The Last Dragon

Leroy Green in Harlem is obsessed with kung fu films. He calls himself Bruce Leroy, walks around in a straw hat and is chasing the final level his teacher described, the state in which the body glows. Two threats face him: Sho'nuff, who has declared himself the best fighter in the city, and a gangster trying to force a video channel host to play his client's clip. The oddity and the value both come from that mixture. Motown's founder Berry Gordy is behind the production, and the film runs kung fu, disco, music video and comedy at once. Taimak and Vanity lead. Julius Carry as Sho'nuff and the film's endlessly repeated catchphrase turned it into a cult item over the years. It lived on television and in quotation far more than it did in cinemas. Its flaws: the acting is uneven, the story is scattered and the fight choreography is weak. Who it is for: viewers who love the strange genre mixtures of the 1980s. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a serious martial arts film.