I saw this 1973 martial-arts classic about a week ago; it’s just about the only martial arts movie I’ve ever seen. My understanding is that it enjoys the reputation of being the “Citizen Kane” of western-produced martial-arts films, more or less. (This probably stretches that cliche beyond the point of no return, but you get the point. I just know I liked a lot of the fighting.) Since this grasshopper knows virtually nothing about “kung-fu” movies, it raised a few questions:
- The martial arts discipline(s) on display – was it all karate, or did it combine karate with other disciplines? Aside from the Evil Overlord’s decidedly non-kosher prosthetic hand/claw/steel blade thingys, were there other presumed violations of classic martial-arts rules, codes, or points of honor?
1)a) How about when Bruce Lee was, ahem, stomping on his vanquished opponents’ chests, to finish them off? Was this honorable or permissible, within the rules of karate – or simply given the circumstances?
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Was Lee hamming it up with his facial grimmaces and muscle-flexing, or was that normal or otherwise to be expected (for the genre, I mean)? How do martial-arts afficionados consider Lee’s performance today? Is his work in “Enter the Dragon” still the high-water-mark, or is his style hopelessly dated?
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Just how “real” was all that fighting? Did anyone get seriously hurt during the making of the movie? Was the standard of fighting realism greater for Lee as opposed to the non-Asian co-stars (John Saxon, et al)?
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Is the term “kung-fu” dated, orientalist, or otherwise politically incorrect?
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If Bruce Lee in his prime fought Jackie Chan in his prime, who would likely win, and why? [Actually, Jackie Chan was in “EtD,” but he was quite young and didn’t have much on-screen air time. I think he was one of the thugs who took on the woman who chose suicide.]
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Just for fun, give us your ranking of the best martial-arts masters in film – and that includes TV shows, the Star Wars universe and anything else you can think of. (Although it wouldn’t exactly be a fair fight, for a Jedi Master to take on a mere earthling, now, would it?) Please indicate which discipline(s) they practice.
Thanks in advance for any and all answers! [deep bow follows]
You have scrivened some good questions. This humble servant will answer as well as he can.
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They combined karate with other arts including kung fu and judo. As sophisticated as the film was, it still conformed to rules of honor, such as avoiding a fight when unneccessary, etc.
A man is allowed to defend himself from harm. His opponent didn’t stay down when he was defeated, so Bruce made assurance double stomp sure, so to speak.
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Actually no, it was and still not normal to make animal noises. Posing and yelling, yes. Bruce Lee would not have called it ‘hamming it up’; it was part of his character’s psychig out is opponent, not unlike what Muhammad Ali did.
The fighting in the movie, especially the 40 on 1 underground scene, still stands up today. In fact, that particular scene is the high water mark of realistic martial art genre.
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Bruce Lee changed the genre by going for more realistic fighting in his movies.
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Hurt? Oh yeah. The scratches on Bruce at the end of the film? Not make up. And as I said before, Lee was going towards more realistic fighting in his movies. It was probably too real. Many of the other martial art stars and fight directors today go towards his direction.
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“Kung fu”, or “Gung fu”, is a Chinese term that means approximately “the hard work needed to master a skill”. It is a lot more than just learning to fight. It is an ethic, a way of life. Somehow in the translation, it got stuck to being related to Chinese martial fighting systems, of which there are about 300, with variations ten times that.
- Jackie Chan was a Peking Opera graduate and is a stuntman unparalled. Bruce Lee learned to fight in the streets of Hong Kong. Jackie Chan could not beat Sammo Hung toe to toe, but Jackie decided to be funnier than everyone else. Bruce Lee was actively working on comglomerating the best of fighting systems towards a new style before his death. Bruce had a sophisticated approach to fighting which was partially realized in his last film Game of Death.
In a ‘fight’ between the two, Jakcie would do something funny that would crack Bruce up, and they share a beer afterwards without a punch or kick thrown.
Remember, different purposes in approaching a conflict may lead to a solution without combat deployed.
- Best martial art characters (not in any particular order):
Wong Fei Hong– More martial art action movies are made about this legendary Chinese hero than any other. He is depicted as having many martial art skills, including Tai Chi Chuan (Jet Li), and Drunken Fighting (Jackie Chan).
Xena–Sam Raimi, influenced by Hong Kong action films, could not quite turn the Greek hero Hercules into a martial art demigod without angering too many purists, so he created a Warrior Princess “with many skills”. Probably embellished by the chronicler Gabrielle in the Scrolls, she is depicted as mastering, among other arts, Chin-Na and Snake. Her sword fighting is depicted to be more European smash mouth seen in Ladyhawke. She apparently learned the highest of techniques, such as Dim Mak (death touch–“I cut the flow of blood to your brain”) and the No-Shadow Kick.
Yoda– any doubt why he was the teacher of the Jedi Knights and why “size matters not” should be settled in the special-effects fight at the end of Star Wars 2.
Raven– the ninja that was not named ‘ninja’ was in a short-lived eponymous series that actually did justice to the arts or stealth. The special effects were effective when needed, and the fight scenes featured Southern Shaolin style, with lots of leg sweeps.
The Seven Samurai–travelling swordsmasters recruited to save a village from a marauding band of bandits. Each were masters in various kendo styles, and one in archery zen, or Kyudo. They also empowered the villagers to defend themselves.
Hope it helps you, Scrivener.
Enter the Dragon was the first major mainstream high budget Hollywood martial arts movie made. It was Bruce Lee’s big breakthru film (he was a big star in Asia but those movies didn’t make mainstream US until getting a cult following after Enter the Dragon came out). Enter the Dragon also kicked off the martial arts wave in the US that now has a dojo in every strip mall.
Capacitor - you gotta cite for those wound claims or was that just huge sarcasm?
Bruce did have two noteable accidents in that movie. One was the cobra bit him in one of the takes. The other was the broken bottle, which was real glass rather than a hollywood prop. You can see where Bruce got cut by the guy he later jumps on the chest of. IIRC, he was cut on the left hand, and they filmed the movie around it.
Bruce Lee developed something he called Jeet Kun Do, which was an amalgamation of styles. He originally studied Wing Chung style of Kung Fu. Bruce’s claim to fame were a) being extremely quick, b) the one inch punch and c) way he synthesized so many different styles.
1a)I believe this was honorable. His opponent is the one dishonored when he attempts to cut Bruce with the broken bottles. Plus the fact that he killed his sister X number of years ago.
2)Lee was definatley hamming it up, but it’s not anything any other martial arts character wouldn’t do (minus the screeches which were distinctly Lee.) Quality wise, we can do much better today. However, the choreography of the fight scenes are still top notch. Lee put on a good show without all the CGI effects and wire-works that we use today.
3)Besides the snake and bottle accident that China Guy pointed out, one of the extras got both his arms broke after he was slammed into by Bob Wall’s character from one of Lee’s Sidekicks.
5)I try to avoid those hypothetical scenarios. 
6)Neo… Blade… Yoda (In his prime)… That’s all I can think of at the moment.