"Fury of the Dragon" or "Return of the Dragon" or ¨Way of the Dragon¨ is a classic Chop-Socky in which wild fighting scenes provide an overwhelming view of Bruce Lee's skills . A man named Tang Lung (Bruce Lee choreographed his own fight scenes) arrives in Rome to visit his relatives , he helps his cousins (Nora Miao who along with Lee played ¨Fists of Fury¨) in the restaurant business . However , they are being pressured to sell their property to the syndicate, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. There Tang has to defend them against brutal gangsters harassing them and attempting to take over . The syndicate boss hires the best foreign martial art fighters (Robert Wall who played some films with Lee) to face off Tang , but he easily finishes them off . The American martial artist Colt (Chuck Norris film debut) is also hired and takes place a deadly ending combat .

This violent Chop-Socky displays action-packed , thrills , fast-paced and wild fighting images . It is a corny , action-filled and violent film , being entirely filmed in Rome , Italy . Breathtaking fights and embarrassing acting , the whole thing was shot without sound, with the actors looping their lines in post-production . Overwhelming final duel between Lee and Norris , in fact it was last movie to be filmed in the actual Roman Colisseum ; Bruce Lee had Chuck Norris put on weight so he would looks less impressive by comparison . This is a top-notch Kung-Fu movie with the unforgettable Bruce Lee , though he does not fight till almost 30 minutes into the movie . It was billed "Return of the Dragon" during its western release in order to cash in on the success of "Enter the Dragon" as its "sequel". Bruce Lee produced , directed and even wrote and also dubbed almost all of the English speaking characters in this film .

Bruce Lee played and directed this Return of the Dragon , one of the biggest international hit smashes , it was previously realized to his American box office ¨Enter the dragon¨ that was made by an expert on Chop-Socky movies , Robert Clouse , and he directed Bruce Lee's last film : the incomplete ¨Game of the death¨ . This ¨Enter the Dragon¨ was made later but released before ¨Lee's Return of dragon¨ , and Lee had formerly starred ¨Fists of fury¨ or ¨The big boss¨. ¨Enter the Dragon¨ is his last complete movie character but his next film ¨ Game of death¨ was absurdly edited after his death . This Kung-Fu actioner titled ¨Return of Dragon¨ was well made by Bruce Lee himself . According to the Bruce Lee documentary, this is Linda Lee Cadwell's (Bruce's wife) favorite of all her husband's films. ¨Return of the Dragon¨ is indispensable and essential seeing for Lee fans and art-martial enthusiasts . It is not ¨Enter the Dragon¨ but his fans -who have so few to choose from- undoubtedly will want to see it again .

I am not a huge fan of the genre, so I only give the movie a 7--though it IS one of Bruce Lee's best films (the only one better being ENTER THE DRAGON--which has nothing to do with this film, despite the title). I am more of a samurai movie lover and only watch kung-fu movies on occasion. So please keep this in mind when you read this--if you are a huge fan, you'd probably give the movie an 8 or 9 but if you have little interest in the genre, this film probably will only rate a 4 or 5. If you can suspend disbelief and just enjoy the great stunt-work and cute story elements, you'll probably be pretty satisfied.

Okay, the casual kung-fu viewer will certainly notice that the film is very grainy and washed out as well as possessing pretty awful dubbing. I really wish these films were available with subtitles instead, but in the 1970s distributors thought Western audiences wouldn't see a film with subtitles, so they slapped on absolutely terrible dubbing tracks. While this isn't the worst I've seen, it is bad and the film has no background sounds (other than slaps and celery crunching during the fight scenes)--so it sounds pretty weird. Also, the music is ultra-cheesy.

However, despite all these shortcomings, it's obvious that the germ of an excellent film is hiding underneath. That's because the plot and idea of putting kung-fu action in Rome is inspired! Instead of the usual problems occurring in Hong Kong (or elsewhere in China),here we have something different. Plus, many times the action is pretty funny--with cute fight scenes and parodies of some of Lee's earlier films. For example, one of the Italian thugs uses Bruce's own trademark thumb brushing against his nose move. I also liked the cheesy effeminate voice used for the dub of the Chinese guy who worked for the mob--it was so silly and over the top you had to laugh. In addition, seeing Lee impaling the gunmen's hands with darts was a good way to explain away why this mob didn't just shoot Lee (though, inexplicably, again and again despite their hand being pierced, the wounds disappeared an instant later due to continuity problems).

The film ended well with some excellent fights--particularly the finale in the Coliseum with an evil Chuck Norris. It's just a shame that they didn't have Chuck shave off his icky back hair first! This scary sight is repeated, by the way, in the first few minutes of THE GAME OF DEATH--Lee's final film and a total mess of a film due to his being dead during most of the filming!!

Made in Lee's native Hong Kong in the year before the peak of his popularity with the release of ENTER THE DRAGON, WAY OF THE DRAGON is a film which demands to be seen in its original subtitled version, because the Cantonese/English language barrier is a basis for much of the film's comedy. The English dubbed version therefore makes a number of comic interludes appear bizarre and confusing! This isn't Lee's best movie but it's a lot better than many other kung fu flicks thanks to his legendary fighting skills. A lot of people are put off by this film's first half hour, which contains no action and instead is more of an introduction to the characters, with a heavy emphasis on the silly/knockabout comedy that fills a lot of Jackie Chan's early movies (such comedy was highly popular at the time in Hong Kong, thus its inclusion here). All I can say in response is "please wait!". Half an hour isn't a long time to wait and the action is well worth the minor delay beforehand.

The film showcases a Lee once again in his prime, this time taking a lighthearted and funny role. A lot of the humour comes from "fish out of water" jokes as Lee explores an alien city (Rome) and fails to understand what everyone sees in the Roman ruins, which he compares to Chinese slums! The humour makes this an easy and painless watch. When the story kicks in, its very simple stuff, i.e. good restaurant guys vs. bad corporation, but then it doesn't need to be complex as its only purpose is to give reason for the action scenes.

From the first fight with a gang of thugs in a back alley to the rightly legendary battle with between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in the Colosseum, WAY OF THE DRAGON offers up tons of fine martial arts fighting and even some fantastic nunchucks action which was cut out of the British version up until now. The sequences in which Lee takes on a huge gang of armed bad guys alone are fluid and exciting, but even these themselves are topped by the finale, in which he faces three skilled martial arts champions! The first two are pretty easy going but the final battle with Norris is hard and brutal stuff, and ends on a poignant and moving note. Lee is excellent as the likable lead, getting ample opportunity to strut his stuff in style (I had to rewind the scene in which he kicks out a light on the ceiling ABOVE him in one quick move to make sure I wasn't seeing things!) and the supporting cast of memorably off-beat characters fit their parts well - although I'm not too sure about the overtly homosexual translator guy who is a little too much to take! The fresh-faced appearance of Norris is a revelation too, with a real screen presence being built up for his character to fill. WAY OF THE DRAGON is an example of the kung fu genre at its wackiest best and is a must-see for Bruce Lee fans.