Original subtitles

COMMENTARY: I'm Michael Schultz.

And when I first read the script of The Last Dragon...

...it was one of the few projects...

...that I knew immediately was gonna be successful.

Uh, because in the history of cinema...

...there have been very few black heroes.

And a young black hero and gorgeous people...

...I knew that kids would look at this movie...

...over and over and over again. Um...

So the character Bruce Leroy...

...a young unassuming guy who fantasizes...

...that he is Bruce Lee...

...the black Bruce Lee.

Um, and the adventures that he gets into...

...I thought would just captivate a young audience.

So I went to Suzanne de Passe, who had found the project...

...and begged her to let me do it.

Um...

I didn't know where we would find a central character...

...because we...

Um, we had the Jim Kellys...

...and the Ron Van Cliefs.

But they were older martial artists.

And we didn't know where the young ones were.

Or if there were any who were trained.

So I met with Louis Venosta...

...to find out what was the genesis for this idea.

And he told me that he was a dancer...

...and had done Fame and some other projects.

And he was always complaining to his girlfriend...

...that there were no black heroes.

And he was a Bruce Lee fanatic.

So his girlfriend said, "Well, why don't you go write one?"

And he went home one weekend...

...and spent a couple weeks and came up with this story.

And I said, "Well, this is...

...something that I really want to be involved in."

This effect that you're looking at right now is not a special effect.

We actually shot arrows...

...at a predetermined target.

And had Taimak try to chop them in half out of the air.

It took us about two hours before we got the timing right.

And he got the strength right to actually break the arrow.

I met with Berry Gordy and Suzanne de Passe...

...and we agreed on the vision of the film.

And then it became a process of trying to find this kid.

Um...

And we had casting sessions in every major city.

Um...

And they were actually quite funny...

...because we put a call out for young...

...20 to 25-year-old black martial artists.

And little old white ladies would come to the audition.

It was hysterical.

Um, but everybody came to audition for this movie.

And we got down to the bitter end of the schedule.

And we still had not found our Bruce Leroy.

And toward the end of the casting session a young guy came in.

Had no acting training whatsoever.

Um, but he had won several major competitions in New York.

And that was Taimak.

And he had this genuine smile, just a great innocent quality about him.

But he was a serious, for-real martial artist.

And we decided whatever it would take to teach him...

...how to act, we would do that...

...because he was the perfect physical character. Um...

And one of the hardest part of the process in making this film...

...was teaching him how to act. Um...

[COMMENTATOR CLEARS THROAT]

But the one thing we didn't have to teach him was genuine warmth and charm.

Which just came with the guy.

MASTER: Leroy...

...if it is a master...

...you must have...

...there is an old sage called Sum Dum Goy.

He is said to be the wisest man in the universe.

COMMENTARY: When we did this film...

...computer generated screenplay systems...

...were just coming into being.

And we decided to work on the script...

...with a computer.

And one of the problems with this project was that it wound up being...

...far more costly than the studio was willing to fund.

So while we were in New York we had finished the casting process.

We had the set designer working.

And we got an edict from the company saying...

...we have to, um...

We have to cut $2 million out of the budget.

Uh, otherwise, we can't make this film.

So Louis Venosta and I...

...stayed up in a hotel room all night...

...rewriting the screenplay to drop enough scenes...

...and enough of the money element...

...So that we could do it for the budget that they were willing to spend.

And we would take turns writing.

And he was finally so exhausted that he fell asleep on the bed in the hotel room.

And I continued typing on this computer.

And I hit a key that in my wildest dreams I should never have hit.

And I deleted 40 pages of script.

And original material.

And try as I might, I couldn't get that material back.

It had just vanished into cyberspace.

When I woke-- Uh, when Louis woke up, I said:

"I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is, the script's a lot shorter.

[COMMENTATOR CHUCKLING]

The bad news is I deleted 40 pages and we can't get it back."

So we spent the rest of that day...

...recreating what we thought was in those 40 pages.

And we actually came in under budget.

And wound up with a very good film anyway.

♪ We live in a jungle ♪

[PEOPLE YELLING INDISTINCTLY]

COMMENTARY: Making this film in New York...

...was a fascinating process just from a sociological point of view.

Because New York unions...

...were ten years behind Hollywood...

...in terms of opening up the unions to minorities and women.

And it was still basically controlled...

...by the good old father-son process.

And so here was a film...

...that was developed by a black company, Motown.

Um, had mostly black actors in it.

And out of a crew of 100 there was only one black union person.

Uh, and we couldn't fight those battles.

This was way before Spike Lee came on the scene.

And had to make a very complicated picture.

Um, but I always resolved to go back to New York...

...and make a picture with a primarily black crew.

Because one of the things that kept coming up was...

...the talent doesn't exist, they're not there, you know?

They haven't been trained.

Um, but that was just part of the mindset at the time.

BEAST: I got him, Sho. I got him.

I got him, Sho. I got him.

Here you go, Sho. Here's the roach who said it.

COMMENTARY: I even put my youngest son Brandon in the show...

...to be the little kid that Sho'nuff picks up and is about to beat up.

And he identifies Leroy.

Um...

And one of the things from a stylistic point of view...

...that we did was we decided to take these outlandish characters...

...just short of being cartoon...

...and make them as real as possible.

So here you have in New York City a kid...

...who walks around in a Chinese coolie hat and coolie clothes...

...and a tough guy named Sho'nuff...

...who's dressed like a Kabuki samurai.

Um, as if these are normal people walking around the streets of New York.

LEROY: --see only that which can be held in their hands.

COMMENTARY: And to pull off this character of Sho'nuff...

Um, finding an actor who could do that...

...was almost as difficult as finding the martial artist...

...that Taimak wound up being.

And we couldn't find another martial artist who could act.

And we weren't willing...

...to have all our hairs turn gray...

...to work with a total martial artist crew.

So we found Julius Carry.

Um, he knew no martial arts at all.

But he was such a wonderful actor...

...that he made you believe that he could do the kicks and the flips.

So with a combination of his wonderful ability...

...to take you into that character and a few stunt men...

...we pulled off the fact that he was a tough...

...karate artist in his own right.

[SHO'NUFF YELLING]

COMMENTARY: The stunt men and the martial artists that we hired...

...were quite good.

Um, Ron Van Clief...

...who's done many pictures of his own...

...in the Jim Kelly, Bruce Lee days...

...was one of our primary fight choreographers.

SHO'NUFF: --because I am the shogun!

And I will not rest until everybody knows...

...shogun is the master!

[SNO'NUFF SNARLS]

COMMENTARY: And he had a style that really fit shogun.

So we had him work primarily with Sho'nuff, the shogun of Harlem.

And we hired another fight choreographer...

...to deal with Taimak...

...who had a more fluid Bruce Lee style.

And the third fight choreographer...

...was the father of this young guy named Ernie Reyes Jr.

And Ernie Reyes did the fight choreography for all the kids.

[ROCK LAUGHING]

Ah-ah-ah-ah.

[ROCK LAUGHING]

[♪♪♪]

TV ANNOUNCER: Live from Seventh Heaven...

...It's Laura's Video Hotpix...

...brought to you by Coca-Cola.

Coke is it.

[CHUCKLES]

[ON TV] ♪ Coke is it ♪

Soon that's gonna be you, Angie...

...dancing around on that screen, ain't that right?

COMMENTARY: The villain of the piece, Christopher Murney...

...and Faith Prince...

...his girlfriend, an aspiring Madonna...

...and Mike Starr...

...his right hand goon...

...were the bad guys.

And they were always over the top in terms of performance.

But that's exactly the quality that we were looking for.

[ALL CHEERING]

[♪♪♪]

And now, for my video hot-pick of the week--

And it is hot.

--I say we rock on with DeBarge.

"Rhythm of the Night."

COMMENTARY: I think this was one of the first films...

...that used giant screen projection.

We took some of the technology from concerts.

And decided that a lot of our action...

...could be live...

...and projected on the screens in the nightclub that we created.

So we had a stage off to the side...

...where we would shoot the actors...

...talking on screen...

...to the actors who were in front of the screen.

So we had a very interactive...

...and fluid result...

...because we were working in real time.

And I believe that's the first time that that was done in film.

And finding the technicians who could give us the brightness...

...and the image quality that we needed for these thirty-foot screens...

...was quite a feat.

♪ Forget about the worries On your mind ♪

♪ You can leave them all behind ♪

♪ Feel the beat Of the rhythm of the night ♪

♪ Dance until the morning light ♪

COMMENTARY: And one of the fun things about the project being a Motown project...

...was we were able to tap into some of their talent.

So the music videos that our villain was producing...

...of course became music videos that some of the Motown artists...

...were gonna use to promote their singles.

♪ To the beat of the rhythm of the night Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Forget about the worries on your mind You can leave them all behind ♪

♪ Feel the beat Of the rhythm of the night ♪

Come on, we're just talking about one dinner out of your life.

Come on, at least have dinner with him.

J.J., would love to help you out...

...but my show is booked solid for the next four weeks.

So you're just gonna have to wait.

-Honey-- -Please, we've got a show to do.

Will you at least look at the videotape?

-J.J., there is no point. -Laura, there is a point.

The point of the knife which is at my neck.

He'll slit my throat if you don't do this. Come on!

What are you talking about, J.J.?

COMMENTARY: Now for the female lead...

...we wanted a gorgeous young black woman...

...who could sing.

And Vanity...

...was on the scene as one of Prince's discoveries.

So we approached her and she was completely up for it.

And really a very sweet person...

...who had a very believable quality on screen.

As well as being drop dead gorgeous.

So we felt with...

...a handsome and charming, muscular...

...karate guy like Taimak...

...and a gorgeous young woman like Vanity...

...that we had some...

...fun people to watch onscreen in this musical fantasy.

We were also lucky to get Lester Wilson to choreograph the show.

Lester...

...had great credits as a Broadway choreographer...

...and had done a lot of the very hot music videos of the time.

And he gave us our moves.

And there are scenes when Vanity is performing...

...where you see her in front of the screen...

...and then big head shots on the video projected screens in the back.

So we would sometimes shoot direct stuff and put it on the big screens...

...and shoot scenes on our stage in the background...

...and put it on the big screen.

EDDIE: What?

Nobody turns down an Eddie Arkadian invitation.

Nobody.

So come and join us because the winner...

...will get a Seventh Heavenly evening out on the town with me.

What do you think about that?

[CROWD CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]

BOY: How about a kiss?!

LAURA: Who said that?

-I said it! -No, I said it!

A kiss?

Well, you never know.

But here's one for now.

Got if!

♪ You found my place You finally found my place ♪

♪ Yes, love's inside my lords Dancin' all the time ♪

♪ Hop off the elevator Hell with incinerators ♪

♪ Heaven never burned An angel on a fire ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh He never burned an angel on a fire ♪

♪ He was full of desire ♪

♪ Oh, no We don't burn angels on the fire ♪♪

Yeah.

That's my babe. Ha, ha.

-What you talking about? -That's my woman up there.

She don't know it yet, but she's mine.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Yeah.

Yeah.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

COMMENTARY: So one of the elements that...

...we tried to achieve in this film was to make it as...

...interesting for the eye to look at as possible.

We got James Contner to do the cinematography.

He had done several Woody Allen pictures as a cameraman.

And he was a very talented DP.

And this was one of his first big breaks.

I thought he would have a big career as a DP.

But he decided to become a director.

LAURA: How you doing tonight, Sal? -You just sit back and relax.

Sal got sick.

-Hey, what are you doing? -The right thing, Miss Charles...

...which is what you're gonna do if you got half a brain.

-Help! Help! Somebody help me! -Put her in the car!

Come on, get her in here.

-Help me, somebody! -Get in the car, bitch!

Aah! Aah!

You--

I would not do that if I were you.

[SCREAMING]

You little punk.

[♪♪♪]

[LEROY YELLING]

Hey, what are you, crazy? Huh, tough guy? Come on!

COMMENTARY: Um, I don't know if you know, but this guy Frank Renzulli...

...was an actor at the time.

But he's since become a very well-known writer.

Developed several shows...

...and was writing with David Kelley for a time being.

But then went on to do his own stuff.

LAURA: Help!

COMMENTARY: We had no stunt men really in this picture.

They were all martial artists.

And Taimak did all of his own stuff.

Vanity did all of her own physical work.

And all the others were martial artists of various degrees of training.

LAURA: What about you? Are you okay?

They did not harm me.

[SIGHS]

Wow.

[♪♪♪]

Your things.

That's okay. I can get them.

It seems that everything is safe now.

Yeah.

COMMENTARY: So the kind of romantic connection...

...that we were making with our lead actors...

...you really hadn't seen in black film...

...other than...

...Lady Sings the Blues with Billy Dee and Diana.

LAURA: I just don't know how to thank you.

COMMENTARY: So we were going back to...

...that kind of Cary Grant, um...

LAURA: Did you see where that guy went? -Yeah, he's right--

I don't know. What? You getting in or what?

COMMENTARY: Connection.

TAXI DRIVER: Come on, honey, let's go. Huh?

Where is that deejay lady anyway?

I mean, what's the big deal?

Can't she just meet us there?

COMMENTARY: I do wanna talk about the production design...

...because I thought it was...

...extremely well done for the cartoon quality that we were...

...going after.

And, um...

ANGIE: Uh-uh.

Then knock it off. Don't bug me.

COMMENTARY: I'll talk about that in the second reel.

The, um...

The budget for this film...

...finally came in at $10 million.

And in 1985, that was a...

...medium-budget picture.

And when the film opened...

...it was one of Tri-Star's early pictures.

And it generated about $33 million at the box office.

So it was the kind of project...

...that kids went back to see over and over again.

I'd run into young people in record shops...

...and they would tell me, "Oh, I saw that picture 10 times."

It was very interesting to see the reaction of young people to this project.

LEROY: Chinese GoJu is my secret.

I bear no arms.

ALL: Chinese GoJu is my secret. I bear no arms.

LEROY: May God help me if I ever have to use my art.

ALL: May God help me if I ever have to use my art.

Conscience is our guide.

[STUDENTS REPEATING AFTER LEROY]

Peace is our shelter.

Beauty and perfection is our life.

See the courtesy.

COMMENTARY: One of the things I've tried to do...

COMMENTARY: One of the things I've tried to do...

...in the course of my films is to project...

...strong and positive role models...

...for minority kids.

And to me, Bruce Leroy was a perfect opportunity to show that.

So we take people into his training, into his dojo.

We use the real mantras...

...that they use in the dojos...

...which are studios for martial arts.

[JOHNNY SCREAMING]

COMMENTARY: And then we poke fun at it all.

[MAN YELLS]

-Ooh. LEROY: Johnny...

...to seek safety, one must go to the heart of danger.

Huh?

[YELLS]

Yeah.

Yeah. Ha-ha-ha.

The sign outside says this here school is for instructions in the martial arts.

So we thought we might get some lessons.

THUG 1: Yeah, where do we sign up?

-How many yen? THUG 2: I'd like to learn kung fu.

WOMAN: Come on, hot stuff. -Come on, Leroy.

Teach me something.

I do not wish to fight you.

Well, who do you "wish" to fight, then?

One of them? Or one of the ladies maybe?

Yeah, since you're too much of a sissy to fight me...

...maybe they're more your speed.

Get him, girls.

Maybe you can get a rise out of this limp wimp.

-Yaah! -Heh, heh.

-You wanna wrestle? -Hey, little girl.

All you've got is this bod, and that's it.

I would love to peel this banana.

Come on, handsome, show us your stuff!

How about a little kiss on my fist?

Aw, he's too much of a gentleman to hit a lady.

[WOMEN GRUNTING AND YELLING]

Who looks scared to me! Oh.

Yeah! Come on, Leroy!

-Yeah, that's right! Bow, sucker! BEAST: Yeah. Ha-ha-ha.

Bow down to your master!

Yeah, coolie, kiss my Converse.

-So sorry. Excuse me. -Bow!

COMMENTARY: The picture was done totally in Manhattan.

There was an old bread factory...

...in Long Island across the river called Silver Cup Studios.

And they had only done commercials in the studio.

And the L tra-- The subway...

The subway was running right next to some of the windows in the studio.

So it wasn't quite what you'd call the perfect filming environment.

But we got it cheap and decided to use it.

So we filmed most of our stuff in Silver Cup Studios.

And in some warehouses along the river.

[GANG LAUGHING]

COMMENTARY: We had a shooting schedule of 44 days.

So, basically, we were doing highly choreographed scenes...

...and musical numbers and action...

...in a very short time schedule.

SHO'NUFF: Who's the master?! GANG: Sho'nuff!

SHO'NUFF: Who's the master?! GANG: Sho'nuff!

SHO'NUFF: The shogun of Harlem! GANG: Yeah!

[ALL LAUGHING]

BEAST: Yeah!

Sometimes it is hard to live the way of the wise.

Huh?

Hey, Reloy!

Your papa-san, he wants you in the kitchen, man!

COMMENTARY: This is probably the only film in my career...

...where we had to work so hard...

...to get acting performances.

Because we chose to go for the martial arts.

Taimak, who is a wonderful guy...

...we had a series of acting coaches.

Because the...

And they would work like a tag team.

They'd work with him.

Then they'd get tired out...

...and the next acting coach would come in and work with him.

LEROY: Mama-san, Papa-san...

...Richie-san...

...Lotus Blossom-san.

[GIGGLES]

COMMENTARY: But ultimately...

...he did everything that we asked him to do.

And, um...

RICHIE: No wonder she's so confused. LEROY: Bless this food.

COMMENTARY: I also thought that if he kept working...

...he could have been a major star.

RICHIE: People talk, you know. -Richard, leave your brother alone.

I can't help it if he's weird.

You're weird, man, really weird.

Richie, when I first started my business, people said I was weird.

COMMENTARY: The little girl, the baby sister of the family...

...Keisha, went from The Last Dragon...

...10 a big career on The Cosby Show.

RICHIE: That's my date for tonight.

LAURA [ON TV Because it's alive...

...and very, very exciting.

-That is her. RICHIE: You telling me?

You better believe that's her. That's Laura Charles.

So you remember now, every weekday night at 8:00.

Laura Charles.

-I would like to see her. RICHIE: Well, who wouldn't, fool?

[IMITATING LEROY] "I would like to see her.”

No way the queen is gonna be looking at no walking fortune cookie.

"I would like to see her."

-Well, I'll see her today, at rehearsal. -You know where she is?

- I know where she's gonna be. -Take me to see her.

I ain't taking you nowhere. You might embarrass me.

You're too weird.

[♪♪♪]

You do not understand. She may have something I need.

Ho-ho. I knew it would happen sooner or later.

COMMENTARY: We shot this scene...

...the pizza parlor that Leroy's family owned...

...was set in Alphabet City in the East Village in New York.

RICHIE: Now, even you being a disgrace and all...

...I'd be less than a man if I didn't warn you...

...there's an art to making love and you don't even have a paintbrush.

You gotta know the moves, baby. You know, the moves.

LEROY: Richie...

COMMENTARY: One of the fun things in the script is...

...the relationship between Leroy and his little brother Richie.

Where the little brother is more worldly.

More knowledgeable than Leroy, the older one.

Because he's dedicated his life to the martial arts...

...and is therefore totally out of the loop as far as being cool or being--

Knowing how to deal with women.

So the little brother tries to teach him.

LEROY: Richie, I must go to this dance contest.

I ain't taking you nowhere, and that's final.

Please.

Kiss my hand.

Richie, please.

COMMENTARY: So Leo O'Brien, who played the little brother...

...handled it very well. I thought he was a wonderful young actor.

LEROY: What it look like? Do it.

Yeah, baby.

Do it, do it. What-- What it be like? What it...

Okay. That's it, that's it.

That is it, stop.

Stop right here.

It is pit-- It's just pitiful.

-Give me one more chance! -No. It is pitiful.

-Put me down. -Oh...

Put me down.

It's pitiful.

♪ At my window Staring out into the night ♪

♪ Wishing on a starlight ♪

COMMENTARY: The...

The combination of music...

...action, comedy...

...was a great one.

I call this a three popcorn movie, you know?

The kind you sit in and go for popcorn...

...and watch it again the second showing...

...because you missed a little section.

ROCK: Come on, move it!

♪ Give me some of that Magic ♪

♪ My pride has got me cryin' Hear me sighin' ♪

♪ Tryin' to hide from what I feel ♪

See, man, messing around with you, now my boys don't even know I'm here.

You're not trying to enter without paying, are you?

Chill out, chopsticks. Let me handle this.

There must be another door.

I'll be back. Just stay right here and don't move.

-And if anyone asks, remember-- -I know, I ain't your brother.

COMMENTARY: This film...

...was inspired...

...by the Chinese kung fu movies...

...and very much follows the formula.

ROCK: I don't know. I only do what I'm told. We try for perfection!

COMMENTARY: Characters who are bigger than life...

...but represent human qualities that we recognize.

[♪♪♪]

LAURA: Help!

Help!

COMMENTARY: A story where good eventually wins out over evil.

♪ I found a picture ♪

♪ Inside your suitcase ♪

♪ I don't know what it means ♪

♪ I didn't recognize her face ♪

♪ Mail order catalogs ♪

COMMENTARY: Now, I don't know in the lexicon of film...

...at this point in time how many films combined...

...what was happening with music videos of the day.

But one of my...

♪ Dirty books ♪

COMMENTARY: ...attempts here was to cross the fun things...

...that people were doing in music videos...

...that were not linear and narrative.

And plug that into a narrative film.

♪ Dirty books ♪

♪ I found 'em, I found 'em ♪

♪ Dirty books ♪

♪ I found 'em, I found 'em ♪

And to think how [ found them in your suitcase.

[LAUGHING]

♪ [ found 'em, I found 'em ♪♪

[ALL CHATTERING AND CHEERING]

Don't you love it?

EDDIE: Doll, did I do you a favor or did I do you a favor?

COMMENTARY: Several years before this film...

... had done a film called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...

...which was like a nonstop music video.

And then music videos became a real...

...kind of cultural force.

And in this film I tried to combine a little bit of that...

...within the structure of the narrative film.

ANGIE: That's what she was gonna say, wasn't it, honey?

Oh, Eddie, she's just tired.

Tired, huh?

She's gonna be dead tired, she's not careful.

Okay, I tried to be a gentleman about this!

I was gonna take you out to a fancy restaurant.

Let you order a la carte, huh?

All I wanted was my video on your show...

...and now you say no.

Okay, that's it. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Rock, let's go.

Oh. Eddie, you're not gonna do what I think you are?

Who's gonna stop me?

[WOOD BREAKING]

Who's this? We didn't order out.

Get him the hell out of here! Get him out of here now!

[♪♪♪]

Who the hell is this guy? Get in there! Break his face, will you?

COMMENTARY: The, um...

As I can recall, the elements that got cut out of the original screenplay...

...for budgetary purposes really didn't hurt the story structure at all.

It was a very big film in the way it was originally conceived.

Just from an action standpoint.

It was constant action and big fight scenes, um...

Things that needed to be condensed.

[ANGIE SOBBING AND THUGS GROANING]

Bums.

I do not think Miss Charles enjoys your company.

It would be best that you leave her alone.

I don't know who you are, pal, but you're in a lot of trouble!

Hothead needs cool water.

No, no, no!

COMMENTARY: There is not a whole lot of intellectual content...

...we can talk about here.

ANGIE: Oh. -No!

ANGIE: Eddie.

LEROY: Come, you will be safe now.

ANGIE: Oh, Eddie, are you all right? -Get away from me, you dumb broad!

Onh, but, Eddie, you're all wet!

Oh, honey.

[MUMBLING]

Look at this, it's all wet.

COMMENTARY: When we did this picture, there was very little happening...

...in the world of film in New York.

And people really avoided New York because of costs involved.

And...

...even though the costs are still there, it's a different story today.

They're trying to build more studio space because there is a huge demand.

LAURA: It's nice to meet you, Leroy. -Oh, it's nice to meet you.

I need a drink. Why don't you come inside?

Miss Charles, there is something you may be able to help me with.

You can call me Laura.

Laura, the other night I lost a medallion and--

That thing that looks like a belt buckle?

Belt buckle?

-Is it gold? -You have it?!

Yeah, I got it.

COMMENTARY: Suzanne de Passe, who developed this property...

...and talked Berry Gordy into doing it...

...was very instrumental in its success.

♪ Our love is flowing ♪

COMMENTARY: As a producer she had a great vision of the piece.

Made a lot of the Motown...

...music artists available to us.

♪ Ooh, the kind of love ♪

♪ Means so much to me ♪

This is so you'll never lose it again.

I am deeply in your debt.

♪ Give me your love ♪

It is very valuable to me.

♪ Give me your love ♪♪

I know what it's like to lose precious things...

...and then, of course, to find them again.

You thirsty?

Oh...

From the clock's chime to the cock's crow is but an instant.

I must go.

Oh, excuse me.

I'm sorry.

COMMENTARY: Vanity was on Prince's label.

And she was really being groomed by him...

...to be a major star.

...to be a major star.

And I think he felt that this was a great platform for her.

That, uh...

...a picture with a major distribution, a new company.

Um...

The fact that she could be glamorous, you know?

♪ She baits the line And starts to move in closer ♪

COMMENTARY: It all worked for him.

Then a year later I did another picture called Krush Groove...

...where I had another one of his stars, Sheila E.

This is one of my favorite scenes.

One of the things we tried to do in the film is...

...make fun of the cultural differences.

And we have a group of Chinese guys...

...trying to be blacker than black.

[WOMAN LAUGHS]

-What you looking for? -For the master.

Ain't no masters here, dude.

Ain't no slaves either.

[LAUGHING]

Is this not his fortune-cookie factory?

The master, he doing his wisdom thing. Ha-ha-ha.

I seek only wisdom of the master.

You want wisdom, you buy fortune cookie.

-Take a hike, cool breeze. -Yeah, baby.

Please, I must see the master.

COMMENTARY: But we'd also play up dumb jokes like...

...the name of the master or the fortune cookie factory, Sum Dum Goy.

HU LI You dig, bro? You too square, man.

Square, dude.

Let me say it so he can understand it, Jim.

[IN STEREOTYPICAL ASIAN VOICE] You go now. Chop-chop.

"Haulee" ass out of this place.

[IN NORMAL VOICE] Am I saying it right, my man?

LU YI: That's good. That's good.

Like, hasta la pasta, you know?

Ciao, baby.

-Auf Wiedersehen, baby. -Sayonara.

LU YI: Catch you on the flip-flop. -Sayonara.

[SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

SHO'NUFF: I was told...

...I could find Leroy Green here!

I'm Leroy Green.

COMMENTARY: So Leroy as a character is just having a bad time...

...everywhere he goes. He gets no respect.

SHO'NUFF; I am the shogun of Harlem...

...and the Leroy Green I'm looking for...

...Is a little punk that thinks he's a kung fu master.

Oh.

-You mean Junior? -Yeah.

-"Junior." Where is he? THUG: "Junior"! Ha-ha-ha!

Don't know. Not sure I'd tell you if I did.

COMMENTARY: What I found interesting as an observer...

...Is that no matter how outrageous we got with the costumes...

...like Sho'nuff's football shoulder pads...

...the audience went along with the fun of the fantasy.

And never saw his getup as outrageous.

It just fit his personality.

SHO'NUFF: Do it! -With pleasure.

MAMA: No! -Hold it, please, fellas! No, not that.

-Please, don't do that! -You stop it!

Mama-- The walls-- My shop!

Oh, God.

[LAUGHING]

-Uhn! -Aah!

GREEN: Don't break the table!

Go, go!

-Ha-ha-ha.

BEAST: I'm gonna kill you! -Take it easy, honey.

What, are you crazy? He's the Beast.

GREEN: She only hit you with dough! BEAST: You gonna die!

All right, enough is enough! Y'all better chill out.

-Richie, you stay out of this! -You better chill out, man!

COMMENTARY: Interestingly enough...

...the Chinese kung fu movies...

...have had an impact on American film for a long time.

It's just always been masked.

Uh, George Lucas...

...got almost all of his fight choreography from these movies.

And is an avid devotee.

There... This was 1984, '85.

There was an avid subculture...

...of people who loved Chinese movies.

But you had to go to Chinatown or somewhere to see them.

So it took, what...

...from then until...

...Jackie Chan coming to America to hit mainstream.

But it's always been there.

Uh, we were really fortunate...

...in getting our production designer Peter Larkin...

...who had a huge Broadway career.

Because what I wanted to achieve visually...

...was a stylistic feeling...

...of a living cartoon.

And the production design and the costume design...

...went a long way in achieving that vision.

RICHIE: Everyone knows you're scared of him.

Kissed his shoes and everything.

COMMENTARY: The sets that he created on stage...

...are very futuristic and light-filled.

And blending that with the sets...

...that we did on location...

...I thought was very successful...

...in the visual concept.

In scenes...

...where Bruce Leroy is working out his anger...

...and frustration...

...we placed him in his red gym and red punching bag.

LEROY: Truth is our worship!

Form is our manifestation!

Conscience is our guide!

COMMENTARY: So the colors and the vibrancy of the environment...

...were very key to the emotional...

...and the fun elements that we were trying to achieve in the film.

LEROY: Have to use....

[DOOR OPENS]

LAURA: Hello?

Hey.

I don't mean to bother you, but...

...maybe I should just come back another time, huh?

Listen, if this is a bad time, you know, I can just...

Do you know, the strangest things keep happening to me.

I mean, I seem to be attracting the craziest people.

So I thought that maybe it would be a great idea...

...if I got myself a bodyguard...

...you know?

Like, someone to guard my body.

[CHUCKLES]

Anyway, you seem to be the best qualified. I mean...

...a girl could do worse than to have her own real, live kung fu master.

I am no master.

You sure look like a master to me.

How about it?

How about what?

Bodyguard.

-Hello? -Bodyguard?

Yeah, I want you to be my bodyguard.

-Have you heard anything? -There is much I must do.

I am sorry. I cannot.

Leroy! Leroy!

COMMENTARY: This project for film projects...

...was pretty rapid in terms of...

...when the script first landed on Suzanne de Passe's desk...

...to the time that I read it.

Um, as far as film projects go, I think...

... The Last Dragon was on a pretty fast track.

Louis Venosta wrote it over the course of a month.

Suzanne de Passe found it very shortly after it was written.

And the studio agreed to make the film...

...provided we could bring it in on budget.

And I'd estimate between the time that the script was written...

And I'd estimate between the time that the script was written...

...and the time the film was in the theaters...

...was about two years, which is pretty fast.

[MAN SNARLING]

[BARKING]

Double?

Why should you get double...

...what everybody else is getting, huh?

[SNARLING]

Beautiful! Beautiful!

Save it! Save it.

Give that man anything he wants. Give him a bone.

Make sure you take out for the table.

♪ You look at me like a new pickup ♪

♪ You tell the barman, "Fill her up" ♪

♪ You try to steer me out the door ♪

♪ But I know what you're cruising for ♪

♪ You want a test drive ♪

♪ Whoo, hoo ♪

♪ You want a test drive ♪

♪ Whoo, hoo ♪

COMMENTARY: We also did takeoffs...

...on some of the music video artists of the day.

EDDIE: All right, that's enough.

-Looks terrific, sweetheart. -Yeah?

Just needs a couple more steps. And you girls looked great too.

Why don't you take a break and get out of those clothes?

Here are some quarters.

COMMENTARY: In this number, we were doing a takeoff on Cyndi Lauper...

...who was a successful music video artist...

...in this time period.

We just took Cyndi Lauper, who was already outrageous...

...took her out even further with this Faith Prince hairdo.

And really bad music.

EDDIE: And it's all for you, sweetheart.

All to make you a star.

Now what do you think of your lover boy, huh?

All for me?

All for you, sweetheart.

Well, I mean, if it's really all for me...

Oh. Oh, I don't want you to kill anybody.

Are you out of your mind?!

Nobody does what he did to me and lives! Nobody!

You know what I've been thinking, Eddie?

I think that maybe you're trying to use me to get what you want.

COMMENTARY: I love Faith because she could play the absurd...

...and you could feel the heart underneath the character.

ANGIE: Sure, until he lost a fight.

All this glamour and stardom...

...it's all for you, isn't it, Eddie?

You know, Angie...

...a lot of girls out there would like to trade places with you.

Now, if you're unhappy with all of this, why don't you just walk out?

Go have a nice, normal, boring life.

To tell you the truth, it couldn't be any more boring...

COMMENTARY: Again, this is what I loved about the production design...

...that Peter came up with is very, um...

It's a living comic book.

So he'd take these art deco elements...

...and arrange them in a way that just-- It's all bigger than life.

ANGIE: Yeah, also from Kew Gardens.

And also getting by on my tits.

COMMENTARY: One of the things...

...that I thought was not as successfully realized...

...was the performance that Faith gave us...

...was she could do the cartoon character...

...but really keep the heart and the emotion of a real person.

And the little guy...

...the villain, her boss...

...didn't get that human element.

And this kind of piece is fragile in a way that if it's just plain over the top...

...it's not interesting.

SHO'NUFF: Sho'nuff! Sho'nuff!

-Number one! -Can I pick them or what?

Shut up!

-Am I the meanest?! CROWD: Sho'nuff!

-Am I the prettiest? CROWD: Sho'nuff!

Am I the baddest mofo lowdown around this town?

CROWD: Sho'nuff!

COMMENTARY: And there was no doubt in the performance of Julius Carry...

...that he was this character.

He was the Sho'nuff.

SHO'NUFF: Keep your money.

You just get that sucker to the designated place...

...at the designated time...

...and I will gladly designate his ass...

...for dismemberment.

Yeah. Hey. Well, whatever.

Anyway you wanna do it.

It'll certainly be my pleasure, Mr. Nuff.

-Yow! -Put it away. Come on.

-Looking for me? -Yes.

I mean...

I thought I wasn't exactly on your favorite persons' list.

That is why I came by, to apologize for the way I spoke.

I did not mean it towards you.

Great.

Then you'll be my bodyguard?

I'd love to, but I must complete a mission first.

A mission?

You see...

...I am in search of the final level where the spirit takes over...

...from the mind and guides the body without thought.

Okay. Listen, you stay right here, okay?

Don't move. I'll be back in five minutes.

Don't disappear, okay? I'll be right back.

LEROY: A great fighter, for instance...

...might get just his hands to fill with such power...

COMMENTARY: During the editing process, it was a little contentious.

Because I had one vision, Berry Gordy had another vision.

And I was trying to infuse in the project...

...a little more of the realism in terms of music.

There was some great Oriental music that would blend in...

...with the Motown sound...

...but would elevate the project a little bit beyond just being finger popping.

And that...

...ultimately got put by the wayside...

...in favor of putting in a little bit more of the Motown thing...

...which I think hurt the project a little bit.

But in terms of scenes that we dropped...

...I think we used almost everything that we shot.

Uh...

The scenes may have been truncated a little bit more...

...for timing purposes or rhythm purposes...

...but I don't recall dropping anything that I missed.

Unlike Car Wash, where we dropped out Danny DeVito...

...and, heh, a whole storyline just for the sake of making time.

But the post production process on this film...

...was really about finding the rhythm of the whole piece...

...and keeping enough...

...of the story character elements alive...

...with the action and the music.

RICHIE: You two play a game if you want to.

I'm gonna sit right here and wait for her to show up.

And the rap I'm gonna lay on her...

...Is gonna make Romeo seem tongue-tied.

Make her melt like hot butter all over my body!

Whoa. Go, Rick.

Ain't nothing gonna stand between me and my destiny...

...with the sweet lips of Lady Laura.

Wow. This place is great.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]

COMMENTARY: One of the few interior sets that we shot...

...that was not at Silver Cup...

...was all this music.

The dance club was done in a real club...

...that we took over for a month.

♪ To reach that upper level Your mind, body and soul must be one ♪

[LEROY YELLING]

♪ It's a sacrifice It takes hard work ♪

♪ It's a way of life ♪

COMMENTARY: Getting the Bruce Lee footage...

...was quite a little feat.

It was expensive, and it took us...

We never had this footage until almost the end of the post process.

And there were times in the process...

...that we thought we would have to fake it.

Create something else. Because we didn't know that we'd get it at all.

But eventually the people who control the Bruce Lee material...

...did make the deal.

[BOY GRUNTS AND TROUSERS RIP]

Aw, shit!

-Hey. Wait up, man! Wait up! RICHIE: Forget it, man.

♪ When you got the glow You see it on your face ♪

COMMENTARY: We didn't have a contingency plan...

...if we didn't get the Bruce Lee footage.

But we actually-- Let me take that back.

We actually had the Bruce Lee footage...

...that we showed at the opening of the show in the movie theater.

We made a deal for that.

But then as we went on with the process...

...we wanted to-- We created this scene.

And it is like the love scene...

...where they are alone in the studio...

...and she has found this Bruce Lee footage for him.

We didn't have that in the original script.

So we had to go out and make a deal for that in addition to what we had.

And that's what took extra negotiating power.

♪ When you got the glow When you got the glow ♪

♪ They'll all beware They'll all beware ♪

♪ 'Cause they know, they know They know, they know ♪

♪ They know you've got the glow The glow, the glow ♪

COMMENTARY: And I loved in the original script...

I mean, one of the things that drew me to the project...

...were the human elements of it, the little brother who's fantasizing...

...that he could have this gorgeous singer as his girlfriend.

And he gets mad at his big brother...

...because he knows how to deal with women better than his doofus brother.

And these little character quirks all throughout the film...

...I thought were really very well done, very creative.

LEROY: Wow.

What's that?

Chinese Connection.

He has disguised himself in order to get...

Get into the villains' lair!

♪ It's the power of concentration ♪

Why did I not think of that before?

♪ Elevation ♪♪

I must go.

[GROANS]

LAURA: Thanks a lot, Bruce!

COMMENTARY: Now the shot of Bruce Lee...

...doing his martial arts move...

...that has the trailing arms and all of that...

...we really did do an homage to and recreated that...

...in the final showdown fight with Sho'nuff.

LAURA: Now. Now.

I don't understand what you see in him!

[CLATTERING]

Leroy?

[♪♪♪]

We meet again, Miss Charles.

Oh!

No!

Let me go!

Get your hands off my woman!

I said, get your hands off my woman!

LAURA: Let me go, you big baboon! -Ha-ha-ha.

[♪♪♪]

All right!

COMMENTARY: This is very interesting casting, these Chinese guys...

...actors...

...for the parts where they're talking black English.

They thought it was the funniest thing ever and loved doing it.

LEROY [IN HIGH-PITCHED VOICE]: Hey, my man, what it look like?

[IN NORMAL VOICE] Hey, my man.

-What it look like? -What you want?

I am the soul brother like no other...

...10 deliver this pizza with bean sprouts.

LU YI: Pizza with bean sprouts?

Yeah, we make anything, dig?

Just direct-a your feets-a to Daddy Green's pizza.

[SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

Now, if you bloods would show me where I can find the master--

You sure the master ordered this pizza?

The man himself.

You're going to release his beast if it gets cold out here.

Buddy, I'm gonna rip your face off.

-No, no. Wait, wait, wait! It's okay. -"Okay"?

HU YI: You the same fool that came dressed as a coolie?

COMMENTARY: One of the things I learned in making this picture is, um...

...that fortune cookies are made by machines.

I always thought they were made by hand and turned over, you know?

LEROY: Split? -Yeah, he's not here.

So why don't you chill out with us?

Smoke a little herb. Sip a little wine, huh?

-Oh, no, I had too much already. ALL: Ha-ha-ha.

Soul brother!

-Soul brother! -All right.

You know how to shoot craps?

-Craps? -Craps!

Craps!

Oh, yeah, craps.

-All right! HU YI: All right!

DU LI Right on!

Mr. Leroy?

[CHUCKLES]

[IN SINGSONG VOICE] Mr. Leroy?

[IN NORMAL VOICE] Are you in here?

-Yah! -Aaah!

Sorry, miss, I didn't mean to scare you that bad.

Onh, that's all right.

Is Mr. Leroy here?

COMMENTARY: There was very little writing done while we were in production.

Maybe...

...to make...

...a word or sentence more comfortable for an actor.

But nothing that required a writer.

Louis stayed with the film for the first couple of weeks...

...and then he was off doing his next project.

The script was--

Once we got under the budgetary hammer...

...the script was very tight.

ANGIE: You gotta tell Mr. Leroy that...

...he better stay away from Seventh Heaven.

Why?

COMMENTARY: The film was very, very well-received by an audience.

The critics, I never pay attention to anyway.

And I don't remember how it was reviewed in the press.

To me this was not the kind of film that we were banking on...

...any kind of critical reviews any more so...

...than your average kung fu movie of the time.

So, what we found instantly is that it appealed completely...

...to a young audience.

That demographic that people kill for today.

And the picture performed...

...extremely well in that time.

And I think, you know, in the mid-'80s...

...a picture that made over $30 million was considered quite successful.

For some reason, we didn't get that kind of press though.

There was very little press on this picture...

...in terms of its success with audiences.

And I can't tell you why that is.

LU YI: This is sure one strange game of craps, soul brother.

-Oh, yeah. LEROY: Hey.

This is how we play in Harlem.

You want to play like soul brother number-one?

Yeah! Oh, yeah.

COMMENTARY: There was a thought that certain American pictures...

...wouldn't play well foreign...

...if they had a majority black cast.

I found that to be total, um...

Totally erroneous with my first picture, Car Wash...

...which played all over the world really well...

...to the surprise of everybody, and I--

Because the studio didn't really push the foreign, as far as I knew...

For this picture, I never knew how it did overseas.

LEROY: I have this. -What you got?

Whoo! Hey, check this out!

It's nice. I like that.

COMMENTARY: This is one of the few pictures...

...that people come up to me today and ask me...

...why haven't I done the sequel?

They're looking for Last Dragon 2 and 3.

LU Yi; Just wait here.

[MEN LAUGHING]

[ALL LAUGHING]

Where is the master?!

I want to see him now!

Please, please, please! There is no master!

-You lie! -No, it's true!

We made him up to sell more fortune cookies!

-Tell him! -It's true.

-Please! I'll show you! -Show him.

-Over here. I'll show you. DU YI: Yeah, show him!

Show him, show him!

This is Sum Dum Goy.

[♪♪♪]

[DOOR BANGS]

Why?! Why, master?

Why have you sent me on a journey to find someone who does not exist?

Why?

So you have not found the master that you seek.

There is no Sum Dum Goy.

He is a computer.

[CHUCKLES]

Why have you done this to me?

Here.

COMMENTARY: Again, you know, this is a simple story.

It has some ba-- It's almost like a morality tale.

That you can find the strength within yourself, you know?

And I think the young audience really related...

...to the little serious elements...

...that we put in the middle of the fortune cookie of comedy.

MASTER: A true master would use this to hold up his pants.

[LAUGHS]

[CLATTERING]

Enough.

There is one place that you have not yet looked.

And it is there, only there...

...that you shall find the master.

Now, if you will excuse me, my plane leaves shortly.

You are going on a quest for knowledge?

No, I'm going to visit my mother in Miami.

[♪♪♪]

JOHNNY: Leroy! Leroy!

Are you actually gonna fight them?

Well, you-- You can't be serious!

Leroy, I never would've told you if I thought you'd actually go there.

Oh, what are you, nuts?

You're not going all alone, are you?

Are you?

All right, then. Then I'm going with you.

If you go, I go!

COMMENTARY: After working on a multi-million dollar film...

...in New York City...

...and, you know, trying to get a diverse crew...

...and being unsuccessful in doing that at this point in history...

...I had vowed to come back to New York...

...and make a film with a diverse crew, just to prove it could be done.

And a year later I was back in New York doing a film called Krush Groove...

...where we had an 80 percent minority crew...

...and did a...

EDDIE: Ah...

COMMENTARY: ...12-song musical film in 25 days...

...about this new phenomenon called rap.

And it was interesting because most of the people...

...that Spike Lee went on to hire were involved in that film.

...that Spike Lee went on to hire were involved in that film.

JOHNNY: Put the key in the latch and turn it!

-Okay, I'm trying! -Well, try harder!

Okay!

Okay, you can come out now!

COMMENTARY: In this film we used a lot of young martial artists.

The young Japanese guy, little Ernie Reyes Jr.

A Latino...

...who went on to have his own TV show for a short time.

We had a platform where we could let a lot of these young people...

...show what they could do. And it was very exciting.

EDDIE: Leroy!

[LAUGHING]

COMMENTARY: The scene where Leroy confronts the villain...

...from a technical standpoint I thought was really interesting...

...because again, here we--

And we didn't do a lot of publicity at the time about the technical difficulties...

...that this kind of production had...

...because today we take it for granted. You see these big screen concert things.

And today it's nothing, but...

[EDDIE LAUGHS]

[♪♪♪]

COMMENTARY: In 1985 no one had done this.

Filming live video screens.

So we had to find the right projectors...

...and the right distance to project the image...

...and have enough brightness so that the film could read it.

It was technically at that time very difficult.

[LEROY YELLS]

Ha-ha-ha. All right!

Way to go, Goliath!

COMMENTARY: There's Ron Van Clief in the mask.

He had his own film career, and was known as the Black Dragon.

♪ For you can bring the power to survive your darkest hour ♪

♪ 'Cause you are a dragon ♪♪

[JOHNNY YELLING]

COMMENTARY: This final confrontation scene, a normal film...

...would probably take a week to shoot.

We shot it in two days.

EDDIE: Will you make it interesting?

Good! That's one for you!

COMMENTARY: A lot of choreography, and a lot of people.

And many setups.

I think this-- In the two days we did something like 84 setups.

[TAI YELLING]

EDDIE: Come on! Come on, young buck! -Who, me?

TAI: Johnny!

EDDIE: Come on, you miserable slob!

God, what a slug!

LEROY: You got it, Johnny!

[TRILLING]

[YELLING]

COMMENTARY: This big climactic battle, we scheduled toward the end...

...of shooting so that we would have time for the choreographers to work...

...with the actors and the martial artists.

So I believe that we did this...

...the second last week of our shooting schedule.

And most of the work, because of budgetary reasons, had to be done...

...not with the day players...

...who were coming in for the week.

So the work was choreographed. For example...

...the little guy Ernie Reyes and his father...

...choreographed all their stuff by themselves.

And we took-- They had a routine that they were doing before we cast them.

And we took a lot of their routine and put it into the fight.

But most of the choreography was done...

...by the two martial arts choreographers that we had...

...with their guys that they normally work with, their assistants.

And then we took a week to train the people who were actually in the shot.

And then two days to shoot it.

Unlike The Matrix, which took six months to train the people.

EDDIE: Psst! Bozo, you go that way. Just go.

Come on, come on.

[LAURA WHIMPERING]

COMMENTARY: We watched dailies the next day.

This was in a period where we were still watching dailies on film.

And, um...

LEROY: Or next time I will not miss.

COMMENTARY: The only scene that we...

...did a little bit extra work on and went back in to get additional shots were the...

Uh, the final fight scene...

...that we're looking at now with Leroy and Sho'nuff.

RICHIE: You'll never use that again!

Ow!

[RICHIE GRUNTING]

-Aah! Leroy! -Come on.

COMMENTARY: There were some special effects shots...

...that we needed to do over again...

...because we were doing rotoscoping...

...which was the technique at the time to get the glow.

And...

...we needed to separate out the actors...

...at certain points a little bit better than we had when we originally shot it.

So a few of those technical details, once we saw it we knew...

...we had to go back in and redo.

LEROY: Richie.

Let me at him.

-Let me at him. I'll save you, Laura! -Are you all right?

Of course I'm all right.

I gotta save Laura.

COMMENTARY: On the group climactic battle scene, we had three cameras.

A very conservative number of cameras.

RICHIE: Leroy!

COMMENTARY: Because we were controlling...

...and we were in an environment where the light was difficult to control.

We wanted to see action on the screens behind some of the fight...

...in front of the screens.

So they had to be set up a little bit more than you normally would...

...where you can have 10 cameras shooting.

But we were working on what I considered to be...

...a restricted budget.

And so we had to carefully craft everything.

RICHIE: Get him, get him! Come on, hit him!

[BOTH GRUNTING]

There, nigga, please!

[SHO'NUFF LAUGHS]

Duck, Leroy! You can't do that to my brother!

-Get him, Leroy! -Yeah. Ha-ha-ha.

COMMENTARY: I was very impressed with Julius Carry's work here...

...in the fight scene.

Because as I said earlier, he was not a trained martial artist.

He was a good enough actor to fake it.

And...

He did much of his own work.

Although we did have a martial artist to stand in for him...

...for some of the tougher shots.

But he was very game in terms of trying to do everything.

SHO'NUFF: Come on, Leroy.

COMMENTARY: He is actually that tall. We didn't have to put him on lifts.

He's about 6'4".

Very conservative looking, like a banker in real life.

Uh, so we had to create this outrageous wig for him...

...and the shogun outfit to give him a ferocious quality.

And once he got into that outfit, he became the character.

It's interesting to me how you can take an actor who might not ordinarily go out...

...on the edge of performance...

...and put him in a costume, the right costume...

...and it gives him the freedom to...

To be Bela Lugosi, for example.

You know, somebody who's really outrageous.

♪ That's what a wise man said to me ♪

Ain't this beautiful, huh? I love it. I love it.

This is theater!

[BOTH YELLING AND GRUNTING]

COMMENTARY: These are the-- The scene that I was talking about...

...sometimes having to go back in...

...and recreate a shot so that we could rotoscope in the light effect.

There's a lot to do about getting the glow in this film.

SHO'NUFF: Who's the master?

[YELLS]

COMMENTARY: And what we did in the actual shooting to make...

...the post production effects...

...look a little bit better is that...

...Contner would have to flash a light on the actors...

...at the key point which they got struck...

...so that the faces would have a little bit of natural light on them...

...and then put the rotoscope glow on top of the effect...

...that we created on the set.

EDDIE: Wait a minute, sweetheart! Wait.

I love you. You stay here.

Who's the master?!

I can't hear you, Leroy!

COMMENTARY: We found a great warehouse...

...dilapidated set on the East River...

...in the lower 100s for this final confrontation scene.

SHO'NUFF: Who is the master?!

There is one place that you have not looked.

And it is there, only there...

COMMENTARY: This is the one thing that we couldn't create well.

It's a cheesy water ripple effect.

Now today with all the CGI work, you can really create water.

But in '85 it was one of the hardest things to do.

SHO'NUFF: No! -I am.

What the...?

Oh, shit!

Oh. Goddamn!

-Let me go! Let me go! -Ha-ha-ha.

[GRUNTING]

♪ The journey now before you Is the final test ♪

♪ You've learned your lesson well ♪

Holy shit.

♪ I can teach you no more ♪

♪ There's a power deep inside you ♪

Okay, come on.

♪ You'll find in time of need ♪

[YELLING]

COMMENTARY: So we stole a little bit from George Lucas and the lightsaber.

♪ You are the Last Dragon ♪

♪ You possess the power of the glow ♪

COMMENTARY: That's probably the only shot that Julius Carry didn't do.

♪ You are the Last Dragon ♪

♪ You possess the power of the glow ♪

I applaud you, Leroy.

That's a great finish.

Not the ending I had in mind, but it's a great finish.

You see, a .45 will put an end to all this kung fu crap.

All it takes is one little bullet.

So take your final bows, scum sucker.

COMMENTARY: Now, the great thing about writing is that...

...you can write almost anything.

And what was written here is he catches a bullet between his teeth.

Trying to film that, we scratched our heads for a couple of weeks...

...and said, "Well, forget this."

We could create it, but not...

Not in the timeframe that we had to make this film. So...

What we created was the surprise of thinking that he had been shot...

...and discovering that he had the bullet caught in his teeth.

RICHIE: All right! -No, wait! No! Jesus! No, listen!

I've never seen anything like that. I mean anything. No, wait!

Listen, we can make a deal!

We could make money! You get foreign rights...

...I'll take domestic. What do you say? Wait.

[SIRENS WAILING NEARBY]

You can have both, foreign and domestic!

COMMENTARY: And every now and then in the film...

...we try to slip these business references.

Like foreign and domestic...

...finder's fee conversation.

HAIRSTYLIST: Look at you. You're a mess.

I don't have the right tools with me.

Richie. Where'd he go?

Where have you guys been?!

Listen, I'd like to report a mugging.

My friend and I, Mr. Nuff, we were minding our own business.

We were assaulted by these hoodlums!

We're lucky to be alive!

Save it, Arkadian! You're going up for good this time!

EDDIE: Never! WOMAN: Come on.

You're due in the studio. Let's go.

♪ That you need the glow You need the glow, the glow to grow ♪

♪ That you need the glow You need the glow, the glow to grow ♪

♪ If you love to live, you live to love You got to move to the upper level ♪

♪ 'Cause when you got the glow ♪

♪ There ain't no stopping What you want to do ♪

COMMENTARY: The film was a parody on many levels.

And we parodied Soul Train.

A dance show that was very popular for many years on television.

And parodied music videos, and music video producers...

...and kung fu movies. And happy endings.

♪ Shine on ♪♪

Would you teach me some moves?!

[ALL LAUGHING]

Yo, man, check out the cornball! Ha, ha.

He ain't no cornball!

He's my brother and he's the master.

[♪♪♪]

♪ How you please me ♪

♪ I think that this might be What I've been dreamin' of ♪

♪ I don't know what it is But people call it love ♪

COMMENTARY: It was great working with Berry Gordy on this picture.

I got a chance to see how a master...

...creative mind works.

He got very involved as we developed this picture and grew to love it.

He was one of the acting coaches for Taimak.

My wife, who was also coaching...

...and another acting coach would trade off.

And for me this was kind of a family film. Both of our sons were in it.

We wanted them to be involved in the excitement and energy...

...and the training of martial arts.

Torrance Mathis and Ron Van Clief.

Torrance was the smooth...

...Bruce Lee style of kung fu.

And Ron Van Clief was the hard-edged style of karate...

...that we used for the bad guy.

So when the film was finished and I saw it in the theaters...

...and saw the reaction of a youthful audience to it...

...and the complete...

...absorption with which they...

...took in this film that what I thought from the very beginning...

...when I read the script was actually true.

That presenting a young black heroic character...

...who had values and had positive training...

...being seen as a cornball kind of character by other people...

...but really ultimately believing in his own power...

...could overcome evil would be a thing that would resonate...

...with youthful audiences. And it did. And we were all very pleased.

Because as kids, these are the kinds of heroic characters...

...that we wanted to see, you know?

Instead of Tom Mix.

Thank you for listening. I hope that you have as much fun...

...watching this picture as I had in making it.

♪ To the beat of the rhythm of the night Dance until the morning light ♪

♪ Forget about the worries On your mind ♪

♪ To the beat of the rhythm of the night ♪

♪ Forget about the worries On your mind ♪

♪ To the beat of the rhythm of the night ♪

♪ Forget about the worries On your mind ♪

[♪♪♪]

♪ The journey now before you Is the final test ♪

♪ You've learned your lesson well ♪

♪ I can teach you no more ♪

♪ There's a power deep inside you An inner strength ♪

♪ You'll find in time of need ♪

♪ The glow ♪

♪ You are the Last Dragon ♪

♪ You possess the power of the glow ♪

♪ You are the Last Dragon ♪

♪ You possess the power of the glow ♪

♪ You are, you are ♪

♪ You are the Last Dragon ♪

♪ You possess the power of the glow ♪

♪ You are the Last Dragon ♪

♪ You possess the power of the glow ♪