The Big Boss

"Fists of Fury" redirects here. For the 1972 film, see Fist of Fury.

This article is about the film starring Bruce Lee. For other uses, see Big Boss (disambiguation).

The Big Boss
Hong Kong movie poster
Traditional	唐山大兄
Simplified	唐山大兄
Mandarin	Táng Shān Dà Xiōng
Cantonese	Tong4 Saan1 Daai6 Hing1
Directed by	Lo Wei
Produced by	Raymond Chow
Written by	Bruce Lee Lo Wei
Starring	Bruce Lee Maria Yi James Tien Yin-chieh Han Tony Liu
Music by	Wang Fu-ling (original Mandarin version) Peter Thomas (English dub version) Joseph Koo (re-issued Cantonese version)
Distributed by	Golden Harvest Walt Disney Pictures Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	Hong Kong: October 3, 1971 (1971-10-03)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Mandarin Cantonese
Box office	HK $3,197,417 North America: $2,800,000 (US/ Canada rentals)

The Big Boss (Chinese: 唐山大兄, also known as Fists Of Fury) is a 1971 Hong Kong martial arts action film written and directed by Lo Wei, with assistance from Bruce Lee. It stars Lee, Maria Yi, James Tien and Tony Liu. Bruce Lee's first major film, it was written for James Tien. However, Lee's strong performance overshadowed Tien, already a star in Hong Kong, and made Bruce Lee famous across Asia.

Plot

Cheng is a Chinese man from mainland China who moves to Thailand to live with his uncle and works in an ice factory. When a block of ice is accidentally broken, a bag of white powder falls out. Several of Cheng's cousins are asked to see the manager. The factory is really a front for a drug smuggling ring led by Hsiao Mi. When they refuse to cooperate, they are killed and their bodies disposed of.

Two more cousins are sent to Hsiao Mi's house were he has them killed for asking questions. The men at the factory then riot. To ease tensions, the Big Boss now makes Cheng a foreman, providing him with alcohol and prostitutes. When one of the prostitutes tells Cheng the truth, he breaks into the factory at night and finds his cousins' bodies. He is discovered by the gangsters.

Cheng fights his way out, killing the Big Boss's son Hsiao Chiun in the process. When he returns home, he finds his entire family has been murdered. He exacts revenge by killing Hsiao Mi in a final fight. He then surrenders to the Thai police, who arrive shortly after he has disposed of the Big Boss.

Cast

• Bruce Lee: Lee is Cheng Chao-an (traditional Chinese: 鄭潮安; simplified Chinese: 郑潮安; pinyin: Zhèng Cháo-Ān; Cantonese Yale: Zeng Ciu-On), who travels from China to Pak Chong, Thailand to stay with his uncle.
• Maria Yi: Chiao Mei is a typical "damsel in distress". She is Lee's love interest.
• James Tien: Cousin Hsu Chien is a martial artistist and gets into fights with the local gangs.
• Yin-chieh Han: Hsiao Mi ("The Big Boss") owns an ice factory which is really a front for his drug dealing.
• Lee Kwan: Cousin Ah Kun
• Tony Liu: Hsiao Chiun (Hsiao Mi's son)
• Chao Chen: Ah Sheng (Foreman)
• Chia Ching Tu: the Uncle
• Gam Saan: Cousin Ah Shan
• Billy Chan Wui-ngai: Cousin Ah Pei
• Lam Ching-ying: Cousin Ah Yen (also Assistant Action Director of the film)
• Peter Yang: Cousin Ah Chen
• Nora Miao: a local cold drinks vendor
• Peter Chan: Hsiao Mi's henchman
• Ma La Lene: Miss Wuman
• Rhoma Irama: Ah Yieng (Extra)

Original Mandarin cut

When the film was released in 1971 in Hong Kong, it included scenes that were later removed from all the mainstream versions. This was a result of the "1972 Hong Kong movie censorship crackdown", when martial arts films were censored for extreme violence. The The Big Boss originally included graphic scenes of a body being cut in half with a circular saw, an artery cut with a knife causing blood to spew from a character's forehead, and a notorious depiction of a villain killed by "vertical partial cranial laceration" with a hand saw.

Alternative title confusion

When The Big Boss was being prepared for American distribution, it was to be retitled The Chinese Connection, a play on the popular The French Connection, since both dealt with drug trafficking. The title of Lee's second film, Fist of Fury, was to be identical, except for being Fists of Fury. However, the titles were accidentally reversed. The Big Boss was released as Fists of Fury and Fist of Fury became The Chinese Connection. Film purists refer to the films by their original titles. Recent American TV showings and the official US DVD release from Twentieth Century-Fox have restored the original titles of all Bruce Lee films.

Alternative music scores

Unlike other Lee films, The Big Boss is unique in having not only two, but three completely different music scores. Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon, and Game of Death all only feature one score with minor alterations.

The first music score for it was composed by Wang Fu-ling, who worked on films such as The Chinese Boxer and One-Armed Swordsman. This was made for the Mandarin language version amd the first English version. It similar to other martial arts movie scores, especially the Shaw Brothers films. Wang was the only one to receive credit, but it is also believed composer Chen Yung-yu assisted with the score.

The second and most popular of the music scores was by German composer Peter Thomas. This did not become widely known until 2005, when most of the music he composed for the film appeared on iTunes in a Big Boss collection. Thomas's involvement stems from a complete reworking of the English version of the film. The early version featured the British voice actors who worked on all Shaw Brothers films and used Wang Fu-ling's score. It was decided to make a new English version that would stand out from the other martial arts films. New actors were brought in to voice the film in English, and Peter Thomas (composer) re-scored the film, abandoning Wang Fu-ling's music. The German dubbed version features his score, especially in the German title of the film in the iTunes compilation.

The third score is the 1983 Cantonese release score, which primarily features music from Golden Harvest composer Joseph Koo. However, a good portion of Joseph Koo's music in the Cantonese version was originally created in 1974 for the Japanese theatrical release of The Big Boss, which was half Koo's music and half Peter Thomas'. Golden Harvest simply took Koo's music from the Japanese version and added it to the Cantonese version. Aside from this, this version is most infamous for its use of the Pink Floyd music cues "Time" and "Obscured by Clouds", as well as King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part Two".

Other actors as Bruce Lee playing Cheng Chao-an

Various Bruce Lee biopics have been filmed over the years, with the two most famous being Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Both of these films feature their respective actors, Bruce Li and Jason Scott Lee, at one point acting as Lee on the set of The Big Boss. Both films feature a variation of the rumor that Lee was challenged on the set by a Thai boxer. In Myth, Lee was challenged on set and was caught in the middle of an ambush later on off the set. In Dragon, Lee is challenged during an actual take during filming of The Big Boss, wearing the trademark rolled up long sleeve white T-shirt, white sash, and black pants. Both of these are highly exaggerated accounts (not to mention that Dragon makes the mistake of saying that filming for The Big Boss began in July 1970 rather than in July 1971), as the story told is that Lee merely discusses martial arts with a Thai fighter on the set. Besides these two examples, a third Bruce Lee biopic, The Legend of Bruce Lee, this time with Danny Chan Kwok Kwan as Lee and filmed in mini-series form, was shown in Hong Kong in 2008 as part of China's hosting of the summer Olympics. Once again, this biopic shown Lee encountering a Thai boxer on the set of The Big Boss, this time with the challenger being played by martial arts film veteran Mark Dacascos. Photos and behind-the-scenes video of this scene have appeared on various websites, including Dacascos's official site.

Release

• Upon its release The Big Boss became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hong Kong and remained unsurpassed until Bruce Lee's second film, Fist of Fury.

• When the film was released in the United States, the death of Hsiao Mi, "The Boss", was cut down to him simply being stabbed in the chest with a knife in order to receive an "R" rating. The original version of his death, which not only shows an explicit close-up of the knife in his chest but Cheng Chao-an's fingers piercing his rib cage and blood flowing from under his shirt, would have given the film an "X" rating. Ironically, the first time this scene was shown in the US was when it played on cable channel AMC in July 2004.

Miramax Films acquired rights from Golden Harvest to distribute The Big Boss on G4TV in 2009, and which Miramax still streams the film on Netflix and Hulu. Columbia pictures released the film as a re-issue in 1978 and again re-issue it double featured with Fist Of Fury in February 1981. The films were later licensed to Miramax for streaming rights and licensed to Disney was it's to be the current owner.

VHS releases

4 Front United Kingdom)

• Released: March 17, 1997
• Classification: 18

4 Front(United Kingdom)

• Released: October 1, 2001
• Part of a boxset
• Classification: 18

20th Century Fox (America)

• Released: May 21, 2002
• Named Fists of Fury
• Classification: R (mature audiences only) and X known to be on amazon store website
• Color: NTSC
• Run time: 99 minutes

This VHS version includes the Columbia Pictures 1980 version of the re-issue.

DVD releases

Universe (Hong Kong)

• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:35:1) letterboxed
• Sound: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Mandarin (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Traditional, Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese
• Supplements: Trailer, trailers for Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon, Game of Death, Legacy of Rage, star files
• All regions, NTSC

Mega Star (Hong Kong)

• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:29:1)
• Sound: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono), Mandarin (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono)
• Subtitles: Traditional, Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean
• Supplements: Trailer, synopsis, cast and Crew biographies
• All regions, NTSC

Fortune Star – Bruce Lee Ultimate DVD Collection (Hong Kong)

• Released: April 29, 2004
• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:35:1) anamorphic
• Sound: Cantonese (DTS 5.1), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Mandarin (DTS 5.1), Mandarin (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Traditional, Simplified Chinese, English
• Supplements: Original trailer, new trailer, still photos, slideshow of photos, celebrity interviews, unseen footage, Game of Death outtakes, Enter the Dragon alternate opening, 32-page booklet
• Region 3, NTSC

Fox (America)

• Released: May 21, 2002
• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:27:1) letterboxed
• Sound: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Supplements: None
• Region 1, NTSC

Fox – Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection (America)

• Released: October 18, 2005
• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:35:1) anamorphic
• Sound: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Manadarin (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Supplements: Original trailer, new trailer, still photos, slideshow of photos, interview with Tung Wai, bonus trailers
• Region 1, NTSC

Hong Kong Legends – Special Collector's Edition (United Kingdom)

• Released: November 6, 2000
• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:35:1) anamorphic
• Sound: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Dutch
• Supplements: Commentary by Bey Logan, production photo gallery, animated biography showcase of Bruce Lee with voice over, original Mandarin trailer, Hong Kong promotional trailer, UK promotional trailer, bonus trailers
• Region 2, PAL

Hong Kong Legends – Platinum Edition (United Kingdom)

• Released: October 23, 2006
• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:35:1) anamorphic
• Sound: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono), English (2.0 Dual Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Dutch
• Supplements: Disc 1: Commentary by Andrew Staton and Will Johnston, bonus trailers; Disc 2: UK platinum trailer, UK promotional trailer, original Mandarin trailer, Hong Kong promotional trailer, rare uncut 8mm UK trailer, original 35mm UK title sequence, textless 35mm title sequence, original lobby cards, "Paul Weller: Breaking the West", "Fred Weintraub: A Rising Star", "Tom Kuhn: What Might Have Been", "The History of The Big Boss: A Photographic Retrospective", "Deleted Scenes Examined: The Story of the Elusive Original Uncut Print", animated biography showcase of Bruce Lee with voice over, DVD credits
• Region 2, PAL

Blu-ray Disc release

Kam & Ronson (Hong Kong)

• Released: August 6, 2009
• Aspect ratio: Widescreen (2:35:1)
• Sound: Cantonese (DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1), Cantonese (Dolby True HD 7.1), Mandarin (Dolby Digital EX 6.1), Thai (Dolby Digital EX 6.1)
• Subtitles: Traditional Chinese, English, Thai
• Supplements: Tung Wai interview
• Region A

External links

• The Big Boss at the Internet Movie Database
• The Big Boss at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• The Big Boss at AllRovi
• A gallery of still shots from The Big Boss
• An in-depth article on the missing scenes featuring rare publicity shots and screenshots
• The opening credits from the "version you've never seen"
• "the big boss & the beautiful orphan" by d. (contemporary artist/designer). "the big boss & the beautiful orphan" is a remix/remake of "The Big Boss." Genre: cross-genre, appropriation art, experimental, literary. "the big boss & the beautiful orphan" appeared March 22, 2011 in the online arts journal, "Orion headless."