The film co-stars Nora Miao, Robert Wall, Wei Ping-ou and Chuck Norris (playing his debut screen role).

In Rome, Chen Ching-hua and her uncle Wang experience trouble with their restaurant from a crime boss who wants their property.

Appealing to an uncle in Hong Kong, Chen receives help in the form of a young martial artist Tang Lung.

Uncle Wang warns them that the gangsters will seek revenge, but Tang vows to protect the restaurant.

Ho, the crime boss's subordinate, returns with armed men and takes the restaurant staff hostage.

The staff celebrate their victory, but the gang boss threatens to have Tang killed unless he leaves by Chinese New Year.

The staff again celebrate, but a telegram for Tang cuts this short when they learn that he has been summoned back to Hong Kong.

Ho hires two Japanese and European karate masters to challenge Tang, as well as a world-class martial artist named Colt.

He then leads some of the restaurant staff to an isolated spot under the pretence of a truce, where the two martial artists ambush them.

Left behind, Uncle Wang knifes the two remaining members of the staff as he wants to sell the restaurant to the crime boss and return to Hong Kong as a rich man.

[13] In the United States and Canada, the film received a wide release in August 1974, topping the North American box office charts.

[19] With later re-releases, the film went on to gross a total box office revenue of $85 million in the United States.

[20] In France, it became the eighth highest-grossing film of 1974 (below Enter the Dragon at #5 and above Fist of Fury at #12), with 4,002,004 ticket sales.

Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% favourable critics' response, commenting on Lee's work that it shows "a surprising change of pace from his usual hard-hitting action fare because it favors humor as much as it does kung-fu".

[31] Upon release, Roger Ebert initially gave a mixed review in the Chicago Sun-Times, saying he found the plot simplistic and its conventions unbelievable but commented that "this sort of stuff is magnificently silly, and Lee, to give him credit, never tried to rise above it.

[34] In 1978, following Lee's death, an exploitation sequel was released titled Way of the Dragon 2, starring Bruce Le and Bolo Yeung.

[36] This technique is frequently used by several modern mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, most notably the UFC pound-for-pound champion Jon Jones,[36] who cited Lee as an inspiration.