Big Boss

Saw this in a theatre in 1971 and just revisited it 45 years later.

Conclusion:

As a film, it suffers badly from the massive improvements in choreography, skill, and staging that MA films have enjoyed in the interim. What seemed sort of "OK" in a dark theatre in 1971 becomes, after several decades, almost a slow dance of awkward fighting moves, with off-sync sound effects and blows that never seem to connect with anything.

In this instance it is not fair to judge the old by the new ... so, no rating.

And then there is the topic of Mr. Lee.

History tells us that Bruce Lee exploded into Asian cinema on this film and anyone can see why. IT IS AS IF HE IS OPERATING AT A FAST CAMERA SPEED AND THE REST OF THE CAST AT A SLOW CAMERA FEED. Of course, the speed of the camera is the same throughout, it is the speed of the actors that differed.

The cast were the usual bunch that made many dozens of these films in a year. They looked slow and awkward because they actually were slow and awkward.

Mr. Lee on the other hand lived (and ultimately died) for his craft. His whole life was MA and even today the debate continues as where he would have ranked against the best fighters of all time. At the top is my guess.

In essence, this is almost an audition tape for Mr. Lee and not much else. But it is a piece of history and deserves great respect.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs i used to own.

Then again in the early 2k on a dvd which I own.

Revisited it recently.

Here Lee plays a young man named Cheng who travels from China to Thailand to stay with his cousins. Before departing, he swore an oath to his mother to not get into any fights. Lee gets a job at an ice factory and inspite of trying to stay away from troubles, Cheng confronts the factory boss after the disappearance of his friends.

This one doesnt have the comic stuff which is ther in Way of the Dragon and for this reason i like this better than Way of the Dragon but this one has a lil flaw cos it has comedic wi fu movements where people just fly as if they have wings.

This one is very gory n has lil nudity.

Marilyn Bautista with her assets is very attractive in this movie.

The knife kickback scene will make Cristiano Ronaldo go rofl.

The villain throws a knife at Lee but Lee kicks it back n it lands in the stomach of the opponent.

Brother Hsu Chien (James Tien) is shown to be very good with karate n especially his wi fu where he keeps jumping, he cud have easily outrun n gone straight to his house or the police after confronting the boss but he n Ah Pei gets into fight rather than trying to get away.

Also what was the need to tell the boss straight on his face and that too in his house about complaining to the police.

Inspite of all the silliness, the movie is a must for fans of Lee.

Some solid n very visible mistakes:

After the prostitute (Marilyn Bautista) tells Cheng (Lee) about the drug smuggling, he leaves. She is sitting with her back to the door when the big boss' son sneaks in. You hear the knife flying through the air and see her face as it hits her in the chest. If she had her back to the door, how did the knife landed in her chest?

During the fight inside the ice factory when Cheng (Lee) gets caught, he ducks down a little too obviously before his opponent throws an object at him.

Cheng (Lee) bends down before the opponent throws something.

I wud still love to see this movie again but the original uncut version.

The version with the notorious "handsaw in the split head" shot.

Some say the uncut version has another very important scene where Cheng runs down the road from the creek, rather than showing him arriving at the Big Boss' mansion which is shown in all the available versions, in the uncut, Cheng returns to the Thai brothel for a third time. Here, he picks up a different prostitute (not Marilyn Bautista). Cheng and the prostitute go to her room; Cheng pushes her onto the bed, and the two begin to strip. Later Cheng lays his remaining money on her stomach, even though he already paid to be with her. He then picks up a bag of crisps from the bedside table; he tries one, then leaves. This scene is symbolic and quite important, as in the previous scene Cheng discards his belongings in the river, and here he gives away his money and enjoys his final pleasures and one last meal before either being killed or arrested, a message which is now partially lost.

In the cut version, Cheng (Lee) directly arrives at the boss' house after discarding his belongings in the river and full of rage but the movie shows Cheng walking in happily and enjoying a packet of chips.

That means he after being enraged, must have visited the brothel to unwind. Otherwise why wud he be eating chips, where did the chips come from n how did his mood changed.

In the cut version, during the fight after discovering the dead bodies in the ice, Cheng picks up a handsaw n the next scene is abruptly changed. He is not shown hitting anyone in the cut version.

That means an uncut version does exist somewhere.

A few seconds of this scene (including a shot of an apparently naked Bruce standing behind the bed) can be seen in the original 3mins 38 secs trailer on YouTube.

i liked this film.it's very entertaining.the story is engaging enough to keep you interested.the fight scenes are very good.especially the final fight between Bruce Lee's character and The Big Boss.Lee had a lot of charisma and screen presence and it shows here on his first big feature film role.what really impressed about him though while watching the film was his amazing footwork in the fight scenes.he was obviously a very skilled martial artist.the version i viewed was the U.S. 99 minute version.it would be interesting to see the uncut version,if it still exists anywhere.but for now,this version will have to do.for me,Tang shan da xiong is a 7/10

After years of trying to get into Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong and began his efforts with this low-budget martial-arts thriller. The result - an Asian box-office smash which made Lee an overnight sensation in the East. Whilst its not a great film or Lee's best work, it is an definite film classic that really opened the door for the martial-arts genre, as well as kicking off Lee's career. The story sees Lee coming to work in Banghok with his cousins in an ice factory, where he soon discovers sinister operations taking place under the thumb of the title villain. Like Lee's other films, the action builds up through the film to impressively staged fight scenes, all topped by a dramatic, all-out climatic bout between Lee and the Big Boss. Breakthrough stuff but the best (and the West) was yet to come.

The first of the four Bruce Lee starring movies[ well, five, if you count Game Of Death]is technically the weakest. However, it's easy to see how it caused such a stir. Unlike most martial arts movies of the time, the film was set in the present day and attempted things like characterisation and even realism. These touches sometimes seem crude and even laughable now [for instance, check out the scene when the other workers of the factory are waiting for Lee to return, with it's exaggurated 'passing the time' actions]but when the film came out, it was a major step forward.

Even more daringly, the film has less fighting, with the fights being structured around the plot rather than the other way round, and bravest of all, the star of the film does not go into action into half way through. Instead, it cleverly builds suspense by having Lee as a guy who has sworn not to fight, and when he eventually cuts loose the result is exhilarating. However, it's obvious that none of Lee's opponents are a match for him and only the sequence when he battles a group of heavies in and around an ice factory really stands out. The clumsiness of much of the action [Lee was only allowed to choreograph the ice factory scene]is almost redeemed by the huge amount of gore and brutality.

Despite it's shoddy aspects, the film does have an odd power,especially towards the end. Lee's character is a very flawed hero who for a while badly strays from goodness and there is a sense that killing all the bad guys will not bring him redemption. In all three of Lee's Hong Kong films, violence never really solves things, it just makes things worse. Maybe that is why Lee's dated, sometimes awkward films are still watched again and again while many other films of the same time and genre have faded into obscurity. Well, that and Lee.