Albeit very briefly, Jackie Chan can be spotted in a key scene in Enter the Dragon. The 1970s martial arts classic famously sent Bruce Lee to a private island where he fought the villainous Han and his minions. Going undercover as a participant in Han's fighting tournament, Lee's characters scraps his way through Han's stronghold, demonstrating his quintessential combat technique and taking down various thugs along the way.
The ambition in the film is distinguished by the legendary influence of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, yet over time, the film has grown in its affect; including its pop cultural influence in cinema, the film also stood as a stepping stone for other famed Enter the Dragon. In fact, in a winning moment, Enter the Dragon pits Bruce Lee and future martial arts legend Jackie Chan against each other. The scene and moment between the two actors may have been fleeting during production, but today, audiences who can catch it are especially privy to its importance.
Jackie Chan Fought Bruce Lee In Enter The Dragon
Right before Lee's stick scene where he defends himself with a number of crucial Enter the Dragon martial arts weapons, Lee is set against a wave of Han's guards in hand-to-hand combat. One guard is immediately recognizable as a young Jackie Chan before Lee speedily subdues him in a headlock. Their scrimmage lasts seconds prior to Lee's opportunity to execute him with an offscreen snap of the neck. Their interaction is just enough of a tease to confirm Chan and Lee fought in Enter the Dragon.
The row was brief enough that Chan remains uncredited in the film - still though, the several seconds are enjoyable to observe. At this point in Chan's career, he'd been working primarily as a stuntman for Golden Harvest, the studio that made Bruce Lee's Hong Kong kung fu movies. The projects where the two legends had a chance to overlap their influence are scant, and so the several seconds in which Chan and Lee interact in Enter the Dragon are particularly golden. After all, Chan didn't become a martial arts superstar in his own right until the release of Drunken Master in 1978, five years after Lee's death in 1973.
Enter The Dragon Wasn't Jackie Chan's Only Bruce Lee Fight
Enter the Dragon's meeting of icons was actually not the first time the two interacted onscreen. A year before, Chan was an extra as well as a stunt double for the main antagonist in the 1972 film, Fist of Fury. In the instances where Chan stepped in to fight as a double for the Japanese villain Hiroshi Suzuki, audiences were afforded token moments of Lee and Chan in head-to-head exchanges.
Bruce Lee's death prevented a proper showdown between the two ever playing out onscreen. What they could have done or crossed paths in is limited to the imagination of fans. While Jackie Chan's cameo in Enter the Dragon is indeed infinitesimal, it's also a tease of what could have been.
