If you’ve developed an appetite for Colosseum style battles after watching Gladiator II and are wondering if there is anything else out there worth watching, let me recommend The Way of the Dragon starring Bruce Lee. It isn’t about ancient Rome, but it does come to us all the way back from the Rome of 1972.

The version I’ll be referencing here is from the Criterion Collection’s Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits boxed set on Blu-ray which I recently received for my birthday, although any will do. The Criterion Collection did do a nice job with the restoration though. The film really cleaned up well and everything looks gorgeous. If you’re in the market, I can recommend the set.

Anyway, I started watching them and had forgotten all about the scene in this movie with Bruce fighting Chuck Norris in the climatic battle in the Roman Colosseum, and I thought it would be interesting to post about it because of the new Gladiator II movie that just came out. I personally have not seen the new one yet, but I think the original is great. I still remember seeing it in theaters when I was back in high school with my friends and being very impressed.

This battle takes place in the modern day Colosseum, so it’s a ruin, but it’s still a classic scene. It must have been over ten years since I’d seen it last and it actually not only holds up, but puts every fight scene I’ve seen in a movie recently to shame. If you haven’t seen it in a while, or ever, it’s worth checking out.

Now, the entire movie isn’t like Gladiator in that the whole thing doesn’t take place in the Colosseum, or a colosseum, only the climactic battle. And it’s also a pretty low-budget affair–there are no special effects or large battle scenes. And some of the early fight scenes really only exist to demonstrate Lee’s fighting techniques, and aren’t all that convincing. But for out and out authenticity, the final bout has something that these modern big budget interpretations don’t. There’s something about being in the actual Colosseum that makes the cat and mouse sequence they play through the corridors (complete with an actual cat, just in case you weren’t getting it) all the more compelling. People actually lived and died within those walls. The echoes of the maniac callers’ taunts sound appropriately unnerving. The whole thing just works.

The fight itself took place on a set, not in the actual Colosseum though. Just the game of cat and mouse. The fact that they were even allowed to film at all in side the Colosseum is pretty neat—I can’t remember seeing any other film shot in that actual real place. The fact that it’s Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris walking the halls makes it all the more spectacular.

And I’ll offer you my thoughts on the fight itself, seeing as how we (the audience) are cast as spectators in this scene and invited to evaluate, like the Roman population of old. You can watch it for yourself and see if you’re appraisal matches mine.

Chuck Norris was the World Heavyweight Karate Champion at the time of this filming. Bruce Lee was about 130 pounds sopping wet (His physique is pretty stellar in this movie though. There is a scene with him flexing and it is impressive, even to someone like myself who is a student of physical culture). This scene should look like Norris would destroy Bruce, but it doesn’t.

I wrestled for seven years, all the way through my senior year of high-school. I mention this because I know something about speed in these types of contests. And I also know something about the differences between how a heavyweight moves and how a 130 pounder moves (I wrestled 189s my senior year).

Bruce Lee is like lightening in this fight. Norris isn’t slow by any means, but it’s not possible for someone as big as him to move as fast as Lee. Speed, at least in terms of quick movements like this–not necessarily about top speed in sprinting–is basically a relative strength attribute. Meaning, the size of the person matters. A pull-up is a measure of relative strength, because you are lifting the body. The body is the resistance. So a pullup contest is a test of relative strength. Absolute strength is simply the amount of weight on the bar.

The human body has an interesting condition in that the smaller you are, the more relative strength you have, and the larger you are, the more absolute strength you have (all things being equal). Which is why it is silly to say something like “pound for pound, so and so was the strongest whatever”… Pound for pound small guys are always stronger. It’s only really impressive if the small guy has absolute strength comparable to the big guys.

This isn’t really debatable. If you look at the records in Olympic lifting you will see the truth in it. For men at the 61kg weight class, the world record in the snatch is currently held by Li Fabin of China, and it is 143kg, or 234% of his body-weight. For men at the 109kg weight class, the world record in the snatch is held by Simon Martirosyan of Armenia, and it is 195kg, or 178% of his body-weight. 195kg is a lot more than 143kg in terms of absolute strength, but 234% is a lot more than 178% in terms of relative strength.

The same is true for the women. The world record in the 49kg division is 94kg (for the snatch), or 191% of body-weight. At the 71kg division, the record is 117kg, or 164% of body-weight. 117Kg is significantly more than 94kg in terms of absolute strength, but 191% is significantly more than 164% in terms of relative strength.

Olympics lifters are the most powerful athletes on the planet. There is no better example when it comes to speed and strength. This is just how the human body works.

And I think this phenomenon is why the fight seems so even in The Way of the Dragon and why it’s interesting. It’s a heavyweight vs a bantam weight. Norris’ kicks seem far more powerful, but they are slower than Lee’s and look heavier. I personally wouldn’t want to be hit with either, but frankly, I’d probably rather face Norris’. I don’t know whether I could get out of the way of Lee’s. And I understand that this is just an exhibition, but I don’t think they are holding much back with some of those kicks.

Anyway, those are just my two cents, and in any case, it is one of the best fight scenes in either Lee’s or Norris’ film career.

There is a love interest in this movie, also, so if you are looking more for some scenery and the romance and the splendor of the ancient city of Rome, there is a bit of that when she takes Bruce on a site seeing tour. Not too much, but it is shot well. Unfortunately, the sequence itself is a little depressing in that Bruce’s character seems particularly dense about the romantic overtures the woman is making, although you can’t blame her, the locales are well chosen. None of it is CGI. It’s the actual city and the actual fountains. In ruins of course. They look great on Blu-ray.

The plot itself is basically a Western (movie) formula. Bruce plays a stranger who comes into town to help the widow defend her ranch against some desperados trying to muscle in on her property and force her to sell to the railroad or whatever. In this case, the “widow” is actually a daughter whose father has died and the “ranch” is a Chinese restaurant and the “desperados/railroad” is a local crime syndicate who want the property for their own uses. Bruce’s character uses his “Chinese boxing” instead of a gun to defeat the bad guys—in accordance with Lee’s desire to bring a truly Chinese hero to the big screen. The last line of the film is actually a shot of him disappearing into the distance ala Shane with the woman looking on and one of the restaurant hands saying “In a world full of knives and guns, Tang Lung is respected wherever he goes.” The implication being that Lee’s Chinese Boxing is all he needs to gain respect, not weapons.

Speaking of the leading lady, she was played by Nora Miao (is that pronounced “meow”?! Let’s pretend it is), and she’s something special. She features in all of Lee’s Hong Kong movies, and I’d forgotten how good looking she was and how well she worked opposite Lee. The Blu-ray version the Criterion Collection put out really does her justice. We have immortalized Lee, but I think a lot of the box office success for his films probably had to do with her. She went on to feature in more than forty films, so she had a successful career in her own right, and you can see why watching her here.

Anyway, this is a little different flavor of the Roman Colosseum movie, but I think if you liked the Gladiator movies you will like this one. Happy Thanksgiving!