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Enter the Dragon (1973, US/HK)
In Robert Clouse's fast-paced kung-fu masterpiece -
with Bruce Lee in his first (and last) English-language (and Hollywood-produced)
film - it was Lee's last film before his untimely death at the age
of 32; it was the first kung fu film produced by a major Hollywood
studio - and voted upon as the best "chopsocky" or "kickfest" (kung
fu and martial arts) film ever made by an American studio (Warner
Bros):
- the sequences of the annual, invitational martial-arts
competition (a tournament of champions) on a mysterious island
fortress near Hong Kong, hosted or sponsored by one-handed, blood-thirsty,
renegade, villainous Shaolin Temple monk Han (Shih Kien), the crime-boss
and king-pin, and the island's owner - a classic James Bond villain
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Han (Shih Kien)
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Lee (Bruce Lee)
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Oharra (Bob Wall)
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- also participating in the competition: American
playboy-adventurer Roper (John Saxon), an indebted gambling addict
- one of the earliest competitions - a battle between
the crime boss Han's top right-hand man and bodyguard - the bearded,
sadistic and facially-scarred Oharra (Bob Wall), and undercover agent
and Jeet Kune Do martial arts master-expert Lee (Bruce Lee) who displayed
acrobatic fight skills, flip kicks and lightning fast punches to
down and kill his opponent - who had cheated and attempted to stab
him with broken bottles
- Lee had been recruited by the British to infiltrate
the drug and prostitution operation; Lee was seeking revenge on the
gang and Oharra, who was responsible for the death of Lee's sister
Su Lin (Angela Mao Ying - the "female Bruce Lee") - she
committed suicide with a sharp shard of glass thrust into her own
abdomen when Oharra attempted to rape her
Oharra: Responsible for Lee's Sister Su Lin's
Suicidal Death
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- the fight sequence and showdown in Han's top-secret
underground lair between Lee and dozens of Han's henchmen-attackers,
when he upgraded his weapons from a mere stick, to metal rods,
and finally nun-chucks
- the climactic confrontational kung-fu fight in a hall
of mirrors (some in slo-mo) (with homage to Welles' The Lady From
Shanghai (1948)) between martial arts master Lee and the crime-lord
Han who wore four serrated knife blades in place of his detachable
metal clawed iron hand, ending in the defeat of Han when he was side-kicked
into a spear and impaled (Han had thrust the blade into the door
of the mirror room at the beginning of their battle)
Underground Chamber of Mirrors
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Vengeance: Lee vs. Oharra
Lee Fighting Against Henchmen with Nun-Chucks in Han's
Lair
Han with Four-Bladed Claw Hand
Lee vs. Han
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