The Last Dragon, a.k.a. “Bruce Leroy” (1985) is a cult classic in the martial arts film genre. This 1985 classic has a couple of unique characters that really stand out, Bruce Leroy and Grandmaster Sho’nuff the self-proclaimed Shogun of Harlem. There are so many great lines in this film, especially from Sho’nuff. Another accolade to this film is that it is an 80’s movie all the way through. Let’s talk about The Last Dragon, a.k.a. “Bruce Leroy” (1985) as the subject of this week’s blog.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve watched this movie or why I was attracted to it in the first place, but it’s a favorite of mine. My friend Shiki No Daibutsu (The Great Buddha of the White Lotus Clan) and I talked about this movie a lot while studying Japanese together at Clemson. In fact, I still have a custom Grand Master Sho’nuff shirt he made me in the vault. Anyway, I found the movie in a $5 bin at Walmart many years ago and bought it. Now, I watch it as often as I’d like.
A quick rundown of the story follows common martial arts film plots. This one has some unique, almost comical, twists though. In the martial arts film world, you generally have 2 plots or an overlap of both. First, someone killed someone’s master and they are out for revenge. The Last Dragon falls into the second category, which is a martial artist is on a quest to obtain some rare skill. The rare skill in this film is a glowing fist. While trying to obtain this skill, the main character “Bruce” Leroy Green has some fights and saves a lady too. In the end, he beats the master, Grand Master Sho’nuff that is, and obtains the skill he sought after.
According to IMDB, The Last Dragon was released on March 24th of 1985, was filmed on a 10-million-dollar budget, and grossed 33 million at the box office (2022). The main female role, Leroy Green and his younger brother’s love interest, is a TV show host. The TV show is one of the old dance party shows that were on television in the 80s. Everyone in this club looked like this decade of time too – their clothes and hair screamed 1980s fashion. The second main female role, a crime lord’s girlfriend, is another stereotypical look into 80s fashion and style. She has crazy hair and crazy clothes. Her main objective is to get her music video on the main female’s tv broadcast. The music video her crime lord boyfriend is pushing reminds me of 80’s MTV.
My favorite part of this movie though without a question is the Shogun of Harlem, Grandmaster Sho’nuff. His kung fu is on point, his squad looks like a crazy 80’s biker gang, they pull mafia moves using Kung Fu instead of Thompson sub machine guns, and his lines are great! When he makes an entrance, he makes an entrance. He asks a series of questions about himself to which his squad answers in unison, “Sho’nuff!” The greatest line from him though must be, “Kiss my Converse.” As someone would bow and kiss a king’s ring, you had to kiss his Converse shoes. Being a fan of Chuck Taylors, I’m a fan of the Shogun.
If you want to watch a movie that has kung fu, creative comical characters, and a lot of 80’s culture, The Last Dragon is for you. I’m sure you can find it, like I did, very cheap in a bin somewhere or on the internet. You might even find it free to watch somewhere. I think Tubi had it for a while. Oh yeah, one other thing to mention, there is a lot of homage paid to Bruce Lee in this film too. As the name suggests, he is an influence on our main character.
You can read more reviews at the links below:
The Last Dragon (1985) – The Last Dragon (1985) – User Reviews – IMDb
The Last Dragon movie review & film summary (1985) | Roger Ebert
The Last Dragon – Rotten Tomatoes
Reference List
IMDB. (2022). The last dragon. IMDB.com. The Last Dragon (1985) – IMDb