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

[DragonClaws]

9 hours ago, Brucemee said:

Doesn't sound likely to me, not only would that go beyond fantasy to just plain silly, it also would've made Bruce's character look more like a coward than a hero.

 

Hi @Brucemee Studios would often film different endings for different markets, like they did with the 1978 version of G.O.D. Along with other Asian movies made during the same time period.

 

9 hours ago, Brucemee said:

Doesn't sound likely to me, not only would that go beyond fantasy to just plain silly, it also would've made Bruce's character look more like a coward than a hero.

 

Like I said rumoured, not fact, I cant comment either way, but its been discussed on the Bruce Lee Live forum. About there being another possible ending for Fist of Fury, in some of the 70s theatrical prints. There plenty of fantasy elements in the movie already, such as Bruce Lee fighting a whole Japanee Karate school by himself, along with some super human feats of strength invovlng a ricksaw.

 

[J.J. Hayden]

14 hours ago, Brucemee said:

Doesn't sound likely to me, not only would that go beyond fantasy to just plain silly

I don't know if that's ever stopped a HK film company before  

[Cognoscente]

I remember reading about there being an alternate ending to The Big Boss where Cheng left the mansion without being arrested.

[WarriorBloodCrest]

5 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

I remember reading about there being an alternate ending to The Big Boss where Cheng left the mansion without being arrested.

That one was listed as facf on IMDB a long long time ago. Reality or not, the prospect of Cheng Chao-An leaving with his freedom intact is interesting.

[PandaPawPaw]

I was curious as to whether the BTS footage in this video is the stuff Henry Wong filmed?

[DragonClaws]

4 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

I was curious as to whether the BTS footage in this video is the stuff Henry Wong filmed?

 

Most likely, unless other crews visisted the set like the BBC did to interview people etc. Did any of the local Hong Kong T.V channels such as TVB, or other Asian T.V companies visit the set?.

[DragonClaws]

 

Clash of the Titans, just about to sit down and view this one.

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

Putting the big question of if the saw scene was included in any of the older 1970s prints of The Big Boss. Did Bruce Lee character use the weapon more than once, in the material they filmed and later scrapped or left on the cutting room floor?.

 

[DragonClaws]

 

If there wasn't already a few Saw in The Head opinions/quotes in the main article, I've now added Ricky Bakers recent comments from the Charles Damiano interview he did.

[DragonClaws]

 

Its finally happened.

It's coming, peeps!!! NEW UK TITLE: Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest (Limited Edition 4K UHD) (Arrow Store Exclusive) This definitive collection features fresh and exclusive 4K restorations by Arrow Video from the best available film materials, hours of brand new bonus features, and previously unreleased footage - including the extended Mandarin Cut of The Big Boss.

- Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: https://bit.ly/3KZ9Foh

 

- Source: https://www.facebook.com/ricky.baker.50364

 

Looks like a lot of questions can be finally answered when this comes out. Appears that 110 minute runtime listed on some sites recently where actually correct, which also matchs up with some recent theatrical screenings of the The Big Boss. For complete listing of all special features and further detials and images, click on the link below. Hats off to everyone invovled in the release of this box-set.

Details for Arrow Video’s upcoming 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Bruce Lee movie collection that releases in July

Link- https://cityonfire.com/bruce-lee-collection-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-arrow-video/

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by DragonClaws

[PandaPawPaw]

WOW! The deleted stuff looks amazing!

[DragonClaws]

Just now, PandaPawPaw said:

WOW! The deleted stuff looks amazing!

 

Can this be the best Bruce Lee box-set of all time?.

 

[starschwar]

 

Oh my god!!!  I never, ever, ever thought this would actually happen.  It's a bummer that we don't have everything - saw in the head will probably go down in history as the most sought-after deleted scene of all time.  But ten minutes of extended Big Boss footage!  The (outdoor?) log fight stuff from Game of Death!  What an absolute treasure trove.  This is as close as we'll ever get to seeing a new Bruce Lee movie ever again.  I'm tearing up a little bit.  

Edited April 14, 2023 by starschwar

[saltysam]

Arrow wins the internet tonight

[starschwar]

3 minutes ago, saltysam said:

Arrow wins the internet tonight

 

Seriously, this is gonna be hard for anyone to top.  Extended A Better Tomorrow 2 would be the only thing I can think of that could dethrone this.

[saltysam]

i hope they've found that Fist Of Fury teaser trailer featuring Bruce & Bob Baker but that's probably too much to ask. Incredible they've found the mandarin Big Boss and it must be in good shape to scan and release in 4K. And outdoor GOD footage! i honestly thought that was never filmed and it was just publicity stills.

[starschwar]

2 minutes ago, saltysam said:

i hope they've found that Fist Of Fury teaser trailer featuring Bruce & Bob Baker but that's probably too much to ask. Incredible they've found the mandarin Big Boss and it must be in good shape to scan and release in 4K. And outdoor GOD footage! i honestly thought that was never filmed and it was just publicity stills.

I may have over-reacted by describing the footage as being 'outdoor" - I'm so hyped up right now I may not be fully comprehending what was found.  But the log fight is confirmed.  I just don't want to be responsible for disappointing anyone with misinformation.

[DragonClaws]

 

This is one scene that always looked cut???, there's jump cut as the guy in the purple shirt attacks Bruce Lee's character. One minute he's attacking Cheng Ciu On with an unknown weapon, then he's suddenly dropped the weapon and been stabbed by Bruce Lee character.

 

 

[starschwar]

5 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

This is one scene that always looked cut???, there's jump cut as the guy in the purple shirt attacks Bruce Lee's character. One minute he's attacking Cheng Ciu On with an unknown weapon, then he's suddenly dropped the weapon and been stabbed by Bruce Lee character.

 

 

 

I've been convinced, for over twenty years, that all the "teleporting" in Big Boss was due to censorship cuts.  In mere months, we will finally know whether that is true or not.

 

This must be what Metropolis fans were feeling in the buildup to the release of the Complete version back in 2010.  We had to wait "only" 52 years, though - they had 83.

[Karlos]

Amazing looking set - if only they could've somehow found the "saw" scene - but hey, I'm not going to be ungrateful.

Some serious work has gone into this.

Incredible.

[ShawAngela]

I'm not skilled on technologies. Will this set has a "normal" Blu ray for all movies or only for a few ones ?

Why some of you are so surprised because of the Mandarin version of The Big Boss ? I have it in Mandarin on several releases and I think that I never got, or at least watched, any of Bruce Lee' s movies in Cantonese (except his early ones, of course).

10 discs for only 5 movies ? So, 5 discs full of bonuses ? 

Talking about Arrow, since my last two or three orders, each time I preorder something, there is a payment problem when it's time to ship an item and I'm asked to update my credit card informations  (Though I use paypal), and it never works ! When I ask for explanations, I'm told to go on updating until the payment succeeds. And it still doesn't work. I had to cancel Millionaire's express and buy it from elsewhere with the risk of not getting the slipcase and bonuses while I had preordered it long ago precisely to get the limited edition ! They also told me that the problem came from my bank, but my bank told me that it was the site that refused my payment. I wrote this to them, and then, they told me that the item was out of stock ! This already happened twice !

Does anyone have had the same problem with Arriw's preorders, here ?

[Omni Dragon]

4 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Its finally happened.

It's coming, peeps!!! NEW UK TITLE: Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest (Limited Edition 4K UHD) (Arrow Store Exclusive) This definitive collection features fresh and exclusive 4K restorations by Arrow Video from the best available film materials, hours of brand new bonus features, and previously unreleased footage - including the extended Mandarin Cut of The Big Boss.

- Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: https://bit.ly/3KZ9Foh

 

- Source: https://www.facebook.com/ricky.baker.50364

 

Looks like a lot of questions can be finally answered when this comes out. Appears that 110 minute runtime listed on some sites recently where actually correct, which also matchs up with some recent theatrical screenings of the The Big Boss. For complete listing of all special features and further detials and images, click on the link below. Hats off to everyone invovled in the release of this box-set.

Details for Arrow Video’s upcoming 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Bruce Lee movie collection that releases in July

Link- https://cityonfire.com/bruce-lee-collection-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-arrow-video/

 

 

 

It's unbelievable, I really thought everything for The Big Boss that could be released had been released, and assumed the rest was lost to time.

[Omni Dragon]

24 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Why some of you are so surprised because of the Mandarin version of The Big Boss ? I have it in Mandarin on several releases and I think that I never got, or at least watched, any of Bruce Lee' s movies in Cantonese (except his early ones, of course).

We're not getting surprised about the Mandarin audio per se, it's that the Arrow release really does look as though it will really have long-lost scenes.

 

[starschwar]

6 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Can this be the best Bruce Lee box-set of all time?.

 

There's a few things that may possibly still be exclusive to Criterion or the Japanese releases, but full details are still on the way later in the month.  A few things that come to mind that might be worthwhile from those versions that may or may not be in the Arrow version:

 

• Peter Thomas Big Boss dub score with Mandarin dialogue (Criterion)
• Joseph Koo Cantonese score for Big Boss (Criterion, other releases as well?)
• Joseph Koo / Peter Thomas hybrid score with English dub (Japan) - would be super awesome if someone could release this music pared with a Chinese language audio track.
• Enter The Dragon - Theatrical Cut (Criterion)
• Enter The Dragon - Extended Edition - Mono Audio with Bruce's real voice for extended scene (Criterion, Warner, etc.)
• Game of Death - Japanese Theatrical Audio wherein the fake Bruce battle cries are replaced by the real thing. (Criterion, and presumably Japan as well)
• Fist of Fury - Japanese Cut with Mike Remedios theme song (song available separately in Criterion, entire alternate cut in Japan)
• Way of the Dragon - English Dub with Mike Remedios theme song (Criterion and Japan)

That said, the sheer fact that we're getting the longer Big Boss coupled with new Game of Death footage alone demotes any previous releases to "companion pieces" at best, if not rendering them completely obsolete.

If there's any way at all the various alternate Big Boss audio tracks could be synced up with the extended version, that'd go beyond legendary.  I never really bothered to watch the theatrical ETD - why would I want less of Bruce philosophizing?

Edited April 15, 2023 by starschwar

[starschwar]

Responding @ShawAngela:

"I'm not skilled on technologies. Will this set has a "normal" Blu ray for all movies or only for a few ones ?"

There is a standalone version that is Blu-Ray only, without the 4K versions.  The 4K set will have only 2K (normal Blu-Ray quality, essentially) versions of the following: Hong Kong cut of Game of Death, Game of Death II, Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend and Bruce Lee: The Legend

 

"Why some of you are so surprised because of the Mandarin version of The Big Boss ? I have it in Mandarin on several releases and I think that I never got, or at least watched, any of Bruce Lee' s movies in Cantonese (except his early ones, of course)."

As others have said, this is the long lost theatrical cut, not the censored version we've had for over 50 years! Ten minutes we've never seen before.  Still no saw in the head scene, but still - this is reason to celebrate.  I think perhaps, "Mandarin Cut" isn't the best name.  I'd have gone with, "Extended Theatrical Cut".

 

"10 discs for only 5 movies ? So, 5 discs full of bonuses ? "

Big Boss (two versions), Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon (extended only?), Game of Death '78 (two versions), Game of Death 2 , Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend, Bruce Lee: The Legend, plus however it is they intend to present all of the '72 Game of Death footage.  To say nothing of all the other extras! So that 10 disc spread makes sense to me.

 

"Does anyone have had the same problem with Arriw's preorders, here ?"

Not with Arrow, but I had a similar mishap recently.  Are you signed up for any sort of fraud alert monitoring on your bank account?  It could be that they automatically block "suspicious" transactions without your approval... and you may have not yet set up the method for approving these things (such as a specific email account).  Hope that helps.

Edited April 15, 2023 by starschwar