Really Surprised!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

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.

PLOT: 4/10 A very simple plot. By the time the movie was over, there were still numerous holes that needed to be filled.ACTING: 5/10 The acting was not very impressive at all. Bruce Lee's acting, in particular, was a bit of a disappointment. His acting was no better than most of the other actors in the film.ACTION: 6/10 The fighting in this film was very cheesy. First of all, the sound effects of the punches and kicks are much too exaggerated. Second, the blood in this film looks extremely fake as it is a bright red color rather than a blood red color. Also, there would be a fighting scene in which a man gets a large cut across his face. However, in the next scene the cut would no longer be on his face (there are numerous errors such as this in the film). There is also a fighting scene in which a man gets knocked through a wooden wall. Afterwards, there is a perfect body shaped hole in the wooden wall (very cartoon-ish). However, a lot of the cheesy fighting may cause the film to be funny to some viewers. Although the fighting is quite cheesy, it is still entertaining to watch Bruce Lee in action.It seems as if the writers really did not put much effort into this film. I definitely see why this film received poor ratings in the U.S.

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.