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

[fabhui]

1 minute ago, ShawAngela said:

What is the cutting up of the cousins ?

The scene where the two cousins get cut up with a circular saw, before being put into the blocks of ice.

In the initial screening/premier of the movie, this scene was more bloody and gory than what is normally seen. It was cut by the HK film censors.

[CharlieParker]

1 hour ago, fabhui said:

Fortune Star had a standard definition digibeta transfer of the longer 'Mandarin' print of The Big Boss.

The Hong Kong Film Archive had an actual theatrical print of it.

 

Arrow simply asked for it and they were given it.

The footage had been there all this time but no one had asked for it until now.

This was recently told to me by Brandon Bentley who has been working on the upcoming release.

Thanks for clearing that one up! I guess I was right about it being stored correctly in some sort of archive.

Although I am surprised that none of the other companies behind all the other Bruce Lee box sets throughout the years have never bothered to ask - what a wasted opportunity for them. 

Which also makes you wonder what else is in the Hong Film Archive? 

 

[Coliseum1972]

maybe uncut BB was shown in say France in '73 , example "Adventure in Denmark" had more nudity in french version , Italy and Spain were also lax with nudity in films.

We may have seen 2nd prostitute scene too besides key hole scene , that was another deja vu when I saw the trailer......my babysitter is dead and even if she was alive it was 35 yrs ago.

(My memory is pretty good when it comes to seeing films and TV shows for the first time , still remember when I saw The Avengers in mid 90s for the first time ,  we were on vacation and it just happened to be "Positive Negative Man" episode , alas only saw the opening as we left after dinner but I knew Id like this show and I did) and same with Batman TAS - we slept at a vacation hotel and I saw it the next morning before we left.

Late 80s saw 007 YOLT (first Bond I ever saw , well I did see AVTAK music video many times summer '85) and Horror Express (btw a copy of HE was found in Mongolia of all places.....this was used for the blu ray) , that was a creepy movie for me as a kid but its one of my favorite horror films. I became a huge 007 fan and later met several stars : Lazenby , Rigg , Blackman , Dor , Lonsdale among others......my mother worked at a hotel in '72 and Connery was a guest but she never saw him)

Edited April 22, 2023 by Coliseum1972

[DragonClaws]

Just now, CharlieParker said:

Although I am surprised that none of the other companies behind all the other Bruce Lee box sets throughout the years have never bothered to ask - what a wasted opportunity for them. 

 

Sure that anyone who had access to these places or worked for them, will have seen this version of the film years or decades ago. More people have probabaly seen this version than most fans realize. Maybe there was other red-tape holding this back?, or maybe they just wanted to build some hype around it first. As @shukocarl1441996347 once pointed out, it wasnt such a big deal when it was shown in Kilburn London. Fans didnt get up and go crazy when the extra scenes popped up. Only it didnt have that rare elusive reputation or appeal, thats its since garnered. I never beleived the story of those being the only prints, that then ended up being destroyed.

 

[Coliseum1972]

there was a rumor that Linda didnt approve of the 2nd prostitute scene & wanted it cut altho could just be lie......BB uncut mightve been shown in other non-asian countries with casual fans who had no idea they were watching uncut movie

Edited April 22, 2023 by Coliseum1972

[DragonClaws]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:20 AM, Coliseum1972 said:

there was a rumor that Linda didnt approve of the 2nd prostitute scene & wanted it cut altho could just be lie......BB uncut mightve been shown in other non-asian countries with casual fans who had no idea they were watching uncut movie

 

When they prepped his films for the international release, Im sure they made edits that they felt suited those releases?.

If a a third visist to the brothel was filmed, where did that fit into the movie as a whole?. He falls asleep there drunk the first time, and we know he goes back later before the action picks up in the last section of the story.

[DragonClaws]

 

Of the many pictures released from the nunchaku yard fight in Way of the Dragon, are any lifted from cut scenes?.

[Josh Baker]

3 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Of the many pictures released from the nunchaku yard fight in Way of the Dragon, are any lifted from cut scenes?.

Apparently Bey Logan has seen/ or is aware of deleted scenes from Way of the Dragon that are stored in the archives. I wonder if we'll get to see them anytime soon.

I doubt its fight material and more just extended comedy bits. I could be wrong though...

[Red Lion]

Regarding big boss, could the possibility be that after bruce became more successful and had retrospectively looked at it, would he potentially remove scenes that felt made him look less heroic i.e. going to visit a prostitute before going to avenge his dead cousins and save tje kidnapped nora miao along with things that wouldnt translate visually outside of hong kong i.e. fantastical jumping over burning cart. Just wish this cut had the missing saw in head (of it ever did exist in tje first place) and cousins being cut up from what i hear is also cut. After viewing it i have a feeling i will end up thinking the existing version is the better of the 2 versions but thats me just setting myself up to expectations this wont be as revelationary as i have built in my head. Cant wait to finally see it thoigh.

[starschwar]

1 hour ago, Red Lion said:

things that wouldnt translate visually outside of hong kong i.e. fantastical jumping over burning cart.

 

There's no way he'd have gone into things with that mindset and left this intact:

 

 

[DragonClaws]

16 hours ago, Josh Baker said:

Apparently Bey Logan has seen/ or is aware of deleted scenes from Way of the Dragon that are stored in the archives. I wonder if we'll get to see them anytime soon.

I doubt its fight material and more just extended comedy bits. I could be wrong though...

 

Robert Lee also said they might have filmed an alternative version of the final fight. Which could be an extended version of the one fans all know about?.

 

47 minutes ago, starschwar said:

There's no way he'd have gone into things with that mindset and left this intact:

2 hours ago, Red Lion said:

Regarding big boss, could the possibility be that after bruce became more successful and had retrospectively looked at it, would he potentially remove scenes that felt made him look less heroic i.e. going to visit a prostitute before going to avenge his dead cousins and save tje kidnapped nora miao along with things that wouldnt translate visually outside of hong kong i.e. fantastical jumping over burning cart. Just wish this cut had the missing saw in head (of it ever did exist in tje first place) and cousins being cut up from what i hear is also cut. After viewing it i have a feeling i will end up thinking the existing version is the better of the 2 versions but thats me just setting myself up to expectations this wont be as revelationary as i have built in my head. Cant wait to finally see it thoigh.

 

Both of you could be make good points on this subject, all fans will view the Mandarin version in their own way. If you like the film already, its more of the same. If you dont like it, I doubt the extra scenes will change your mind.

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

The restored 110-minute Mandarin version of The Big Boss will be screened at the Prince Charles cinema in London, this coming June.

Link - https://princecharlescinema.com/PrinceCharlesCinema.dll/WhatsOn?f=27011233

 

[fabhui]

2 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

The restored 110-minute Mandarin version of The Big Boss will be screened at the Prince Charles cinema in London, this coming June.

Link - https://princecharlescinema.com/PrinceCharlesCinema.dll/WhatsOn?f=27011233

 

And at the QUAD Cinema in Derby on June 10th 😃

 

[saltysam]

2 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

The restored 110-minute Mandarin version of The Big Boss will be screened at the Prince Charles cinema in London, this coming June.

Link - https://princecharlescinema.com/PrinceCharlesCinema.dll/WhatsOn?f=27011233

 

yep got my ticket last week

[DragonClaws]

17 hours ago, fabhui said:

And at the QUAD Cinema in Derby on June 10th 😃

 

Thanks @fabhui, you might have just saved me a hundred pound in train ticket fares to get to London and back.

[DragonClaws]

17 hours ago, saltysam said:

yep got my ticket last week

 

After all these years, I thought there would have been a convention attached to a screening of this rarer version.

[fabhui]

39 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Thanks @fabhui, you might have just saved me a hundred pound in train ticket fares to get to London and back.

Glad to help. 

I'll be going to the Bruce Lee Day Film event at the QUAD Cinema in Derby.

It will be a great day and for £30 for all 4 films, you can't go wrong.😉

[Brucemee]

On 4/29/2023 at 4:05 AM, starschwar said:

 

There's no way he'd have gone into things with that mindset and left this intact:

 

 

That ridiculous scene from The Big Boss reminds me of the almost equally (in my opinion) ridiculous scene in Enter The Dragon of Bruce "jumping up" into the tree to keep out of sight of the nearby guard; what the hell were they thinking with that scene? Who thought it would be a good idea? If someone insisted on the "hide in the tree" idea, why not have Bruce just climb the tree & freeze in a cool, silhouetted pose? Surely the only audience  members who bought that bit, didn't immediately realize they just reversed the motion, were kids 12 & under, right?  

[starschwar]

20 minutes ago, Brucemee said:

That ridiculous scene from The Big Boss reminds me of the almost equally (in my opinion) ridiculous scene in Enter The Dragon of Bruce "jumping up" into the tree to keep out of sight of the nearby guard; what the hell were they thinking with that scene? Who thought it would be a good idea? If someone insisted on the "hide in the tree" idea, why not have Bruce just climb the tree & freeze in a cool, silhouetted pose? Surely the only audience  members who bought that bit, didn't immediately realize they just reversed the motion, were kids 12 & under, right?  

Still more believable than John Saxon's fight scenes.

 

But seriously, I don't mind the slightly zany aspects of The Big Boss.  The acrobatics are hokey to be sure.  But the movie can get so incredibly heavy at times, so brutal, that some humorous elements sprinkled throughout help prevent the movie from being soul crushing.

 

As for the tree thing.  I haven't seen all of Robert Clouse's other movies.  But based on the, quality of film-making on display in  Game of Death '78, Black Belt Jones, and Gymkata - along with the aggressive lack of memorability for The Big Brawl, I'm convinced that most of Enter the Dragon's positive qualities came from Bruce and other Hong Kong talent, rather than the director.

[DragonClaws]

On 5/2/2023 at 6:17 PM, Brucemee said:

If someone insisted on the "hide in the tree" idea, why not have Bruce just climb the tree & freeze in a cool, silhouetted pose? Surely the only audience  members who bought that bit, didn't immediately realize they just reversed the motion, were kids 12 & under, right?  

 

It ties in with what Roy Chiao monk character says to him at the start.  I see your talents have gone beyond the mere physical level".

 

On 5/2/2023 at 6:40 PM, starschwar said:

But seriously, I don't mind the slightly zany aspects of The Big Boss.  The acrobatics are hokey to be sure.  But the movie can get so incredibly heavy at times, so brutal, that some humorous elements sprinkled throughout help prevent the movie from being soul crushing.

 

Hong Kong movie as we all know would often mix comedy, violence and sex etc into their scripts/story's. Sometime it loks pretty jarring on-screen, if you watch the ice factory fight closely. There might be a reason for many of those OTT moments in the fight?.

Edited May 4, 2023 by DragonClaws

[starschwar]

6 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

if you watch the ice factory fight closely. There might be a reason for many of those OTT moments in the fight?.

For sure.  I feel that Cheng Chao-an kind of transcends into metaphorical superhero after the pendant gets broken.  A symbol for the rage of exploited and abused workers and law-abiding citizens.  His revenge isn't just for the friends and family he has lost, but for anyone who has suffered at the hands of the real Hsiao Mis of the world.  I think Chen Zhen is much the same, representing not only the Chinese that suffered at the hands of Imperial Japan, but of oppressed people all throughout human history.  The "No dogs and Chinese" sign scene speaks to that the most, I think.

 

Tang Lung meanwhile represents the daily struggle of people who eat entirely too much soup and just can't get to a bathroom fast enough. 

[DragonClaws]

13 hours ago, starschwar said:

For sure.  I feel that Cheng Chao-an kind of transcends into metaphorical superhero after the pendant gets broken.  A symbol for the rage of exploited and abused workers and law-abiding citizens.  His revenge isn't just for the friends and family he has lost, but for anyone who has suffered at the hands of the real Hsiao Mis of the world.  I think Chen Zhen is much the same, representing not only the Chinese that suffered at the hands of Imperial Japan,

 

Good points, in Fist of Fury his character raging from the opening scene where he seen scrambling onto his masters coffin. IN the Big Boss his character appears to be reserved, but does he hide a darker past?. The pendandt being broken stirs his anger, but its not until the last ice factory fight at the end where he goes nuts. There's at least two good reasons for this. Other cut/missing scenes might present or change the context of scenes shown in current versions.

[Coliseum1972]

On 5/3/2023 at 11:41 PM, starschwar said:

For sure.  I feel that Cheng Chao-an kind of transcends into metaphorical superhero after the pendant gets broken.  A symbol for the rage of exploited and abused workers and law-abiding citizens.  His revenge isn't just for the friends and family he has lost, but for anyone who has suffered at the hands of the real Hsiao Mis of the world.  I think Chen Zhen is much the same, representing not only the Chinese that suffered at the hands of Imperial Japan, but of oppressed people all throughout human history.  The "No dogs and Chinese" sign scene speaks to that the most, I think.

 

Tang Lung meanwhile represents the daily struggle of people who eat entirely too much soup and just can't get to a bathroom fast enough. 

so basically TL suffrs from IBS lol 

[DragonClaws]

 

Apart from the often talked about continuity errors/jump cuts in some of The Big Boss's many fight scenes. Will the Mandarin Print public release finally correct any other continuity errors featured in the film?.