Released 40 years ago this weekend, Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon is perhaps the most baffling, beguiling and batshit-crazy kung-fu musical comedy ever made. I’ve written about Dragon in the past. I even appeared on a podcast breaking down what makes it such a beloved film in the African American community. As someone who grew up in a family that had a VHS copy on deck (I still don’t know how we got it), I know too gotdamn much about this movie.
For those who’ve never seen Dragon, the first thing you need to know is that it’s not very good. Back in the ‘80s, Berry Gordy, the man who gave us Motown Records, was still on the Hollywood-mogul tear he began in the ‘70s, when he made prized possession Diana Ross a movie star with such features as Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany and alleged Blaxploitation killer The Wiz.
Tri-Star Pictures snapped up the Dragon script, written by fed-up actor/dancer Louis Venosta, for his Motown Productions. $10 million later, Gordy and his crew created the story of Leroy Green (19-year-old black belt actor Taimak), aka Bruce Leeroy, a Bruce Lee-obsessed martial arts student who, despite being Black and hailing from New York, acts hella Chinese. (Dude eats popcorn with chopsticks, for Chrissakes!) As he continues his journey of achieving “The Glow” when he fights, obstacles keep getting in his way. The biggest one is Sho’nuff (Julius J. Carry), a very loud, vain gang leader (nicknamed the “Shogun of Harlem”) who’s always challenging Green to battle. The other is Laura Charles (Vanity), a music-video show host who gets smitten with the young warrior after he saves her from getting kidnapped by thugs.
But that’s not all. Those thugs were sent by Eddie Arkadian (Chris Murney), a megalomaniacal video-game mogul with a tone-deaf, pop star-wannabe girlfriend (Tony-winning Broadway vet Faith Prince). Because this movie is set in a universe where MTV doesn’t exist (there are video jukeboxes all over the place), Arkadian goes on a mad mission to force Charles into playing his girl’s music on her show. It’s a mission that’ll have Green once again getting his fists-of-fury on.
The Last Dragon is a weird-ass movie — even though I can’t prove it, I’m pretty sure everyone who made this film possible was on cocaine. William H. Macy, Chazz Palminteri, and Cosby Show kid Keshia Knight Pullman show up in babyfaced bit roles. It’s a hilariously tacky fever dream from someone who clearly grew up watching Blaxploitation and karate flicks at Times Square theaters. (One memorable scene shows a rowdy movie audience watching Enter the Dragon, only to be interrupted by Sho’nuff’s over-the-top entrance.) The movie exudes ‘80s gaudiness, from the garish clothing to the poppy soundtrack — sibling singing group DeBarge’s video for “Rhythm of the Night” conveniently gets some screen time. But Dragon is a valentine to all the crazy, multicultural shit that came out of ‘70s grindhouses, which may explain why African-American filmmaker Michael Schultz was hired to direct. Back in the ‘70s, Schultz was the go-to guy for Blaxploitation comedies, helming Cooley High, Car Wash and the Richard Pryor vehicle Which Way Is Up?
Despite meh reviews (”It’s so entertaining that I could almost recommend it,” shrugged Roger Ebert), The Last Dragon did well at the box office, taking in $33 million. People who caught the film either in theaters or at home on cable or home video remember it fondly. Mysterious podcaster The Retroist devoted a 2023 episode to it, revealing how films like Dragon and The Karate Kid inspired him to take up martial arts as a youngster. Unfortunately, after one intense, nausea-inducing session at a dojo, he called it quits. “I didn’t have the heart,“ he said, “or as they might say in The Last Dragon, I knew I’d never get The Glow.”
The Last Dragon has subsequently been referenced in the oddest places, from an LMFAO song (one of the bandmates is Gordy’s son) to the IFC show Sherman’s Showcase (take a listen to “Nuff’s Ballad”) to the movie Raya and the Last Dragon, where an animated dragon actually screams, “I got the glow!” Because this is a movie featuring a protagonist who straight-up appropriates Chinese culture (not to mention that the Asian actors in this film are stuck with stereotypical roles), I’m shocked that Dragon has seemingly never been vilified by any Asian American groups. (When John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China hit theaters a year later, Asian media groups immediately deemed it racist.) In 2018, Tamiak told The Root how Dragon respectfully picked up some things from Asian culture. “I think it’s always a healthy thing if you’re stealing from each other, but in a positive way,” he said.
Perhaps Asian Americans realized that, like so many of us who grew up watching it, that Dragon is simply too ridiculous to be taken seriously. As Green’s archnemesis, Sho’nuff (the late Carry plays him as a bubbling cauldron of roided-out menace) is more of a buffoon than a bully, dropping such hilariously quotable lines like “Kiss my Converse!”
But, even with all its chopsocky chaos, The Last Dragon provided something Black or Asian audiences weren’t getting back then: a film about a positive, heroic character of color. In a 2018 blog post, writer Ryan Harvey commendedDragon for being a Black-and-proud popcorn flick. “It beat out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon for kid-friendly urban martial arts action,” he wrote, “and it has a multicultural cast without making a show of it.” (He also added that Dragon and Big Trouble would make a great double feature.)
Next month, Turner Classic Movies’ Classic Film Festival will have a Dragon screening, featuring an appearance from Schultz, whom the fest will also honor this year. (Hey, TCM, if you need someone to moderate, holla at your boy!) Like most cult classics, The Last Dragon has now achieved a respectable reverence. Fans know it’s not Citizen Kane, but it’s still a fun time nonetheless. As hip-hop podcaster Donnie Houston once told me, it’s not the “best movie,” but it’s a classic al the same.
Craig D. Lindsey is a Houston-based writer. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @unclecrizzle.
