Next up here is the film that made the late Bruce Lee a smash motion picture icon in Asia, 'The Big Boss'! For a good deal of martial arts movie fans, this flick was their first exposure to the genre as well as another look at Asian cinema. I remember sitting in my living room afterschool watching a VHS copy, the CBS-Fox version. (More on that later.)It was a box-office triumph for Lee and Golden Harvest, becoming the biggest grossing movie in Hong Kong ever at that time until Fists of Fury a mere year later. The film also stars James Tien and Maria Yi along with Nora Miao & was directed by Lo Wei. There's a lot associated with this film and Lee itself which I'll get to...
The movie opens up with Cheng Chao An(Lee) and his uncle
arriving at a town in Thailand from China so that Cheng
can find work with his cousins in an ice factory. After a
meal at a roadside noodle cart they meet up with Hsu Chien
(Tien) who beats up some thugs harassing the noodle seller
(Miao) and his little cousin selling rice cakes. Cheng
promised his mother that he wouldn't fight, but soon finds
himself in a battle between the workers at the ice factory
and management. Things get even worse when two of his
cousins disappear after making a discovery during a minor
accident. Then Hsu Chien disappears, Cheng becomes the
new foreman and more conflict ensues until a final showdown
with The Big Boss, Hsiao Mi.
'The Big Boss' is a damn good film. It is a testament to
Bruce Lee's magnetism because this picture originally was
written up for James Tien. When Lee turned down a low-ball
contract offer from the Shaw Studios, Golden Harvest(founded
by former Shaw execs Raymond Chow & Leonard Ho)stepped forth
with a two-picture deal. It's been said that Tien harbored a
bit of resentment at the situation. There's a good flow here.
The plot is straightforward and lends itself to some real
rambunctious fight scenes. Which leads me into my next point,
which is the sheer force of these scenes. Part of the appeal
of 'The Big Boss' was that it emphasized and utilized kung fu
on a hand-to-hand basis in a new way on film. Most audiences
in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia were used to martial
arts films as a mixture of weapons plus hand-to-hand style.
They hadn't been thrilled like this since seeing films of
the legendary Kwan Tak Hing as the hero Wong Fei-Hung. This
film though was somewhat different because of the violence
of the scenes and it impacted how 'The Big Boss' was first
seen depending where you were. There were three cuts of the
film due in part to a violence crackdown by Hong Kong film
censors, the original Mandarin cut, the English dubbed prints
for international release, and the Cantonese cut. Grisly
scenes were cut out, such as someone's torso being cut in
half by a saw, and of course the infamous moment where Cheng
cuts someone to the fat meat with a handsaw. Also note the
final fight with Boss Mi, and Bruce's coup de grace, full
of dripping blood.
The differences in film prints also wreaked havoc with the
music. The Cantonese print features a lot of stock music and
unlicensed music from none other than Pink Floyd along with
cues from Jospeh Koo, the studio's music director. You even
have a track from King Crimson in there as well. It wasn't
until 2005 that Peter Thomas was found to have done the tunes
for the international print. He was brought in to do so along
with the re-dubbing of new English voices.(If you check out
the Media Asia release, you'll see the distinct change when
Cheng is sitting by the riverside before the last battle.)
The Mandarin version features the music done by Wang Fu Ling,
and is similar to some sounds from Shaw films.
I can't end this without taking note of some of the wild
stuff in the film we've all cracked up at. How many times have
you yelled, 'Hsu Chiennnnnnnn!!!'? Also, as foul as it is,
you KNOW you laughed when the little man got snuffed for the
rice cakes. Also, when Cheng has dinner with the foreman?
You see that they're drinking Hennessy straight with no chaser.
And when he gets down with Miss Wu Man in the brothel only
to bump into Chiao Mei WHO DOES HOOKER'S LAUNDRY outside?!!
Man...and the fight scenes are tinged with comedy too. (Side
note - the woman that played Wu Man, Malalene? It was her
first ever movie. She went on to do three more films in
Thailand, all 'adult' ones. Ahem.)'The Big Boss' is one of
movies I'll watch anytime, and I have. And I'm sure some of
you out there will be doing the same.
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