Bruce Lee - The Death Fist of Cheng Li

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Movie
German title Cheng Li's death fist
Original title 唐山 大兄 Tangshan daxiong
Country of production Hong Kong , Thailand
original language Mandarin and Cantonese
Publishing year 1971
length approx. 99 (original version in Mandarin: 110) minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Lo Wei
script Bruce Lee ,
Lo Wei
production Raymond Chow
music Peter Thomas
camera Chen Ching Chu
cut Fan Chia Kun
occupation

Bruce Lee - The death fist of Cheng Li (also known under the international title The Big Boss , original title: 唐山 大兄 Tangshan daxiong ) is the first of the four (completed) martial arts films with Bruce Lee as the leading actor. Directed by Lo Wei .

This film, which premiered in Hong Kong on October 31, 1971, broke all records on the Mandarin Circuit and made Bruce Lee famous.

action

Since the young Cheng Li, a gifted Chinese martial artist, cannot find a job, his mother sends him to live with relatives in Thailand. There he gets a job in an ice cream factory, which the owners use to cover up their drug deals. When two colleagues discover this by chance, they disappear without a trace. Upon investigation, Cheng Li's cousin, martial artist Hsiu Chien, also disappears. Cheng Li promises his relatives to take care of it, but the company's boss manages to talk himself out of it all.

Cheng Li learns from a prostitute that his boss is a drug lord. As soon as he left, the prostitute is murdered by the boss' son. Cheng Li immediately goes to the factory, where he finds the drug and his dead cousin in a warehouse. At this moment he is surrounded by the son of the boss and several henchmen. But Cheng Li manages to defeat everyone. Some of them, including the boss's son, are killed by him. Cheng Li then goes to his relatives' house, where he is confronted with the terrible fact that they were murdered in their sleep on behalf of the boss and that Cheng Li's cousin Chow Mei was kidnapped.

Cheng Li takes this as an opportunity to go to his boss's mansion, where he kills some of the guards. Shortly afterwards there is a final fight between him and the boss, with Cheng gaining the upper hand and killing the drug lord.

Chow Mei is freed by an employee of the boss during the fight and is able to notify the police, who arrive at the villa and arrest Cheng Li.

criticism

"Bruce Lee's first big global success: Gripping to bizarre fight scenes in a rather poor, but bloody production, whose director had obviously just discovered the zoom for himself."

- Lexicon of international film

useful information

  • The Chinese title of the film is 唐山 大兄 Tangshan daxiong , Cantonese Tong saan daai hung , which means “Big Brother from China” or “Big Brother from Home” in German. The big brother is Lee's role Cheng Chao-an, who comes to Thailand from his native China.
  • The English-language title The Big Boss refers to the factory owner Mr. Mi.
  • The protagonist played by Bruce Lee was called Cheng Chao-an in almost all versions. In the German version he was given the name Cheng Li.
  • Nora Miao and James Tien have appeared in other Golden Harvest productions alongside Bruce Lee.
  • The cries of battle that are so characteristic of Lee in later films cannot be heard here, or only in rudiments.
  • The uncut version of the film was never released because at least one scene (in which Bruce Lee apparently rams a handsaw into the head of an attacker) was cut in the post-production of the film and the corresponding footage was then lost. However, there are production photos of this scene.
  • The first version in Germany that was not additionally censored was released on Blu-Ray along with the other films by and with Bruce Lee during 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruce Lee - The death fist of Cheng Li. In: Lexicon of international films . Film service , accessed October 27, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used