I am not a huge fan of the genre, so I only give the movie a 7--though it IS one of Bruce Lee's best films (the only one better being ENTER THE DRAGON--which has nothing to do with this film, despite the title). I am more of a samurai movie lover and only watch kung-fu movies on occasion. So please keep this in mind when you read this--if you are a huge fan, you'd probably give the movie an 8 or 9 but if you have little interest in the genre, this film probably will only rate a 4 or 5. If you can suspend disbelief and just enjoy the great stunt-work and cute story elements, you'll probably be pretty satisfied.
Okay, the casual kung-fu viewer will certainly notice that the film is very grainy and washed out as well as possessing pretty awful dubbing. I really wish these films were available with subtitles instead, but in the 1970s distributors thought Western audiences wouldn't see a film with subtitles, so they slapped on absolutely terrible dubbing tracks. While this isn't the worst I've seen, it is bad and the film has no background sounds (other than slaps and celery crunching during the fight scenes)--so it sounds pretty weird. Also, the music is ultra-cheesy.
However, despite all these shortcomings, it's obvious that the germ of an excellent film is hiding underneath. That's because the plot and idea of putting kung-fu action in Rome is inspired! Instead of the usual problems occurring in Hong Kong (or elsewhere in China), here we have something different. Plus, many times the action is pretty funny--with cute fight scenes and parodies of some of Lee's earlier films. For example, one of the Italian thugs uses Bruce's own trademark thumb brushing against his nose move. I also liked the cheesy effeminate voice used for the dub of the Chinese guy who worked for the mob--it was so silly and over the top you had to laugh. In addition, seeing Lee impaling the gunmen's hands with darts was a good way to explain away why this mob didn't just shoot Lee (though, inexplicably, again and again despite their hand being pierced, the wounds disappeared an instant later due to continuity problems).
The film ended well with some excellent fights--particularly the finale in the Coliseum with an evil Chuck Norris. It's just a shame that they didn't have Chuck shave off his icky back hair first! This scary sight is repeated, by the way, in the first few minutes of THE GAME OF DEATH--Lee's final film and a total mess of a film due to his being dead during most of the filming!!
Okay, the casual kung-fu viewer will certainly notice that the film is very grainy and washed out as well as possessing pretty awful dubbing. I really wish these films were available with subtitles instead, but in the 1970s distributors thought Western audiences wouldn't see a film with subtitles, so they slapped on absolutely terrible dubbing tracks. While this isn't the worst I've seen, it is bad and the film has no background sounds (other than slaps and celery crunching during the fight scenes)--so it sounds pretty weird. Also, the music is ultra-cheesy.
However, despite all these shortcomings, it's obvious that the germ of an excellent film is hiding underneath. That's because the plot and idea of putting kung-fu action in Rome is inspired! Instead of the usual problems occurring in Hong Kong (or elsewhere in China), here we have something different. Plus, many times the action is pretty funny--with cute fight scenes and parodies of some of Lee's earlier films. For example, one of the Italian thugs uses Bruce's own trademark thumb brushing against his nose move. I also liked the cheesy effeminate voice used for the dub of the Chinese guy who worked for the mob--it was so silly and over the top you had to laugh. In addition, seeing Lee impaling the gunmen's hands with darts was a good way to explain away why this mob didn't just shoot Lee (though, inexplicably, again and again despite their hand being pierced, the wounds disappeared an instant later due to continuity problems).
The film ended well with some excellent fights--particularly the finale in the Coliseum with an evil Chuck Norris. It's just a shame that they didn't have Chuck shave off his icky back hair first! This scary sight is repeated, by the way, in the first few minutes of THE GAME OF DEATH--Lee's final film and a total mess of a film due to his being dead during most of the filming!!