MovieChat Forums > Enter the Dragon (1973) Discussion > 'Guns!'

'Guns!'

posted 14 years ago by OneBadGuy
9 replies | jump to latest

I thought that part was funny. The martial arts hero suggesting the easiest solution to the problem. Just shoot the SOB! LOL

[–] dergeier117 14 years ago

If you look at Lee's thoughts on the subject, he was smart enough to know he couldn't compete with guns. He had expressed a wish to use a gun at some point in ETD, given the secret agent nature of the movie, but was denied.

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[–] jnericsonx 14 years ago

There's a similar line in Fist of Legend, when Jet Li's character is fighting, I can't remember, the father of the Japanese girl he likes, it goes something like this:

"If it was merely about defeating your enemy, we could use the smallest of guns and it would be decided."

[–] proteus122 14 years ago

That sounds so awesome. I wish they has let Lee do this. It would have been a watershed moment for BL.

[–] The_Optimist 12 years ago

I was just about to start a thread on this! Why did the guy say "No. No guns"? Why no guns? No reason was given.

[–] OneBadGuy 12 years ago

If my memory serves me correctly, Han was shot before and thus doesn't allow guns on his island. It may be why he had no hand.

[–] wears-alan 12 years ago

Han lived in constant fear of assassination and as such allowed no guns. Also, the island lay partially in international territorial waters so weapons weren't allowed there. Finally, Han had a nast accident once involving firearms(possibly how he lost his hand).
Brathwaite explains this when Lee says his hilarious line "Guns. Now why doesn't somebody pull out a 45 and Bang! settle it"?

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jloper 12 years ago

Plotwise, it was a way to, in 2 seconds, do away with guns till the last 2 seconds of the movie. ;)

[–] A-zone 12 years ago

Plotwise, it was a way to, in 2 seconds, do away with guns till the last 2 seconds of the movie. ;)

You hit the nail on the head! It is my understanding that since guns were a lot more common in the West than they were in the East back then, that scene was specifically included to explain the absence of guns to non-Eastern audiences. During the time when "James Bond's Walther PPK" and "Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum" dominated the screens, Western audience would have raised questions as to why Bruce Lee (relatively unknown in Hollywood) was wasting so much energy to take out the bad guys with his fists and legs. That scene gave Bruce a chance to show his martial arts skills to the West in all their glory and the rest is history.

But if I think about it now, how hard would it have REALLY been to smuggle a couple of guns into Han's island? I mean it's not like they had metal detectors all around the pagodas

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