Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon is a 1985 martial arts parody film featuring a predominately African-American cast. Something of a dissapointment upon its original release (the film's Norman Whitfield-produced theme song was nominated for Worst "Original" song at the 1985 Golden Raspberry Awards), The Last Dragon is today considered something of a cult classic. The film stars Taimak, Vanity, Julius J. Carry, III , Christopher Murney , and Faith Prince. A Motown Production, it was released to theatres on March 22 1985 by TriStar Pictures.

The plot, set in New York City, of the film revolves around a black teenage martial arts student named Leroy Green, who calls himself Bruce Leroy and dreams of being a great fighter like his idol, Bruce Lee. Leroy is on a quest to attain the highest level of martial arts accomplishment, "The Glow". As its name suggests, it is a mystical energy that can be tapped into by a martial arts master. When a person's hands glow, they are one of the best fighters in the world. When their entire body glows, they are the single best fighter there is. Along the way to find "The Glow", however, Leroy must comfront villians such as a crooked record producer (Murney) and the evil Sho'nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, and protect his little brother Richie (Leo O'Brian) and his girlfriend, VJ Laura Charles (Vanity).

Trivia

• This was the first acting role ever for Taimak (last name Guarriello, born June 27 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA), a 19-year-old Black/Italian black belt who learned to act on the set of this picture.
• Featured in this film is a DeBarge song, "Rhythm of the Night", written by Diane Warren. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard R&B charts.

External link

• The Last Dragon Movie WebSite