The Big Boss (1972)

Touches You

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Great Film overall

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Probably the only reason this film is remembered so well is because it's the first major feature starring Bruce Lee, the legendary martial arts actor. And yeah, he's good in it. The fight scenes are slick and showy, definitely the best part of the movie by far. But aside from that... it's pretty boring, if I'm being completely honest.And it's not Lee in any way. He's there to be the protagonist and the deliverer of sick kung fu moves. And in that capacity he more than satisfies. It's just that the plot is so clichéd. There's an evil mob boss who rules over a business filled with suffering common workers. A country boy, who just happens to be a master kung fu fighter, moves into town and through various events ends up opposing the mob boss. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's the exact same plot used by every single B-movie kung fu movie ever made. Every. Single. One.So yeah, the plot is boring, but admittedly Bruce Lee is entertaining enough to give the film some value. Do see it if you want to say you've seen them all. Aside from that, I wouldn't bother.

The film was based on the true story of Cheng Chiu-on who fought the tyrants in Thailand . As Chein (Bruce Lee choreographed his own fight scenes) is a city boy who moves with his relatives to work at an ice Factory . He does this with a family oath , as he was forced to make a promise to his mother after his father was killed in a fight . The promise was the following : never to get involved in any fight and to make sure he would not fall to the same fate and that he'd live to raise his own family. However, when members of his family begin disappearing after meeting the management of the factor , the resulting mystery and pressures forces him to break that vow . As he confronts it head on with his mastery of martial arts while investigating the strange disappearances his cousins . Meantime , he falls in love for beautiful women (Maria Yi and the usual Nora Miao as a Drinkstand owner) and Chein makes love prostitutes (Thai brothel featured in the film was actually a genuine and functioning brothel and they were actual whores who were paid more by Golden Harvest than they would normally receive in a day by their clients) . As Chein seeks vengeance for the death of his relatives and friends ; dispatching numerous thugs and hundreds of Karate experts at violent combats and , he , finally , takes on the villainy of the Big Boss.A vengeance story about a young man in an ice factory that seeks revenge when his cousins mysteriously begin to disappear . Nice Bruce Lee as an undercover fighter who works with his cousins and sworn to an oath of non-violence . Although , the original star was also James Tien, who plays Hsiu Chien, while Bruce Lee was to be a co-star. However, when directors changed, the stars switched, giving Lee top billing. This violent Chop-Socky displays action-packed , thrills , fast-paced a lot of zooms , and wild fighting images . In fact , this is the only Lee film to be censored in its original country due to graphic violence . This is the only Bruce Lee film (excluding his childhood films and Green Hornet re-edit films) missing his use of the nunchucks . It packs violent combats sequences filled with bounds and leaps ; including Karate , Judo, Tae Kwon do , Hapkido , Wushu and being the only Lee trademark present in this film is his triple kick attack . Exciting and rousing struggles carried out by Bruce Lee , he wasn't doubled and did his own stunts . And impressive final fighting , the key fight sequence between Lee and the Big Boss . The international title of this film was "The Big Boss". In the United States the English dubbed version was originally to be released under the title "The Chinese Connection", a play on the title of the highly popular film French Connection (1971). For some reason the title was changed to "Fists of Fury". As a result, to avoid confusion with Bruce Lee's following film known elsewhere in the world as "Fist of Fury" (1972) , the latter film's title for its U.S. release became first "The Iron Hand" and then "The Chinese Connection". The motion picture was professionally directed by Lo Wei and well produced by Raymond Chow-Golden Harvest . Although , the original director was Ng Gar Seung, however, he was replaced by Wei Lo a few weeks into production . It achieved big hit smash at box office , in fact , circa 1971 , this was the highest grossing film of all time in Hong Kong, beating out American productions Sound of the music (1965) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Lo Wei also directed the successful "Laugh Track: Chinese Connection" because of the movie's racial content and personal disagreements, Bruce Lee quit working with Lo Wei after this movie . And made various Jackie Chan recitals as ¨New fist of fury¨ and ¨Spiritual Kung Fu¨. This is a top-notch Kung-Fu movie with the unforgettable Bruce Lee . Bruce Lee played the biggest international hit smashes , such as ¨Fist of Fury¨ that was previously realized to his American box office ¨Enter the dragon¨. This one was made later but released before ¨Lee's Return of dragon¨ with Chuck Norris as contender , and Lee had formerly starred ¨way of the dragon¨ or ¨¨Enter the dragon¨ is his last complete movie character but his next film ¨ Game of death¨ was absurdly edited after his death . This Kung-Fu actioner was well realized by Lo Wei , an expert on Chop-Socky movies and he directed various Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan vehicles . This "The Big Boss" also titled "Big Brother of Tongshan" or "Fists of Fury" or "Fists of Glory¨ is indispensable and essential seeing for Lee fans and Karate enthusiastic.

I first saw "The Big Boss" when I was about nine years old. My older cousin (who had introduced me to Lee a few years earlier) had given me a synopsis of the movie, and like him, I was genuinely enthralled. Unlike him, I hadn't experienced the Bruce Lee zeitgeist of the early 70's and, thus far, had only had real (reel) time with Lee in "Game of Death (1978)". For the better part of two years, I had idolized my hero mostly through photographs and because of this, he had taken on an additional mythical quality. As I slid in the videocassette, I remember a distinct feeling not too dissimilar to the one Indiana Jones must have felt upon finding the Holy Grail. I had lived with this film in my imagination for a child's eternity, and had a pretty good idea of what to expect. What I didn't know, was that the film itself would look and, more importantly, feel almost exactly as it had in my mind. For this reason, among others, "Boss" will always be a little extra special to me.Exactly what makes the movie so compelling? Unquestionably, it's the sheer magnitude of Lee's screen presence - a fact that prompted producer Raymond Chow to offer him the lead role initially intended for James Tien. Upon closer inspection, however, "Boss" possesses a primitive spontaneity and textural rawness that gives it an extremely tangible and visceral quality - a verisimilitude that's not unlike Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver". From the moment Lee's character, the humble Chinese immigrant Cheng Chao-An, arrives at the Pak Chong dock, right through to the evocative finale where he's hauled off by Thai police, there's a certain sense of reality taking shape. This energy is both kinetic and alive. Cheng is a young man with a troubled past. His newfound home offers an opportunity to seek his fortune through hard manual labor - a trade not uncommon to most Chinese expatriates- and, though never directly stated in the film, his pilgrimage was a result of his rebellious nature back home. Due to his new surroundings, Cheng's demeanor is both respectful and, oftentimes, painstakingly shy, but, there's an innate innocence to Cheng (represented by the jade locket given to him by his mother), and the more we spend time with him, we witness the gradual loss of that innocence. The set up works extremely well, as we don't see what Cheng is capable of till almost halfway into the film. Later, he'll come full circle, and embrace the animal he sought to suppress - the slaughter of his family being cataclysmic for the emotional arc he will experience in his journey.Particularly relevant is the way the violence is explored - uncompromisingly brutal, yet at the same time, strangely purifying. It's as if the violence serves as a confession, paving the way to Cheng's reputation as a muscular, young tiger. In the warehouse, bathed in eerie red light (that seemingly suggests the rage to come), Cheng discovers his cousins corpse. The flood lights switch on and we see: Cheng glaring at a group of thugs approaching; lightning quick, he hurls his flashlight at them - impaling the metal through a man's skull. Using every weapon at his disposal - including a saw - he systematically goes through each man with what can be described as serene savagery. This Zen-like dispassion has two exceptions: the moment the jade locket is torn from his neck, and the final battle where he puts his fingers through Mi Hsiao's ribcage and then proceeds to chain punch the villain's lifeless body to a pulp. If the broken locket represents the unleashing of the beast then the image of Cheng collapsing on top of the Mi's corpse is the exorcism of that beast.A major theme that separates "Boss" from Lee's subsequent films is its use of sexuality. Indeed, sex almost takes on its own character in the piece and abstractly mirrors the intensity of the violence. For the first (and only) time we see Lee sexually charged and uninhibited on celluloid. Eroticism runs through all of Cheng's relationships with women: borderline incestual with Chiao Mei, a flirtatious school boy crush with the girl at the ice stand and….promiscuous with local prostitutes - the latter of these two encounters was included in the original mandarin print of the film. In the deleted scene, Cheng, having made his decision to take vengeance for the murder of his family, returns to the town bordello. In direct contrast to his earlier encounter with Miss Wuman, he's straightforwardly aggressive - pushing the second Thai prostitute roughly onto the bed, and fully disrobing in front of her. Cheng's naked body becomes a symbol of the sacrifice he'll make to avenge his family, and his act of sheer pleasure with the prostitute represents his spiritual rebirth into the animalistic warrior that we witness during his fight at the Boss's mansion. Equally profound, is his departure from the room - specifically in the way he pays the prostitute for her service - delicately placing the last of his money on her belly while she sleeps. There's a sensual gravitas and a prevalent solitude that linger as Cheng leaves the room. The scene was later removed in an effort to preserve Lee's screen image, following his designated status as a cultural hero and role model to the Hong Kong and South-East Asian audience.

I like Bruce Lee, but he had a couple of misfires in his career. Most people consider Game of Death to be Bruce's worst film, but I give that dubious honor to this movie. Bruce Lee's dormant attitude by promising to never fight gets old very quickly. He doesn't start fighting until around the 45 minute mark. Throughout the movie, when Bruce isn't fighting or somebody else is, it's very talky. I really shouldn't be surprised though, considering Wei Lo directed it. Even Bruce's fight scenes in this one are somewhat disappointing. I'm used to Bruce's fights being one-sided in movies, but at least they contained excitement. This doesn't really have any of it, aside from the final fight at the end. He's never in any immediate danger, even when he looks to be heavily outnumbered. Let's face it, Bruce Lee is probably the only reason you decided to watch this movie to begin with. He's so fast and acrobatic. He has to deal with poor camera work and fight scenes that aren't exactly fluid. His performance is nothing to write home about, he relies on intensity and facial expressions. It works very well. What was up with that internal monologue of his? I don't get why this is rated so highly. It's poorly paced, unexciting, atrociously dubbed (At least the version I watched is) , and hard to get through. Stick to Enter The Dragon and Chinese Connection in lieu of this one4.6/10