The Cutting Room Floor: Lost, Censored & Deleted Bruce Lee Movie Scenes (Article)

[Cognoscente]

There was definitely something taken out of the Williams versus Parsons fight, that's for sure. I don't remember Williams doing the below move in the finished version. I watched the scene again to see where it could have been, but the cutaways to the spectators make it difficult to figure out when this may have happened.
 

 

But I also think that the film-makers censored themselves by filming things obscurely like not showing someone's neck being broken (one of Bolo's executions and Jackie's death). Even when Lee stamps on O'Hara or Lam Ching-Ying (his bandana moment), we never see what's being stamped. Hell, we never even see Williams getting killed.

If this was any other martial arts movie, the director would have been criticized for copping out. Clouse got away with this because the fighters aren't always shown in their full glory to start off with. Also, it ties in with what Lee said about emotional content, so it feels like a stylistic choice when it was really just a censorship one.

This makes me wonder what Bruce's future American movies would have been like. With Game of Death being a project that was to be an international production distributed by Warner Brothers, it's possible that Bruce may had thought twice about the neck break shots of Inosanto and Kareem. Even Taky Kimura had mentioned that Bruce was already thinking of reshooting and restructuring many of his ideas for GOD.

This got me thinking about the Hong Kong VCD releases of Bruce's movies. The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon were rated Category II whereas GOD was rated Category II-B.

[DragonClaws]

On 4/27/2021 at 12:30 PM, Cognoscente said:

There was definitely something taken out of the Williams versus Parsons fight, that's for sure. I don't remember Williams doing the below move in the finished version. I watched the scene again to see where it could have been, but the cutaways to the spectators make it difficult to figure out when this may have happened.

 

Agreed, I posted a few stills taken from this missing sequence, earlier in this thread. They were just images of the same move taken from different camera angles. I'll get round to posting more of these images at somepoint in the future.

 

On 4/27/2021 at 12:30 PM, Cognoscente said:

But I also think that the film-makers censored themselves by filming things obscurely like not showing someone's neck being broken (one of Bolo's executions and Jackie's death). Even when Lee stamps on O'Hara or Lam Ching-Ying (his bandana moment), we never see what's being stamped. Hell, we never even see Williams getting killed.

 

I'm not sure if they filmed those shots like that, or did it to appease the American censors during post production?. Robert Clouse did like to film his action scenes, using tightly framed shots. You can see examples of this in Black Belt Jones, Battle Creek Brawl & Force Five.

 

On 4/27/2021 at 12:30 PM, Cognoscente said:

This got me thinking about the Hong Kong VCD releases of Bruce's movies. The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon were rated Category II whereas GOD was rated Category II-B.

 

I would have thought with the gore and nudity, The Big Boss would have been rated the highest?. Do you know what ratings the films had for their first run in Hong Kong cinemas?.

[Cognoscente]

During the old days of HK cinema, they didn't have age restrictions. The only guidelines were that there would be no sex scenes, and no characters could get away with crimes. It was only after John Woo's A Better Tomorrow was released in 1986 that people began to think about how violence could influence children. As such, the HK movie classification system came into being in 1988. Before 1995, it was just CAT I, II and III. However, in 1995, CAT II was broken down to II-A and II-B.

As for Bruce, The Big Boss was rated CAT II for the 1993 VCD release but it would probably be II-B now. As for GOD, I can't see the date of release on the VCD, but I can imagine the swearing might have elevated the rating from II to II-B. Tower of Death was rated II before 1995 despite the scene with Miranda Austin (?).

[DragonClaws]

On 4/28/2021 at 9:32 AM, Cognoscente said:

During the old days of HK cinema, they didn't have age restrictions. The only guidelines were that there would be no sex scenes, and no characters could get away with crimes.

 

Informative post, in 1972 the Hong Kong censors asked for a sequence to be cut from Way of the Dragon. The shot of Tang Lung kicking Colt three times in the face. Always baffled me why they asked for this particular shot to be removed. When you think of all the other stuff they allowed in Hong Kong films at the time.

Thanks for posting the various VCD ratings @Cognoscente.

[Cognoscente]

You're welcome.

It's weird that they cut that out but left in Bruce double-kicking Chan Lung in the first factory fight in The Big Boss. I think that they should have removed the "three leg Lee" moment in ETD since the laughing stuntman takes you out of the movie. The only logical explanation as to why the WOTD moment was excised was probably due to jealousy. It made the other martial arts movie stars look bad. It's difficult to advertise M.A. movie stars as being some of the best when you clearly have someone who is such a best that the others look non-best. With Bruce, it wasn't even about being best of the best...he was just the best.

[DragonClaws]

23 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

It's weird that they cut that out but left in Bruce double-kicking Chan Lung in the first factory fight in The Big Boss. I think that they should have removed the "three leg Lee" moment in ETD since the laughing stuntman takes you out of the movie. The only logical explanation as to why the WOTD moment was excised was probably due to jealousy. It made the other martial arts movie stars look bad. It's difficult to advertise M.A. movie stars as being some of the best when you clearly have someone who is such a best that the others look non-best. With Bruce, it wasn't even about being best of the best...he was just the best.

 

Film censorship rarely makes any sense when you really look at it. I'm not sure who was actully behind these cuts back in 70's Hong Kong?. There doesnt appear to have been an offical board of cenosrs?, like you had the MPAA in America and the BBFC in the U.K.

[Cognoscente]

It was probably the people who owned the cinema chains. I remember Jude Poyer mentioning in his audio commentary for The Dragon from Russia that it wasn't unheard of for different cinemas to tailor a film to their needs.

It's too bad that Golden Harvest couldn't keep the original version of The Big Boss for a potential U.S. release. It seems easy to say now with hindsight but Bruce already had The Green Hornet and Longstreet under his belt, so you would think that Golden Harvest would have anticipated Bruce's films having a potential Stateside appeal.

[DragonClaws]

12 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

It's too bad that Golden Harvest couldn't keep the original version of The Big Boss for a potential U.S. release.

 

One of the longer cuts of The Big Boss might have played in U.S Chinatowns before the release of ETD?. A bit like how his films were shown in some British Chinatowns, before being released in English dubbed versions post ETD.

Edited April 30, 2021 by DragonClaws

[fabhui]

On 4/30/2021 at 5:02 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

One of the longer cuts of The Big Boss might have played in U.S Chinatowns before the release of ETD?. A bit like how his films were shown in some British Chinatowns, before being released in English dubbed versions post ETD.

The uncut version of The Big Boss played in UK Chinatowns in the early 70's.

A very good friend of mine saw the the full uncut version of The Big Boss in the U.S at the Sun Sing Theatre in San Francisco. He also recalls people later talking about the 'missing footage' being missing when the films were shown again in the early 80's.

[DragonClaws]

 

On 5/2/2021 at 6:25 AM, fabhui said:

A very good friend of mine saw the the full uncut version of The Big Boss in the U.S at the Sun Sing Theatre in San Francisco. He also recalls people later talking about the 'missing footage' being missing when the films were shown again in the early 80's.

 

Thanks for the confirmation @fabhui, I thought this might have been the case. They surely played the longer cut in other Chinatowns across the world too. By the time it played at the 1979 Bruce Lee Convention in London, then some people would have been aware of its value?. With all the money that was made post 1973, from the shorter dubbed versions being released globally.

Edited May 3, 2021 by DragonClaws

[Josh Baker]

On 5/2/2021 at 2:25 PM, fabhui said:

The uncut version of The Big Boss played in UK Chinatowns in the early 70's.

A very good friend of mine saw the the full uncut version of The Big Boss in the U.S at the Sun Sing Theatre in San Francisco. He also recalls people later talking about the 'missing footage' being missing when the films were shown again in the early 80's.

Does you friend remember how the Saw in the Head played out?

 

[fabhui]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:06 PM, Josh Baker said:

Does you friend remember how the Saw in the Head played out?

 

Here is what he had to say about it:

 "I really don't understand why the saw scene was edited out. It was so brief. And like I said, by then, I'd seen scores of Chinese sword fighting movies where heads, limbs, guts, you name it, went flying, lol

Bruce basically just brings the saw down on the guy's head. He doesn't even do the back-and-forth sawing motion, haha. Now THAT would be kind of gross."

 

[WarriorBloodCrest]

21 hours ago, fabhui said:

Here is what he had to say about it:

 "I really don't understand why the saw scene was edited out. It was so brief. And like I said, by then, I'd seen scores of Chinese sword fighting movies where heads, limbs, guts, you name it, went flying, lol

Bruce basically just brings the saw down on the guy's head. He doesn't even do the back-and-forth sawing motion, haha. Now THAT would be kind of gross."

 

Any other comments about other cut portions of the movie? i.e. burning cart, 3rd brothel scene etc

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[Josh Baker]

On 5/7/2021 at 6:55 PM, fabhui said:

Here is what he had to say about it:

 "I really don't understand why the saw scene was edited out. It was so brief. And like I said, by then, I'd seen scores of Chinese sword fighting movies where heads, limbs, guts, you name it, went flying, lol

Bruce basically just brings the saw down on the guy's head. He doesn't even do the back-and-forth sawing motion, haha. Now THAT would be kind of gross."

 

Thank you for the response!

Was it literally like an insert of the saw in the guys head cut out- or were there any martial arts movements Bruce did transitioning into the next part of the fight that were chopped by the censors- coz that would be criminal haha.

[DragonClaws]

9 hours ago, Josh Baker said:

or were there any martial arts movements Bruce did transitioning into the next part of the fight that were chopped by the censors

 

There might have been a few other movements removed, along with the poor saw in the head FX shot. The position of the thai stunt guys changes a lot in current versions. Apart from the saw blade, and the few extra frozen body parts, were there any other cuts made to the interior ice factory brawl?.

Edited May 10, 2021 by DragonClaws

[Josh Baker]

11 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

There might have been a few other movements removed, along with the poor saw in the head FX shot. The position of the thai stunt guys changes a lot in current versions. Apart from the saw blade, and the fextra frozen body parts, were there any other cuts made to the interior ice factory brawl?.

Yeah there is an awkward jump cut to Bruce spinning kicking the wooden stick after the saw cut and until the fight goes outside the stuntmen just seem to teleport all around the hut, which indicates sequences have been cut. 

Are there rumours like with GOD that private collectors are in possession of the cut footage, and is there even any indication the film negatives have survived? I'm not as knowledgeable about what film historians/Bruce Lee fans know and dont know about the lost TBB footage, but after the missing log scene from GOD, this is probably the second biggest treasure trove were collectively all after.

[DragonClaws]

8 hours ago, Josh Baker said:

Are there rumours like with GOD that private collectors are in possession of the cut footage, and is there even any indication the film negatives have survived?

 

There have been all kinds of rumours online, and long before the internet was even around for fans to discuss it on. You have to remember the longer versions played around the world. Pre to Enter the Dragon bringing attention to the late actor. By the time he was an international star, the various shorter dubbed versions started popping up for the world market. Rare footage wont just be in the hands of private collectors, but larger film companies too.

 

[Cognoscente]

The strangest rumour that I ever heard about missing Bruce Lee footage was one about how Paul McCartney owned the uncut version of The Big Boss.

[Josh Baker]

27 minutes ago, Cognoscente said:

The strangest rumour that I ever heard about missing Bruce Lee footage was one about how Paul McCartney owned the uncut version of The Big Boss.

I would LOVE that to be the case coz I am a MASSIVE McCartney fan and finding out he is/was fan of Bruce Lee movies would make my day

[DragonClaws]

 

(Content Removed)

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by DragonClaws

[Coliseum1972]

They also said Bowie was doing BL musical , I doubt that very much

Its possible a full BB sits in a Lebanese warehouse or Egypt or S America.......it was shown all over the place (sadly that copy might've deteriorated by now)

Edited May 29, 2021 by Coliseum1972

[starschwar]

Missing Doctor Who episodes (35 and 16 mm film prints) from the 1960s survived in watchable condition and were recovered as late as 2013.  A (nearly) complete print of Metropolis, from 1927, was found in 2008 and the previously lost portions of the footage was restored not long thereafter.  If there's surviving Big Boss footage somewhere in the world, there's hope for it to be in recoverable condition. 

[DragonClaws]

On 5/29/2021 at 5:35 PM, starschwar said:

Missing Doctor Who episodes (35 and 16 mm film prints) from the 1960s survived in watchable condition and were recovered as late as 2013.  A (nearly) complete print of Metropolis, from 1927, was found in 2008 and the previously lost portions of the footage was restored not long thereafter.  If there's surviving Big Boss footage somewhere in the world, there's hope for it to be in recoverable condition. 

 

Good points, its same with many of the bands I listen to. I'd read about lost concert footage, then one day it shows up on DVD/Blu-Ray.

 

On 5/29/2021 at 3:07 PM, Coliseum1972 said:

Its possible a full BB sits in a Lebanese warehouse or Egypt or S America.......it was shown all over the place (sadly that copy might've deteriorated by now)

 

Probably in the hands of someone who isnt aware of how big of deal it is to hardcore fans.

 

 

[Cognoscente]