MovieChat Forums > Tang shan da xiong (1972) Discussion > As the years go by I like this film more...

As the years go by I like this film more and more.

posted 7 years ago by gutz1981
2 replies | jump to latest

Out of all the Bruce Lee films, this to me has a more universal appeal and a character in Bruce you can heavily relate to (Except for the great fighting that is) This is indeed a vicious story and one with a somewhat plausable scenario where some poor workers got too far in over their heads in a buisness they had no idea they were involved in.

I can see a lot of my friends in some of the characters shown in this film the way the family and Bruce is portrayed. Though the script may be poor in some places and the budget low and some of the fighting tacky, its overall story works in its simplistic nature. Would like to see a modern day version of this story, no so much set in a martial arts genre, but in an action/thriller setting.

[–] StarBlanket42 7 years ago

The Big Boss/Fists of Fury is my favorite Bruce Lee movie. It's probably not his best in most people's eyes and definitely not his most polished, but I still put it above the rest of his filmography. Maybe it's the Peter Thomas score which is one of my favorites of all-time. Maybe it's because it's the most raw, violent and sexually explicit of Bruce's flicks, or even because of how unique the film is compared to the rest of the Hong Kong realm. It's almost like watching some sleazy grindhouse movie.

Cheng (Bruce) scores a huge body count of dead thugs, and it is apparent that the character is far more propense to unbridled brutality compared to Lee's latter portrayals. Also, unlike Lee's other chaste characters, Cheng is an unapologetic horndog, and it shows: Besides the romantic undertones with Chiao Mei and the Drinkstand girl, he had a drunken sleepover at the brothel mid-way through the movie. Also of note that the earlier releases of the TTB included a "lost" sequence of him returning to the whorehouse (sober) prior to the final confrontation with the Boss. With every possibility of losing his life in the act of avenging his deceased family, and as a way of grieving and coping with losing them, Cheng seeks and obtains (unusual for the genre) one last lovemaking encounter with another Thai prostitute. Certainly not something you would expect out of a protagonist in a 70's kung fu flick, or any other martial arts film for that matter.

There are multiple murders and stabbings, two guys getting chopped up by a circular saw, and a guy that gets fingers gouged into his rib cage (with his internal organs presumably exploding on the inside). Not to mention a man getting a saw through his head that was advertised in pictures before the film's release. The Big Boss is not your typical Saturday afternoon kung fu flick, and it's rather a bummer how the movie isn't as heavily analyzed or appreciated in the same manner as Enter the Dragon, or even how there aren't many martial arts movies (if any at all) that go out of their way to replicate the uniquely grindhouse aesthetic of TBB.

[–] TommyJarvis82 (2470) 7 years ago

Good review.