Line #43 Film/WayOfTheDragon


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7	''Way of the Dragon'' (traditional Chinese: ''猛龍過江''; literally, "The Fierce Dragon Crosses the River"; also known as ''Return of the Dragon'' in the United States) is the third film to feature Creator/BruceLee, as well as being his only complete directorial film and the last one to be released during his lifetime.
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9	Tang Lung (Lee) is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help his friend's niece Chen Ching Hua. She and family friends operate a Chinese restaurant which the local mafia wants to own. In order to force them to sell, the mafia has been trying to bankrupt them by having [[{{Mook}} mooks]] frighten away any prospective customers. [[PoliceAreUseless They then scarper before the police arrive]]. Lung is a FishOutOfWater, speaking no English or Italian. This leads to some humorous moments prior to him engaging the mob, such as accidentally ordering five bowls of soup at an airport cafe and mistaking a prostitute's advances for mere friendly gestures (this is probably the most humorous of Bruce Lee's films, possessing an almost Creator/JackieChan-like feel during its first quarter or so). Chen, initially, is irritated by his cultural incompetence and doesn't trust him, but later comes around to him. After Lung and the restaurant staff beat up the first batch of mooks, the mob boss pays a visit with a bigger batch of mooks. When Lung beats up these as well, the mob boss calls in some of the top fighters in the world. This leads to what some consider one of the greatest moments of martial arts cinema, as Bruce Lee [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny dukes it out]] with Creator/ChuckNorris at the [[MonumentalBattle Colosseum]].
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12	!!This film provides examples of:
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14	* AuthorAppeal: A lot of Lee's personal philosophy about the value of different martial arts and the inherent superiority of guns is reflected on the film.
15	* AsideGlance: At the beginning of the film, Tang Lung stares at the camera before it zooms out to reveal passengers in the airport.
16	* BattleStrip: Tang Lung and Colt prepare for their big fight by taking off their shirts.
17	* BigBad: The Boss, leader of TheMafia group harassing the restaurant.
18	* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the original Cantonese version, Tang Lung uses several times the vulgar term 屎坑 (''si hang'', literally "shit hole") to refer to the toilet, which shows that he is an uneducated peasant. However, the English dub and the subtitles of the Criterion release use simply the word ''toilet''. (In certain subtitled versions, the word is more correctly translated as ''shitter''.)
19	* BringingInTheExpert: The Mafia hire Colt in order to get rid of Tang Lung after their men have failed to make him leave Rome.
20	* ButNowIMustGo: Tang Lung at the end.
21	* CallingYourAttacks: "Movement number four: dragon seeks path." '''THWACK!''' "Dragon whips his tail!".
22	* CampGay: The Mafia boss's effeminate right hand man.
23	* CarpetOfVirility: Chuck Norris proudly displays one during the climactic fight with Bruce Lee. It becomes a liability for him, though, as Bruce is able to grab onto it as a combat move.
24	* CuteKitten: A cute little kitten lurks about in the background during the Lee/Norris fight scene for no discernible reason (aside from Rome having a fairly large stray population).
25	* DarkIsNotEvil[=/=]LightIsNotGood: In the climactic fight scene, Tang Lung wears black clothes while Colt is clad in white. Also ties in with the GoodColorsEvilColors convention.
26	* DinnerOrderFlub: Tang Lung goes into a restaurant in Italy and accidentally orders every soup on the menu [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments (which later makes him have to pee a lot)]].
27	* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: Tang Lung radiates this vibe at Colt during the final moments of their fight. [[HonorBeforeReason Colt doesn't listen, and instead smiles.]]
28	* DuelToTheDeath: Tang Lung vs. Colt.
29	* EnigmaticMinion: Why would Colt fly halfway across the world to fight one guy on behalf of obviously shady bunch of guys? It's anybody's guess, especially since he only gets one line of dialogue[[note]]"Bob's my student."[[/note]]
30	* EqualOpportunityEvil: The crime boss has an effeminate, Chinese lackey and thugs that are both white and black who scare away the customers and beat up the staff. After Bruce deals with these guys, the crime boss flies in an American to kill Tang Lung.
31	* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Uncle Wang betrays and kills two of the staff, as he wants to sell the restaurant to the mafia boss and return to Hong Kong.]]
32	* {{Fanservice}}: The Italian prostitute briefly appears topless and her bare chest is visible.
33	* FingerWag:
34	** Lung does it to some gangsters and follows it up with a ''very'' intimidating clinched fist, [[KnuckleCracking complete with cracking knuckles]].
35	** In the final fight, Colt gives one to Tang Lung, after knocking Lung down for grabbing his chest hair.
36	* GunsAreWorthless: {{Averted}}. Until Colt, guns are the ''only'' method the Mafia has to fight Tang Lung, who has to take exceptional precautions to avoid being gunned down. Even although he often manages to disable gunmen by using special darts, his final exchange with the crime boss leaves very clear that guns are the superior weapon of the two.
37	* HairContrastDuo: Creator/BruceLee had black hair, while Creator/ChuckNorris has brown hair.
38	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: After seeing Tang using his footwork to turn the tables in the fight, Colt attempts to employ that same footwork. Unfortunately, he is unable to grasp Tang's application of it,[[note]]Tang uses his footwork to maintain optimal distance to defend and attack at unpredictable angles. Colt uses it to awkwardly advance[[/note]] so not only does his kicking power severely drop but within seconds, Tang easily counters it with a jab followed by several more blows to the face.
39	* IAmNotLeonardNimoy: As shown on this very page, people are often unaware that Tang and Colt are the names of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris' characters, focusing far more on the martial arts legends and their battle at the end.
40	* KnuckleCracking: During their fight, Tang Lung and Colt step up to each other take off their shirts and then turn around to warm up. Norris only does some knuckle cracking before starting on some karate moves but Lee goes on to crack his entire upper body and show off his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIwQMBeC2c muscular definition.]]
41	* LanguageBarrier: While at an airport restaurant, Tang Lung is unable to read the menu and the waitress can't understand him so Bruce just points to several items on the menu. He ends up getting several bowls of soup which get devoured quickly.
42	* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Tang Lung and Colt take a few moments to stretch out and warm up before going at it. Also, if one opponent is knocked down, the other stands back and lets him get up before re-engaging. Justfied because most striking techniques force an attacker to overextend to reach an opponent on the ground, making them more vulnerable.
43	* TheMafia: The antagonists of the movie are part of it.
44	* MonumentalBattle: Tang Lung and Colt duke it out in the Coliseum.
45	* NeckSnap: [[spoiler:Tang Lung defeats Colt by getting him in a guillotine choke, then pushing his hips forward sharply, breaking his neck.]]
46	* NeedAHandOrAHandjob: An Italian prostitute smiles at Tang Lung, then puts an arm around him. Lung thinks these are just friendly greetings, so he reciprocates her gestures and follows her to her apartment. He is shocked when she appears topless in front of him.
47	* NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight: Any time a mook wields a gun against Lung, he is able to knock it out of his hand.
48	* NewOldWest: The film has the classic western plot of a lone hero arriving in a foreign town to help the downtrodden. It even ends with Tang Lung walking off into the distance.
49	* NiceGuy: Tang would rather eat up several bowls of soup rather try to explain that he mis-read the menu (that, or his claim that he was angry was an understatement). In general he's really amicable unless you piss him off.
50	* OffhandBackhand: Tang Lung does it multiple times, with nunchaku and a short staff.
51	* PostFinalBoss: After Tang and Colt's climactic duel, Tang faces off very briefly against the Mafia boss in a short gun vs throwing dart bout before the boss is arrested and taken in.
52	* SpaghettiAndGondolas
53	* TheQuietOne: Colt only speaks once, explaining that the American karate user is his student.
54	* RecycledSoundtrack:
55	** Part of the soundtrack is taken from Music/EnnioMorricone's score for ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'', particularly during the Colosseum scenes.
56	** Additionally, a snipped of Music/JohnBarry's score for ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' was used in the scene where [[spoiler:Uncle Wang, showing his true colors, wickedly stabs Tony and Jimmy in their backs with a knife]].
57	* ShirtlessScene: Lung flexes his muscles out on a balcony. Later, he and Colt [[BattleStrip take their shirts off before engaging in their fight]].
58	* ShoutOut: The film has one to the famous scene in ''Film/DrNo'' where James Bond waits by the door of his hotel room with a gun and shoots a would-be assassin. In this version, though, the result is reversed; Tang lays a beatdown on the waiting gunman before he has time to shoot.
59	* SissyVillain: Mr. Ho is quite effeminate, especially when he feels Tang Lung's stomach and says, "Ohhhh, what rippling muscles!"
60	* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:The Asian interpreter assures the big boss that Colt can defeat Tang and even says that he'll bet his life on that. [[YouHaveFailedMe Guess what happens to the interpreter]] after Tang kills Colt?]]
61	* TookALevelInBadass: While they're still nothing compared to the more highly trained Tang and Colt, the staff manages to go from being easily floored by {{Mooks}} to being able to put up a decent fight after some training from Tang.
62	* TranslationMatchmaking: It had its name changed to ''Return of the Dragon'' in the US to make it seem like a sequel to ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' (which was actually made after this film but released in the US prior to it) in order to [[MarketBasedTitle capitalize on that film's success]].
63	* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: [[spoiler:Creator/BruceLee vs Creator/ChuckNorris]]
64	* UnderestimatingBadassery: For a while, ''nobody'' at the restaurant takes Tang Lung seriously due him being a FishOutOfWater, and the first group of thugs think it'll be easy to defeat him due to being just another "Chinese boxer". This ends the moment one of the thugs actually tries to fight him and is knocked out so fast nobody has a clear idea of what Lung did him exactly.
65	* VillainousValour: Say what you want about Colt, but the guy is not a coward. Even when it becomes clear that he's outmatched, he never tries to flee, surrender or use dirty tricks (which Lung often uses, though not in this duel). Even with an arm and a leg severly wounded (perhaps broken), he still decides to stand up and fight. [[spoiler:This impresses Lung, who drapes Colt's gi top over him as a sign of respect after killing him.]]
66	* WhamShot: Uncle Wang [[spoiler:pulling out a knife, right before stabbing two of his employees InTheBack]].
67	* WithCatlikeTread: One mook that Lee nails is right on course to brain him from behind... until he [[CallingYourAttacks says that he's got him.]]
68	* WorthyOpponent, After [[spoiler:killing Colt, Lung [[DueToTheDead drapes his gi top over him]] as a sign of respect]].
69	* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Uncle Wang cuts himself with his own knife and plays the victim when Tang Lung shows up. He then tries to stab Lung InTheBack like he did to two of his employees, but Lung gets alerted of it after the arrival of the Mafia Don. Then Wang gets shot by the Mafia Don he was in cahoots with.]]
70	* YouHaveFailedMe: The Mafia Don gets so fed up with Mr. Ho's failures that he just shoots him dead. And then he shoots [[spoiler:Uncle Wang]] as well.
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Context Film / WayOfTheDragon