Honestly, if you close your eyes and think about 1970s martial arts, you don't just see Bruce Lee. You see that massive, perfectly spherical Afro. You see the yellow-and-black stripes. You hear that laid-back, "I’m too cool for this" voice. Jim Kelly from Enter the Dragon wasn't just a sidekick. He was a shift in the atmosphere.
Most people remember him as Williams, the guy who talked trash to the villain Han and looked better doing it than anyone else in cinematic history. But there is a lot more to the story than just a lucky casting call. Jim Kelly was a legit world-class fighter who walked away from a football scholarship because he couldn't stand the racism of his coaches. That's the energy he brought to the screen. It wasn't an act.
The Role That Almost Never Happened
You’ve probably heard the story that Jim Kelly was always meant to be in the movie. Wrong. He was actually a last-minute replacement. Originally, a guy named Rockne Tarkington was supposed to play the role of Williams. When Tarkington dropped out just days before filming was set to begin in Hong Kong, producer Fred Weintraub was scrambling.
He’d heard about this charismatic guy running a karate dojo in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles.
Weintraub went down to the school, saw Kelly, and basically hired him on the spot. Kelly had only been in one movie before—a small part in Melinda (1972)—but he had something you can't teach. He had "it." He flew to Hong Kong with almost no notice and ended up becoming the first Black martial arts film star.
Why the Afro was a political statement
In 1973, Hollywood didn't really know what to do with Black actors who weren't playing submissive roles. Kelly refused to do that. In Enter the Dragon, his character is an urban karate instructor fleeing a pair of racist cops. When he gets to Han’s island, he isn't intimidated by the mystery or the guards.
Remember the line?
💡 You might also like: Not the Nine O'Clock News: Why the Satirical Giant Still Matters
"I don't waste my time with it. When it comes, I won't even notice. I'll be too busy looking good."
That wasn't just a cool quote. It was a philosophy. Kelly brought a "street" sensibility to the high-brow world of traditional martial arts cinema. He made it accessible. He made it cool.
Was He a Real Fighter?
Kinda? No, wait—absolutely.
There's always this debate about whether movie martial artists can actually fight. With Jim Kelly, there's no debate. He was a four-time world champion in 1971 alone. He won the World Middleweight Karate title at the Long Beach International Karate Championships, which was basically the Super Bowl of karate back then.
He studied Shōrin-ryū karate, but he was also surprisingly ahead of his time with grappling. Rare footage from the early '90s shows him training in what looks remarkably like modern MMA, working on the ground and mixing styles. He even trained with Rorion Gracie back when the Gracies were just starting out in a garage in California.
The Bruce Lee Connection
Jim and Bruce got along famously because they spoke the same language: sweat. They were both obsessed with efficiency. Kelly often said that working with Bruce was the highlight of his life. Bruce respected Jim because Jim wasn't a "fake" fighter trying to look good for the camera. He was a champion who understood timing and distance.
📖 Related: New Movies in Theatre: What Most People Get Wrong About This Month's Picks
There’s a persistent legend that they had a "speed challenge" at the Long Beach Internationals where Bruce schooled him in 17 seconds. Whether that specific event is slightly exaggerated or not, the respect between them was real. They were both outsiders trying to break into a system that wanted to keep them in a box.
The Tragedy of Williams
One of the biggest gripes fans have about Enter the Dragon is that Williams dies. It’s brutal, too. Han beats him to death with a prosthetic iron hand while a group of women watch.
It feels wrong.
Basically, the script needed a "sacrifice" to show how evil Han was and to motivate the other characters. But many critics and fans argue that John Saxon’s character, Roper, should have been the one to go. Williams was the heart of the "cool" factor in that movie. If Williams and Lee had fought side-by-side in the final underground brawl, it would have been the greatest moment in action history.
Instead, we got a tragic exit for the coolest guy on the island.
Life After the Dragon
After Enter the Dragon became a global phenomenon, Warner Bros. signed Kelly to a three-picture deal. This gave us classics like Black Belt Jones and Three the Hard Way. He was the king of the "Blaxploitation" martial arts genre.
👉 See also: A Simple Favor Blake Lively: Why Emily Nelson Is Still the Ultimate Screen Mystery
But by the early 80s, the roles started drying up. Kelly was picky. He didn't want to play criminals or caricatures. He wanted to be a hero. When Hollywood stopped offering those roles, he didn't beg. He just... left.
He became a professional tennis player.
Seriously. He joined the USTA Senior Men’s Circuit and became a top-ranked player in California. He spent the rest of his life teaching tennis and martial arts, only popping up for the occasional cameo or comic-con appearance. He died in 2013, but his influence is everywhere, from the style of Afro Samurai to the choreography in modern action flicks.
Specific Actions to Honor His Legacy
If you want to actually dive into the Jim Kelly experience beyond just the one movie, here is how you should do it:
- Watch Black Belt Jones (1974): This is Kelly at his absolute peak. The fight scene in the car wash filled with soap suds is legendary and shows off his physical creativity.
- Study his Shōrin-ryū roots: If you’re a martial artist, look into the Okinawan style he practiced. It’s less about flashy high kicks and more about solid, powerful strikes—which is exactly how he fought on screen.
- Check out Three the Hard Way: It’s a wild team-up movie with Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. It shows how Kelly fit into the larger "Black Action Hero" movement of the decade.
- Look for his Nike "Chamber of Fear" commercial: Even late in life, he still had the moves. He did a spot with LeBron James in 2004 that perfectly spoofed the old-school kung fu vibes.
Jim Kelly wasn't just a guy in a Bruce Lee movie. He was the bridge between two worlds. He proved that you could be authentically yourself—Afro, attitude, and all—and still be a global icon. He didn't change for Hollywood; he made Hollywood change for him.