Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
The Big Boss (1971)
Director: Lo Wei
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Lee had been a child star in Hong Kong movies of the 1950s; this crudely made but highly enjoyable revenge drama marked his return to Hong Kong (after his failure to escape stereotyped bit-parts in the US) and launched a worldwide fashion for 'kung fu' movies. Cheng (Lee) arrives in Thailand to join relatives working in an ice-packing plant. When he learns that the place is a front for heroin smuggling, he reveals his martial prowess and takes on the villainous boss (Han Yingjie, also the film's martial arts choreographer) in a frighteningly intense duel to the death. The mix of authentic martial arts skills, cartoon-like violence, righteous anger and filial piety (Cheng never forgets his promises to dear old mum, back in Hong Kong) struck a chord with audiences everywhere in a way rarely seen since the heyday of the James Dean cult, making Lee a global star overnight.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Lo Wei
Producer: Raymond Chow
Cast: Bruce Lee, Maria Yi, James Tien, Nora Miao, Miss Malarin, Han Yingjie full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Duration: 100 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now