We must have seen Enter The Dragon three dozen times, and yet we never get tired of it, and always end up watching it when it’s on, which is why I'm posting at one thirty am. It’s just that brilliant. It’s not the best martial arts film ever made, but it is the one that introduced the West at large to the genre, and the three leads (Bruce Lee, John Saxon, and Jim Kelly) are all skilled, charismatic, charming, and fascinating to watch. Bruce Lee, of course, is the centerpiece; he is vital and mesmerizing, with a disarming grin and speed that has to be seen to be believed. The sets are lovely, the fights well done, the music amazing - it’s not hard to see why this film became a phenomenon when it arrived on the scene in 1973.

Interestingly, although Jim Kelly got a few of his own martial arts movies after Enter the Dragon (Black Belt Jones is particularly fun to watch) and of course Bruce Lee would have had dozens had his untimely death not robbed us, John Saxon never really got starring roles in martial arts films. I'm not sure why- he's certainly skilled enough, and he can act- but it just never happened.