Bullet Points: The Big Boss Part II
1971’s The Big Boss (or Fists of Fury as I knew it growing up) was not only my introduction to Bruce Lee, but my introduction to the world of Kung Fu cinema! To this day, even after watching dozens and dozens more Kung Fu classics, if you asked me to pick my all-time favorite, I would go back to the beginning and say The Big Boss.
So you could only imagine my excitement when the news broke that the long talked about, but seldom seen, direct sequel to The Big Boss, 1976’s The Big Boss Part II was going to be a part of Severin Films’ The Game of Clones box set (on a special bonus disc exclusive to the Severin site)… as if I needed another excuse to make that investment!
- Previously on The Big Boss: The movie opens with some footage from the final fight in The Big Boss between Bruce Lee’s Cheng Chiu On (although they are careful to not show Bruce Lee’s face) and Han Ying-Chieh’s Boss Mi… a fight that ended with Cheng Chiu On killing Boss Mi. Which made it all the more confusing when we pick up with an incarcerated Cheng Chiu On (now played by Bruce Le) years later, still obsessed with revenge. On the wall in his jail cell, Cheng Chiu On has drawn a picture of the new boss he wants to kill… I don’t know why he is obsessed with killing this man, he seemingly took care of all his enemies in the first film. Maybe this new boss was Boss Mi’s boss… if so they should have called this movie The Bigger Boss… although in this movie they refer to Cheng Chiu On as The Big Boss and Lo Lieh’s character, Cheng Chiu Chun, as The Big Boss II. Which really makes no sense to me.
- Vengeance is Mine: Cheng Chiu Chun (Lo Lieh, King Boxer) comes to visit his brother, Cheng Chiu On in prison. Since Cheng Chiu On is serving time for multiple murders, he won’t be getting out anytime soon to murder this new Boss (played by Chan Chue who in addition to being the director of The Big Boss Part II, also played the ice factory manager in The Big Boss), so it is up to Cheng Chiu Chun to take up the mantle and become the new murderous avenger of the family… and we never see Bruce Le in this movie again.
- Gold Digger: There’s another boss in this movie, a lady boss who is obsessed with finding some gold. Gold that she was screwed out of by the new boss. So when the lady boss gets word that Chun also has a beef with her business rival, she sees an opportunity. But first she has her men test Chun’s Kung Fu skills, which gives us some much needed fighting action. Then the lady boss herself tests Chun’s skills in the bedroom as the two have a partially obscured, sweaty sex scene set to Booker T and the M.G,’s cover of “Foxy Lady”.
- Love is in the Air: After impressing the lady boss with his fighting and fucking skills, Chun is officially hired and begins his search for the man he wants to kill and the lady boss’ gold. That’s when Chun happens upon a young lady who is visiting he mother’s gravesite and being harassed by four goons… Chun steps in, saves the damsel in distress and then offers to walk her home. When Chun tries to get an invite inside her house, he learns that her father is very strict and wouldn’t approve of her hanging out with a strange man, even if that stranger did save her from certain harm… wouldn’t it be something if her father was the boss that Chun was looking for?!?!
- Spoiler Alert: The father of Chun’s new girlfriend was in fact the boss Chun was looking for and when the boss finds out Chun has plans of killing him, business picks up… first he has the witch doctor he has on staff attempt to poison Chun and when that doesn’t work, they blow up the shack that Chun was staying at, fortunately his girlfriend tipped him off and together they got out before the explosion… But Chun spending his time frolicking and slow motion running with his new love, doesn’t sit well with the lady boss who hired Chun to get her precious gold! Which means Chun and his lady have everybody after them… which leads to an unexpected boat chase, and some underwater action where Chun and his girlfriend are underwater for a long ass time while battling alligators, while a gun battle is taking place on the water’s surface… plus, a big boat jump!
- Ice, Ice Baby: The Big Boss Part II was a real mixed bag leading into the finale… there was some great moments, there were some head scratching moments and there was some why am I watching this moments. Any negatives the movie may have had were all washed away however, when I realized the finale was going to take place at the ice factory and a battle between Cheng Chiu Chun and the new boss! But wait there’s more!! After the fight, we are treated to several startling revelations and then there was the “second verse, same as the first” ending.
The Big Boss Part II may no longer be a lost film, but a viewer can certainly get lost if they try to make sense of it at times… however I am glad I can now check it off my Bruceploitation list. At times the movie felt extremely ambitious, upping the action of the original, while adding some bizarre elements along the way. Too bad we didn’t a get a The Big Boss Part III, with imprisoned Cheng Chiu Chun and Cheng Chiu On taking on an evil warden and his staff of abusive prison guards.
- Bastard Count: I read two subtitled “bastards” in The Big Boss Part II.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Lo Lieh smash blocks of ice with a sledge hammer, then The Big Boss Part II is the movie for you.
- Familiar Faces: Lee Kwan, who played Ah Kun in the first The Big Boss, played the aforementioned witch doctor in the sequel… Michael Chan Wai-Man, played the final obstacle standing in the way of Cheng Chiu Chun and the new boss, that resulted in a bloody battle in the woods. I remembered Michael from such films as Bruce’s Deadly Fingers and Legacy of Rage.
- Name That Tune: A medley of John Barry’s James Bond music can be heard during the action packed boat chase/alligator fighting sequence.
