Bruce Lee‘s legacy as a martial arts legend includes many iconic moments from his film career. When it comes to revered stars of the martial arts movie genre, Bruce Lee stands right at the top as the leading man of The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, and Enter the Dragon. Bruce Lee tragically passed away in 1973 at just 32 years old, but his legacy stands strong decades after his death through both his teachings and philosophy of martial arts and the iconic martial arts films of his career.
Part of why Bruce Lee continues to stand out so much as a martial arts icon is his enduring image as a near-invicible warrior, exemplified most famously by Lee’s cries of “Wahhhh!” in fight scenes. With so many amazing martial arts fights in his filmography, there are also no shortage of iconic individual moments in each of Bruce Lee’s five movies. Here are 10 Bruce Lee Movie Moments that cement his status as a legend of martial arts.
10 Bruce Lee Meets Jackie Chan
It might be a brief moment of a henchman having his neck broken, but Jackie Chan’s appearance in Enter the Dragon is a retroactive cameo of a future mega-star. Jackie Chan was just 19 years old at the time and getting his start as a stuntman, but seldom has such a minor role been as unforgettable as is Jackie Chan bear-hugging Bruce Lee only to have his neck snapped a split-second later. A proper Bruce Lee vs. Jackie Chan fight might never have come to be, but their brief encounter in Enter the Dragon is still a stand-out moment in both of their careers.
9 Bruce Lee Kicking A Hanging Light
Bruce Lee’s first notable role in a Hollywood movie is the villainous role of Winslow Wong in 1969’s Marlowe. Lee leaping into the air with a jumping front kick to shatter a ceiling light in the movie’s office scene also stands as one of most memorable moments of Marlowe. Lee would later go on to repeat it in the fight scene in the office fight of his directorial debut, The Way of the Dragon. 2019’s Ip Man 4: The Finale even recreates it with the alley fight between Bruce Lee (Danny Chan) and a karate fighter (Mark Strange), the kick executed by the latter.
8 The Colosseum Fight Warm-Up
Bruce Lee’s Colosseum fight with Chuck Norris in The Way of the Dragon is one of his greatest fight scenes, but Lee and Norris warming up is just as iconic. Norris primarily goes through karate forms, while Lee mainly warms up his muscles with stretching techniques. Lee intended The Way of the Dragon‘s final fight as a showcase of his philosophy of adaptation and flexibility in martial arts, with the warm-up showing two different approaches to preparing for combat. The warm-up would later be recreated in a fight scene in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, as well as the Marko Zaror-led martial arts film The Fist of the Condor.
7 Lee Explains “Emotional Content” & How To “Feel”
Bruce Lee’s philosophy of martial arts is essential to the greatness of Enter the Dragon, and an early scene of Lee training a young student at the Shaolin Temple exemplifies this with Lee instilling into the student “We need emotional content“. As the student grasps the need have complete control over one’s emotions in a fight, Lee also imparts to him one of his most quoted lines, “Don’t think, feel! It is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger, or you miss all of that heavenly glory“, making this scene another timeless Enter the Dragon gem.
6 Lee Explains “The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting”
In Enter the Dragon, Lee teaches his belligerent challenger Parsons (Peter Archer) a lesson in humility and the proper use of fighting skill by tricking him into a dinghy and dragging him behind the boat traveling to Han’s island tournament. Lee refers to this as “The art of fighting without fighting“, which Lee uses against Parsons to defeat him without ever throwing a punch. A samurai legend inspired this Enter the Dragon moment, and it is another of Bruce Lee’s greatest on-screen moments for the message it imparts – the surest path to victory is to avoid fighting in the first place.
5 Bruce Lee Licking Blood From A Wound
The idea of licking a wound takes on a whole different meaning in Enter the Dragon‘s final showdown between Lee and Han (Shih Kien). After Han cuts Lee’s torso with his arm-claw, Lee licks the blood from the wound with a look of rage on his face, before proceeding to leap into the air and strike Han in the face with a flying side-kick. Bruce Lee licking the blood from an open wound would come to be a shorthand for the hero turning the tides of a martial arts fight, with the Bruce Lee biopics Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Birth of Dragon both recreating it.
4 Lee Takes Down O’Hara With One Strike
Bruce Lee’s fight with Bob Wall’s O’Hara in Enter the Dragon features perhaps the most blinding display of Lee’s speed ever captured in a movie. Lee and O’Hara meet at the wrist to begin their duel, with Lee trapping O’Hara’s arm with one hand and landing a strike with the other. Lee’s lands the strike with such speed and precision that it looks like his leading hand simply shoots into the strike his opponent. The Raid 2‘s climactic fight between Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman even pays tribute to this, showing the significance of this moment from Enter the Dragon.
3 Lee Sidekicking O’Hara
Bruce Lee has countless classic moments of landing kicks on his opponents throughout his filmography, but few can compare to the power Lee displays by unleashing a stepping side kick upon an enemy. While there are multiple examples of Lee doing so, the most iconic comes in Lee’s fight with O’Hara in Enter the Dragon, with Lee sidekicking his opponent with tremendous power to catapult him backwards. Indeed, the kick was so strong as to break the arms of the man who caught Bob Wall in this scene, with that bit of behind-the-scenes trivia making Bruce Lee’s sidekick that much more legendary.
2 The Opening Fight Of Enter The Dragon
The opening fight of Enter the Dragon is another hallmark of Bruce Lee’s career, with future Hong Kong star Sammo Hung playing his opponent. However, the real testimony of its iconic status is how much it not only showcases the philosophy of Bruce Lee’s martial art Jeet Kune Do, but also predicts the future rise of MMA. Lee and Hung battle with a combination of kicks, punches, and throws, before Lee puts Hung in an armbar on the ground, forcing him to tap out. This eclectic blend of martial arts techniques into a harmonious flow is a staple of modern MMA, while Lee and Hung’s gloves even closely resemble the open-fingered gloves worn by MMA fighters.
1 Bruce Lee Wielding Nunchucks
Despite Bruce Lee initially hating nunchucks, they are a martial arts weapon that he is synonymous with, and every Bruce Lee movie save for The Big Boss sees him wielding them. Both the dojo fight and climactic fight of Fist of Fury see Lee uses nunchucks in this way, along with The Way of the Dragon‘s back alley fight. Additionally, Bruce Lee also uses nunchucks in his fight scene with Dan Inosanto in Game of Death. Perhaps most famously, Lee’s use of nunchucks in Enter the Dragon‘s cave fight stands as not only one of the movie’s most memorable moments, but arguably the definitive Bruce Lee movie moment, as its iconography is testimony to.
