Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Directed by	Rob Cohen
Written by	Rob Cohen John Raffo
Produced by	Raffella de Laurentiis
Starring	Jason Scott Lee Lauren Holly Robert Wagner
Cinematography	David Eggby
Edited by	Peter Amundson
Music by	Randy Edelman
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release dates	May 7, 1993
Running time	120 mins
Language	English
Box office	$35,113,743

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, is a 1993 semi-fictionalized biographical film telling the story of actor Bruce Lee, starring Jason Scott Lee (no relation) as Bruce Lee, Lauren Holly (as Linda Emery) and Robert Wagner. The film was directed by Rob Cohen and written by Cohen, Edward Khmara, and John Raffo.

Plot summary

The film begins with a nightmarish dream of Bruce Lee's father. The father sees a demon in medieval armor that hunts the young Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee is shown as a child receiving instruction in the traditional Chinese martial arts in a montage that passes quickly through his teenage years in Hong Kong.

At a formal dance, Bruce sees a group of drunken British sailors harassing a young Chinese woman. Bruce easily dispatches the entire group of sailors despite being outnumbered. He walks off with the woman when police sirens are heard. As Bruce returns home, his father says that the police are looking for him. One of the sailors was the nephew of a powerful political figure in Hong Kong. His father says that Bruce must leave Hong Kong. He suggests that Bruce go to America. When Bruce questions this choice, his father explains that Bruce was actually born in San Francisco when his father was on a tour there. Bruce sees his birth certificate for the first time. Bruce should have no problems entering the United States since he is officially an American citizen. His father provides plenty of money, money that he had saved up for a day such as this. His father asks Bruce to become a success, so big a success that his name will be famous even back in Hong Kong.

Instead, Bruce Lee ends up as a dishwasher at a modest Chinese restaurant in America. He lives in a small apartment where he reads books by Ernest Hemingway, among other authors. One of the female workers at the restaurant takes an interest in Bruce. They spend the night in Bruce's apartment. When the two speak and laugh together at the restaurant the next day, an older cook becomes jealous and attacks Bruce with a meat cleaver. Bruce throws him onto the stove where the man's shirt catches fire. The other workers put out the fire and throw Bruce into the back alley. Several of the workers head out after Bruce, armed with more meat cleavers.

Bruce fends off the jealous cook. He scampers up the fire escape ladder to avoid another attacker but is forced onto a high metal beam. He is trapped between two of the workers, both armed with meat cleavers. He jumps onto a parallel beam and knocks both of the workers to the ground. The fight continues until the restaurant owner (played by Nancy Kwan) arrives and tells everyone to get inside.

The owner counts out two-weeks' pay... and two-weeks' severance pay. Bruce is dejected. She counts out more money. Bruce asks what that's for. She says it's an all-purpose loan. She says that Bruce can spend all the money on a night on the town with his new girlfriend. But she says that all the money will be gone and in a few months, the girl will be gone too. The alternative is that Bruce can get himself an education.

Bruce is seen in the next shot wearing a coat and tie, walking quickly on a college campus. He has enrolled at a university. He does not give up his training though. He works out at an on-campus gym, surrounded by other students who are practicing wrestling, volleyball and other sports. Bruce is performing a behind-the-back lat pulldown . A group of bullying guys walk up to him and tell him he needs to get off the equipment. They say that they always work out there at that time. Bruce says he's not done. One of the blond men begins to call Bruce names of a racial nature. He blames Bruce and his kind for killing his father in the Korean War. Bruce asks the man not to touch him. The man asks what Bruce will do about it. Bruce says that he might have to touch the man back. As the two stare each other down, Bruce lowers his head meekly and walks off between two of the other men. They call him a coward and laugh at him. Then Bruce calls back and says he is waiting. He hasn't finished his workout so he might as well finish it on the blond man.

Bruce and the blond man face off on the wrestling mats. The man throws roundhouse punches at Bruce. Bruce fends them off without giving any ground. As he dodges another punch, he taps the man on the head and laughs at him. The man is infuriated and bullrushes him. Bruce leaps up and over the charge. Two of the man's friends rush at Bruce. Bruce does a backflip out of their path, causing the two men to run into each other. Bruce proceeds to knock down all of the men, leaving them moaning in pain on the floor. He walks out of the gym with a pained expression on his face. Two of the men come running after him. Bruce turns suddenly and puts up his arms in defense. The men flinch and say they come in peace. They want to learn about "that jujitsu" stuff. Bruce turns away and begins to walk. One man says that he was right, that it's "secret chink" stuff. Bruce turns around, causing the two men to flinch again.

In the next scene, we see that man being flipped over and onto his back by Bruce. However, it isn't a fight. It's a class being conducted by Bruce outdoors with a mat. All of the attackers are now students of Bruce. As the class winds down, an attractive woman walks up to Bruce and asks if he also teaches women. Bruce says it's usually only men that want to learn about fighting. The woman says she has dated some of the guys in the group so she's used to fighting. The woman, Linda, wants to set up a date. Bruce agrees but he says it's an appointment, not a date. There's a difference.

In the next class we see, which takes place indoors, Bruce sets up a demonstration with Linda since everyone else is much bigger than her. After Bruce points out that he saw her punch, Linda reaches out and flips Bruce over onto the mat, ending up on top of him in a straddling position. Bruce asks Linda on a date. Linda asks why just her. Bruce says, "Because I've already fallen for you."

Linda sneaks out of her mother's house under the pretense that she is going bowling. Her friend picks her up in a car. Linda jumps into the back seat to change into a fancy dress, which she hid in the bowling bag. Her friend questions Linda's plans to go on a date with a Chinese man. The friend says that she could never kiss a Chinese man. Linda says that she hopes she'll do much more than just kiss.

Linda meets Bruce in the fancy restaurant where Bruce has been waiting at the bar. When Bruce asks the maitre d' for a table, the man looks disapprovingly at Bruce and Linda. He claims that there are no tables and that they'll have to wait. As other people enter the restaurant and are seated, Bruce becomes frustrated. After arguing with the maitre d', he suggests to Linda that they go somewhere else. Bruce and Linda have their dinner at the Chinese restaurant where Bruce used to wash dishes.

Linda suggests that Bruce open up a martial arts training school. After Bruce opens the school there is a dream sequence of the demon finding Bruce and attacking him.

After the school becomes successful, some other Chinese martial arts schools have a dispute with Bruce over whether he should train non-Chinese people the traditional Chinese martial arts. Bruce still wants to train non-Chinese people and the other Chinese men set up a fight with Johnny Sun. Bruce wins the fight but Sun delivers a cheap shot and Bruce ends up with a back injury. While immobilized and recovering Bruce and Linda writes "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do." Linda also tell him that she is pregnant. Later Bruce in a wheelchair, goes to another hospital room where Linda has given birth to their first child, a son whom Linda wants to name Brandon.

Linda's mother shows up at the martial arts school. Linda sees her first but reacts coolly. Her mother is about to leave when Bruce shows up in his wheelchair and invites her in.

Later at Ed Parker's martial arts tournament Bruce has a face off with Johnny Sun and he wins once again. After the match Bruce meets Bill Krieger and they come up with the "Green Hornet" TV show. Bruce and Bill work together and create the idea for Kung Fu. At cast party, Linda says she is now pregnant with their second child and quickly afterwards there is an announcement for the cancellation of the "Green Hornet". Bruce tells Linda not to worry. This is followed by a scene where Linda looks through notices of overdue bills. Bruce and Linda are watching "Kung Fu" on television, starring David Carradine instead of Bruce(implying that Bill sold Bruce out because of his skin color). Bruce receives a phone call informing Bruce of his father's death.

At his father's funeral there is another dream sequence with the demon. Later Bruce boards a ferry. He is pursued by several men who are running to catch up to him. One of them finds Bruce at the top deck and says he is Philip Tan, a Hong Kong movie producer. He says that Bruce is well-known in Hong Kong and that the "Green Hornet" show is called "The Kato Show" there.

Bruce begins work on "The Big Boss." In the filming of the final scene, set in an ice factory, he is prepared to fight other actors. Instead, the brother of Johnny Sun steps out of the van, blaming Bruce for his brother's injuries and inability to speak or walk normally. The two engage in an all-out battle with the brother sliding massive chunks of ice at Bruce. Bruce smashes each block of ice with his bare fist. The brother tries to hold Bruce's head onto a conveyor belt where a circular saw blade slices through the ice blocks. Bruce escapes but the brother knocks him in front of the factory and holds Bruce's head in a puddle of water. Bruce appears to be dead. The brother rejoices. Suddenly he is knocked off of his feet as Bruce rises from the ground. He jumps up and crashes back down on the brother, ending the fight. Bruce walks over to the camera, opens it up and rips out the film. The director is furious. He says that was the best fight scene he ever filmed. The premiere of "The Big Boss" in Macau.

Bill Krieger shows up in the editing room as Bruce is working on edits. He is wearing an electrical stimulus device. He says that a few minutes of the device is like doing 200 push-ups. Krieger knows that Bruce is angry with him but he offers Bruce a chance to work on a big-budget Hollywood movie.

Bruce misses out on a planned outing with Brandon to the zoo. Later on in the bedroom, Linda tells Bruce that she is going back to America with Brandon and Shannon. She says that Hong Kong is tearing them apart. Bruce goes into a rant about his failed decade in America. He says that everyone there only wants him to be a "coolie" and to work in a Chinese restaurant as a subservient waiter. He runs out to his car.

Bruce tells his movie business partner Philip Tan about the deal from Krieger and Warner Brothers. Tan is upset and feels betrayed. He says that America doesn't want Bruce. Bruce sits down and explains quietly that his wife and his kids are American, that he needs to go back to be with them again and keep his family together.

On the 32nd day of shooting "Enter the Dragon" Bruce is walking down the hallway lined with mirrors. The ground begins to shake again. The demon has returned. The director and all of the crew have disappeared. A mirror-covered wall shuts Bruce in and the demon gives chase. Bruce finds himself in a courtyard at nighttime. The demon, who is much taller and bigger than Bruce, overpowers him, forcing him to come face to face with his own soon-to-be grave tombstone. He begins to choke Bruce. The demon only stops when he hears Brandon yelling on the other side of the courtyard. The demon approaches young Brandon. Bruce yells for Brandon to run. Bruce jumps on the demon's back, only to get knocked down to the ground. He jumps on it again and gets thrown down again. Bruce runs in front of Brandon. He kicks the demon in the neck. Despite the neck guard, the demon begins to howl. Just as Bruce thinks he has found the demon's weakness, a set of spikes emerges from the demon's faceguard. Bruce brings out his nunchuks. He strikes the demon in the neck and on the head. The demon screams out in pain. Bruce wraps the nunchuks around the demon's neck and pulls him down from behind. As Bruce is about to emerge victorious over the demon, he finds himself back on the movie set in front of the mirrors. The director is puzzled by Bruce and says that he thought he had lost Bruce for a while. Bruce walks past the director and out of the building.

Bruce returns to his house where Brandon is playing with a toy train set and Shannon is looking on. Brandon is surprised to see Bruce. Bruce says playfully that he lives there too. He asks to play with the train set with Brandon. Brandon agrees enthusiastically as Shannon laughs with joy. Linda looks on the scene and smiles contentedly.

Later on, as Bruce is about to climb a set of stone stairs, he says this is the last day of filming for "Enter the Dragon". He turns and tells Linda that he loves her. She says that he had never said that before. Bruce says that despite that, he meant it every single day. He walks up to the top of the stone wall where he overlooks a courtyard filled with dozens of robed men practicing martial arts poses. They stop and look up at Bruce and bow.

Bruce is seen in silhouette against the setting sun as he practices his martial arts moves. Linda speaks over the scene, saying that three weeks before "Enter the Dragon" opened, Bruce fell into a coma and died soon after. She says that some prefer to focus on the mysterious way he died. But she prefers to focus on the way he lived.

Main cast

• Jason Scott Lee... Bruce Lee
• Duncan Chow... Bruce Lee (as an infant)
• Lauren Holly... Linda Lee
• Robert Wagner... Bill Krieger
• Michael Learned... Vivian Emery
• Nancy Kwan... Gussie Yang
• Ed Parker Jr.... Ed Parker
• Kay Tong Lim... Philip Tan
• Ric Young... Bruce's Father
• Wang Luoyong... Yip Man
• Sterling Macer... Jerome Sprout
• Sven-Ole Thorsen... The Demon
• Eric Bruskotter... Joe Henderson
• Aki Aleong... Principal Elder
• Michael Cudlitz... Tad Overton
• Van Williams .... TV director of The Green Hornet
• Lala Sloatman (sometimes credited as Lala) ... Sherry Schnell

Production notes and cameos

• Both lead actors Jason Scott Lee and Lauren Holly trained in Bruce Lee's Martial Art Jeet Kune Do for months under former Lee student-turned-instructor Jerry Poteet. Jason Scott Lee has continued to train in Jeet Kune Do under Poteet since 1993. Poteet also portrays himself in the film. He can be seen in the background of many scenes.

• The tombstone that Bruce (Jason Scott Lee) is forced to see when confronting his demon towards the end of movie is the actual tombstone of Bruce Lee. The picture on it is different from the one that is actually on the real one but the date of birth, date of death and the epitaph are the same.

• The role for Bruce Lee was first offered to his real-life son Brandon Lee, who declined. Brandon Lee died in a fatal shooting accident while filming for the movie The Crow in March 1993, less than two months before this film's release. The film is dedicated to his memory at the end credits. In the film Brandon was portrayed as a child by Iain M. Parker.

• Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee has a cameo appearance as a singer in the party scene (singing "California Dreamin'"), at which Linda tells Bruce she is pregnant for the second time - carrying Shannon.

• Van Williams, who played The Green Hornet in the 1960s TV series of the same name appears as the director of The Green Hornet in this film. Contrary, however, to what is depicted in the film, Williams actively petitioned the studio in support of equal screentime for his non-white co-star. Williams pleas' to the studio fell on deaf ears.

• The film is based upon the novel Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, written by Linda Lee Cadwell, the late Bruce Lee's wife and widow.

• Wong Jack Man did not kick Bruce Lee in the back while Lee was walking away from the fight. The fight did in fact take place but it was at Lee's own school, not at the strange temple seen in the film. Bruce won successfully, but his fighting style was very limited at the time. This fight was the reason that Lee would develop his own style, Jeet Kune do. Lee later injured his back while lifting weights.

• There was no rematch between Lee and Wong Jack Man or a fight against Wong Jack Man's brother while making The Big Boss. However, a challenge match did take place between the real Bruce Lee and a local Thai boxer while filming The Big Boss.

• In the film The Fast and the Furious, this film was on Dominic Toretto's television during a scene in his house. Both films are directed by Rob Cohen.

Historical inaccuracies

• In real life, Brandon Lee was born with blond hair. The film shows him with black hair.

• Bruce was already an actor before he became a martial artist, according to his screen test he was in Hong Kong films since he was 6 years old. The film only shows him working on The Green Hornet, pitching the idea for Kung Fu, and his martial arts action films.

• There were absolutely no problems between Bruce's film making and spending time with his family. In fact according to the documentary Bruce Lee: Warrior Within, production stills of Game of Death shows that Bruce invited Linda, Brandon, and Shannon to the set during filming. The film shows Bruce nearly isolating himself from his family, even arguing with Linda on two separate occasions

• It is well known that Brandon Lee has been taught martial arts by his father at a young age, and that during a demonstration in Hong Kong, Brandon was shown breaking a board. The film never indulges on Brandon learning Martial Arts or the demonstration.

• Johnny Sun nor his kin ever existed. Sun was based on Wong Jack Man, who challenged Bruce to a no holds barred match. The match was over the disapproval of Bruce teaching non-Chinese students Kung Fu. Bruce won the match in real life and in the film. However unlike the film, Wong Jack Man left whereas Johnny Sun in the film broke Bruce's back. Bruce did break his back in real life, but from excessive weightlifting. Sun's brother is based on reports of extras on the set of martial arts films that have challenged Bruce to a fight insisting that Bruce was only an actor. Like the extras, Bruce beat Sun's brother.

• The Tao of Jeet Kune Do was published after Bruce Lee died. In the film it is published before he died.

• On the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce collapsed. In the film, he had a vision of a demon fighting him; after the fight, Bruce is back on the set of enter the dragon, confused but unfazed.

• Although Bruce Lee did work and live in Ruby Chow's restaurant, he had no confrontations against the other workers. However there are old pictures showing Bruce teaching others martial arts in the back lot of the restaurant.

• In the film, after the success of The Big Boss, it is showing Bruce working in the editing room on Way of the Dragon. In real life, Fist of Fury was made after The Big Boss. Although it is possible that the scene in the film was time lapsed.

External links

• Information on the film's inaccuracies
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story at IMDb