Running Hard, Running Fast

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

TITLE: DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY

DIRECTOR: ROB COHEN

WRITERS: EDWARD KHMARA, JOHN RAFFO AND ROB COHEN

THE BOTTOM LINE: A high-kicking biography of the martial-arts star proves that nothing succeeds like excess.

A poor immigrant lad arrives in the U.S. with nothing in his luggage but talent, a dream and the capacity for hard work. He overcomes prejudice, stuffy conservatives in his profession and a debilitating accident that should have left him crippled for life. Along the way, he acquires a sweet and understanding wife who not only comforts him but also inspires him in adversity.

But -- and here comes the really inspired part -- every 10 minutes or so, circumstances require him to kick a little butt. This he does with a panache that ensures the yipping pleasure of all the young males in the house and, since this heroic figure is also a really cute guy, the gurgling approval of their dates.

Is this the ultimate biopic or what? It has all the romantic and celebratory moves of the genre, in addition to which its subject is no bearded duffer moping around a laboratory or gallant, tear-streaked lady belatedly triumphing over a dismal affliction, but a movie star (of sorts) who specialized in doing a highly cinematic thing -- namely a form of kung fu, all lightning reactions and fluid, swirling choreography. Moreover, the movie retains that air of breathless awe and dauntless approval that has always made movie biographies . such a pleasant relief from the gloomy ambiguities of written ones.

No sooner does Bruce (Jason Scott Lee, no relation) conquer the little world of kung fu than he moves on to the larger -- well, anyway, flashier -- world of show biz. And, of course, more troubles that need braving out: he plays Kato on The Green Hornet TV series, but it gets canceled; he has a million- dollar idea for another series, which is swept out from under him because the network doesn't want the Chinese hero played by a Chinese actor (hence the lead in Kung Fu goes to David Carradine). Bruce returns to his roots, from which he draws the beginnings of a new career as the protagonist of cultishly successful martial-arts movies. Soon, however, he is paying the accustomed costs of stardom: turning into a temperamental workaholic, neglecting his family. Just as it seems that superstardom is about to end his problems, a cerebral edema ends his life at a mere 32 years of age.

It is, putting it mildly, a crowded life. And putting it mildly again, this is an entirely uncritical movie, although a surprisingly likable one. Part of this quality derives from the lively innocence of Jason Scott Lee's performance, and the sweet spunkiness of Lauren Holly as the all-American coed Bruce marries in college. Part of it derives from the go-ahead conviction of Rob Cohen's direction. He foreshadows his hero's early death by having his dreams haunted by fate (giddily yet scarily represented as a warrior figure out of China's ancient past) and proposes that Lee ran so hard, so fast in an attempt to outdistance this grim stalker. It's an incautious conceit, and some of its effectiveness may derive from the recent, equally sudden, equally premature death of Lee's son Brandon on a film set. One begins to think that perhaps the family actually is haunted. But even in happier circumstances, one could succumb to the charged-up romanticism of this dippy, entrancing movie.