Deemed the “official” story of Bruce Lee by Linda Lee Cadwell, I think it is about time we set the record straight on this one. DRAGON is without a doubt one of the biggest offenders of Bruceploitation. Not only does it fudge up the facts about Lee’s life (or just plain make them up), but also it cost $14,000,000 to do so. Don’t get me wrong, DRAGON is a well-made film and looks great, but it really smacks of hypocrisy especially when Linda Lee fought so hard to block the release of films that she claimed, “exploited” her late husbands life. Guess what honey? You did the exact same thing.
Rather than bore you with a tiresome essay about what is wrong with this film, I will just give you a list –
Everything stated above is true. Hollywood in no way, shape or form embellished the life of Bruce Lee for this film.30 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT BRUCE LEE FROM DRAGON:
1. Bruce’s dad had bad dreams; his mom was nowhere to be seen
2. Bruce once beat up 4 American sailors in HK at a dance
3. During the fight he flipped 3 times, landed on a buffet table and took a bite off a finger sandwich
4. Bruce had no idea he was born in America
5. Bruce rode in a boat to America listening to a depressing Chinese guy
6. Bruce read Hemingway in his underwear
7. Bruce hooked up with a waitress named April
8. 5 chefs attacked him with knives because they were jealous
9. Bruce got fired for beating them all up in the alley
10. The term “dish washaa!” prompted Bruce to go to school
11. Linda Lee is a slut (“I’ve dated all the boys.”)
12. If you beat someone up, they will want to learn from you
13. Bruce made Linda miss the end of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S
14. Bruce & Linda declared their love during a Hollywood rainstorm
15. Bruce’s first student Jesse Glover was really named “Jerome Sprout”
16. Bruce accepted the challenge by other teachers and fought a long battle in an huge, dimly lit stone arena
17. Said battle ended with Bruce being paralyzed from a kick to the neck
18. Linda’s mom is a bitch
19. Bruce was heavily booed at first at Ed Parker’s Karate International
20. The same man who paralyzed Bruce fought him there
21. The audience there cheered and chanted “Bruce Lee! Bruce Lee!” when he won
22. Van Williams is an idiot
23. Bruce would make a “BOINGGG!” sound when he jumped on the set of THE GREEN HORNET
24. Producers had to chase Bruce in HK and barely made it on a boat to offer him a contract
25. Golden Harvest was really called “Pearl of the Orient” studios
26. The brother of the guy who paralyzed Bruce showed up on the set of THE BIG BOSS and had a big fight with Bruce
27. Bruce destroyed the footage of this fight by tearing the film up
28. THE BIG BOSS debuted in HK in English with no Chinese subtitles
29. Afterwards, crowds lifted Bruce into the air and carrying him around
30. Bruce Lee first used nunchaku in a dream to defeat a demon that was threatening his son Brandon
31. Rob Cohen went on to make even worse movies (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and XXX)
