davidtkd-25249 After trying to make a big name in the US with the TV series "The Green Hornet" which was a mixed bag, legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee traveled back to Hong Kong where he was very popular as a child actor in the past. He met producer Raymond Chow who allowed him to star in a martial arts film. "Tang Shan Da Xiong", or "The Big Boss" (U.S. Title: "Fists of Fury") was the film he starred in and was the result of the beginning of Bruce Lee's legendary martial arts film career.The film's original director was Ng Kar-seung. He choose James Tien to have the starring role. However, after only 1 week into production, Ng Kar-seung left the project and Lo Wei became the director. When he became the director Bruce Lee and James Tien's roles got switched. Bruce Lee got the starring role while James Tien was the co-star. "The Big Boss" is about a young Chinese man named Cheng Chao-an (Bruce Lee) travels from China to Pak Chong, Thailand in search of a job. He goes to live with his distant cousins. They offer him a job at the ice factory. He works there and develops a good relationship with cousin Hsu Chien (James Tien) and a huge affection for Chiao Mei (Maria Yi). Cheng is a skilled fighter. However, he swore to his mother an oath of non-violence, keeping him out of fights and trouble. However, things get messy when his cousins start to disappear and the true dark secret of the ice factory is revealed. Cheng will now have to break his oath and fight Hsiao Mi (Han Ying-chieh).Directed by Lo Wei (1918-1996), the film was a turning point in martial arts cinema as it showed a flawed protagonist in a new setting. Before "The Big Boss", most martial arts films were bashers. Basher films were martial arts films where the fighting was just the waving of the hands and feet. There was no real style to it. Bruce Lee changed the martial arts world with this film because his fight scenes had style and charisma. This film, written by Lo Wei and Bruce Lee, has a ton of suspense and action. It is very different from most martial arts film as Bruce Lee's character doesn't fight until half way through the movie. This film not only made Bruce Lee an overnight sensation across Asia, but it inspired his later film making skills and changed the way martial arts films have been done ever since the premiere of The Big Boss on October 23, 1971 in Hong Kong. The Big Boss was produced on a small budget of $100,000. The film grossed $3,197,417. The Big Boss was the highest grossing film of all-time in Hong Kong, only being beaten by Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (AKA "The Chinese Connection") the following year in 1972. The film even beat The Sound of Music (1965). The Big Boss is the highest grossing film of 1971 in Hong Kong. Lo Wei, as a film director, has a very mixed reception with his films. The Big Boss (1971), however, is definitely one of his best films. However, Lo Wei, at times, would watch horse racing instead of actually directing the film that he is supposed to. Lo Wei was much more interested with being entertained with himself than with production of the film. Bruce Lee became incensed by this and only worked with Wei on one last film - Fist of Fury (1972). Bruce Lee was an amazing martial artist and actor. He perfectly plays his role in The Big Boss and delivers the best performance of the whole cast in the film. James Tien, Maria Yi, Malelene, Lee Kwan, Tony Liu, and Han Ying-chieh are also great. Nora Miao (Credited as Miao Ke-hsiu) makes a special guest appearance as a drinkstand owner. Granted, there are a few flaws to this film. It is somewhat outdated and many (not me though) will not like the fact that Lee doesn't fight for half of the movie, but I think that this makes the film even better. The reason why? We get to see Bruce Lee act a lot more (his facial expressions, personality, thoughts, fears, etc.). Despite the films flaws, "The Big Boss" (1971) is a classic and deserves a 9/10 in my book. Highly recommended.

TheBigSick This is the first film starring Bruce Lee, which turns out to be his breakout film. His brilliant physical performances, and tough and gritty fighting style, earn him worldwide fame. An unprecedented and highly influential action star is born upon the release of this film. The fight scene with a lot of gangsters with knives is simply thrilling and entertaining.

dworldeater Bruce Lee explodes on the screen in his excellent debut in The Big Boss. Bruce is Chen, who moves to Bangkok to create a new life for himself and is under a vow to never fight again and is left with a green medallion from his mother as a reminder. He almost gets into a fight at his arrival with some local thugs, but abstains. Chen stays in a house with his cousins and they get him a job at the local ice factory. The ice factory is a front for drug trafficking and once a block of ice is cracked open, two workers discover their employer's nefarious packages and are never seen again. Events then escalate and a large brawl breaks out. Chen finds his green medallion shattered and Chen fights like mad. The violence then escalates throughout the rest of the film leaving Chen little choice on his mission of justice. The Big Boss is a cheap production, even for HK films of its era. However, Bruce carries the film easily with his eclectic, intense presence, flawless physique and super human fighting skills. Of Bruce's films The Big Boss is also the bloodiest. Audiences never saw anything like Bruce Lee before and the film was a huge hit. Bruce became an instant cultural icon on par with The Beatles in Hong Kong. Great debut and an essential martial arts classic!

S Ali I am a massive fan of Bruce Lee, this film is not better than Enter the Dragon or Fist of Fury but the story is good, the fight scenes are OK but look silly, we all know that it's old fashion.I never buy video or DVD to watch this film but I recorded it on channel 4 in early 1997 and I still got the video tape. I think the Chinese language is mandarin, not cantonese, I might be wrong but it doesn't sound like cantonese. And the fight scene, Bruce killed the 'Big boss' with his bare hands and another scene, Bruce went to hotel to find out where the big boss is, both did actually show on TV, there might be more but I can't remember. While I copied the video to a new tape, I cut up the TV adverts and some unnecessary scenes because it was too long. I believe that some scenes were still exists that no-one have seen it before, I didn't realise and I should keep the whole version.