40th Anniversary Enter the Dragon screening and kung fu movie poster exhibit coming to L.A. next week

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The Academy will present a special 40th Anniversary screening of Bruce Lee’s cult classic martial arts epic Enter the Dragon, with special guest appearances including John Saxon and Bob Wall, Enter the Dragon producers Paul Heller & Fred Weintraub, cinematographer Gil Hubbs, screenwriter Michael Allin and Bruce’s daughter Shannon Lee. The screening will be presented with an original 35MM Technicolor Dye-Transfer print from the Academy Film Archive, and will celebrate the new exhibition Kick Ass!: Posters from the Stephen Chin Collection.

Filmed almost entirely on location in Hong Kong, Enter the Dragon was the first kung fu film produced by a major Hollywood studio – Warner Bros. With a score by six-time Oscar-nominated composer Lalo Schifrin, Enter the Dragon brought the martial arts film into the American mainstream.

Bruce Lee, who choreographed and staged the fights himself, plays a martial arts expert seeking revenge on the gang that killed his sister. To take down the gang’s kung fu obsessed kingpin, Lee enters a grueling martial arts tournament that he sponsors. Also competing are debt-ridden gambler Roper (John Saxon) and militant activist Williams (karate champion Jim Kelly).

With its mixture of spectacular action, fierce female costars (including Angela Mao) and exotic locations, the film became a huge success. Lee died a month before Enter the Dragon was released in the U.S., but the film’s immense popularity cemented his status as a cinematic legend.

A six-sheet poster for Enter the Dragon and posters for other films featuring Bruce Lee, are included in the Academy Grand Lobby exhibition, Kick Ass!: Posters from the Stephen Chin Collection. In 2011, producer and screenwriter Stephen Chin donated his collection of more than 800 kung fu film posters and related materials to the Academy. In this exhibition, selections from Chin’s exceptional poster collection illustrate the kung fu phenomenon.

The special screening will be held at The Samuel Goldwyn Theater, located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, in Beverly Hills, California. Click Here to find out more about the event.