The Last Dragon (1985)

Another bucket list movie which I never watched when it first came out. Coming from the mind of Berry Gordy & director Michael Schultz (Car Wash/Cooley High) this camp tale of a Bruce Lee wannabe (hell his name is Bruce Leroy) is on a mission to find out what his purpose in life is whilst fighting bad guys & protecting a video vixen (the late, great Vanity). It's hard to take this film seriously when it screams camp from the first reel but hey people really love this film. Look out for Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from the Cosby Show), Chazz Palminteri & William H. Macy (billed as W.H. Macy) all in early roles. Taimak where are you?

Can we give a shout out to 1985? Every so often there is a single year that has so many great movies it defines your watching habits. 1985 was one of them...and there were a couple more in the '90s...but 1985 wins it for having the most beloved childhood movies released.Ooooohhhhh, he had us all when he caught the arrow, didn't he? It is still awesome, that opening and...who cares about how dated it all is or how stupid Sho 'nuff looks with weird red get-up, this movie was too cool when you were a little boy.Leroy Green...he was totally Bruce Lee, or at least he was for a group of kids that were too young to know who Bruce Lee was...but not so young we didn't let this movie make us obsessed with Vanity.And...as an adult...I am still not sure how Vanity became famous. We may have all been in love with here when we were little but...yeah, total confusion about the big deal was and some odd association with The Artist formerly known as that we weren't old enough to understand.But....it was our introduction to women like Vanity...to Kung-Fu...to Blacksploitation films, to everything as absolutely movie centered horrible that we could handle and as a little kid....we loved it.And as an adult, I can ignore the camp and the stupid parts enough to still love it. So much fun.

Needless to say, this movie is incredibly cheesy. But it's also deceptively clever at times, and if you just go with it, it's a lot of fun.Leads Taimak and Vanity (yes, they each have only one name) are surrounded by a talented and colorful supporting cast, allowing them to do what they do best; look good (and in the case of Taimak) kick a lot of butt.It's sort of a mash-up of two of the most prominent b-movie genres of the 70s; Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu. But it's the 80s, so there's pop music and it has a happy ending.

All right, I'll admit it! I used to like movies like this, but I guess it's a sign that you're getting older when you can name all the Brady Bunch kids, but don't know any names of the Backstreet Boys.But, then again, I hear from the younger generation how cheesy they feel movies like this actually are, and, by today standards, Cheddar is better! Taimak was an unknown, his first film and he's the lead. But Gordy is known for making moves like that. Vanity always was a doll, but dolls can't speak for a reason...because they CAN'T ACT! And this doll can't either. The only thing I found genuine in her was the blushing smile she would portray when her character would look at the lead (but then, that's maybe because I'm like every other man who wants someone to smile at them like that).Julius Carry as "Sho'nuf," the Shogun of Harlem. Well, by the end of the film, I "sho'nuf" had it with him. Big, overbearing, brutish, and another can't-act that I never heard of from that day on.As for the film, the special effects were something of its time, but its time is over and even a basic CGI programmer could probably do a better job of it than some of the fight scenes. I really feel that 4 out of 10 stars is a gift to this film.