["As useless as a eunuch."]

["We fight alone... or all together!"]

["Dragon whips his tail."]Meng long guojiang opens with Lee in Rome, the first ten minutes being a comedic culture clash, as he cannot speak Italian and has to use mime. The joke is stifled somewhat by having both Lee and the Italians dubbed into English, meaning the joke literally loses something in translation.

Production for this one is a step back from Jing wu men with the film stock poor and the overdubs (not a fault of the original version, of course) once again mismatched. The incidental music also seems designed specifically to get on your nerves. Lee’s direction isn’t awful, but it’s far from exceptional, with garishly unsubtle usage of the location, except for canny utilisation of a coliseum at the climax.

Tang Lung, Lee’s dopiest character, continues to be embroiled in flat comic setpieces, the plot not kicking in until the half-hour mark. Lung eventually finds himself fending off a protection racket from his uncle’s restaurant, becoming embroiled in gang warfare.

There are some amusing moments, such as fuck knows as a stereotyped homosexual, but generally the screenplay is a little too flabby to satisfy its medium. Even the climatic showdown with Chuck Norris features a cute fluffy kitten. At times impressive, though mostly unfocused, this is a worthwhile, though only semi-successful attempt at a lighter vehicle for the star.

There are many myths built up around Bruce Lee, some of which are true, others which aren’t. Is he an icon? Yes. Is he charismatic? Yes. A great film star? Yes. Did he make great films? Well, no, not particularly. You always get the feeling that Bruce was on the verge of greatness before his death yet never quite made it.

Enter The Dragon is better than most, though not the dramatic equal of Jing wu men. It is, of course, technically his best film, and not just because for once Bruce isn’t dubbed. His only western martial arts movie, the budget is clearly larger, taking in scores of extras and huge panoramic shots. Direction and editing are much slicker than his comparatively amateur eastern movies.

Bruce goes undercover to expose Han, a criminal mastermind (on the punningly titled "Isle of Han") by entering in a martial arts competition. On his enrolment there he and his fellow entrants are treated to a party which features legions of birdcages, sumo wrestling, rich food and prostitutes. It’s almost a metaphor for the film itself, which is bloated and flabby from the product of excess. Even Bruce seems more broadly muscular, less sinewous (is there such a word?) in this one.

The fights themselves, choreographed by Lee, are nicely arranged, but lack sufficient dramatic impetus to carry them forward until the final half-hour. While the expansion of irrelevant, expensive set pieces isn’t a betrayal of his ethic, Bruce does indulge in some needless killing in this one.

It’s also very much a three-hander, with Kelly and John Saxon taking large roles, the producers doubtless worried Lee could carry it alone. They’re likeable characters, though the makes needn’t have worried, as Bruce more than holds his own.

Kein Shih's Han, with his Persian-stroking, metal-handed nature and henchmen seems to be a definite Bond send-up. He even has an underground hideout and a sideline in drugs. As Jim Kelly tells him "Man, you come right out of a comic book." That said, I guess Bond had had its own light dig at the martial arts genre just two years earlier in Diamonds Are Forever, so the compliment is returned. Best bit? Bruce’s ho-hum expression as two guards flee in terror from his snake. The final fight in the hall of mirrors is also stylish, not least in the way it doesn’t reflect any cameramen.

Lacking a clear focus, this is a well made showcase for Lee’s undeniable talents, though in narrative strength not the finest of his work.

Game of Death was the second Bruce Lee film I ever got to see, the one I caught after watching Tang shan da xiong. The seven year division between his first starring role and last is marked. Far more sophisticated than the 71 movie, the direction and production values are greatly improved, though this isn’t the better film.

I was staggered to find that, kung-fu wise; Lee had only made five movies, despite acting in over fifteen previously. The mythology built up around him tells you that he surely must have made more, but five it is. Or four and a bit, for Game of Death contains no more than fifteen minutes of original Lee material.

Opening with a jazzy title sequence scored by John Barry, it’s a cross between James Bond and Bullseye. This then opens out onto film where doubles with the biggest sunglasses in human history pretend to be Bruce and get beaten up rather a lot. There is the sense of cut and paste throughout, with many of the shots extremely obvious cuts from his earlier films, or a double with his face superimposed.

The whole thing has the sense of the macabre, not to say downright tasteless. With an element of sad irony that would only be topped by his son in resurrection movie The Crow, Lee plays a film star threatened with death. In order to escape mob bosses he feigns his own demise and undergoes plastic surgery (a plot element later discarded when we catch up with the real Lee footage at the end), arranging his own mock funeral. An idea of how insensitive this whole endeavour is can be gleaned from the fact that shots of Lee’s real coffin were used for this sequence.

The use of disguise wasn’t new to the star, being used for humorous intent in 1972’s Jing wu men. So perhaps it’s not that wide a stretch, though seeing him overpowered in combat was. It would have been interesting to have seen the star’s original plan for a pagoda where every level featured a new opponent, but as it is Game of Death is the salvageable remains. And er..... oh shit. I thought I had a concluding sentence, sorry!

I don't use half-stars like a girl, but for the record, Game of Death and The Big Boss would have got **^1/2, Way of the Dragon *** and Fist of Fury/Enter The Dragon ***^1/2. As it is, they all get a rough: