The production star was Bruce Lee. He played the young man’s name Tang Lung, who helps a woman and her family in the fight against their criminals. They rent a martial arts master who could face him. The antagonist named Colt has just played Norris. For lovers of films from Lee it was a special moment – they didn’t often have the opportunity to watch their idol in a clash with the opponent from the West.
Lee insisted on casting Norris, whom he met in 1968. He believed that he was one of the few people who would match him in the speed of the blows. He was confirmed by joint trainings, which they arranged in the garden of Norris’s estate. The future “Texas Guard” assured that they had never really fought, although they happened to enter the level of sparring. Asked by “Black Belt” who would come out victorious from their skirmish, he replied: “I will use the words of Bruce -” showing up is a fool of a fool of glory. “
The American was surprised by the proposal to perform in the “Dragon Road”. This is how he remembered her in an interview with “Combat Culture”: “At that time I was a world champion and for a joke I asked Bruce who would win. ‘I will win, I am the star of this movie’ – he answered. ‘Oh, I understand, you want to defeat the world champion’
Although Norris’s name appeared as the second in the lead of the film, we could only watch it on the screen at the end of the film. He spoke only three words. Despite this, the list of his almost ten -minute fight with the figure of Lee took a quarter of the script. This is one of the two films in which he played the villain, and the only one in which he dies. Norris recalled in an interview with “Black Belt” that Lee was a demanding opponent, and his technique and muscularity aroused great admiration.
In an interview with Physical Arts, he praised Lee’s approach to martial arts. “He was very fast. He studied from everyone, he had a very open mind. Bruce never believed (…) that one style was the best. He felt that there was something ‘the best’ in everyone What is funny, the star of the “dragon entrance” before the premiere he chose a more confrontational attitude towards Norris. He claimed that the duel with his American friend was like a fight with a child.
The scene of the skirmish Lee and Norris was shot in the Roman Colosseum. The law forbade the entering of film crews there. The creators got there thanks to the bribes. They made illegally for about an hour. Later they had to evaporate.
“I liked to work with Bruce Lee on this movie. I had a good time, and our fight scene is considered one of the best in the history of cinema. It is nice to be part of something that everyone loves” – said Norris later. “There is a moment when I throw Bruce to the ground, and he grabs my hair on my chest and pulls them out. Later I got a letter from a guest who looked at the” Dragon’s Way “together with my son about 26 times. He asked if Bruce really pulled my hair out of my chest. Because if so, I’m a real Cossack.”
Lee died in July 1973, a few months after the premiere of “Dear Dragon”. However, Norris slowly developed his acting career. Just over a decade later he appeared in his most famous films: “The lonely Mcquada Wolf”, “Lost in Action” and “Delta Operation”. In 1993, the viewers saw him for the first time in the role of Cordell Walker in “Texas Guardian”in which he kicked from half a turn to 2001.