Classic Movie

Ice factories, severed heads and funky tunes

No. 33: THE BIG BOSS (1971)

What's it about? Bruce Lee fly-kicks his way to superstardom as country boy Cheng who gets shipped over to Thailand to stay with his many cousins (all blokes, except one), and ends up facing off against an drugs cartel, who've been sawing up his brethren and storing their limbs in ice boxes.

So what happens? After picking up employment at the local ice factory, Cheng's co-workers begin to mysteriously disappear. After first being corrupted with the promise of riches and hookers, Brucey soon discovers that his workplace is just a front for EVIL, breaks a family promise never to fight again, and fists his way through hordes of burly henchmen, breaking heads with torches, dissecting ribcages with handsaws and kicking airborne knives into their stomachs.

Why's it a classic? The above paragraph not turn you on, eh? This is Bruce Lee's debut feature for Hong Kong after Hollywood shunned him, and resulted in riotous scenes of whooping and cheering at its premiere. Dark, thrilling with minimal comedy to deflect from the action, this not only introduced chop-socky motifs to western audiences (to be parodied for years to come in action flicks), it sports some poetically-choreographed and sinister fight scenes, such as when Cheng's family leader is minced-up in The Boss's courtyard, and the gruesome night-time factory showdown when Cheng is jumped by foes wielding everything from hoes to hammers to ice picks.

Finally, a big up to Peter Thomas' funky, fuzzy soundtrack of BIG BASS RIFFS and brass, which is sadly only available on the dubbed, English-language version. It's incredible. Give your ears a blast of the theme track below, and watch your hips move...

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