Although he’s been dead for decades now, martial arts cinema is still trying crawl out from under the shadow of Bruce Lee. Jackie Chan might be the most successful martial arts star of all time, and folks like Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Sonny Chiba have carved out their own legacies in the film industry, but you can never quite forget about ol’ Bruce. He had the look, the poise, the charisma, and perhaps most important of all: believability. You could believe Bruce Lee was kicking these people’s asses on screen because between his physicality and his fighting experience he could kick people’s asses offscreen as well. I mean I’ve been a fan of Jackie Chan for years, but he’s never come across as a guy who could stop my heart with one punch. But Bruce Lee? Yeah, not without an EMT crew standing by.
That Bruce’s legacy looms so large and yet his actual career was so short is dramatically appropriate, if not entirely fair. A handful of films, a supporting role in a short-lived superhero TV show, and suddenly you’re done with one of the biggest names of the 70s. Of course that wasn’t the intention, in fact there were several in the pipeline before Lee met his tragic end. There was the infamously unfinished Game of Death, which inspired Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. There was the show that would eventually become Kung-Fu, which inspired David Carradine’s entire career since apparently Bruce Lee wasn’t white enough to star in his own show. For the purposes of this opinion piece however, we’re going to be taking a quick look at a story that Bruce Lee never had a chance to expand on himself. A story which, thanks to a little help by James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant, finally got to see the light of the silver screen 5 years after Lee’s death. A story that, again, stars David Carradine. It’s called Circle of Iron, and it’s our next entry in the Marathon.
In a world that is beyond time yet at the same time familiar there is a legend, as it is in all worlds. The legend states that in a far off land there lives a man called Zetan, who guards a book called the Book of Enlightenment. It is said that if you are able to complete the journey and pass the Trials set before you, then you will be deemed worthy to face Zetan in combat and look upon the Book yourself, and all your questions will be answered. However it is also said that no one has ever been able to reach Zetan, everyone who has ever started the journey has died in the attempt. That doesn’t really matter to our protagonist Cord though, he’s got his amazing strength and skills in the martial arts on his side, and he’ll go anywhere and do anything to reach that book. When you’re on a journey to Enlightenment however, it’s not the size of your muscles or the speed of your punches that matter, it is the depth of one’s mind and thoughts. Not exactly Cord’s strong suit, but any journey is easier when you have someone to help guide the way.
To say that Circle of Iron is a philosophical film would be stating the obvious; it’s stated as Lee’s intention in the foreword after all, to build a film based on the principles of Zen Buddhism. Heavy stuff, one more suited for Alejandro Jodorowsky than the guy who fought Chuck Norris one would think, but actually it’s handled pretty well. The story is structured a bit like a folktale so it’s easy enough to follow, with the philosophical portions placed within reach. It’s not an alternative to reading a book on the subject or discussing it with a monk, and it probably didn’t convert anybody in ‘78, but it does its job by giving you a basic idea of what Zen is about. Pretty novel for the time.
The problem here, which is not the fault of the film itself, is that this is a Bruce Lee story but with no Bruce Lee in it. Jeff Cooper (Cord) tries, bless him, but if it wasn’t his stilted acting that got him it would be the fact that he looks less like a badass martial artist undergoing a spiritual awakening and more like Robert Culp cosplaying as Conan the Barbarian. They compensate for that by getting some pretty impressive names on the cast, including Christopher Lee, Eli Wallach and good ol’ David Carradine (playing multiple roles even), but then you’re reminded of the main reason why you want Bruce Lee in this or any other movie: The fight scenes. Or as they’re known in Circle of Iron ‘Count the Edits’, because the camera just can’t seem to sit still for a few seconds while someone tries to throw a punch. Seeing Carradine go through katas pretending to be a panther is funny and all, but honestly with such substantial edits it saps the interest away when you do get to them. In the age of jumpcut action movies it may not seem like a big deal, but watch Big Boss or Enter the Dragon alongside Circle of Iron and you’ll get an idea of how wide the gap is between what was and what could have been.
That being said, Circle of Iron is a perfectly fine film and I quite enjoyed it. It looks great aesthetically, the subject matter is unique for a Western film, and it can actually be pretty funny when it wants to be, especially when David Carradine is involved. So yeah, four or so movies in and we’ve actually found a movie that I actually feel like recommending for once! Even though it’s not your typical Halloween fare, you’ll likely get a good time out of it. You’ll never want to go near oil again, but it’ll be a good time.
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