[NSFW] A look back at Bruce Lee’s early career and the making of Enter the Dragon. (One of Lee’s costars, Jim Kelly, died Saturday at age 67):

“Enter the Dragon struck a responsive chord across the globe. Made for a minuscule $850,000, it would gross $90 million worldwide in 1973 and go on to earn an estimated $350 million over the next 40 years, including profits from a recently released two-disc Blu-ray edition. Producer Fred Weintraub likes to joke that the movie was so profitable the studio even had to pay him. Screenwriter Michael Allin recalls, ‘Warner’s lawyer sent me a letter saying, “The picture will be well into profit”—and here’s the phrase I love—”by anybody’s formula.” The picture made so much money they could not sweep it under the rug. The rug had too big a bulge.’”

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