Bruce Lee explodes on the screen in his excellent debut in The Big Boss. Bruce is Chen, who moves to Bangkok to create a new life for himself and is under a vow to never fight again and is left with a green medallion from his mother as a reminder. He almost gets into a fight at his arrival with some local thugs, but abstains. Chen stays in a house with his cousins and they get him a job at the local ice factory. The ice factory is a front for drug trafficking and once a block of ice is cracked open, two workers discover their employer's nefarious packages and are never seen again. Events then escalate and a large brawl breaks out. Chen finds his green medallion shattered and Chen fights like mad. The violence then escalates throughout the rest of the film leaving Chen little choice on his mission of justice. The Big Boss is a cheap production, even for HK films of its era. However, Bruce carries the film easily with his eclectic, intense presence, flawless physique and super human fighting skills. Of Bruce's films The Big Boss is also the bloodiest. Audiences never saw anything like Bruce Lee before and the film was a huge hit. Bruce became an instant cultural icon on par with The Beatles in Hong Kong. Great debut and an essential martial arts classic!
Review of The Big Boss
