Bruce Lee ENTER THE DRAGON Midnights This Weekend at The Tivoli

“You have offended my family and you have offended the Shaolin Temple!”

ENTER THE DRAGON (1973) plays this weekend (August 12th and 13th) at The Tivoli at midnight as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli midnight series.

In the early seventies America was going through a period of fascination with martial arts, and at the center of the Kung-Fu craze was the actor Bruce Lee. ENTER THE DRAGON (1973) is the best (and best-known) of the five films that Lee starred in. His mysterious and tragically early death at the age of 33 shortly after completing ENTER THE DRAGON only served to heighten public interest in his skills

The plot contains elements drawn from spy thrillers of the James Bond type. The story is set in Hong Kong. The hero Mr Lee (lee) is recruited by British Intelligence on an undercover mission to infiltrate the island hideaway of the villain Mr Han. Han is outwardly a respectable businessman but in reality a master criminal involved in the drug trade. In many ways he is reminiscent of the typical Bond villain- he lives on an island fortress, conceals a ruthless nature beneath an icily calm exterior and even strokes a fluffy white cat like those owned by Blofeld in the 007 films. Han is a martial-arts enthusiast, and Lee’s cover story is that he is a competitor in a martial-arts tournament which Han has organized. (Han’s real motive is to recruit talented martial artists for his criminal empire). Lee also has a personal motive for wanting revenge on Han, as Han’s thugs were responsible for the death of Lee’s sister (look for a young Jackie Chan chasing her at the film’s beginning!). Two other competitors in the tournament who play important roles in the story are Roper (John Saxon), a gambler on the run from the mob to whom he owes money, and Williams (Jim Kelly), an black dude on the run from the police after defending himself against two racist cops.

There are so many elements in ENTER THE DRAGON that are entertaining, but one thing can’t be denied; Bruce Lee was a once in a lifetime talent and this movie serves as his celluloid obituary. The passion with which Mr. Lee created this film is evident in every fight scene. Including his own students in the film as extras in the fighting scenes is pure genius. The movie has all the trappings of a 1970’s flick, so as time roars on, it shows its age. 43 years later Mr. Kelly’s Afro and smooth approach to life are still entertaining as hell. How many lines can you repeat from this movie after all these years? (“Boards, don’t fight back!”, “Mr. Han, suddenly I’d like to leave your island”,). Heck, who can watch the student instruction scene early in the movie and not laugh about “all the heavenly glory”… As for the world class fight scene underground on the island with the nunchuck sequence? Breathtaking…Long Live BRUCE LEE!!

Don’t miss ENTER THE DRAGON when it screens midnights this weekend at The Tivoli

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!

A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/553198394872401/

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the midnight for the next several weeks:

August 19-20 –        THE SANDLOT

August 26-27 –        EVENT HORIZON

September 2 – 3 –   PRINCESS MONONOKE

September 9-10 –   THE BIG LEBOWSKI

September 16-17 –  PSYCHO

Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8. We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.

my ENTER THE DRAGON poster signed by John Saxon and Jim Kelly