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罗意琛
武术,摔跤或拳击
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FILM & DVD REVIEW: The Way of the Dragon

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As a Hong Kong cinema aficionado I couldn’t resist the temptation to start posting film reviews to share my thoughts on my all-time favourite filmsJ

 

I start my film review blog with Bruce Lee Siu Lung’s legendary “The Way of the Dragon”. This was the first Hong Kong and martial arts film I saw; a masterpiece which encouraged me at a very early age to start practicing martial arts, reading about Hong Kong cinema and collecting movies.   

 

                                     THE WAY OF THE DRAGON

                         

 prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /AKA: Return of the Dragon

CANTONESE TITLE: 猛龍過江Mang lung goh kong

LITERALLY: The Fierce Dragon Crosses River

COUNTRY/YEAR: Hong Kong/Italy 1972

LANGUAGE: Mandarin (Italian & English in some sequences)

STUDIO: Golden Harvest

DIRECTOR: Bruce Lee Siu-Lung

WRITER: Bruce Lee Siu-Lung

FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY: Bruce Lee Siu-Lung & Unicorn Chan

PRODUCER: Raymond Chow Man-Wai & Bruce Lee Siu-Lung

COMPOSER: Joseph Koo Ka-Fai

RUNNING TIME: 94:04 min. (PAL), 98:28 min. (NTSC)

PLOT: Tang Lung (Bruce Lee) travels from Hong Kong to Rome to help a family friend, Ms Cheng Ching Hua (Nora Miao), whose Chinese restaurant is being terrorized by mobsters. The staff of the restaurant is determined to protect the property, but with the crime syndicate’s thugs scaring away all their customers, they're in a pickle. The conflict eventually escalates and Tang Lung is forced to kick around the lower tier enforcers. The gang boss (John Benn) starts to feel threatened and decides to get rid of Tang Lung by any means necessary, be it with more gangsters or an American-imported Karate champion played by Chuck Norris.

CAST:


Bruce Lee Siu-Lung        ...  Tang Lung

Nora Miao Ke-Hsiu         ...  Cheng Ching Hua

Robert Chen Ping-Chi       ...   Ah Quen

Gam Dai                        ...  Ah Gung

Unicorn Chan                 ...  Jimmy

Tony Lau-Wing              ...  Tony

Tommy Chen Fu-Ching     ...  Tommy

Wu Ngan                        ...   Ah Chuan           

Malisa Longo (Cameo)     ...  Italian Beauty

Anders Nelsson (Cameo)  ...   Thug

Wong Chung-Shun           ...   (Uncle) Wang

Ngai Ping-Ngo                  ...   Ho

Robert Wall                   ...  Robert

Whang Ing-Sik               ...  Japanese fighter

Chuck Norris                  ...  Colt

John Benn                     ...  Big Boss

 

                           

 I'm sure many of you have already watched this film many times, but if you haven't, you MUST check it out.

 

The Way of the Dragon is – unfortunately - Bruce Lee's sole directorial offering and the first Chinese martial arts film shot in Europe, preceding Sammo Hung's "Wheels on Meals" by 12 years.

 

                             

 

The plot takes a personal direction for Bruce, dealing with the Chinese immigrant experience in the West. Instead of focusing on the dramatic aspects of his experience, Lee plays the fish-out-of-water role with gusto and hilarious facial expressions, which are accompanied by Joseph Koo's appropriately juvenile score. 

                     

 "The Way of the Dragon" presents Lee at his best; as a martial artist he never looked more precise, quick and graceful. Maybe that is why the film earned Bruce his largest domestic gross (HK$ 5.307.350).

 

                                    

 

“The Way of the Dragon” was way ahead of its time, as in 1972 Hong Kong action films were strictly straight-faced. In fact, Jackie Chan wouldn't make comedy popular in Kung-fu films for another six years with “Drunken Master”. So the humorous touches in “Way of the Dragon” make this film a genuine ground-breaker. In addition to comedy, the fast-paced and realistic modern-day fight choreography was something we would only see more than a decade later in Sammo Hung classics such as “Winners & Sinners” or “Wheels on Meals”. Remember that at the time “Way of the Dragon” was filmed, most Hong Kong films were characterized by the Wǔxiá (武俠) genre with mainly sword fights and little, badly choreographed hand-to-hand combat.

 

                                           

 Some fans might be disappointed that the film isn't wall-to-wall kung fu, but Lee's deliberate pacing makes the few fight scenes that much more powerful, especially the confrontation between Lee and super-kicking Whang Ing-Sik, and champs Bob Wall and Chuck Norris.

 

                         

 

The climatic finale in the Coliseum is, in my opinion, the best and most realistic fight ever captured on celluloid. Lee is able to evolve and develop his fighting by adapting to Norris’s extremely robotic Japanese Karate. The creative freedom Golden Harvest gave Bruce Lee for this film paid off particularly in this fight; deep down this final battle uses all the wisdom and martial arts knowledge that made Bruce Lee a legend. As a matter of fact, we can see a combination of most Jeet Kun Do theories throughout the fight: timing, rhythm, trapping, distance control and the element of surprise. The perfectly executed JKD moves paired with the speed and power of Lee remain a remarkable influence on action films to this day.    

                   

 Sadly, “The Way of the Dragon” is the closest viewers will get to seeing Lee’s true cinematic visions realized. We can only imagine where Bruce might have taken the genre if he had the opportunity. 

                                                             

 

MEMORABLE QUOTE: "In this world of guns and knives, wherever Tang Lung may go to, he will always travel on his own"

 

 

WHICH VERSION SHOULD YOU GET?

 

                 20th Century Fox DVD (USA) - Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection Box 

                                      FULL UNCUT VERSION

ASPECT RATIO: 2,35:1 (anamorphic/16:9)

SOUND:  Mandarin (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

SUBTITLES: English

EXTRA FEATURES: Several interviews, gallery, trailers .

 

The Fox DVD presents this masterpiece full uncut, remastered in HD, in its original aspect ratio format and with original Mandarin 2.0 mono sound. Therefore, this is the one to go for if you want to see the film at its best and in the way the maestro wanted you to see it! Make sure you get the Ultimate Collection Box as the single disc edition is cut.A Blu-Ray disc of the film is also available from Kam & Ronson (HONG KONG), which provides a slightly better picture quality than the Fox DVD. However, this does not compensate for the Blu-Ray’s missing original Mandarin 2.0 mono sound.

 

The only minus of the Fox disc is the lack of extensive extra features. From that perspective, the Hong Kong Legends 2-Disc Platinum Edition (see below) is the best available DVD at the moment. If it would have the original Mandarin mono sound instead of the horrible 5.1 Up Mix with new sound effects, this DVD would undoubtedly rank first. In case you cannot find the UK version anymore, the Australian and Dutch releases are also distributed under the Hong Kong Legends label (and therefore feature the same content as the UK version).

 

Hong Kong Legends 30th Anniversary Tribute – 2-Disc Platinum Edition DVD (UK), Released on 14 July, 2003

 

                                        

FULL UNCUT VERSION

ASPECT RATIO: 2,35:1 (anamorphic/16:9)

SOUND: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

SUBTITLES: English

 

EXTRA FEATURES:DISC 1:

Commentary by Bey Logan and John Benn,

Introduction to the film by Robert Lee, Bruce Lee's younger brother

 

DISC 2:

Introductions to special features by Bey Logan

Interview gallery:

"Double Edged Sword: An Interview with Robert Wall,"

"Memories of the Master: An Interview with Pat Johnson, "

"Warriors Immortal: An Interview with Master Whang Ing-Sik,"

"A Dragon Remembered: An Interview with Robert Lee,"

Trailer galley:Original trailer, UK Campaign trailer, Original UK trailer, teaser, TV spot, HKL TV spot, Bonus trailers,

Production photo gallery

Info Library:

"Way of the Dragon - A retrospective”

Bruce Lee screen test,

Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Bob Wall, Nora Miao biographies,

The Hong Kong Connection:

"Inside Way of the Dragon: An Interview with Chaplin Chang, Louis Sit"

"Artist and Warrior: An Interview with Tony Lau Wing"

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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 千里之行,始於足下.

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语言
English,French,German,Italian,Mandarin,Spanish
位置(城市,国家)以英文标示
Guangzhou, P.R. China / Hong Kong, S.A.R. China
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Male
加入的时间
August 19, 2008