Many Of Us Still Mourn The Death of Bruce Lee

How ‘Enter the Dragon’ rocked the world

We celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bruce Lee's masterpiece By Bryan Reesman Special to MSN Movies A little over 40 years ago, two former Warner Bros. executives convinced their former studio and Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest production company in Hong Kong to jointly invest in a highly talented Chinese action star and Hollywood's first martial arts film, "Enter the Dragon." It was an uphill battle for producers Fred Weintraub and Paul Heller. Warner Bros. was not overly excited about the film, people doubted the ability of Hong Kong star Bruce Lee to translate to Western audiences, and having both Chinese and African-American leads (Lee and Jim Kelly, respectively) was considered a risk. "It was one of those miracles where the director was really brilliant but hadn't had a shot, the cameraman had never done a feature film and the lead star was very nervous and scared, yet was brilliant," recalled producer Fred Weintraub. "And my producing partner, Paul Heller, was a great art director. Everybody added a little." The gamble paid off and proved to be a box office bonanza in 1973. The $850,000 production went on to gross over $90 million worldwide and has sold nearly half a million DVDs. And despite the tragic death of Lee at age 32, a month before the U.S. release of the film, his iconic status was secured. He opened the floodgates for martial arts movies, the rise of Asian action stars and the proliferation of karate studios across America. "I can't tell you how many times I have met people all over the world who have said the reason that they got into martial arts was because of my dad or because they saw 'Enter the Dragon,'" said Shannon Lee, the late star's daughter. "There is something about my father's films in particular, and for the most part 'Enter the Dragon,' that really translated to people, inspired people and got their blood pumping." With the 40th anniversary of "Enter the Dragon" upon us, and a fantastic Blu-ray release now available from Warner Bros. with loads of extra features, MSN Movies spoke to key players involved in the creation of this landmark martial arts movie. Check out MSN Movies on Facebook and Twitter. (Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon"/©Warner Bros./Ronald Grant/Mary Evans/Courtesy Everett Collection) [ less ]