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Created Nov 29, 2019 06:24AM PST • Edited Jun 11, 2020 07:13AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Now this is a movie if ever there was one, a Saturday night movie for the ages. Enter The Dragon is grand entertainment and so much more. It elevated Bruce Lee to an iconic status reached by only the most rarified moviestars, in part because he mysteriously died right before its premiere. Happily, ETD holds up well decades later, overstuffed with grand settings, fantastic set-pieces, a great cast and seminal MMA fighting.

   Hell, Bruce Lee at the banquet is one of the greatest movie scenes ever. That and more made Enter The Dragon worthy of preservation by the Library of Congress in the United States National Film Registry.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Bruce Lee was a splendid moviestar, the ultimate example of punching above his weight. Handsomely hewn, he could also act, but it was his fighting that made him extraordinary. He would literally inflate his body and then deploy a hitherto unseen, self-choreographed MMA style that was universal in appeal.

   • John Saxon plays the white hero, and does it well. Heroically handsome, he’s capable of self-deprecation, and is an actual black-belt fighter.
   • Jim Kelly plays the black hero, and does it well. He went on to star in Black Belt Jones the following year for director Robert Clouse, who also directed Enter The Dragon.
   • Ahna Capri peaked as the madam to a madman.
   • Shih Kien as Han, the crime lord with a private island.
   • Angela Mao jumps offscreen as Bruce Lee’s sister
   • Bolo Yeung has a legendary fight with Bruce Lee.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Robert Clouse’s film expertly sets the backstory of half a dozen characters, some related to Bruce Lee’s character, prior to their convergence on the crime lord’s private island.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    Lalo Shifrin’s music is triumphant, his techno-propulsive style instantly recognizable to fans of his work from the Sixties and Seventies, most notably his theme to Mission Impossible.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.7

17. Sex Erotic 2.6

18. Violence Savage 3.6

19. Rudeness Salty 1.8

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.3

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.5

23. Biological Surreal 2.2

24. Physical Surreal 2.3