Enter the Dragon (Chinese: 龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin.

The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien and Jim Kelly.

[4] In 2004, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[8] The film's themes have generated scholarly debate about the changes taking place within post-colonial Asian societies following the end of World War II.

The rules of Han's tournament are simple: competitors compete in one-on-one matches against each other, the opponent, who gets knocked to the ground loses each round.

Lee chooses a girl, which he saw in Han's entourage, who is Mei Ling, a covert agent whom Braithwaite had placed on the island to gather intelligence.

That night, Lee begins to stealthily search and infiltrate the island for evidence and finds a secret entrance to an underground compound base where drugs are being manufactured and tested on unwitting prisoners.

The same night, Lee infiltrates the underground base again to gather sufficient evidence to warrant Han's arrest and manages to send a message to Braithwaite.

Despite facing insurmountable odds, the island's prisoners, released by Mei Ling, and the other invited martial artists aid Lee and Roper in defeating Han's guards.

The story features heroic protagonists who are Asian, white, and Black, as the producers wanted a film that would appeal to the widest possible international audience.

[22][23] John Saxon, who was a black belt in Judo and Shotokan Karate (he studied under grandmaster Hidetaka Nishiyama for three years),[24] became the preferred choice.

[25] During contractual negotiations, Saxon's agent told the film's producers that if they wanted him they would have to change the plot so that the character of Williams is killed instead of Roper.

Producer Fred Weintraub knew that karate world champion Jim Kelly had a training dojo in Crenshaw, Los Angeles, so he hastily arranged a meeting.

[10] The success of Kelly's appearance launched his career as a star: after Enter the Dragon, he signed a three-film deal with Warner Bros[28] and went on to make several martial arts-themed blaxploitation films in the 1970s.

[31] A rumour surrounding the making of Enter The Dragon claims that actor Bob Wall did not like Bruce Lee and that their fight scenes were not choreographed.

[33] The villa is now demolished and the area heavily redeveloped around Tai Tam Bay where the martial artists were filmed coming ashore.

In North America, the film was receiving offers of US$500,000 (equivalent to $3,400,000 in 2023) from American distributors by April 1973 for the distribution rights, several months before release.

[39] Upon its limited release in August 1973 in four theatres in New York, the film entered the weekly box office charts at number 17 with a gross of $140,010 (equivalent to $960,000 in 2023) in 3 days.

[43] It sold 14.1 million tickets[44] and grossed $25,000,000 (equivalent to $170,000,000 in 2023) from its initial US release, making it the year's fourth highest-grossing film in the market.

[76] J.C. Maçek III of PopMatters wrote, "Of course the real showcase here is the obvious star here, Bruce Lee, whose performance as an actor and a fighter are the most enhanced by the perfect sound and video transfer.

[78] The New York Times gave the film a rave review: "The picture is expertly made and well-meshed; it moves like lightning and brims with color.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Badass to the max, Enter the Dragon is the ultimate kung-fu movie and fitting (if untimely) Bruce Lee swan song.

[83] Enter the Dragon has remained one of the most popular martial arts films since its premiere and has been released numerous times worldwide on multiple home video formats.

[87][88] In 2020, new 2K digital restorations of the theatrical cut and special edition were included as part of the Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits box set by The Criterion Collection (under licensed from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment through the physical home media joint venture in US and Canada named Studio Distribution Services, LLC.

[90] It was also parodied on television in That '70s Show during the episode Jackie Moves On with regular character Fez taking on the Bruce Lee role.

In August 2007, the now-defunct Warner Independent Pictures announced that television producer Kurt Sutter would be remaking the film as a noir-style thriller entitled Awaken the Dragon with Korean singer-actor Rain.

"[98] Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua cited its fight scenes as influential as well as its "hybrid form and its mode of address" which pitches "an elemental story of good against evil in such a spectacle-saturated way.

Both fighters wore what would later become common MMA clothing items, including kempo gloves and small shorts, and the fight ends with Lee utilising an armbar (then used in judo and jiu-jitsu) to submit Hung.

It was cited by game designer Yoshihisa Kishimoto as a key inspiration behind Technōs Japan's brawler Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, released as Renegade in the West.

The popular fighting game Mortal Kombat borrows multiple plot elements from Enter the Dragon as does its movie adaptation.