Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

A fictionalized account of the life of the martial arts superstar.

Director:

Rob Cohen

Writers:

Robert Clouse (book), Linda Lee Cadwell (book)

Stars:

Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, Robert Wagner

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Scott Lee	...	Bruce Lee
Lauren Holly	...	Linda Lee
Robert Wagner	...	Bill Krieger
Michael Learned	...	Vivian Emery
Nancy Kwan	...	Gussie Yang
Kay Tong Lim	...	Philip Tan
Ric Young	...	Bruce's Father
Luoyong Wang	...	Yip Man
Sterling Macer Jr.	...	Jerome Sprout
Sven-Ole Thorsen	...	The Demon
Ong Soo Han	...	Luke Sun
Eric Bruskotter	...	Joe Henderson
Aki Aleong	...	Principal Elder
Chao Li Chi	...	Elder
Sam Hau	...	Young Bruce

Storyline

Based on the life and career of Martial Arts superstar, Bruce Lee. Haunted by demons. Bruce was taught Martial arts at childhood. Bruce then was told by his father to flee to the United States. There, he opened up a Martial Arts school, then was chosen to be the Green Hornet's sidekick, Kato. Then, his big movie career that included "The Big Boss" and "Enter the Dragon". Fighting many enemies along the way, including his childhood demon.

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Plot Keywords:

kung fu | kato | racism | martial arts | demon | 

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Taglines:

The Mystery. The Life. The Love. The Legend

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence and sensuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese

Release Date:

7 May 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

A sárkány - Bruce Lee élete

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$35,112,679

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$63,512,679

Company Credits

Production Co:

Raffaella De Laurentiis Productions,Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 80 min (online release) (edited)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Bruce Lee is preparing to fight the martial artist chosen to stop him from teaching the "Guai Lo", their warmup is obviously derived from The Way of the Dragon (1972): Lee is exercising his flexibility, while his opponent, like Chuck Norris, is instead practicing a series of "rehearsed routines."

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Goofs

The ARRI camera has a single canister for both exposed and unexposed film. Tearing open the canister would immediately ruin enough film that it would most likely be written off as a total loss.Some may have been salvageable, but it would have been the stuff at the very center, and probably none of the film shot for that scene. Additionally, there is nothing that says "all" of the film was ruined, nor was there anything that stated that he targeted only the film just shot. "Film Crew from 1993" or not, the scene was 100% accurate for what would happen if someone took that camera, tore open the door, and blindly started pulling film out.

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Quotes

Linda Emery: Stop whining and start fighting.

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Alternate Versions

The climatic use of nunchaku in the dream sequence has been reduced to de-emphasize the display of weaponry in most UK versions; the initial lightning flash & zoom onto the highlighted weapon is gone, as are all shots of Lee twirling the weapon. This version was used as the basis for the European DVD release, since Universal did not want to create different DVD masters. Despite the BBFC's blanket ban on ninja weaponry being lifted in 1999 (and the cuts therefore being automatically waived), Universal still re-submitted the cut version to them in 1999 and 2000. The 2016 Blu-ray is uncut, despite the uncut version not having been submitted to the BBFC - however, the Irish classification board (IFCO) did see it in 2015 and lowered their original 18 certificate to a 15.

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Connections

Spin-off Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

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Soundtracks

Runaway
Written and Performed by Del Shannon

User Reviews

Confusion in the narrative and an overly comic book approach does not hinder the lead performance...

The turbulent, sometimes trying life of Bruce Lee, born Lee Jun-Fan in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, who was the leading proponent of Wing Chun Gung Fu and Wu style Tai Chi Chuan in the mid-'60s, as well as a boxing champ, a California martial-arts teacher, loving husband to a young American woman who soon gave him two children, and an international television and movie star in the early 1970s. Jason Scott Lee gives a commanding, one-of-a-kind performance as Bruce Lee, and the film is a well-produced chronicle of one of the most curious and intriguing icons of the last 50 years. Still, the picture seems to play a little fast and loose with the facts, and anyone hoping for a comprehensive look behind the legend is likely to be disappointed. Because this is a dramatized biography of possibly the most popular of martial-arts masters, there's certainly a whole lot of mortal combat (some of which is purely extraneous, pumped up to satisfy the target audience), and the approach is a bit more 'comic book' than serious students might like. The supporting characters and extras are over-directed in their enthusiasm, yet nothing seems to get in the way of Jason Scott Lee who, though perhaps more bulky in frame than the real Bruce Lee, does everything he can with this role and more. ** from ****