A short fact-filled review of The Big Boss (1971)

I have to say before watching the first Bruce Lee-led film, I didn’t expect too much of it. It is often said to be the worst of the five, which really did nothing to help my expectations. Now, with the ability to look back on the film having actually watched it, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

That’s probably the best way to explain my opinion. I wasn’t blown away by it. It had the classic charm you would expect from a Bruce Lee vehicle but it is held back throughout by a clearly lacking budget.

It makes sense that the studio wouldn’t want to put too much money into it considering at this point, Lee had only achieved success in the American TV show, ‘The Green Hornet’, hilariously retitled, ‘The Kato Show’, in China after Lee’s character Kato. This low budget manifests itself in multiple aspects of the film. There are a couple of moments in which the special effects are especially ropey as well as some of the extras in fight scenes doing some absolutely unconvincing reactions to being hit. On top of this, the only location that doesn’t look utterly awful is the ice factory where the majority of the action takes place. Interestingly, this also seems to be the film propelled Raymond Chow to success, judging by his filmography. For those of you who don’t know, Raymond Chow is the producer responsible for every martial arts film worth watching between 1970 and 2000. He is someone every fan of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung should thank.

On the positive side of things, there is a huge amount to like about this film. For instance it is a relatively short, cleanly written film. Plot points make sense and it trots along at a fair old pace. This is far more important than any of the budgetary issues and more than counteracts them. Unfortunately I don’t have any interesting historical facts about the writing of The Big Boss other than the fact that Bruce Lee would have preferred some more of the philosophy of Kung Fu to come through. I still liked it though.

Other than that, the fighting was more than on par for a Bruce Lee film and it was a bloody fun time. Check it out!!!!