "The Way of the Dragon") was dubbed for American release, and it boasts the worst dubbing I've ever seen in any foreign film, martial-arts or otherwise. Not only do the words not match the lips (consistently true of most kung-fu epics), there is also a laughable moment where an English phrase is translated in...English! The title of the film, "Return of the Dragon," falsely advertised that Lee's heroic, James Bond-like character from "Enter the Dragon" was back ("Return" was released in the U.S. in 1974, one year after Lee's death and the release of "Enter the Dragon"). The only similarity between the two characters is their fighting style. Also worth noting is that most of the relatives of Lee's character were actual relatives of Lee, including Nora Miao, the girl with no fighting skills (if there was ever the waste of a decent actress, this is it) and Unicorn Chan.

"Return of the Dragon" boasts some effective, realistic fight footage and Lee has a catlike, phenomenally physical presence - you can't take your eyes off him. The fight scenes are legendary and definitely worth seeing for them alone. The movie is laughable and silly but definitely no time-waster.