I saw “Enter the Dragon” for the umpteenth time the other night, and got to wondering (again) about the casting of John Saxon in this movie.
IIRC, Bob Wall and Jim Kelly were world-class martial artists at the time (circa 1973), as well as former students of Lee. I also believe Bolo Yeung was fairly accomplished himself. But what of John Saxon?
I’m guessing Saxon was one of Lee’s former students and an established B actor prior to “Dragon”, but why was he cast in this leading role? (When someone like martial arts dynamo Joe Lewis–who Bruce Lee considered “the best street fighter I’ve ever seen” might have been selected.)
BTW, anyone else think that Kelly’s height and martial arts style (Tae Kwon Do) and roundhouse kicks worked against him–making him look rather awkward in “Dragon”?
I’ve read many times over the decades that John Saxon was in the movie (and got co-star billing) because Warner Brothers thought Bruce Lee couldn`t carry the film by himself and American audiences would be going to see Saxon as much as to see Lee. Of course, these were the same executives that turned Lee down for the KUNG FU TV series and went with dancer David Carradine instead.
As I recall, Saxon was a Tai Chi student, not a hardcore martial artist You’ll notice he takes Bolo out with some improbable pugilism.
Bolo (Yang Sze) was, I believe, Shotokan champion of Southeast Asia. Aside from the obvious muscles, he was a seriously dangerous dude. I think most of us in the audience wanted to see John Saxon step aside so Bruce Lee and Bolo could go at it full blast.
Jim Kelly has always looked stiff and clumsy in every film I’ve seen him in. BLACK BELT JONES, THREE THE HARD WAY, ONE DOWN TWO TO GO, and HOT POTATO. His fight scenes in those flicks were so obviously speeded up that it seemed they were trying to be funny. Just a guess, but just maybe Lee opted for Kelly as the black fighter in that movie because he himself would look even better by comparison. This seems to be why Bob Wall makes such a poor showing in his duel with Lee. And I don’t remember Kelly being one of Lee’s students, although Bob Wall was.
That project was a nightmare from the start. This book and the special edition Enter The Dragon DVD give some insight into the difficulties. A joint US/Hong Kong venture had never been done before, financing was difficult, Saxon was the only “name” actor they could afford. I’ve never seen him in anything else, but he had some TV and film work in the late 60s/early 70s. They thought an American actor as a co-lead was important to the US audience.
Language problems, oppressive heat, and poor living conditions plagued the entire shoot. Lee dropped ten pounds, he looks emaciated compared to his previous movies. Kelly was constantly cramping up due to dehydration and poor nutrition. The line in the movie where he refuses food was taken from his real-life experience off the set in Hong Kong.
According to the stuff they had on the Much More Movie on AMC:
- Saxon was a brown belt in some martial art (not tai chi) prior to the movie. Lee originally wanted another actor for the role, but after Lee found out the actor was 6’6", he though 5’10" Saxon was better. Saxon did a lot of B movies in the 50s and 60s, and was hired in part as one of the few trained actors in the movie. Saxon says he lost interest in martial arts after a while, but still does Tai Chi.
- Jim Kelly was hired literally at the last minute (something like 2 am the first day of shooting), after some other martial artist that Lee wanted dropped out of the project.
- Bolo was “Mr. Hong Kong,” as a bodybuilder and had studied martial arts with Lee, but they didn’t mention him being a martial arts champion (and Shotokan seems unlikely, since that’s a Japanese martial art, and Bolo was Chinese). Apparently, Bolo swam from PRC to Hong Kong to escape Communism.
- The guy who played Han was not only a famous villan in Hong Kong movies at the time he was hired, but also a black belt martial artist. He did about half of the fight scenes himself, and used a double for the rest.
- Lee and Wall didn’t like each other by the time their fight scene was filmed. Allegedly, Wall used realy broken bottles against Lee which severed a tendon on Lee’s leg, requiring Lee to get stitches. And the final kick Lee put on Wall was real impact at full force, and broke the arm of one of the extras who caught Wall as he flew backwards.
Not sure how legit all of this was, but it makes it interesting to watch the movie and read this stuff.
Also: A very young Jackie Chan played an extra in the movie. In a scene in the underground caves, you can see him jump on and get thrown off of Lee. It happens real fast, but if you know what is coming you can recognize Chan.
Actually, Chan is the minion who’s neck Lee breaks and then gives a dramatic grimace as the crack sound fades away.
He’s also one of teh punks taht tries to rape Lee’s sister. He’s the one she kicks in teh balls on the bridge.
Here is another interesting fact about the production: (stick with me, this is truly fascinating)
Bruce Lee pitched the show that became Kung Fu – David Carradine took the lead because Lee was “too Chinese” for an American audience.
Keye Luke played the role of “Master Po” to Carradine’s “Caine”.
Keye Luke looped all the dialogue of “Mister Han” in Enter The Dragon. Shih Kien spoke english, but Luke was brought in to voice the part for the US audience.
So, in the end, Bruce whooped the guy who was the master of the guy who stole the role he should have had in the first place.
Ponder that one, grasshopper 
According to Much More Movie, Shih Kien actually didn’t speak any English, and said all his dialogue phonetically (not understanding at all what he was saying). I sort of believe that one, since the way his mouth moves looks a bit funky considering what he is supposed to be saying.