producer of the film who originally took the project to Warner Bros. and was instrumental in convincing the studio to gamble on a martial arts film starring a relatively unknown Bruce Lee; Shannon Lee, Bruce’s daughter; John Saxon and Bob Wall, actors in the film; and Lalo Schifrin, who composed the music. Each of the guests recounted interesting stories surrounding the film, including the difficulty in convincing a major American studio to make a film taking place mostly in Asia, as well as gamble on an Asian star to play the lead. According to Weintraub, it was an uphill battle that ultimately was successful thanks to the persistence of the producers. The film paid off handsomely for Warner Bros. at the box office. Without a doubt, according to Stephen Chin, “Enter the Dragon” and Bruce Lee were responsible for the birth of the martial arts film genre. Because of the film’s phenomenal success worldwide, hundreds of movies were made featuring martial arts, which led to millions of people enrolling at martial arts schools all over the world. Someone at the screening mentioned that one movie theater in Argentina has been showing “Enter the Dragon” once a week since it opened in 1973. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee is gone, but definitely not forgotten.
Master Emil Farkas was one of the original columnists for Official Karate magazine. You can reach him at BHKarate@aol.com.
To see more Kung Fu movie posters go to www.officialkaratemag.com Martial Arts Grandmasters International TM
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