MOVIE REVIEW: Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon (1985)
Some movies come to you exactly when you need them. In my case, I was a little Black boy in the 80's looking to see action heroes that looked like me on the small and big screen. So far, the only one I saw was Lando Calrissian in Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi. On the small screen we had Tubbs in “Miami Vice” and Mr. T in “The A-Team”, and…that’s about it. Many of the African-American characters put to us as cartoons were barely acceptable over better options (the writers prioritizing Roadblock over Doc and Stryker in the Sunbow “G.I. Joe” cartoons, for example). In many cases we ordained indistinguishable and non-human cartoon characters as Black people to fill the gap, made easier because they were voiced by Black actors (Jazz from “Transformers”, Panthro from “Thundercats”, etc.) We still had all the other demeaning stuff to get through — Urkel, Webster, and the War on People of Color (aka the War on Drugs) — but there was a shining light in the middle of the decade lit by Black luminary Berry Gordy of Motown Records. He commissioned a musical-lite movie with a martial arts bent (to capitalize on the martial-arts craze of the late 70's and early 80's) and a predominantly African-American cast and called it The Last Dragon. From this movie, we got a hero we can be proud of: Bruce Leeroy.
Though he sounds like a “ghetto” Bruce Lee parody, he’s far from it. Played by Black martial artist Taimak Guarriello, Bruce Leeroy is a pure and respectful vegan (!!) hero who constantly tries to do the right thing…even if it costs him. His name is a neighborhood nickname as he is the son of Leroy Green Sr. (Jim Moody, D.C. Cab, Who’s the Man?) and Mama Green (gospel singer Queen Esther Marrow), and is older brother to street-smart Ritchie (Leo O’Brien, Chiefs [1983], New Jack City) and baby sister Sophia (Keisha Knight-Pulliam, “The Cosby Show” [TV-NBC], Madea Goes to Jail). When not practicing martial arts at home or with his sensei (Broadway actor Thomas Ikeda, Rhinestone, Gung-Ho, Memoirs of a Geisha [2005]), Bruce Leeroy is on the search for the Final Level that will give him “the Glow” — a state of Zen-like being that causes the body to glow with power. In his wanderings around a rough but colorful New York, Bruce Leeroy wears a simple tai chi outfit and wide brimmed rice hat. Since Leeroy isn’t getting his ass kicked or mugged with every step he takes, this movie is clearly a fantasy.
Speaking of violence, our villains are made manifest in the ultra-violent Sho’Nuff the Shogun of Harlem (Julius Carry, “The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.” [TV-FOX], The New Guy [2002]) and his gang — they have a beef with Bruce Leeroy and Sho’Nuff wants revenge. Another is Eddie Arkadian (Christopher Murney, “Remember WENN” [TV-AMC]), an arcade operator with delusions of grandeur. He’ll use anyone to get to the top: his bodyguard Rocko (character actor Mike Starr, Mad Dog & Glory, The Bodyguard, Black Dynamite) wanted to be a prize-fighter and failed, now Eddie’s using his girlfriend Angie Veracco (Broadway actress and singer Faith Prince) to break into the music business. Both Arkadian and Sho’Nuff are willing to kill to get what they want, but what could possiby drive a man to kill?
Enter video jockey Laura Charles (triple-threat Vanity, Action Jackson, Never Too Young to Die) who hosts a local dance show called 7th Heaven. Once she meets eyes with Bruce Leeroy, he starts having all those feelings he used to have before his martial arts focus. Our hero would do anything to see her safe, interfering in the plans of Eddie Arkadian to get Angie’s videos played on the show, which brings the mercenary Sho’Nuff into play. It all culminates into a beautiful rondo of roundhouses, martial arts mastery, and even some spiritual special effects that make this movie into what others have termed— and I agree — an urban martial arts fantasy.
So lemme talk about what this movie means to me for a bit~
I cannot stress this enough: Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon was formative, in an era where almost all the heroes and love interests were White. I spent more time watching Bruce Lee and Asian people in martial arts movies on WBFS-33’s “Samurai Sunday” to get away from the norm, and when this movie came out it was OVER. Even more Asian people got their debut with this movie: Glen Eaton (Trained to Kill [1989], Bloody Hands [2002]) and martial artist Ernie Reyes, Jr. (“Sidekicks” [TV-ABC], Red Sonja, Surf Ninjas), the latter riding the 80’s concept of Asian child sidekicks started by Ke Hy Quan’s roles of The Goonies’ Data and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’s Short Round. This exposure eventually led me to Asian cinema releases — where everyone on the team is of the same ethnic background — and brought me to one conclusion: the only way to make yourself seen in showbiz is to make sure you’re holding the camera. African-American movie-going audiences took a while to catch up, allowing films by John Singleton, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay and Tyler Perry to fill the void…but somehow falling to colorism in the process.
On the subject of the love interest, Vanity admirably fulfills the role of kidnap-prone media-darling damsel with the latest shimmery 80's fashion with an Asian twist. Her voice is super-sexy when she talks, yet at the same time she looks ready to BITE Bruce Leeroy with every word. She probably did, considering Taimak was a delight to behold in those days. Her dark flaring eyes and “exotic features” (bi-racial but still dark-skinned with straight hair) made her one of the stand-out babes of the 80's. Her musical output under Prince as part of his girl-band “Vanity 6” gave us awesome pop hits, which means she’s not just important to me.
While there were a lot of things in Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon that wouldn’t fly today (namely all the stuff that would now be called “cultural appropriation”), there’s a reason why it’s a cult classic.
CHOICE CUTS <SPOILERS AHOY>:
- I love the idea that everyone in the movie — not just Black people — are being whatever they want to be, regardless of any social limitations. It’s an amazing lesson.
- The flip-side of that is the three Asian guys jamming out to R&B on the street: Du Yi (Frederic Mao, Shadow of China [1989]), Lu Yi (stunt master Michael G. Chin, John Wick 3: Parabellum), and Hu Yi (Henry Yuk, Identity Crisis [1989]). These three were a mirror to nearly every Black male stereotype in Hollywood and even pigeon-holed Bruce Leeroy into “acting Black” just to treat him badly and stop him from seeing Sum Dum Goy.
- Today I learned the actor who played Bruce Leeroy’s sensei was wearing old man makeup. I’m still recovering.
- The movie theater scene is the main reason why it’s an exaggerated fantasy of early 80’s New York, where people dressed and acted that way…but not really.
- Sho’Nuff is hands down one of the best villains in cinema. He talks so much shit, backs it all up, chews the scenery AND get all the best lines. His delivery was also the first time I ever heard a Black person call another Black person the N-word.
- This would have made an amazing shōnen anime.
- Bruce Leeroy: vegan before it was popular.
- Christopher Murney’s line about “kung-fu crap” always hits just right.
- On a very special episode of Jackass, Bruce Leeroy found out he can catch bullets with his teeth.
- We could have done without eating popcorn with chopsticks.
- SPECIAL CAMEOS: William H. Macy and Chazz Palminteri show up as bit characters. You’d never know this was one of their earlier movies given their illustrious careers!
- Faith Vance is such a talented singer that her horrible singing is actually…kinda good. The Broadway training really shows through whenever she does her scenes.
- Bruce Leeroy is such a big Bruce Lee fan (obviously) that he even owns a striped yellow jumpsuit similar to the one worn by Lee in 1978’s Game of Death. The influence and inspiration continues…
- CONTINUING INSPIRATION: Wiarlawd Productions has been working on an animated fan film called Rise of the Last Dragon. Go check them out and give them support!
- CONTINUING INSPIRATION: Alex Caceres fights in MMA competitions, calling himself “Bruce Leeroy”.
