The story is ridiculous and the drama is contrived. The outcome could have been anticipated from the beginning of the movie, even though is illogical - but who cares?! This cult classic features the martial artist and Asian American superstar Bruce Lee gracefully beating the living daylights out of all the bad guys! After years of obscurity in the U.S., Bruce triumphantly punched and kicked his way into the Hollywood spotlight (via Hong Kong). But in a bitter twist of fate, Bruce Lee died only a month before the movie was released to great success. One can only imagine what Hollywood's image of Asian/Asian Pacific American actors would have been if Bruce had lived and persevered. Only in the year of 2000 are we seeing success in films such as Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon, Jet Li's Romeo Must Die and John Woo's Mission Impossible 2.

On December 28, 2004, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced his annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry (see attached list). This group of titles brings the total number of films placed on the Registry to 400. Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant motion pictures to the Registry. The list is designed to reflect the full breadth and diversity of America's film heritage, thus increasing public awareness of the richness of American cinema and the need for its preservation. In making the announcement, the Librarian said, "Our film heritage is America's living past. It celebrates the creativity and inventiveness of diverse communities and our nation as a whole. By preserving American films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural history." This year's selections span the years 1909 to 1993, and encompass films ranging from Hollywood classics to lesser-known, but still vital, works. "Enter the Dragon" was one of the films that were selected.

CHINATOWN
(1974)
Directed by Roman Polanski
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Darrell Zwerling, Diane Ladd, Roy Jenson, Richard Bakalyan, Roman Polanski, Joe Mantell, Bruce Glover, Nandu Hinds, James O'Rear, James Hong, Beulah Quo, Jerry Fujikawa, Belinda Palmer, Roy Roberts, George Justin, Noble Willingham, Elliott Montgomery, Rance Howard, Doc Erickson, Fritzie Burr, Charles Knapp, Claudio Martínez, Federico Roberto, Allan Warnick, John Holland, Jesse Vint, Jim Burke, Denny Arnold, Burt Young, Elizabeth Harding, John Rogers, Cecil Elliott, Bob Golden, Paul Jenkins, Lee de Broux

Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency--and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is J.J. Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mold, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption.

The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole center of this tale of treachery, incest, and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted color cinematography gives the goings-on both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo as the thug who tangles with Nicholson's nose.

One of the greatest, most completely satisfying crime films of all time. --Anne Hurley (note: there are also various hard-working Asian Pacific American actors in this historic film - shouldn't there be some!?! Asians in a film called "Chinatown!?!?"

THE YAKUZA
(1975)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith

Although this is mainly Mitchum's movie, Takakura's empathic portrayal of a Japanese hit man--who turns against his employers to avenge his family--is so full of intensity and integrity that it transcends the "sidekick" label. This is an above-average action film. Director Pollack ("The Way We Were," "Tootsie") treats his martial-arts material with unusual seriousness and believability. This respectful presentation of a prominent Asian male character is rare for a Hollywood crowd-pleaser of the '70s. (Warner Home Video)

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES
(1975)
Directed by Peter Greenaway
Cast: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui, Meika Seri, Kanae Kobyashi, Taiji Tonoyama, Kyoji Kokonae, Naomi Shiraishi, Shinkichi Noda, Komikichi Hari, Kikuhei Matsunoya, Akiko Koyama, Yuriko Azuma, Rei Minami, Machiko Aoki, Mariko Abe, Kyôko Okada, Kiyami Yasuda, Hiroko Fuji, Tami Mitsubashi, Kumiko Ishii, Katsue Tamiyama, Hitomi Tukuhara

Nagisa Oshima's sensational, 1976 film concerns a woman (Eiko Matsuda) whose obsessive sexual relationship with her husband (Tatsuya Fuji) crosses the line from passion into the territory of life and death. One of the most sexually explicit films ever to play in mainstream theaters (though it did run into legal trouble both in the U.S. and Japan), it has an air of palpable doom, suggesting that sex can be a doorway to suicide. Lest this sound like grunge-era noodling over dreams of self-destruction, be assured that the Kyoto-born Oshima (Max Mon Amour, In the Realm of Passion, Violence at Noon, The Cruel Story of Youth and The Sun's Burial) takes a somewhat formal, middle-aged perspective on the conjunction of various mysteries of existence. --Tom Keogh

TRIVIA : After the German premiere at the "Berlinale" the movie was confiscated as suspected pornography. However, 18 months later a German federal court permitted release in cinemas without any cuts. This film's photography, despite the erotica, is magnificent and has inspiried other films such as Last Tango in Paris, The Lover and Hiroshima Mon Amour.