Talk:Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Duncan Chow

An edit made by Waichak on the 30th of June added a cast member to the list by the name of Duncan Chow as the role of "Infant Bruce". I've checked a few different websites, including IMDB and the actors own website and I cannot find any reference to Duncan Chow being in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. On IMDB, the only reference I can find to someone being credit as a "Young Bruce" is, Sam Hau. Anyone able to provide more information so as to confirm that Duncan Chow was in fact in the movie? Firemoth 15:57, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Lee family curse?

At the end of the film, a scene shows Bruce imagining that he is protecting his son from a demon that is after his family... just before Bruce dies. Knowing that Bruce's son Brandon died tragically just a few months before the release of this film, it seems amazingly coincidental. Was this scene added to the film after Brandon's death? Is it a coincidence? Where did the film-makers get the idea of a curse on the Lee family? I'd love to see this covered in this Wikipedia entry, but don't know anything about it. -- Mecandes 17:14, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

There's been many theories about Bruce Lee's death since he died in 1973; a family curse being one of them. The makers of the film had this in there as dramatic license. But the scene was already in the script before Brandon died; it was not added after Brandon Lee's death (and in fact had already been filmed before Brandon's death). So it was purely coincidental. There is brief mention of the supposed "family curse" in the Bruce Lee article. 2001:558:6040:9:2C89:33A8:4C2C:2A22 (talk) 21:55, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

Deleted scene?

In the two previews and the making of featuette included on the DVD there is a clip of somone flying into a car windsheild. I've been under the impression that someone (cannot tell who) was hit by a car flew up and hit the windsheild. But it could also be Lee doing a flying kick through the windsheild of the car. Reguardless in the interest of expanding the article, if the scene was removed for any particular reason it maybe interesting if it was noted (I find it hard to believe it was cut b/c of time). Problem is I've looked high and low and reviewed the clip many times but can't figure it out. I'm going to search for a copy of the screenplay, I'm hoping it is in there b/c the scene looks significant (esp being included in both previews and featurette). Does anyone else know what it is? Tsurettejr 16:59, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Ray Park as Chuck Norris?

Is this character actually in the film? I can't remember any scene with chuck norris and he isn't credited on imdb. He is in the 2007 Chinese TV series "The Legend of Bruce Lee", and this is correctly credited on the filmography on his page (which also doesn't credit the appearance, if it exists). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.197.88.251 (talk) 23:56, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

POV

The 'Historical inaccuracies' section has some valid bits, and in general is a good idea for distinguishing fact from fiction. But many items read like some fan of Bruce Lee, offended by any suggestion that Lee is less than a god in mortal form, is trying to denigrate anything they disliked in the movie. I've tagged the section, and since apparently the previous editors have beams in their eyes, will criticize some of the more egregious sections below.

• There was no such person as "Philip Tan". It was Raymond Chow, but for some reason they didn't use his name.

With the first one, we're already off to a start. A neutral person would have said - neutrally, straightforwardly, and more concisely - 'The character Philip Tan was based on Raymond Chow.' But no, whomever wrote this is off on a rant - 'for some reason'...

• Bruce had already started his martial arts school before meeting Linda, rather than being inspired by her to open it. And he certainly was never pinned down by her in a sparring session.

OK, a good correction - followed immediately by blatant speculation and hagiography. Why is it so important to say Linda never pinned Bruce down, ever? Further, anyone sane would realize that short of some specific positive statement by Linda or Bruce ('Bruce was always proud that I never managed to pin him' etc.), it is not humanly possible, decades later, to know for a fact that such an event never ever ever happened. And I'd point out that the scene in question was pretty playful and part of teaching. From everything I've read and seen, Lee was a very hands-on teacher, and such a demonstration is perfectly in character. Finally, the rhetorical 'certainly' gives away the interest of the writer. Perish the thought that a demigod like Lee could be pinned down by a mere mortal woman! It's not even thinkable.

• The fight scene in The Big Boss involved several men coming out of a bus, not one person coming out of a van. Also the other foremen were fighting and Bruce had not even started yet.

I can't tell what the last sentence means.

• There were absolutely no problems between Bruce's film making and spending time with his family. In fact according to the documentary Bruce Lee: Warrior Within, production stills of Game of Death shows that Bruce invited Linda, Brandon, and Shannon to the set during filming. The film shows Bruce nearly isolating himself from his family, even arguing with Linda on two separate occasions

Well, I'm glad our omniscient editor knows for certain that Bruce never argued with Linda and didn't isolate himself. Yes, maybe every other marriage has problems - they are, after all, marriages engaged in by mere humans - but not the marriage of Bruce Lee! He can do it all - teach, write, act, train, and be a loving father - in just 24 hours a day. No matter that things like these are the hardest for outsiders to see - our editor knows better. Because it's Bruce Lee. (And really, a record of his family visiting the set once is supposed to prove that Bruce had no work/family conflicts? Talk about a non sequitur.)

• It is well known that Brandon Lee has been taught martial arts by his father at a young age, and that during a demonstration in Hong Kong, Brandon was shown breaking a board. The film never indulges on Brandon learning Martial Arts or the demonstration.

...so we're now blaming the movie for omissions? Guess what - when you cover a life of 285,000 hours in just 2 hours of film, there are going to be omissions. What exactly is the inaccuracy in an omission? This is blatant editorializing.

• On the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce collapsed. In the film, he had a vision of a demon fighting him; after the fight, Bruce is back on the set of enter the dragon, confused but unfazed.

This doesn't make any sense to me. What's the error in the movie?

• The film showed Bruce and Linda denied a table at a restaurant for being a racially mixed couple. But no such incident ever happened.

Again, our editor nourishes dreams of omniscience.

• It was also well known that Bruce started filming Game of Death after Way of the Dragon and before he was offered the role of Enter the Dragon, and that he had taken production stills of himself in various costumes representing characters of classical Hong Kong cinema. The film never indulged in either.

See earlier comment about omissions. (At least, as far as I can tell, that is what this item is complaining about.) --Gwern (contribs) 23:08 3 July 2010 (GMT)

I have removed the historical inaccuracies section from the main page because it is totally free of valid references and is full of obvious POV. Wikipedia has a citation policy for a reason.

Historical inaccuracies

• There was no such person as "Philip Tan". It was Raymond Chow, but for some reason they didn't use his name.
• Bruce had already started his martial arts school before meeting Linda, rather than being inspired by her to open it. And he certainly was never pinned down by her in a sparring session.
• The fight scene in The Big Boss involved several men coming out of a bus, not one person coming out of a van. Also the other foremen were fighting and Bruce had not even started yet.
• Bruce's father was already long dead by the time Shannon was born.
• There were absolutely no problems between Bruce's film making and spending time with his family. In fact according to the documentary Bruce Lee: Warrior Within, production stills of Game of Death shows that Bruce invited Linda, Brandon, and Shannon to the set during filming. The film shows Bruce nearly isolating himself from his family, even arguing with Linda on two separate occasions
• It is well known that Brandon Lee has been taught martial arts by his father at a young age, and that during a demonstration in Hong Kong, Brandon was shown breaking a board. The film never indulges on Brandon learning Martial Arts or the demonstration.
• Neither Johnny Sun nor his kin ever existed. Sun was based on Wong Jack Man, who challenged Bruce to a no holds barred match. The match was over the disapproval of Bruce teaching non-Chinese students Kung Fu. Bruce won the match in real life (though still disputed) and in the film. However unlike the film, Wong Jack Man left whereas Johnny Sun in the film broke Bruce's back. In real life, Bruce suffered an injury to one of the nerves in his back, caused by insufficient warming up for a weightlifting session. Sun's brother is based on reports of extras on the set of martial arts films that have challenged Bruce to a fight insisting that Bruce was only an actor. Like the extras, Bruce beat Sun's brother.
• Linda was not only aware of the forementioned fight, but actually attended it, pregnant with Brandon.
• The Tao of Jeet Kune Do was published after Bruce Lee died. In the film it is published before he died.
• On the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce collapsed. In the film, he had a vision of a demon fighting him; after the fight, Bruce is back on the set of enter the dragon, confused but unfazed.
• Although Bruce Lee did work and live in Ruby Chow's restaurant, he had no confrontations against the other workers. However there are old pictures showing Bruce teaching others martial arts in the back lot of the restaurant.
• In the film, after the success of The Big Boss, it is showing Bruce working in the editing room on Way of the Dragon. In real life, Fist of Fury was made after The Big Boss. Although it is possible that the scene in the film was time lapsed.
• In the beginning of the film it showed Bruce fighting and beating a group of Commonwealth sailors (inaccurately wearing American-style uniforms) single handed when no such confrontation with soldiers or sailors ever took place.
• Bruce was proud of his Chinese background and there is never any record of him referring to himself as an American.
• The movie shows Bruce terrified of an ancient spirit after him. In reality, he was an atheist.
• The film showed Bruce and Linda denied a table at a restaurant for being a racially mixed couple. But no such incident ever happened.
• Bruce was well liked by the college football players and had no confrontation with them as the movie portrayed. They were impressed with his physique and sought his advice in working out.
• Van Williams of the Green Hornet thought well of Bruce Lee and they had a good working relationship. The movie gives the impression of one of indifference between them. When in fact Van Williams was very supportive of Bruce's acting efforts.
• It was also well known that Bruce started filming Game of Death after Way of the Dragon and before he was offered the role of Enter the Dragon, and that he had taken production stills of himself in various costumes representing characters of classical Hong Kong cinema. The film never indulged in either. --Ghostexorcist (talk) 21:39, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Deleted Scenes (UK)

"Scenes from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story were deleted by British authorities, ostensibly to meet age-rating prior to its release in the United Kingdom, in particular the scenes in the Lantern Festival dance party in Hong Kong where a British sailor who abuses a woman, is confronted by Bruce Lee, and the fight between Bruce Lee and his inner demon near the end of the film was shortened in a way that viewers can not see Bruce Lee fighting with the nunchaku weapon."

This isn't true.

The scenes were edited because, at the time, the BBFC had a blanket ban on nunchukas/chainsticks in films. This meant that the original release in 1993 was edited to remove them, so the dance party fight only shows Bruce pulling out the toilet chain's handle from the back of his trousers, and doesn't show the chain itself. The fight scene includes the sailor using his knife to attack, but not the toilet chain being twirled or used to tie up the sailor's knife arm around the wrist. It just immediately goes from the lunge by the sailor, to Bruce smacking him in the face before kicking him over. The fight with the 'Demon' at the end was butchered to the point where it made no sense. Bruce performs the flying kick, resulting in the Demon's faceguard developing spikes. It then cuts to a reaction shot of Brandon, with Bruce saying 'It's OK', before inexplicably jumping straight to a (clearly) cropped shot of Bruce strangling(off screen, using the Nunchakas) the Demon. The final shot in the fight is the Demon laying face down.

It's worth noting that the BBFC relaxed their rules on Oriental weapons in 1999, meaning the film was re-submitted and passed uncut for a '15' rating for home distribution. And it's also worth noting that SKY broadcasting, specifically SKY Movies, was showing the uncut version in the UK in the mid 1990's. This is because SKY had their own ratings system and generally showed US versions of films. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.251.102 (talk) 23:29, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Rusted AutoParts 23:15, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

Will take this one on. Give me a bit to look over the page. Rusted AutoParts 23:15, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

Lead

• Looks solid. There is an errant n in this sentence: "Dragon was filmed primarily in n Hong Kong, Los Angeles and San Francisco."
• "It also focuses on the relationship between Bruce and his wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, and the racism Bruce was subjected to, typical of behaviour towards Asian in the U.S. at the time." Asian should have an s at the end or be rewritten as "Asian people".
• As Nancy Kwan is in the billing block and the infobox, she should be listed with the other names in the lead section.

Plot

• Plot is under 700 words as per WP:FILMPLOT, so that's good.
• "In a nightmare, Bruce Lee's father sees a terrifying phantom, known as the Demon, haunting a young Bruce Lee" I feel the second use of Bruce Lee should either become just Bruce, or be rephrased to son.
• "Bruce is a U.S. citizen as he was born in San Francisco, California, when his father was a performer touring there." feels a little unnecessary in my opinion. His being born in San Francisco is not prudent to the plot.
• "until a violent brawl with four of the cooks" -> either "until getting into a violent brawl with four of the cooks" or merge the next sentence with it to "until a violent brawl with four of the cooks results in his firing". If the latter, restructure the line about the owner loaning him money as a separate sentence.
• "While studying philosophy in college, he begins to teach martial arts classes, where he meets Linda. They marry in defiance of Linda's racist mother" -> "While studying philosophy in college, he begins to teach martial arts classes, where he meets Linda, marrying her in defiance of Linda's racist mother".
• "an embittered Sun" -> "a (resentful, spiteful) Sun".
• "Bruce defeats Johnny Sun in a secretive, no-holds-barred honor match, but an embittered Sun attacks Bruce after he has already admitted defeat. Sun's cowardly attack results in a debilitating back injury for Lee" -> "Bruce defeats Johnny Sun in a secretive, no-holds-barred honor match, but a (resentful, spiteful) Sun attacks Bruce after he has already admitted defeat, resulting in a debilitating back injury for Lee".
• "During this period Linda gives birth to their first child, Brandon, which helps to assuage a reconciliation with Linda's mother". The "during this period" feels unnecessary, the sentence "While he is temporarily paralyzed" surmises that she gives birth during this time well enough.
• "which helps to assuage a reconciliation with Linda's mother" -> "which leads to a reconciliation with Linda's mother".
• "Bruce is approached by manager Bill Krieger, who offers him the role of Kato in the television series The Green Hornet. Bruce and Krieger work together and create the idea for the Kung Fu television series" -> "Bruce is approached by manager Bill Krieger, who offers him the role of Kato in the television series The Green Hornet. The pair also work together to create the idea for the Kung Fu television series".

Cast

• Delink Johnny Cheung.

Production

• In Casting, put The Waltons into italics.
• Include Van Williams, Shannon Lee and Rob Cohen in the Cast section.
• Link Hong Kong, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Release

• Looks good to me.

Historical accuracy

• "In the film Bruce travels to the U.S. in steerage, though Cohen acknowledges that was inaccurate and was used to show the appalling conditions that most Chinese people endured in emigrating at the time" -> "In the film Bruce travels to the U.S. in steerage, though Cohen acknowledges that this was inaccurate and was used to show the appalling conditions that most Chinese people endured in emigrating at the time".

References

• Ensure any sources that can be archived are.

Miscellaneous

• Some pictures would be nice. Perhaps in filming an image of University of Washington, and include in the description that due to their rejection of the production's request to film there, events of Lee's life had to be merged in the film. An image of Jason Scott Lee in Critical reception could work too.

That should be all of the issues I have. I'll look through again in a week's time. Until then work on these. Rusted AutoParts 23:51, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

@Rusted AutoParts: thanks so much for your speedy review. I was up all night working on this before I nominated it, and was planning on proof-reading it in the morning with a fresh set of eyes as I wasn't expecting it to get a review for weeks if not months, so sorry of there were more typos than you're used to haha. I think I've addressed everything now. No rush, but have another look when you get a chance. :) Damien Linnane (talk) 01:43, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

And that is a pass. I think Nancy Kwan should come before Robert Wagner in the lead section to align with the billing order in the billing block but that’s a very quick fix and shouldn’t block the pass. Very good work. Rusted AutoParts 18:25, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Fixed the order. Thanks again for your review. :) Damien Linnane (talk) 00:21, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 08:34, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

• ... that production of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was delayed by a monsoon and the director having a heart attack, then sped up following an extortion attempt by the Chinese mafia? Source: [1][2]
  • ALT1:... that Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was only weeks away from release when Bruce Lee's son Brandon, who had assisted filmmakers, was killed? Source: [3][4]

• Reviewed: St Andrew-in-the-Oxmarket Church

Improved to Good Article status by Damien Linnane (talk). Self-nominated at 09:03, 10 June 2020 (UTC).

• New enough, long enough, no copyvio (only quotes), well-referenced, the first hook preferred (though ALT1 is interesting enough), QPQ done, and good to go. ~~ CAPTAIN MEDUSA^talk 11:54, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Warrior

Recently edits have been made attempting to add information about Warrior (TV series) to this 'Historical Accuracy' section. I don't think this is appropriate since the Historical Accuracy section is about the historical accuracy of the film Dragon, not something that was developed from Bruce's idea decades later. Information about Warrior belongs elsewhere. I am initiating this discussion here so as to try and avoid an edit war, as an IP editor had been reinstating the material even though they are aware it is contested. Damien Linnane (talk) 03:43, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

Wiki Articles should name someone primary with his family name, not his given name

Even someone who gets usually only mentioned by his given name, Elvis Presley, is named in his Wiki article mostly with his surname, besides anyone just calls him "Elvis". This article is not the wiki article about Mr. Lee, but he should be mentioned either with his full name Bruce Lee, or just with his family name Lee. Only the sections when he is mentioned with other family members (Linda, Brandon, Shannon) or his namesake Jason Scott Lee, i make a case its right to name him with his given name Bruce to seperate him from the other Lee´s. But this article names him 80% only with "Bruce", so i allowed me to change it mostly to "Lee". If its not wanted, it can be deleted again. Best regards. --Niten Doraku (talk) 14:50, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

@Niten Doraku: This was brought up once at the FAC. I think it's a unique case. Bruce obviously has the same surname as both his children, who are mentioned repeatedly, and also as the lead actor (no relation). To make things even more complicated, Johnny and Luke also share a surname. MOS:SAMESURNAME doesn't seem to be clear on what to do here, since it's arguable to as to whether Bruce is the subject of the article or not. I think the best course of action is to just be consistent in using first names. I think we're unnecessarily complicating the article if we sometimes refer to him as Bruce and sometimes as Lee, especially given the overwhelming number of mentions that are made to other people with the surname Lee. This seemed to be the consensus at FAC and I don't see a strong need or desire to change it. Damien Linnane (talk) 02:26, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

@Damien Linnane: Ok, no problem. Thank you very much for your reply! I didnt know that. I am German and English is not my first language, but i helped to write the german article about the movie, and so i began to read this one here too. It was strange that he was always named with his given name, because even the article about Elvis Presley, who is usually only known as "Elvis", names him with his surname. But i do understand after your explanation why it was done that way, simply because there are too many Lee´s. Cheers --Niten Doraku (talk) 13:18, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

establishing the sailors' nationality

The article currently identifies the sailors that Lee fights at the beginning as British. Circumstantially, this makes sense: Hong Kong, where the scene is set, was a British territory at the time. Thus, some of the secondary literature (e.g. Donald Chase's 25 Oct 1992 LA Times article) identifies the sailors as British.

I was confused by this attribution, though: I've lived in the UK since 1994, and did not think that the accents sounded British.

Thus, I checked IMDB to see if there was any mention of the sailors' nationality; I didn't find them credited there. I also looked for a script that might identify them; the transcripts I see online do not typically even identify speakers. I do not have an actual script, and do not have a way of looking inside Jahn's book, so cannot see how they are identified.

The Chase LA Times article identifies one of the actors playing a sailor as Nick Brandon. According to [5], he is from Singapore. I'm more familiar with the Singaporean English that is spoken by people who are ethnically Chinese, so can't tell whether his accent is Anglo-Singaporean. I have yet to identify the other actors.

Trying to look for other sources, I Googled 'dragon bruce lee story sailors' and found a [post] by Kent Fung, a Quora "top writer" in 2013 and 2014, and whose main area of writing is martial arts. While he doesn't provide too many biographic details on his Quora profile, they fit this Kent Fung: https://www.usadojo.com/kent-fung. In any case, he asserts that the sailors are Australian: like the LA Times story, he provides no evidence for his claim.

Damien Linnane, in his edit, refers to a "directors' commentary". It would be useful to cite this properly, ideally with reference to a public source. (It's possible that the director intended the sailors to be British, but used whatever actors were on hand, as long as their accents weren't American.) Colin Rowat (talk) 16:59, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

I've lived in Australia almost my whole life, and I can tell you this much. The accents don't sound even remotely Australian to me. While I'll admit I'm not an expert on British accents, when I listen to the actors speak I can't imagine what other nationality they might have been trying to imitate. I've just watched the entire scene again. Pay close attention to the sailor who says 'Excuse me my son' when they first enter the lantern festival, and let me know what you think of that accent. It sounds stereo-typically British to me. Now that I've listened to it again, the main sailor Bruce fights does seem less distinctly anything, but I still don't think he sounds Australian. I do agree it's highly likely that Cohen, as an American, didn't really care too much if the actor was born and raised in the UK, as long as their accent sounded un-American. But I digress. Regardless of what you or I or anyone else thinks of the accents, the director states they were intended to be British. Therefore they are British for the purpose of the film's plot, irrespective of whether the actors didn't do a good job of the accents, or if the actors themselves did happen to be Australian and didn't mask their native accents well enough.

I have now cited the director's commentary for this, as I had done throughout the rest of the article for anythign I thought would need a citation. A post on Quora is not a reliable source. It's my understanding it still wouldn't be a reliable source even if you could prove the writer is indeed the same man who has also written for a martial arts website (this would only make him an expert on martial arts, not foreign accents). Also keep in mind that this is a featured article. As such, references used must be both reliable but also "high-quality". I'd argue usadojo is not a high-quality source, even if the writer in question did make the statement there. I concede the LA Times also doesn't provide evidence for their claim, but I mean, I don't think they need to. We've got two high-quality sources, including the director of the film, saying they're British, and at present zero reliable sources that they're anything else. And even if there was a high-quality source that said they were Australian, that would not override the opinions of the man who co-wrote and directed the scene. The only way I think we could modify it is if Robert Cohen made a public statement that he got it wrong and the sailors are not actually British after all. Damien Linnane (talk) 00:27, 9 March 2021 (UTC)