The Big Boss

I must admit that I completely lost my way through the film. I could not pay that much attention, I think I was nodding off (trying to sleep) and I thought Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury was a lot better for action and fights. As far as I can remember seeing this film there was only one fight sequence that lasted about two minutes, that's it. So I eventually decided to turn it off about an hour in. Only one good thing I can say about this film is that Lee's performance is not too bad, and nearly stopped me from getting bored. And obviously he kept me gripped for an hour. But like I said, not enough fighting to save the film. Bruce Lee was number 49 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and he was number 29 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Adequate, in my opinion!

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!

i liked this film.it's very entertaining.the story is engaging enough to keep you interested.the fight scenes are very good.especially the final fight between Bruce Lee's character and The Big Boss.Lee had a lot of charisma and screen presence and it shows here on his first big feature film role.what really impressed about him though while watching the film was his amazing footwork in the fight scenes.he was obviously a very skilled martial artist.the version i viewed was the U.S. 99 minute version.it would be interesting to see the uncut version,if it still exists anywhere.but for now,this version will have to do.for me,Tang shan da xiong is a 7/10

While Bruce Lee is not the titular Big Boss, he actually is. Or rather sadly was, as he left us way too early and with not enough movies to cherish him. Now this introduction already may tell you that I'm a bit biased - ok more than just a bit. I generally liked watching Shaw Brothers eastern movies when I was a kid, but I also was a giant fan of Bruce Lee and the few movies he made. That is not counting the whole Brucesploitation "genre" that was made after his death, but more on that on his Game of Death movies. Although only the first one is actually somewhat offical. Big Boss has quite a few plot holes - a lot of character development that I didn't question as a kid (why has Bruce Lees character sworn off fighting others? Is there a reason other than him getting deadly for others?). I also didn't remember the nudity in this. Now it sort of serves the story in some way, but I know I did not remember it. Maybe it was cut from the version I saw, maybe I just was more focused on the fights and the story. I remembered the ice factory (apparently it still exists and is working or was a few years ago) and the "secrets", I remembered the bird cage and the end fight very vividly. While the original audio does not contain the brandmark Lee-isms, some dubbed versions do have them. Which I guess is weird in a way. Slow paced, but action packed when it counts. And the fights still work - even if we are or have been spoiled by way more collaborate fight choreography.

This movie has to be Bruce lee's best film because it has great fight scenes . good acting and a good story i would recommend showing your friends and family this gory kung fu movie from the best actor Bruce lee who did five other movies. Plus there is a lot of blood and gore so not for the squeamish

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 one 4.6/10

A young man (Bruce Lee) sworn to an oath of non-violence works with his cousins in an ice factory where they mysteriously begin to disappear. I have been watching Bruce Lee movies this week, and so far this one was probably the snoozer. There are some good fights in it. Heck, there is an incredible mêlée about a third of the way in where twenty or more men were kung fu fighting. Their moves were fast as lightning. Frankly, it was a little bit frightening. But that was the highlight of the film. Before this big fight, and after this fight, there is a lot of monotony. In other movies, this would be where you build a plot or work on character development. But here, I just did not get that feeling... it felt like an excuse to build the running time of the film.

"Cheng Chao-an" (Bruce Lee) is a young man from the country who decides to seek employment with some relatives and friends at a factory far from home. What he doesn't realize is that the factory is a secret conduit for heroin. Natually, where there are illegal drugs there are also hoodlums present. When they inevitably cause trouble for Cheng's group he has to decide on whether to obey a promise he made not to fight or help to defend those closest to him. Now, while this film isn't nearly as good as a couple of other Bruce Lee movies, it did have a big influence on starting the martial arts genre that we enjoy today. I believe that it is because of this reason that many people rate it so highly. However, upon closer inspection I think that most people would see that there are obvious faults to this film. The film quality isn't good, the dubbing is bad and there are parts that seem to drag on way too long. But there is plenty of action and a few pretty ladies to lend some nice scenery. I especially liked "Miss Wu-man" (Marilyn Bautista). Even so, this is a very basic martial arts film and I rate it as average.

It's clunky, and just all a bit cringeworthy. We all know the story, I don't know why so many reviews have to write out the whole story. Bruce's performance is pretty bad and the fighting is mediocre. It's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. People suggesting it is have rocks in their heads. I first saw this in the '80s and watching it again now I felt about the same then as now. I never thought it was very good.