Big Boss 40th anniversary

[GungFu]

Lee fans generally accepts its his first Hong Kong movie where he had almost no creative control so you just kind of accept its badness and enjoy when Lee is on the screen.

I disagree SAB.

Bruce actually had more influence than what he was given in the first place when he did “Big Boss” and it is very evident in the then revolutionised way of fighting in the movies - especially in Hong Kong movie. Story wise I do not know how much say he had in the script, but I am very sure that he was giving the two Directors of the movie a hard time as he did not like to be directed and you have to also take into the consideration that this was actually going to be a James Tien debut movie, not a movie with Bruce as the main actor - but Bruce made the change on that. Remember also that Lo Wei was rushed in as the movie's 2nd. Movie Director as the first one got sacked. This was a Hong Kong movie by a Hong Kong movie company - but the location was mostly filmed in Thailand.

I would not generalise what Bruce Lee fans accepts - as there are some that sees “Big Boss” as their favourite movie - it even has for many fans the holly grail scenes, and can be considered the most fascinating and “mysterious” of them all because it was cut a few times after it’s first release of scenes that have become “infamous” and one of the most sought after unseen footage people want to see out of the all of Bruce’s movies.

Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon are his only two 'real' Hong Kong movies ....where he had creative control and could dictate what he wanted. WofD in particular where he almost total complete control over everything...

Bruce was beginning to become really furious with director Lo Wei in “Fist of Fury” and they did not get along at all after that, but Bruce did have in this movie full control of the fight scenes.

“The Way of the Dragon” I would say he had full control over most aspects.

And of course his 40+ minute long GoD fight scenes (and script notes) whiich though incomplete really have just as much if not more fight footage than any of his completed Hong Kong movies.
(the 1978 Western GoD mash up is to be ignored )

“Game of Death” was going to be his baby I believe - this was a movie which had allot of deeper and underlying philosophical meanings on many different levels (not just martial arts). It has been much debated if the fighting sequences you see in “Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey” or “Bruce Lee in G.O.D” (not 1978 version) where going to be that long. No one really knows if Bruce would have toned it down as some believe and thinks they where too long (especially for a movie goers).

 

[jye318]

Wow nice collection!! Do you know how much it worth?

 

[GungFu]

It is no difficult to make your own BB figure. There exist costume packs with similar cloth weathered by Bruce in this film.

i have a custom BB.but the ''costume packs'' available are not movie accurate.so we need an official BB release from EB/HT

Yes, I think the same, but the costume packs are enough for me. Perhaps EB will release one BB Bruce....

Vialli, for some it is okay to customise and get a un-official custom packet of the similar clothing. How ever for most Bruce Lee fans, we are able to spot just by looking at a head shot picture of Bruce in one of his five movies and tell exactly what movie it is because Bruce appears differently in each movie - most usually the hair cut gives it away. Plus the three button t-shirt in that custom set does not look good in terms of the collar, buttons and the fabric uses which is too heavy/thick.

So I agree with my mate Mr.Chris - that it would be in it’s right place to do a “Bruce Lee in Big Boss” figure - with the right look (head sculpt, hair and body), movie accurate clothing and cool accessories.


But it is a matter of own taste and what we like Vialli

 

[SAB]

I disagree SAB.

Bruce actually had more influence than what he was given in the first place when he did “Big Boss” and it is very evident in the then revolutionised way of fighting in the movies - especially in Hong Kong movie. Story wise I do not know how much say he had in the script, but I am very sure that he was giving the two Directors of the movie a hard time as he did not like to be directed and you have to also take into the consideration that this was actually going to be a James Tien debut movie, not a movie with Bruce as the main actor - but Bruce made the change on that. Remember also that Lo Wei was rushed in as the movie's 2nd. Movie Director as the first one got sacked. This was a Hong Kong movie by a Hong Kong movie company - but the location was mostly filmed in Thailand.

I would not generalise what Bruce Lee fans accepts - as there are some that sees “Big Boss” as their favourite movie - it even has for many fans the holly grail scenes, and can be considered the most fascinating and “mysterious” of them all because it was cut a few times after it’s first release of scenes that have become “infamous” and one of the most sought after unseen footage people want to see out of the all of Bruce’s movies.

Bruce was beginning to become really furious with director Lo Wei in “Fist of Fury” and they did not get along at all after that, but Bruce did have in this movie full control of the fight scenes.

“The Way of the Dragon” I would say he had full control over most aspects.

Yeah I know he had control over his fight scenes. That's why I said you can still enjoy when Bruce is on the screen.

But even within them there is aspects obviously not coming from him - the silly saw to the head, the human shaped cutout through the wall, etc - the sorts of things that wouldn't be shown once he had more control.

There may be people who list Big Boss as their favorite, but I haven't seen them in force anywhere online. They are a real small percentage of fans.

 

[mrchris]

as gungfu said.BB fans would love to get hold of the full uncut mandarin print with several scenes missing (inc saw in the head)not seen since 1971
this is ''the holy grail'' of BL films,and it does have a large fanbase (even if they dont appear online)
myself included (although not my favourite BL film) and was a landmark at the time.and being honest we watch bruce's films for the fights,and not artistic merit (even the classic ETD).is still really an average movie if you take bruce out of the equation

 

[SAB]

as gungfu said.BB fans would love to get hold of the full uncut mandarin print with several scenes missing (inc saw in the head)not seen since 1971
this is ''the holy grail'' of BL films,and it does have a large fanbase (even if they dont appear online)
myself included (although not my favourite BL film) and was a landmark at the time.and being honest we watch bruce's films for the fights,and not artistic merit (even the classic ETD).is still really an average movie if you take bruce out of the equation

personally I think the holy grail of missing Lee footage is the rumored remaining still unseen footage from Game of Death...if it actually exists...misplaced in the Golden Harvest vault, with Dan Inosanto and wherever else snippets may be.
But to each their own.

And I'd say that people really wanting to see long missing Big Boss footage doesn't make that their favorite film, but again I'm sure there are people that do like it more than the others.

 

[mrchris]

i too would love too see all the GOD lost footage too SAB.and there is rumours of more WOTD footage not seen.(no doubt all of BL's films has footage never seen,but either thrown away or lost)there was even film of bruce cha-cha dancing with the twin nunchuks in WOTD,but yep destroyed!!. i think as BB was BL'S 1st film and so heavily cut gives it ''that place'' for BL FANS.although it's not my favourite of bruce's films

 

[SAB]

i too would love too see all the GOD lost footage too SAB.and there is rumours of more WOTD footage not seen.(no doubt all of BL's films has footage never seen,but either thrown away or lost)there was even film of bruce cha-cha dancing with the twin nunchuks in WOTD,but yep destroyed!!. i think as BB was BL'S 1st film and so heavily cut gives it ''that place'' for BL FANS.although it's not my favourite of bruce's films

I think Bruce Lee 'cha-cha dancing with the twin nunchuks' just became my holy grail

 

[mrchris]

yeh how cool would that be

 

[Dr Sam Loomis]

I prefer Boss over Fist.....its the grittyness and the cheekyness (at least in Asia back then to show a sex scene was quite provoking....another thing that was kinda taboo in Asia was the scene where Cheng puts his arms around Chow Mei after shes been harassed by Mi's son , that was taboo cuz they werent married)

Lee seems very James Dean-esque in this one , instead hes rebelling against the Boss instead of society.

Supposedly uncut is more graphic.....circle saw goes completely thru the bodies , hard core scene then I reckon.

Altogether Ive spent prolly 60-70k , thats several collections not just Lee stuff.....(I mostly focus on Lee , 007 and certain fairly expensive movie posters)

-1967-68 signed letter
-1972 nunchucks
-Boss H.K lobby set
-R74 Boss H.K 1sh
-FoF quad

Those are the most valuable/rarest.

 

[Dr Sam Loomis]

'73 German 1sh , unfolded (most were factory folded)

1st issue : no tag line , red background (Cinerama "C" logo)
2nd , '75 : "real BL" tag , red bground (twas double bill with FoF.....Scotia Deutschland "SD" logo)
3rd , '79 : "real BL" , yellow bground ("SD" logo)