Tang shan da xiong (1971)

A young man sworn to an oath of non-violence works with his cousins in an ice factory where they mysteriously begin to disappear.

Directors:

Wei Lo, Chia-Hsiang Wu (uncredited)

Writer:

Wei Lo (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Lee, Maria Yi, James Tien

Cast

Credited cast:
Bruce Lee	...	Cheng Chao-an
Maria Yi	...	Chow Mei
James Tien	...	Hsiu Chien
Marilyn Bautista	...	Miss Wuman (as Malalene)
Ying-Chieh Han	...	Hsiao Mi (The Boss)
Tony Liu	...	Hsiao Chiun (Mi's son)
Kun Li	...	Ah Kun (as Quin Lee)
Nora Miao	...	Drinkstand owner (as Mao Ke-hsiu)
Shan Chin	...	Hua Sze
Chia-Chen Tu	...	Uncle (as Chia-Cheng Tu)
Chih Chen	...	Ice Factory Manager
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Billy Chan	...	Ah Pei (as Hui-yi Chen)
Lung Chan	...	Gatekeeper / Blue Shirt Henchman
Stephen Chang	...	Disciple
Ching-Ying Lam	...	Ah Yen (Cheng's cousin)

Storyline

Cheng is a city boy who moves with his cousins to work at a ice factory. He does this with a family promise never to get involved in any fight. However, when members of his family begin disappearing after meeting the management of the factor, the resulting mystery and pressures forces him to break that vow and take on the villainy of the Big Boss.

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Plot Keywords:

factory | 

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Taglines:

A Long Awaited Film... ...IS COMING!!!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

13+

Did You Know?

Trivia

Scenes cut from the film:

. Longer fight between Cheng Chao-An/Hsiu Chien against the gambling den bouncers, in which the bouncers try to run the two over with a burning cart. . A scene of dialog with Hsiu bragging about the aforementioned fight to the other cousins and their uncle once they've returned home.

. A scene of dialog with Chiao Mei, Cheng and their uncle before going back to the ferry dock.

. A scene of dialog between Cheng and the drink stand girl (Nora Miao) after Bruce sees his uncle off at the ferry docks.

. Longer and more graphic scene of the first two cousins' deaths via large circular saws.

. Longer fight between Hsiu and Hsiao Chiun featuring a shot of Hsiu with blood literally squirting out of his head due to a knife attack.

A cut from the banquet scene where Cheng gets drunk. While his vision blurs, he hallucinates and sees Sun Wuman topless, and it quickly changes to an image of Chiao Mei.

. More bodies shown in the ice blocks when Cheng is investigating at the ice factory.

. The infamous "saw in the head" scene in which Cheng slams a handsaw into a villain's head

. Slightly extended scene with Cheng finding his cousins murdered.

. An entirely deleted sequence of Cheng returning to the brothel prior to the final fight. He picks a prostitute in a red sweater (who is actually visible in the background the previous time Cheng visits the brothel), and they go to her room. They both completely strip down, and they proceed to make love in bed. Cheng subsequently takes out all his remaining money, and lays it down on the prostitute's stomach while she's sleeping. He also then sees a bag of prawn crackers and decides to take them as a "last meal". This explains why he has the crackers when he shows up at the boss' mansion.

. A second "blood tasting" shot, in which Cheng tastes the blood from his stomach when he's been cut with a knife by The Boss.

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Goofs

The bandage on Bruce's right hand changes sizes through out the course of the film. It eventually disappears by the film's end.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Cheng Chao-an: Uncle, is this it?
Uncle: Yes, right over there. That's the town, Cheng. That's right. Not much further to go.

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Alternate Versions

In the Cantonese version, not only is Pink Floyd's "Time" used in several scenes, but in the scene where Hsiu Chien and Ah Pei leave Hsiao Mi's mansion, the music becomes a mix of both "Time" and Pink Floyd's earlier work, "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Entertainment)".

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Connections

Spoofed in Hei kek ji wong (1999)

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Soundtracks

Big Boss
(Main Theme)
Performed by Peter Thomas
(Only in English dubbed versions)

User Reviews

Deserves Respect ... But Not a Rating

Saw this in a theatre in 1971 and just revisited it 45 years later.

Conclusion:

As a film, it suffers badly from the massive improvements in choreography, skill, and staging that MA films have enjoyed in the interim. What seemed sort of "OK" in a dark theatre in 1971 becomes, after several decades, almost a slow dance of awkward fighting moves, with off-sync sound effects and blows that never seem to connect with anything.

In this instance it is not fair to judge the old by the new ... so, no rating.

And then there is the topic of Mr. Lee.

History tells us that Bruce Lee exploded into Asian cinema on this film and anyone can see why. IT IS AS IF HE IS OPERATING AT A FAST CAMERA SPEED AND THE REST OF THE CAST AT A SLOW CAMERA FEED. Of course, the speed of the camera is the same throughout, it is the speed of the actors that differed.

The cast were the usual bunch that made many dozens of these films in a year. They looked slow and awkward because they actually were slow and awkward.

Mr. Lee on the other hand lived (and ultimately died) for his craft. His whole life was MA and even today the debate continues as where he would have ranked against the best fighters of all time. At the top is my guess.

In essence, this is almost an audition tape for Mr. Lee and not much else. But it is a piece of history and deserves great respect.

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States]

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin Cantonese

Release Date:

30 October 1971 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Le despote cruel

Filming Locations:

Pak Chong, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 115 min (uncut) 87 min (original rejected english dubbed)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1