As Bruce Lee’s second-from-last completed movie, premiering in Hong Kong on 30 December 1972, The Way Of The Dragon was one of Bruce Lee’s big 5 movies (including Game Of Death that he never completed), and was one of the 3 key performances (alongside Enter The Dragon and Game Of Death) for vividly demonstrating his Jeet Kune Do techniques & principles on the big screen.
In a way, The Way Of The Dragon was Bruce Lee’s most personal completed project, as it was the first (and last) in a new deal struck with Golden Harvest – Raymond Chow’s Hong Kong based production company – allowing Bruce Lee to write and direct his own movies. Bruce had even more control over Game Of Death but that was never completed by himself, and Bruce didn’t write the script to Enter The Dragon although he still directed the fight scenes.
From a martial artist’s perspective, the most important part of this movie, The Way Of The Dragon, is the fight scene at the end between the character played by Bruce Lee and the character played by Chuck Norris. In this scene, Bruce brought to life the ultimate Jeet Kune Do sentiment of transitioning from a well rounded, well ‘formed’ martial artist, to a fluid and even formless martial artist bound by no limits and capable instant reactions with boundless creativity to solve problems. Bruce beautifully demonstrated his fluid floating footwork (some call it ‘butterfly boxing’) in this scene, which stands today as one of the best examples of Jeet Kune Do technique, considering how Bruce was constantly improving as a martial artist, and how this movie premiered little more than 6 months before Bruce Lee was ultimately murdered in Hong Kong on 20 July 1973.
Kung Fu Analysis
15:11 – 15:18 — Bruce demonstrates some moves
Naturally there will be an element of showmanship in this, but Bruce considered himself to be a martial artist first, an actor second, so we can assume he’s taking this opportunity to express himself as a martial artist, sharing some of the moves he’s currently keen on, not dissimilar to if he were shadow boxing. In this short sequence we can see the value he places on having a strong yet relaxed stance, and the coordination between two hands when punching powerfully with one and using the other for framing / indexing (Man Sau, 問手), and after the punch, as a Fak Sau (chop), as per the Fan Sau combination principle. Objectively it looks a lot like a Karate move, but really it’s been Bruce’s way of doing Wing Chun for a long time. After this, he turns to his other side and does a backfist with Lap Sau / Wu Sau guard hand. Then he does a high kick and it’s worth noting his his rear hand is behind his head, not strained into a forward guard position while kicking – this leaves space for the kick and counter-balances the kick, leaving everything more relaxed and balanced – less tension means more speed, and more balance means more power. He then does another kick with a firm Wu Sau position in his rear hand behind his head – this should serve to affirm that he is confident this is where his hand should be, he’s not just being sloppy. The clip ends with a relaxed boxing style guard that also makes use of a withdrawn rear hand, like in Karate or classical Kung Fu. Many schools of Wing Chun extend the rear hand forward more but in Bruce’s later years he felt more balanced (thus more flexible, powerful and invulnerable) by having a rear hand centred (or behind him, depending how forward-focused or 360 his stance & defence was). The rear hand behind, as counter-balancing limb, is not really seen in Wing Chun but is commonly seen in Tai Chi (for example, the Single Whip hand) which Bruce learnt from his father as a child.
19:56 – 20:20 — Bruce demonstrates some more kung fu
Initially a bit of an on-guard position – not fully formed but still telling in how he values the low hand to counter balance a high hand – the Tao of JKD book references the common neglect of lowline defence and the remedy for this in JKD’s on-guard position. Bruce then relaxes and casually demonstrates a clean, extended side kick from static position (with more space than in the previous scene, and rear view instead of frontal view so we can see what he’s doing with the lead hand). The mirror also captures his other hand, this time more centred rather than behind him, probably because he has more space for a more extended kick so he’s more forward-reaching here, plus the kick is chin height this time while before it was well above his head. He then jogs on a spot a bit, bouncing on his feet, as in the boxing-style floating footwork that Bruce was working on with his newest JKD students (like Ted Wong) in his final years. Next in this clip, Bruce gains composure then does a less telegraphed high kick above his head, with a low rear counter-balancing hand darting backwards behind him to stabilise him in this spontaneous extreme movement from static position with his weight discretely on his rear leg. Next he does a similar sidekick, this time starting from a tall formal stance with his lead hand fully reaching out to the side (you’ll need to scroll slowly, frame by frame, to see it!), then he replaces that hand with his foot, at head height, and his rear counter balancing hand seems to be in a Wu Sau formation this time but it’s unclear. This is followed by a bit more bouncing on a spot, then a few sharp singular punches (backfist then hook then backfist), untelegraphed but with powerful tall structure, with the whole body behind them from a tall standing stance.
23:38 – 24:02
An important lesson on racism, and on taking what is useful from all sources.
24:02 – 24:12
An important lesson on humility, not bragging about your mastery of kung fu, even when asked about it. People will be far more impressed if you’re not boastful and then they naturally come to discover how good you are. And for genuine self defence, it’s wise to keep your secret weapon a secret. Besides, the final stage of JKD is about letting go of everything. And as Tai Chi legend Chen Xin famously said: Although martial art is a minor path, we can via the lesser glimpse the greater.
This reminds me of a joke: How do you know if someone’s a vegan? They will tell you.
24:40-25:20
Here we see Bruce relaxing, balanced but graceful, not acting tough, not fronting in the slightest. To the untrained eye this may seem like a sign of weakness, uselessness, especially if you have a background in “external” / “hard style” martial arts. This is a lesson in quiet confidence. We can be perfectly peaceful and friendly without lacking combative confidence. When our confidence really settles securely, we see there’s no value in hostility or showing off. Then Bruce answers all the critics of Kung Fu by saying, you only lack [power, or this and that] when you’re a beginner. Because Chinese Kung Fu is really great when you really know what you’re doing. Let this be a message to all those modern day MMA fanboys who act like Kung Fu is no good based on the failure of lesser masters in challenge matches against sports-style fighters. This only means the right people haven’t stepped up yet, probably because they have no interest in such naïve & disrespectful challenges.
26:00 – 26:16
In this clip we see a discrete display of great power with a few inward knifehand strikes just to fluff up the pad before really hitting it. Then we see great poise in a fully functioning bladed ready stance that’s somewhat leaning towards the inclination of doing a fast & powerful frontal side kick on the biggest bag.
32:10 – 32:27
Here Bruce exemplifies the ridiculousness of so many classical “bullshido” martial artists who do all kinds of fancy poses and angry noises without even having a clue how to fight in practical terms, so the moment someone comes along with a bit of real fighting ability, even if he’s half asleep, he can generally take out the delusional fake martial artist with ease.
32:30 – 33:11
A message to those who criticise Chinese boxing / kung fu. Especially if it’s racially aggravated. Just because some people are bad at Kung Fu, doesn’t mean it’s bad in general, and Bruce was well prepared to prove it (as he did earlier that year vs his old friend, full contact karate champion Joe Lewis who was the original man intended for Chuck Norris’s role in this movie until Bruce & Joe argued & sparred and it became quite messy and they never spoke again – Joe was seen coming out the room saying “he got me, he got me” with blood all over his face, struggling to breathe, then Bruce came out with a clean face and bloodied knuckles).
32:51 – 32:58
A lesson in protecting your friends, or whoever is accompanying you when a serious fight begins. Also a nod to good spatial awareness. It’s wise to have your people step aside, or even go home back to safety, when you’re about to get involved in a serious fight that could spread in any direction. Your friends can also be held and threatened – this can be used against you.
33:15-33:43
Bruce does a showy combination – a ballsy gesture to cement the fact that he does classical kung fu, which he will soon prove can be used to win fights when done correctly. Of course Bruce favours efficiency, but he’s also offended by people talking down on Chinese kung fu and is keen to drive home a humiliating lesson for them by showing that he can (unnecessarily, but for banter) pull off even the fanciest moves to beat these guys if he wants to.
33:53 – 34:11
Bruce shows that Kung Fu has punches like boxing does, and a master of kung fu doesn’t need to bounce around so much against a weak boxer, he can just throw a single sharp punch to end the fight at will. Efficiency (frugality) is a treasure (one of Laozi’s three treasures). And Kung Fu isn’t just upper body, there are also efficient sweeps & takedowns. Sitting on the man at the end is symbolic of having very conclusively knocked him out – he won’t be waking up for a while.
34:18 – 34:28
Bruce shows the range of kicking in Kung Fu, from sweet trips from a sitting down position, to powerful sidekicks that send people flying. There is footage online of someone who is allegedly a young Bruce Lee (but hard to see clearly enough to verify) participating in a rooftop fight where he uses classical Wing Chun and generally dominates but does at one time get tripped by a sneaky low kick from long range – if this were really Bruce, it must have intrigued him and may be part of the reason why Bruce emphasised “longest weapon to nearest target” in JKD – it may have also inspired part of this scene. Those low kick trip moves were not executed convincingly in this scene though. It may be more for show, and to highlight a range of different types of moves, or it may be representative of something that Bruce was interested in improving in. He also may have been slowing down, holding back, to avoid hurting or injuring his fellow actors. The standing sidekicks that followed were pretty clean, and utilised jumping to instantly rebalance after landing the kick.
38:53 – 39:27
Wiping the smile off one’s face. Becoming expressionless. Completely still. Focusing concentration from zero point (Wu Ji) to create maximum power (Tai Ji). What follows is some roundhouse kicks. Then loosening up, bouncing on a spot, and a couple of powerful sidekicks with clear view of the dynamics of the second one which sends the other man flying. If you want to know how to do a powerful leaping side kick, here’s a good demonstration for you. Bruce may have took several takes, to come up with the cleanest technique for display on the big screen here.
41:14 – 41:29
Throwing a dart, a pencil shaped shuriken carved from wood. Followed by a powerful front snap kick to the abdomen, and a few powerful body punches aided by a grip with the other hand. Then a sweep and a few aggressive finishing moves. It’s a wonder how that man ever recovered to appear in the subsequent scene – realistically he’d be permanently out of action after either one of those finishing moves, the neck break or the double eye gouge.
42:40 – 43:26
A bit of flexing, while demonstrating some legit kung fu moves. Make no mistake, every technique shown in this short clip is positionally well executed as per classical kung fu, irrespective the high level of posing.
47:36 – 49:04
This scene begins cleverly, with a thought provoking gesture. Bruce opens the door for the lady, as a gentleman should. Or should he? Because the lady is then grabbed by a man inside. If the inside were presumed safe and the outside were presumed to pose the most threat, as Bruce’s character probably expected, then opening the door for the lady to walk in first may be tactically wise, but still acting somewhat blindly. So perhaps the wise bodyguard (a husband, a father, or a professional VIP bodyguard) should consider walking in first, then holding open the door for the VIP to follow, while keeping a careful eye on anyone rushing in from outside. I guess it depends on the scenario. Communication with operators in the building immediately prior to entry would of course help, and having a second man so one can be in front and one behind would be far more secure than just the one (this might not be possible for husbands escorting their wives around town, but for larger families travelling together it’s very doable, and of course professional bodyguarding agencies will usually have the manpower if you have the budget to cover this).
The scene continues with Bruce taking a very mellow submissive attitude, appearing to pose no threat, even when punched, slapped and verbally abused. Knowing he can flick a switch at any time, he’s quietly confident, but since the stakes are so high with guns being pointed at him and his people, he’s playing safe, minimising risk as much as possible until the moment he decides to act.
49:10 – 49:30
An example of waiting for the right time to strike, then catching your enemy off-guard. When there’s only one opponent left anywhere nearby, and he’s become lazy in his comfort zone, Bruce continues to wait until the man with the gun attempts to do something with his hands then Bruce instantly intercepts with great speed and power towards a vital target while the other man’s mind is busy with the action he was just beginning to make.
49:30 – 50:18
Some stick techniques. Bruce probably learnt most of these moves from training with the Wing Chun long pole – they are mostly classic Wing Chun pole moves.
50:27 – 54:30
Nunchaku scene, including use of darts. This scene seems to show a good variety of applications, showing the various strengths & weaknesses of the nunchucks, including how you need to be careful not to hit yourself (like the guy who nearly knocked himself out) and how they can even be thrown a good distance to wrap around a target like a set of Bolas.
55:41 – 55:50
A bit of humour. But from a martial arts perspective, we can learn something even from this very short half-a-move. See how Bruce holds on to the banister post ball cap. Lesson being, if for example you’re in a cramped space and are surprised with an attack from an awkward angle, and don’t quite have the leverage you want for the ideal move without bumping into something, you can take advantage fixed strong items of furniture, walls, etc to ground you, to hold your balance and gain the leverage you need to pull off a technique that would otherwise send you flying or at least off balance due to the centrifugal or reactive force.
59:50 – 1:00:00
A lesson on strategy when you’re being shot at. The strategy is simple: find cover fast. And if your partner doesn’t react the same way, help them out, also fast.
1:01:37 – 1:01:54
Another lesson on bodyguarding. Be weary of being drawn into a fight away from the VIP, giving the enemy’s accomplice an easy chance to reach and harm or abduct the VIP.
1:03:58 – 1:04:13
Another darts scene. Obviously the darts scenes are a bit of fantasy, due to the inhumane level of accuracy required. But here we get a good view of Bruce Lee in a beautiful crane style posture that gives his body great balance and poise to smoothly execute explosive throwing moves with both hands without wobbling around. After the initial series of throws, his stance relaxes a bit, into a more natural taller stance, ready to walk, but he’s still holding his hands up ready to throw more darts and maintaining what you could call a “half stance”, or a neutral “ready stance”.
1:04:25 – 1:04:29
Large-frame wound-up left backfist and swinging extended hooks with almost fully stretched arms. Shaolin Long Fist style, or Choy Li Fut style. Similar moves are found in Tai Chi (which used to be called Long Fist). These three punches are definitely not Wing Chun, which emphasises smaller, more direct moves, with far less torso movement.
These big frame moves are good for dramatics, but they also have their place in combat, for example if you’re too tired to do anything but lazy swings to generate power with the help of macro muscles, or if your fist hurts from one side so you need to find different lines of attack, etc.
1:04:47 – 1:04:55
Another bit of humour, and a lesson on realism. Even when you’re a really excellent martial artist, you’re still only human, you can be distracted, so you need to be able to take a shot and stay focused to finish the job.
1:05:05 – 1:05:32
Some nice kicking. What can we learn from this? Well, when there’s multiple opponents surrounding you, looking to jump you at the same time, you may benefit from using your longest-reaching and most hard-hitting weapon: kicks. This way you can hopefully deal with a few men cleanly before any of them get in range to cause you a problem. Especially if you make the first move, which at this point in the scene is probably more than justified.
The scene continues, with some powerful punches, including one where the opponent stands up tall while Bruce crouches down small for a good shot to the nuts. Interesting play on height levels. Could be a useful trick. Cleanly executed on screen in a one-knee stance.
1:05:39 – 1:06:01
A lesson on picking your battles, even within a messy little fight scene like this. Bruce conserves his energy, so he can be at his best for when he really needs to be. He watches the fight while taking a breather, then when one guy disturbs his girl, he decides “i’ll deal with him”. Because he wants to be careful and clinical around his girl, he may also have some anger to vent on that guy who just disturbed her, and in taking care of that, it frees his friend who was doing very well, to become a big help in the fight on the other side of the room.
Also a lesson on granting mercy, because Bruce allowed the man in the blue shirt, who was not handling himself well, to walk away. Even when the man didn’t want to go, Bruce saw he was cowardly and did not really want to be there but probably felt pressured to be there, so he broke an inanimate object to trigger the guy to leave. This kind of gesture really works in some fights, when both guys know what the deal is but the offender feels under pressure to cause trouble still – there are ways to make them come to their senses without beating them up – a sudden movement often makes them jump. In larger gangs they’re less likely to back down, because the peer pressure is so high, but if the situation evolves to the point that not many remain, these tactics become relevant again, giving them a good chance and a good reason to walk away peacefully. That man who walked away would then reflect on this situation and may turn his life around.
1:17:05 –
This scene begins with Bruce in an understated bladed ready stance. Relaxed in some ways, tense or energetic in other ways. Lead hand low and loose, covering the bladder or Lower Dantien – ready to cover the groin with minimal extra movement. Rear fist cocked, aiming forward, covering the solar plexus, near the chest or Middle Dantien.
Then the opponent throws a kick and Bruce jumps back, showing how fluid his stance is, capable of easy backwards movement.
Frontal side kick as a stopping kick
Then the opponent comes forward and Bruce demonstrates a very clean front side kick as a stopping kick, from a stationary position. The kick is very elegantly extended with clean symmetrical arm movement. Well worth watching in slow motion if you’re interested in this kind of kick. Some very accomplished martial artists don’t bother with high kicks as they require great flexibility & agility as well as great timing & precision. Wing Chun focuses on low kicks for practicality & accessibility, while its ancestor art, Crane style, focuses straight rising kicks and low stamping kicks, also for practicality & accessibility, from a defensive back-foot posture. But JKD emphasises conditioning and proactivity so has a lot of aggressive attacking moves, and elaborate kicks that require flexibility but have a high KO probability if you land them accurately so are by no means impractical for those who are capable. This is a common misconception – many Wing Chun & JKD teachers say there’s a big difference between Bruce’s kung fu on screen and what he taught in classes and used in the streets, and that high kicks are just for show, not so practical in the streets. But the difference is not so big for those who have great flexibility, agility, timing & accuracy – why not make use of high kicks, especially head kicks which have a high KO probability when they land, as is proven in MMA. Bruce used the big screen to teach us many things, especially where he had more control over his own performance such as in this movie – his acting wasn’t just for our entertainment – he was a martial artist first, an actor second.
Pendulum front kick / crane kick (from front-foot boxing stance to back-foot crane stance)
Next Bruce takes a more front-foot based ready stance, with lead hand horizontal in front of the belly, and rear hand raised in front of the chest (wrist over Middle Dantien), not far from the chin. This is a quite contracted guard – no extended hands, and he’s about to punish the opponent for his extended hand.
Bruce now does a fairly spontaneous untelegraphed small pendulum into a beautiful crane kick with all weight on the back leg – this is very much worth watching in slow motion whether you’re a front-foot boxer or backfoot crane stylist due to this beautiful demonstration of transition between the two by a prime Bruce Lee roughly 1 year before he was murdered – probably far more matured & refined as a martial artist than he was in the era of his Long Beach demos (1964 & 1967) when he was already outstanding. This crane kick, in this movie scene, only reaches the opponent’s lead hand, and that’s the intended target. With a broke(n) hand, you can’t fight so eas(il)y, so Bruce was a fan of targeting extended guard hands with sharp kicks to partly disable the enemy without needing to be close enough for a finishing blow. This is a principle we see a lot in weapons based arts, for example with knives and sticks it’s often safer & easier to attack the opponent’s weapon-holding hand, to make them drop the weapon weapon or at least handle it less efficiently, without exposing yourself to a range where you can attack their body or they can attack yours. Then when such moves are executed successfully, they can become bridging moves, so you can immediately follow up by targeting the opened-up body, all in one combo, if you wish to do be so presumptive, aggressive & punishing.
After landing the crane kick Bruce then dances back a bit, playing safe – hopping a bit, again demonstrating the linear fluidity of his stance.
…
He then intercepts the opponent’s kick by kicking his leg with a low front side kick, and hops back again.
Bruce then goes back into a fairly contracted guard but this time it’s more fluid and moving, and very relaxed. Without settling, he then surprised the opponent with another front kick to his lead hand, this time from a 50-50 evenly balanced stance, from a mid-motion flowing guard, by reaching & stretching it a bit more in his stance during the kick. This is not such clean crane form as before, but utilises the advantage of surprise on another level so it’s no less legitimate a move.
Bruce then hops back, resettles, appears to be doing a kick to the hand again, then as the opponent flinches, Bruce rotates at the last moment into a high round kick to the head. It appears to be a feint to the hand, and a real kick to the head, when viewed in slow motion, but at full speed it looks like it could be intended as a double kick – one to the hand then one to the head. Either way, both are valid tricks, in-keeping with the principles of JKD so long as balance can be sufficiently maintained.
TBC