EXIT THE DRAGON, ENTER THE TIGER
dir. Lee Tso-nam, 1976
79 min. Taiwan/Hong Kong.
In English (dubbed).

THURSDAY, MAY 4 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MAY 9 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, MAY 19 – MIDNIGHT

Bruce Li stars as “The Tiger”, a former student of Bruce Lee’s (also played by Bruce Li) who returns to Hong Kong in search of answers regarding the mysterious death of his master. Tiger winds up in much deeper than anticipated once his investigation puts him at odds with the Hong Kong mafia.

A pivotal early entry in the early Bruceploitation canon, and arguably the first in which its filmmaker and star attempted to approach the subject of Lee’s death in (arguably) a more tasteful manner. The film goes so far as to incorporate somber footage of Lee’s actual funeral in a montage that touches oddly close to Robert Drew’s FACES OF NOVEMBER. Li, a fixture of some much sleazier attempts to cash-in on Bruce Lee’s image, does justice to both Tiger and Dragon in a dual performance that playfully blends fact with fiction.