He was originally meant to be the star of the film but, when Lee’s talents became apparent and the director was replaced during production, the ‘new kid on the block’ took over. Yet while The Big Boss is often accused of being dull and laboured in its first two acts, mainly because of an absence of Lee fighting, its poor acting and semi-improvised meandering scripting still manage to deliver a film with a strange touch of sadness to it, powered more by political ideologies (local workers abused in a Thai factory rise up against their managers who are smuggling drugs inside blocks of ice, yet Lee taking over a foreman role himself becomes corrupted through alcohol, women and the smooth talking of those above him), no matter how accidental they may be, than pratfalling comedic beats.

Borrowing a similar theme from the aforementioned The Chinese Boxer, the story centers around the rivalry between a Japanese dojo and the kung fu school that Chen belongs to, but that conflict begins to escalate into violence when representatives of the dojo interrupt the funeral for the school's master, whose death, as it is slowly revealed, is apparently a mystery. With an impressive assortment of bonus material and extras, the UHD box set, dubbed Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest, is a Highly Recommended collector's item and addition to the library. One of the cousins, Hsiu Chien (James Tien), shows him the ropes and tries to keep the peace when his brothers, cousins and friends get into trouble.

I watched the extended Mandarin Cut for this review, which has long been sought-after by Western Lee fans. com is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Pay4Later Limited, trading as Deko, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 728646). In close ups, the requisite facial, clothing and set textures are beautifully sharp and clear, including the wonderful sea of faces of the locals striving to watch the filming, all having a coherence that just belies not just the films’ relatively cheap origins, but the years of poorly transferred TV, VHS and DVD versions most of us grew up watching (albeit in truncated form for this reviewer). The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon and the two more famous “Brucesploitation” films featuring footage of Lee Game of Death and Game of Death II are all included, the movies that Lee made after becoming somewhat famous in the US in his role as Kato in The Green Hornet on TV.

Granted, the ADR work for Billy Lo can be terribly distracting and near laughable, but overall dialogue reproduction is nonetheless crystal clear and takes priority over the rest of the action. From there — and largely due to Lee's hotheadedness, which adds some layered gravity and complexity to the plot — the tension between the schools quickly turns into all-out brawls with more lives being lost and causing more suffering for everyone. And in that fight, Norris is really the first to present Lee with a legitimate challenge and threat, as though the American fighter hired by a ruthless crime boss (Jon T. Japanese Cut (4K Dolby Vision HDR, 110 min) is a version with a unique intro and outro that features Mike Remedios's song "The Way of Life" and a slightly modified English mono soundtrack. But Enter the Dragon lit the fuse of kung-fu cinema across the globe and it remains a hugely entertaining romp, barrelling along at a pace thanks to Lee’s white hot star power.The Way of the Dragon however looks softer, likely in part due to being taken from an interpositive and not the OCN as with the previous films (the IP was used on the recent Criterion release and with Arrow’s careful wording of its restoration, it’s an easy assumption to make). This really is one of the most comprehensive and beautifully put together sets of supplemental features I’ve seen in a box set. His fight choreography has been taken up a notch – the final act smackdown is packed full of so many of those iconic shots of him that adorn posters the world over - with the first use of his trademark nun chucks adding a new string to his bow and as with the previous film, while the action that doesn’t involve him feels slow and rudimentary (even if it too has gained in scope and scale), his scenes sizzle with his ferocious intensity and the best ‘fight face’ ever committed to the big screen. Black levels fair a bit better and look darker with strong shadow details, even during those intentional moments where shadows obscure the "Lee-alike" actors. individual DigiPacks for the discs held in a box that measures approximately 5 3/4" wide x 7 1/4" high x 5" deep.