Bruce Lee’s Victory Over Chuck Norris in the Iconic Colosseum Fight in 1972 Helped Break Several Taboos

The iconic fight scene between Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee in the film The Way Of The Dragon played a significant role in revolutionizing Hollywood’s action scenes. The fierce battle between the two legends will always be remembered by the people not just for his high-quality action, but also for the message it portrayed. The movie was released in 1972 and played a major role in changing the West’s perception of Chinese citizens. 

The Biography of Bruce Lee, written by Matthew Polly, beautifully described how the fight sequence penetrated beyond the horizons of cinema. The scene wasn’t only a delight to audiences’ eyes but also impacted their psychology. 

Lee’s performance changed Americans’ perception

Bruce Lee was among the few Chinese American actors to get a substantial role in the Hollywood industry. Before Lee, only a few Asian people got a chance to make their place in American cinema. People like Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were able to get recognition, but their impact was not great as Lee’s.

The Chinese males were perceived as weak and submissive, but it was the little Phoenix who transformed this vision. The legend played some really strong and fierce characters that broke the existing stereotypes about his community. “If Bruce could defeat Chuck Norris on film, maybe they could do something similar in real life”, Matthew wrote in the book Bruce Lee, A Life 

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His movies played a crucial role in lifting the fear of his community and giving them confidence. The book says, “One thing the guy has done is that nobody takes lunch money away from the Chinese kids anymore because they assume they won’t fight back”. However, the iconic battle between Lee and Norris required a lot of planning and out-of-the-box thinking. To add a sense of realism to the fight, Lee took inspiration from another American legend. 

Bruce Lee took help from Muhammad Ali for the fighting scene

The Little Phoenix wanted to make the fighting sequence look perfect and exciting. Lee also made many improvisations with Norris before the scene. So he put in a lot of effort to do so and took inspiration and learnings from legends in their fields. Boxing Icon Muhammed Ali was one of them. The book revealed the time when Bruce Lee included some techniques of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. The Little Phoenix watched the iconic match between Ali and Cleveland Williams of 1966. 

Lee wanted to remove the lack of mobility in the Karate skills. It seems like Lee gave his best shot to the movie and left no stone unturned in the process. The popularity and impact of the scene can tell the legend was able to accomplish what he wanted to achieve.

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