Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

"The mystery. The life. The love. The legend."

1993 1h 59m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 828

DramaHistoryAction

Synopsis

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This film is a glimpse into the life, love and the unconquerable spirit of the legendary Bruce Lee. From a childhood of rigorous martial arts training, Lee realizes his dream of opening his own kung-fu school in America. Before long, he is discovered by a Hollywood producer and begins a meteoric rise to fame and an all too short reign as one the most charismatic action heroes in cinema history.

“The mystery. The life. The love. The legend.”

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Cast

Jason Scott Lee
Bruce Lee
Lauren Holly
Linda Lee
Robert Wagner
Bill Krieger
Michael Learned
Vivian Emery
Nancy Kwan
Gussie Yang
Lim Kay Tong
Philip Tan
Ric Young
Bruce's Father
Wang Luoyong
Yip Man

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rob Cohen
Writers: John Raffo, Edward Khmara, Rob Cohen
Languages: Cantonese, English
Countries: Hong Kong, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

33 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Cantonese, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Hong Kong, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rob Cohen, shot by David Eggby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Randy Edelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Amundson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jason Scott Lee and Lauren Holly and Robert Wagner carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rob Cohen directs. David Eggby behind the camera. Randy Edelman scores. Peter Amundson cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Hong Kong, United States of America. Dialogue in Cantonese, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.5× over at the box office.
233 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Cantonese, English.
4International production across 2 countries: Hong Kong, United States of America.
5Directed by Rob Cohen, shot by David Eggby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Randy Edelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Peter Amundson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Jason Scott Lee and Lauren Holly and Robert Wagner carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The mystery. The life. The love. The legend.".
10IMDB entry: tt0106770 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: David Eggby
Original score: Randy Edelman
Editing: Peter Amundson
Production design: Bob Ziembicki
Costume design: Carol Ramsey
Stunt coordinator: Fran Joseph
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $14,000,000
Box office: $63,513,743
Return: 454% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

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Rob Cohen

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2018-04-02
★ 8/10
A celebration of the inimitable Bruce Lee and what he represented RELEASED IN 1993 and directed by Rob Cohen, " Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" stars Jason Scott Lee as the martial arts superstar, tracing his early life in Hong Kong to his fresh start in the San Francisco area where he starts a martial arts school, meets his babe (Lauren Holly) and moves on to TV and Film. He must boldly face many enemies along the way, including his childhood demon. This is basically a rags-to-riches flick and ranks with my favorite films due to its excellent meshing of dynamism, fun and potent drama. I haven’t seen too many martial arts flicks, but “Dragon” is easily the all-around best of those I’ve seen. It mixes real-life with Hollywood mythmaking, which is what many cinematic biographies do, e.g. "Buffalo Bill" (1944) and "Braveheart" (1995). In these types of movies the gist of the story is true, but it's mixed with numerous fictional or even fantastical elements to make the protagonist a larger-than-life hero, but also to entertain the audience because real-life is always more mundane and therefore dull. And movies are made primarily to make money through entertaining, not to relay the truth in exact detail. Right from the get-go the film telegraphs that it's a mythmaking account when Bruce takes on the arrogant British sailors at a dance. He throws one of them and the sailor topples 3-4 other men accompanied by the sound of a bowling ball striking pins (lol). While this particular episode never happened, occasions LIKE IT did, even if it was to someone other than Bruce. The same is true with other sequences, like the fight in the gym, which never happened. But, again, events LIKE IT have. The movie is really meant as a celebration of Bruce Lee, his phenomenal expertise in martial arts and the genre he made popular. If you're looking for an actual biography of his life check out the two biographies listed below (under “WRITERS”). Speaking of which, “Dragon” was partially based on the autobiography of Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce’s wife). Someone offered that she couldn’t possibly have been happy with the film since so much of it is fiction (for instance, Bruce didn’t injure his back as depicted, but via lifting weights). Actually, she was happy with the final picture. But why did she allow so many things to be embellished? Simple: Because the embellishing fed into the Bruce Lee legend from which she benefits. In any case, there are a lot of martial arts thrills mixed with the drama with an exciting action scene occurring roughly every ten minutes. The film gives the protagonist & a few others power over time and space. Of course, one cannot do in real life many of the things these characters perform due to the restrictions imposed by Newton's Laws but, hey, it’s entertaining. This factor explains why “Dragon” has been criticized for springing from one thing to the next too quickly, never pausing long enough for any strong emotion to resonate or for us to feel we really know the man beyond his proverbs. I disagree; I sensed strong emotion on several occasions, like when Bruce exclaims to Linda: “You make be believe I can do anything” or when he wildly screams at her to leave his hospital room, not to mention his outstanding meltdown later in Hong Kong (I’ve had a few of those in my life, so I know). Speaking of Linda, Lauren Holly is just mind-blowing in her physical prime. THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours and was shot in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles & Valencia), China (Macau) and Hong Kong. WRITERS: Three screenwriters wrote the script based on the biographies by Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew) and Robert Clouse (Bruce Lee: The Biography). GRADE: A-

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