Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

Who payed the critics

the audience applauded

Sadly Over-hyped

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

RELEASED IN 1993 and directed by Rob Cohen, " Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" stars Jason Scott Lee as the martial arts superstar, tracing his early life in Hong Kong to his fresh start in the San Francisco area where he starts a martial arts school, meets his babe (Lauren Holly) and moves on to TV and Film. He must boldly face many enemies along the way, including his childhood demon. This is basically a rags-to-riches flick and ranks with my favorite films due to its excellent meshing of dynamism, fun and potent drama. I haven't seen too many martial arts flicks, but "Dragon" is easily the all-around best of those I've seen. It mixes real-life with Hollywood mythmaking, which is what many cinematic biographies do, e.g. "Buffalo Bill" (1944) and "Braveheart" (1995). In these types of movies the gist of the story is true, but it's mixed with numerous fictional or even fantastical elements to make the protagonist a larger-than-life hero, but also to entertain the audience because real-life is always more mundane and therefore dull. And movies are made primarily to make money through entertaining, not to relay the truth in exact detail. Right from the get-go the film telegraphs that it's a mythmaking account when Bruce takes on the arrogant British sailors at a dance. He throws one of them and the sailor topples 3-4 other men accompanied by the sound of a bowling ball striking pins (lol). While this particular episode never happened, occasions LIKE IT did, even if it was to someone other than Bruce. The same is true with other sequences, like the fight in the gym, which never happened. But, again, events LIKE IT have. The movie is really meant as a celebration of Bruce Lee, his phenomenal expertise in martial arts and the genre he made popular. If you're looking for an actual biography of his life check out the two biographies listed below (under "WRITERS"). Speaking of which, "Dragon" was partially based on the autobiography of Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce's wife). Someone offered that she couldn't possibly have been happy with the film since so much of it is fiction (for instance, Bruce didn't injure his back as depicted, but via lifting weights). Actually, she was happy with the final picture. But why did she allow so many things to be embellished? Simple: Because the embellishing fed into the Bruce Lee legend from which she benefits.In any case, there are a lot of martial arts thrills mixed with the drama with an exciting action scene occurring roughly every ten minutes. The film gives the protagonist & a few others power over time and space. Of course, one cannot do in real life many of the things these characters perform due to the restrictions imposed by Newton's Laws but, hey, it's entertaining. This factor explains why "Dragon" has been criticized for springing from one thing to the next too quickly, never pausing long enough for any strong emotion to resonate or for us to feel we really know the man beyond his proverbs. I disagree; I sensed strong emotion on several occasions, like when Bruce exclaims to Linda: "You make be believe I can do anything" or when he wildly screams at her to leave his hospital room, not to mention his outstanding meltdown later in Hong Kong (I've had a few of those in my life, so I know).Speaking of Linda, Lauren Holly is just mind-blowing in her physical prime.THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours and was shot in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles & Valencia), China (Macau) and Hong Kong. WRITERS: Three screenwriters wrote the script based on the biographies by Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew) and Robert Clouse (Bruce Lee: The Biography).GRADE: A-

Happening across the book THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE by Davis Miller brought back some fond memories: memories of seeing THE GREEN HORNET teleseries when it first aired, and being amazed by The Hornet's sidekick, Kato, as he took out villain after villain with what seemed to be almost supernatural abilities (but which clearly were NOT: the punches and kicks had a BELIEVABILITY about them, a verisimilitude lacking in most television and motion picture slugfests); memories of the hot summer days, not very many years later, spent slouched down in my seat watching this same Human Dynamo dispatch an assortment of villains up on The Big Screen, punctuating each kick and punch with an ear-splitting scream or his trademark howl. "Soon I was lost in the thunder," writes Miller. "I'd bathe in dreams and in lightning." Much has been made of Bruce Lee's alleged fighting ability; even Miller seems to climb atop the fence by the end of his book. (He recounts discussions with another martial artist, full contact heavyweight karate champion Joe Lewis, that would suggest another book might be a good idea: if anyone's been overlooked long enough, it's Joe Lewis- and of Lewis's ring skills there's little doubt: I saw him fight twice, and he was MOST impressive, even against much bigger opponents. I read somewhere that Bruce Lee himself once referred to Lewis as "the greatest fighter on the face of the Earth." How's THAT for an endorsement?) This movie, however, is about as true to life as any of the other exploitation movies that literally followed in his wake. Lee was all too human (as his death attests) and had his flaws (unlike the rest of us): in the book HONG KONG BABYLON, it's revealed that the woman in whose bed his body was found was the girlfriend of a Triad boss. But the fact remains that Bruce Lee was- and IS- an inspiration to millions- myself included. This movie does him a great disservice.

I just watched the DVD I bought - based on John Nolte of Big Hollywood's recommendation. I knew just the bare outline of Bruce Lee's story.I have to say it is an amazing story. That being said I have read other reviews of people - fans of Bruce Lee, who say that the movie contains inaccuracies, such as the reason he left Hong Kong for America.His actual wife Linda (nicely portrayed by Lauren Holly) said that the movie captures his personality and while this movie is really the only thing I have to base my opinions on (unlike other reviewers who obviously have had other material) - the fact that his wife has endorsed this movie tells me that the main facts - are intact. She also said that Jason Scott Lee portrayed Bruce Lee perfectly. While he was not trained in martial arts (but was a gymnast from what I have heard) I think he "channeled" Bruce Lee. The movie shows the adversity Lee overcame - physical, spiritual and prejudicial in America - to become a world wide phenomena.It is an inspirational movie.ADDENDUM: I just talked with a good friend of mine who emigrated from Hong Kong in the late 1960s, went to Delta College in Stockton, CA where he met Robert Lee, brother of Bruce Lee. Apparently Bruce Lee's mother lived in Stockton a short time, too. About 1970 he drove Robert & a few other friends down to Los Angeles one weekend where he actually met Bruce. A couple of stories: Bruce had a good sense of humor and sang some Chinese opera with words rewritten by him, on the risqué side. Also there were a few people there who were martial arts enthusiasts and Bruce gave a small demonstration - he asked one of them to stand while he put his fist on his chest, flicked his wrist and the fellow fell went back a few steps just from the power of Bruce's wrist. Anyway from what my friend knows of Bruce from meeting him and knowing his brother he says the movie is pretty accurate as to the main events in Lee's life. And according to my friend, Bruce left Hong Kong because the police were looking for him,just as the movie depicts.

Dragon is a semi-fictionalized bio-pic of Bruce Lee, the most famous martial artist and one of the most famous film stars of all time. It tells the story of Lee's youth in Hong Kong, before going to America where he is a dishwisher, goes to university, meets his wife Linda, sets up a successful school, writes his book on the philosophy of material arts and becomes a successful actor in Hong Kong before dying at the age of 32.This film is based on Linda Lee's book and she was involved with the production, but this film does have a artistic license with the events of Lee's life, especially of the inner demons he has to fight and some of the fight that Lee fought.This is the only Hollywood film that I am aware of that looks at the life of Bruce Lee. As well as the fight scene which were done with relish, the film goes deeper then that. There is the obviously love story between Bruce and Linda, there is the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his style of material arts which he developed and there is the fact that Bruce Lee had to battle against racism in America and the politics of the film industry. There were moments of comedy as well, which were decent for a small laugh.Jason Scott Lee (no relation) and Lauren Holly both offer good performances in this film, but I think Rob Cohen, the director of later hits the Fast and Furious, xXx (terrible film) and the Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor, did his best work with this film. He shows that he could easily direct fight scenes and able that he could balance it out with personal drama.If you are interested in Bruce Lee or material arts this film is worth a look.