Enter the Dragon is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse from a story written by Michael Allin. It stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It was Lee's final completed film appearance before his death on 20 July 1973 at the age of 32. An American-Hong Kong co-production, it premiered in Los Angeles on 19 August 1973, one month after Lee's death.
Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently featured in training scenes and other sequences in addition to fights. Martial arts films commonly include hand-to-hand combat along with other types of action, such as stuntwork, chases, and gunfights. Sub-genres of martial arts films include kung fu films, wuxia, karate films, and martial arts action comedy films, while related genres include gun fu, jidaigeki and samurai films.
Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor whose career spanned Hong Kong and the United States. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA). Lee is considered by critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Chinese people were presented in American films.
Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for his slapstick acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. Chan has been acting since the 1960s, performing in more than 150 films. He is one of the most popular action film stars of all time.
Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, was a Hong Kong-based martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art of Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right, the most famous among them being Bruce Lee.
The Way of the Dragon is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film co-produced and directed by Bruce Lee, who also stars in the lead role. This is Lee's only complete directorial film and the last one released during his lifetime. The film co-stars Nora Miao, Robert Wall, Wei Ping-ou and Chuck Norris.
Chopsocky is a colloquial term for martial arts films and kung fu films made primarily by Hong Kong action cinema between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The term was coined by the American motion picture trade magazine Variety following the explosion of films in the genre released in 1973 in the U.S. after the success of Five Fingers of Death. The word is a play on chop suey, combining "chop" and "sock".
Yeung Sze, better known as Bolo Yeung, is a Hong Kong former competitive bodybuilder, martial artist and a martial arts film actor. He is globally known for his performances as Bolo in Enter the Dragon, and the dominant Chong Li in Bloodsport as well as other numerous appearances and long career in Hong Kong martial arts films.
Bruceploitation is an exploitation film subgenre that emerged after the death of martial arts film star Bruce Lee in 1973, during which time filmmakers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea cast Bruce Lee look-alike actors ("Lee-alikes") to star in imitation martial arts films, in order to exploit Lee's sudden international popularity. Bruce Lee look-alike characters also commonly appear in other media, including anime, comic books, manga, and video games.
Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 Cantonese-language action comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Stephen Chow, who also stars in the lead role, alongside Eva Huang, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Danny Chan Kwok-kwan and Leung Siu-lung in prominent roles. The story revolves around a murderous neighbourhood gang, a poor village with unlikely heroes and an aspiring gangster's fierce journey to find his true self. The martial arts choreography is supervised by Yuen Woo-ping.
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from Hollywood and Japanese cinema along with new action choreography and filmmaking techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, from the 1970s onwards.
Alexander Fu Sheng, also known as Fu Sing, was a Hong Kong martial arts actor. One of Hong Kong's most talented performers, Fu rose to prominence in the 1970s starring in a string of movies with the Shaw Brothers that accrued him international stardom throughout Asia and parts of North America.
William Cheung or Cheung Cheuk-hing is a Hong Kong Wing Chun kung fu practitioner and currently the Grandmaster of his lineage of Wing Chun, entitled Traditional Wing Chun (TWC). He also heads the sanctioning body of TWC, the Global Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu Association (GTWCKFA). He is the recipient of a Masters Award for lifetime achievement in Kung Fu from Martial Arts Australia.
Ron Van Clief is an American martial artist and an actor in Hollywood and Hong Kong action films. He is best known for starring in 1970s blaxploitation and kung fu films. He is the father of poet Shihan van Clief.
Kung fu film is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in wuxia, a related martial arts genre that uses historical settings based on ancient China. Swordplay is also less common in kung-fu films than in wuxia and fighting is done through unarmed combat.
The 24th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was held on 27 March 2005, in the Hong Kong Coliseum and hosted by Carol Cheng and Lawrence Cheng. Twenty-nine winners in nineteen categories were unveiled, with films Kung Fu Hustle and 2046 being the year's biggest winners. In conjunction with a hundred years of the Chinese cinema, a list of Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures, consisting of 103 Chinese films selected by a panel of 101 filmmakers, critics and scholars, was also unveiled during the ceremony.
A statue of Bruce Lee was unveiled on 26 November 2005, in the city of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by sculptor Ivan Fijolić. Located in Zrinjevac City Park, the life-sized statue stands 1.68 m tall, shorter than Bruce Lee's actual height of 1.72 m, and is a symbol of solidarity in the ethnically-divided city.
Philip Ng Wan-lung is a Hong Kong-born American actor, martial artist and action choreographer. He is currently based in Hong Kong.
Barry Pang, 吴国树 is a martial arts instructor who was involved in the development and growth of kung fu in Australia. He is a noted Chinese Australian and Melbourne Australian Chinese entrepreneur. The Barry Pang school has been in operation since 1974 and was one of the earliest kung fu schools in Melbourne. Pang is involved in the Australian horse racing industry and was the first Chinese Australian owner of a Melbourne Cup Winner, Fiorente. His son is actor Chris Pang.
Chu Tat-shing is a Chinese sculptor and visual artist. He is known for his sculpture of Bruce Lee at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. He has also made sculptures of Sun Yat-sen on display in Hong Kong and Hawaii. The sculptures at the SARS Memorial in Hong Kong Park were made by him.
