"The Big Boss" Japanese Theatrical Poster
1971’s The Big Boss, starring the legendary Bruce Lee, did for martial arts movies what Elvis Presley did for music: it made it unforgiving, raw and excessive in almost every way imaginable. Unlike Lee’s other films, The Big Boss’ structure has a slow build up when it comes to the action, so once Lee’s character unleashes his first kick almost 40 minutes into the film, it’s that much more intense.
The Big Boss is also the most brutal, explicit and morally wrong of all his films. Unlike Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you get to see a “saw” slice through bodies. In fact, calling The Big Boss a sleazy horror flick wouldn’t be far from the truth.
There’s also certain mystique behind The Big Boss. Die hard Lee enthusiasts from all over the world are still in search of a version of the film that includes long lost, edited footage, such as the extremely rare saw-in-the-head scene (photo), as well as a bit where Lee’s character decides to get a piece of ass from a prostitute (photo) one last time before he goes on a kill-crazy suicide mission.
One die hard enthusiast is Brandon Bentley, Indie filmmaker and Big Boss-historian (producer the Bruce Lee vs. Peter Thomas feature in Shout! Factory’s Bruce Lee Legacy Collection), has a new series on youtube titled Someone Has to Review It!, and this week he reviews The Big Boss. The reason I find it necessary to share this review is simple: If there’s someone out there that has something new or interesting to say about The Big Boss, Bentley is definitely one of them. Without further ado, here’s a link to the youtube review. Enjoy!
Thanks for the posting! Hopefully others enjoy the video as much as you did 😀
I’m sure they will, especially Bruce Lee fans. Thanks again for the hard work on the video, and the shout out! I’m sure there’s someone out there who has never seen The Big Boss. The video is a great introduction!
Well, Jesse certainly hadn’t initially, and he took to it quite well 😀 But it’ll certainly make me happy if people decide to check it out all because of our video 🙂 Thanks again!
More of these old skool films please!!!!
Hi Brandon,
Love your honest review on The Big Boss like yourself Im a Bruce fan but still waiting to see the Uncut version. Ive been reading it for years that certain parties have a print but for reasons etc has not come to light. Do you have any sort of news as to when we could see the Uncut print and interestingly does the saw scene exist pls? I love the Shout release but feel they could have made more effort but maybe we are asking for too much 😉
Kind regards
Mr M Shah
“as well as a bit where Lee’s character decides to get a piece of ass from a prostitute one last time before he goes on a kill-crazy suicide mission.”
That’s one thing I thought was a tad hypocritical – Cheng goes on a mission to stop a crime lord, but it’s perfectly fine for the Chinese immigrant to go and screw a Thai sex slave, on the same brothel owned by the villain. This right after his family got murdered and his cousin/love interest kidnapped…
Hi has anyone on here come across Bruce Lee big boss fully uncut version if so am after the ice factory saw in the head seen slam bang in the head rare uncut version