1. The Big Boss (1971): Cheng is a Chinese man from Guangdong who has moved to Thailand, with the help of his uncle, to find a job working with his cousins in an ice factory. When a block of ice is accidentally broken, something that looks like a block of white powder comes out. Later that night, the two cousins who discovered the heroin were asked to stay to see the manager. They were told that there are better jobs for them. Apparently, the factory is a front for a drug smuggling ring led by the Big Boss, Hsiao Mi. The cousins were offered good positions. When they declined, they were murdered.
Hsiao Mi attempts to cover up the murders, but Cheng and his surviving cousins became suspicious. Two more of his cousins, Hsu Chien and Ah Pei, go to Mi's house to ask if he knows what happened to them. When they realize he is acting suspicious and start toward the police station, Mi also has them killed (but not before Hsu takes several of Mi's men down with him). Hsiao Mi then distracts Cheng by promoting him to foreman and providing him with alcohol and prostitutes (turning some of his cousins against him). However, out of affection, one of the prostitutes revealed the truth to Cheng. He broke into the factory one night and discovered, to his horror, his cousins' corpses. Cheng's snooping around was immediately discovered by a gang led by Hsiao Mi's son, Hsiao Chiun.
Cheng defeated the gang and killed many, including Hsiao Chiun. Unfortunately he returned home only to find that his entire family has been murdered. Cheng exacted revenge by killing Hsiao Mi in the final fight, by stabbing him with his own fingers. He then surrendered to the police.
2. Fist Of Fury (1972): he film is loosely based on Chin Woo Athletic Association, the actual school from which the film took its Chinese title. The plot features the story of Chen Zhen a fictional character created by director Lo Wei for the film. Chen Zhen is shown as a student of the real-life martial artist Huo Yuanjia who, after the mysterious death of Huo, fought the Hongkou Dojo of Suzuki Taro.
The film takes place in the early 20th century, after the mysterious death of Huo Yuanjia, and during the occupation of Shanghai and virtually all of coastal China by several foreign countries, including Japan. It is about a Chinese Martial Arts school whose master (Huo) was recently killed by men associated with a rival Japanese Martial Arts School who continue to harass them. Chen is out to find out who is responsible for his master's death and get justice.
The real Jing Wu school still survives to this day and can be found in many major cities abroad. Their headquarters are in Malaysia, and their students strive to keep the Jing Wu spirit to this day.
The film is famous for the scene in which Chen Zhen is denied entry into a park bearing a sign stating "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed." After the turban-wearing Sikh guard at the park allows a foreigner's dog to enter the park, a man out of a group of Japanese approaches Chen and tells him that if he pretends to be a dog then he will take him inside. Chen becomes furious and proceeds to attack the Japanese with punches and kicks. He then kicks the offending sign in the air and breaks it with a flying kick. Another famous scene is when Chen enters the Japanese school to return a "gift" from the Japanese, which is a pejorative sign meaning "Sick man of Asia" After defeating the entire school, including the sensei, he destroys the glass-covered portrait of the aforementioned sign and forces two of the students to chew the paper so as to fulfill their promise that they would literally "eat their words" if they were defeated. Finally, the final scene of the film of Chen charging and making a flying kick at a line of armed soldiers just before they shoot was well received with Chinese audiences as a show of ferocious ethnic pride.
The former U.S. title The Chinese Connection, trading off the popularity of the recently-released Gene Hackman film The French Connection, was originally intended for Bruce Lee's previous film, The Big Boss, due to the drugs theme of that movie. However, the U.S. titles for the films were accidentally swapped for an unknown reason so this film carried the title The Chinese Connection until 2005, despite being obviously unrelated to the content of the movie. The Big Boss in the U.S. had the title Fists of Fury, leading to much confusion. Recent American TV showings and the current official US DVD release from Twentieth Century-Fox have restored the original titles of all the renamed Bruce Lee films; this film is now officially called Fist of Fury in the United States.
This film is one of Bruce Lee's most influential works, as it is one of the main reasons behind the shift in Hong Kong cinema from swordplay to empty-handed fighting, which initiated the "Golden era of Kung Fu Cinema" of the 1970s.
3. Way Of The Dragon (1972): Tang Lung (Bruce Lee) is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help his sick friend's niece Miss Chen and some family friends whose restaurant is being targeted by the local gangsters and forcing them to sign a contract which will make the Mafia boss gain control of the property. After their offers to purchase the restaurant are repeatedly turned down, the gangsters resort to intimidation. Tang Lung fends off the local gangsters and gains Miss Chen's interest, who up until now has looked down on Tang for his innocence from his hesitance of putting his savings into a bank to unknowingly going home with a prostitute whilst touring Rome with Miss Chen.
The Mafia boss (played by John Benn) sends a gunman, but Tang Lung defeats him with his throwing wooden darts and fractures his neck. The Mafia boss then goes to the restaurant himself along with all his gangster thugs to make Miss Chen sign the contract. Tang Lung defeats them all with his fighting skills with help from a bo staff and two nunchakus. He then warns that if the boss comes to threaten his friends once more, he will take drastic actions. After a failed second attempt at Miss Chen's apartment by the gunman (who now sports a neck brace but manages to escape), Tang Lung and his friends go to save Miss Chen who has been kidnapped by the Mafia boss to sign the contract at his headquarters.
The Mafia boss hires foreign martial artists who have trouble communicating with each other, played by Robert Wall and In Sik Whang, to challenge Tang Lung but he defeats them both with help from friends in a countryside near the Colosseum. The final duel takes place between Tang Lung and the best of the foreign martial artists, Colt (Chuck Norris), in the Colosseum itself, in an iconic fight scene. Tang Lung kills Colt, but covers his body with Colt's white gi to show his respect and admiration, and the Mafia boss is finally arrested whilst the other villains are killed. Having solved the problem, Tang Lung departs Rome alone.
4. Enter The Dragon (1973): Lee (portrayed by Bruce Lee) is a Shaolin martial artist in Hong Kong. He possesses great philosophical insight into martial arts as well as physical prowess, and this has earned him an invitation to a martial arts tournament organized by the mysterious Han (played by Shih Kien), though he does not wish to attend. Lee's sifu (master) informs him that Han was once a Shaolin student as well, but he abandoned them and their moral code, abusing his skills to gain wealth and power. A man named Braithwaite (portrayed by Geoffrey Weeks) visits the Shaolin temple to speak with Lee. Braithwaite is the representative of an international intelligence organization that has been secretly investigating Han.
The island where Han's tournament is held every three years was purchased by Han after World War II, when its nationality was uncertain. The island is now beyond international jurisdiction. Han is a heroin and opium dealer, systematically building his customers' dependence on the drugs to ensure their continued business. He also runs a substantial prostitution ring on his island. Han's martial arts school and tournament are a front for Han to recruit new talent. Han reigns over his island like a king, living decadently in a grand palace.
Though Braithwaite's organization knows all of this, they lack proof. Several months earlier, Braithwaite's organization stationed a female operative, Mei Ling (Betty Chung), on Han's island, as one of his palace maidens (who double as prostitutes). They have had no further contact from her. Braithwaite wants Lee to attend Han's tournament as a cover for him to obtain proof of Han's illicit activities. If this proof can be found then Braithwaite could, under international law, send in the troops and break-up the organization. Since Han does not allow firearms on his island, both to prevent a pretext for being raided for stockpiling any arsenal and to inhibit assassination threats, Lee's mastery of hand to hand combat will be a definite advantage for his mission.
Braithwaite shows Lee a short video taken of Han and his bodyguard Oharra (Robert Wall), who is a professional martial artist. Lee agrees to enter the tournament, both on behalf of Braithwaite and his sifu, who has requested Lee reclaim their "lost honour."
Before leaving, Lee informs his father, who decides to tell Lee the truth about the death of his sister, so that he can pay proper respect at her grave on the way. During preparations for the previous tournament three years earlier, some of Han's men, led by Oharra, came to the city. Lee's father and sister were also visiting the city and came across the men, who attempted to rape Lee's sister. Lee's father scarred Oharra's face with a knife, but was knocked unconscious. Lee's sister was cornered, and she committed suicide with a shard of broken glass to avoid rape by Oharra and his men.
Although he intends to complete his mission honourably, Lee finds he is also driven to take vengeance upon Oharra. He quietly asks forgiveness for what he is about to do at the graves of his mother and sister, before heading off for the Island aboard Han's private junk ship.
Also aboard are several other competitors. They include Roper (John Saxon), a white American playboy-gambler on the run from the mob, to whom he is heavily in debt; and Williams (Jim Kelly), a black American activist on the run from the law after defending himself against two racist white policemen in Los Angeles. War buddies from Vietnam, Roper and Williams are slightly distrustful of the others. Roper gets to know Lee as they bet over a praying mantis fight being held on the deck of the boat, and later at the banquet hosted by Han on the island. At the banquet, Lee recognizes Mei Ling among Han's women. Later, as Tania (Han's beautiful and sexy hostess-in-charge) offers prostitutes to the fighters, Lee uses this as cover to establish contact with Mei Ling. Williams chooses five of the eight girls he is offered, and Roper chooses Tania herself, with whom he establishes something of a romantic relationship.
The tournament begins the next morning, with Williams and Roper easily winning their respective matches — and making some money out of it as well. Later that night, Lee, with equipment supplied by Mei Ling, begins searching the island for anything incriminating. Just as he finds a concealed entrance to an underground base, he is discovered by Han's guards. He disables them before they see his face, then returns to his room. On the way back, he is seen by Williams, who is exercising outside, despite it being forbidden to leave the palace at night. Williams, in turn, is seen by a guard.
The next morning, Han informs everyone that someone was seen outside the palace, but the most important thing is that his guards "performed their duties incompetently". He orders those involved to fight his head guard, Bolo (Bolo Yeung). Bolo sadistically murders the guards. Moments later, Lee is called to his first match, and finds he is fighting Oharra. Lee proves more than a match for Oharra, even when an increasingly enraged Oharra fights dishonourably. Having convincingly defeated Oharra, Lee attempts to walk away, but, unwilling to accept defeat, Oharra finally attacks Lee with a pair of broken bottles, forcing Lee to disarm and kill him. Han, disgraced by Oharra's tactics, ends the tournament for the remainder of the day and quietly summons Williams to his study. There, Han accuses Williams of assaulting his guards the previous night. Williams denies this and insults Han. Infuriated, Han murders Williams.
Han later takes Roper on a tour of his underground work area, showing him his drug manufacturing area, the women he forces into prostitution through drug dependency, and the slave labour he employs through captured homeless men. Han invites Roper to join him as his representative in the United States. Roper asks why Han has revealed so much without any guarantee of Roper's cooperation. Han then shows him Williams' mutilated corpse, making it clear that Roper will be killed if he does not cooperate. That night, Lee returns to the underground base and successfully infiltrates it, discovering enough evidence to secure Han's arrest. Lee finds a radio transmitter, which he uses to contact Braithwaite and call for backup. However, he is captured while attempting to escape.
The next morning on the tournament grounds, Roper is asked to fight Lee as a test of loyalty to Han. Roper refuses, and Han reassigns him to fight Bolo. Although Lee steps forward, volunteering to fight Bolo for Roper, Roper refuses and fights Bolo himself (as both a way to send a message to Han that he cannot be bullied, as well as a way to avenge Williams against Han.) Despite appearing outmatched, Roper is eventually victorious. Han, infuriated at Roper's victory, orders all of his guards to kill Lee and Roper by retaliation. The two are hopelessly outnumbered, but they manage to hold their own until the arrival of the slave labourers, who have been freed by Mei Ling. The slave labourers join the battle against Han's guards, evening the odds. Lee pursues Han, entering into an extended duel that leads to a hall of mirrors. Remembering the philosophy taught by his sifu, Lee outsmarts and finally kills Han by kicking him onto the point of a spear.
Returning outside, Lee finds that Roper and the slave workers have defeated Han's remaining guards. However, Tania has been killed in the fight. Lee and Roper exchange a weary thumbs-up as army helicopters arrive in response to Lee's radio distress call. Lee gave one last look at Han's bear claw which was stuck at the small table.
5. Game Of Death (1978):
Original plot
The original plot involved Lee playing the role of a retired champion martial artist who was confronted by the Korean underworld gangs. They tell him the story of the pagoda's treasure and guns are prohibited. When Lee refuses, his younger sister and brother are kidnapped, forcing him to participate. Hai Tien (Bruce Lee's character), as well as four other martial artists (two of which were played by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), fight their way through a five-level pagoda, encountering a different challenge on each floor. The setting of the pagoda was at Beopjusa temple in Songnisan National Park in South Korea.
The pagoda, called Palsang-jon, is the only remaining wooden pagoda in South Korea. At the base of the pagoda they fight 10 people all black belts in martial arts, while inside the pagoda, they encounter a different opponent on each floor, each more challenging than the last. Although his allies try to help out, they are handily defeated, and Lee must face each of the martial artists in one-on-one combat. He defeats Filipino martial arts master Dan Inosanto, hapkido master Ji Han Jae, and finally Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who fights with a free and fluid style mirroring Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Because Kareem's character has great size and strength in addition to a fighting style as potent as Lee's, he can only be defeated once Lee recognizes his one weakness-an unusual sensitivity to light. Lee smashes the surrounding windows, weakening him with exposure to daylight, and finally manages to kill him.
Original production
Although the pagoda was supposed to have five floors, complete scenes were only shot for three of the floors-the "Palace of the Tiger," where Lee faced Inosanto, the "Palace of the Dragon", where he fought Ji Han Jae, and the final floor, where he fought Abdul-Jabbar. Hapkido master Ing-Sik Whang was slated to play the guardian of the first floor, a master of a kick-oriented style, while Bruce's longtime student and good friend Taky Kimura was asked to play the guardian of the second floor, a stylist of praying mantis kung fu.
The goal of the film's plot was to showcase Lee's beliefs regarding the principles of martial arts. As each martial artist is defeated (including Lee's allies), the flaws in their fighting style are revealed. Some, like Dan Inosanto's character, rely too much on fixed patterns of offensive and defensive techniques, while others lack economy of motion. Lee defeats his opponents by having a fighting style that involves fluid movement, unpredictability, and an eclectic blend of techniques. His dialogue often includes references on their weaknesses.
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
Several years later, Bruce Lee historian John Little released Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, a documentary revealing the original footage and storyline of The Game of Death. The documentary also includes a fairly in-depth biography of Lee and leads into the filming of The Game of Death. Fans still believe there is more footage to be found. Originally meant to be a documentary in its own right, now it can be found on the second disc of the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of Enter the Dragon, along with the documentary Bruce Lee: Curse of the Dragon.
Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: Shibōteki Yūgi
In 2000, the Japanese film Bruce Lee in G.O.D. was released on DVD. This film shows Lee's original vision from the film through the existing footage that was shot for the film before he died, interviews, and historical reenactments of what went on behind the scenes. A "special edition" DVD was released in 2003.
6. Game Of Death II (1981):
Plot synopsis
Billy Lo returns to discover the truth behind the death of his friend Chin Ku (Wong Ching Lei). Though it is said that he died of illness, many suspect foul play- and these suspicions prove to be true after a gang attempts to steal Ku's coffin. When Billy proceeds to investigate, he is murdered. When Bobby Lo (Tong Lung), Billy's younger brother, hears of the happenings he decides to investigate and leaves his Buddhist teacher. Soon, he arrives to the Castle of Death where he gains an unlikely friendship with a cruel and merciless Martial Arts expert by the name of Lewis (Roy Horan). Unbeknown to Bobby, his new friend is also the tower's master. Soon, the master is brutally murdered leaving Bobby to face danger in The Tower of Death.
Deleted scene
There's a scene in the chinese version of Game of Death action directed by Sammo Hung intended for his asian audience. Because the action standards are higher in Asia, he would replace the action scene in the opera house for the glasshouse at night with Casanova Wong in his karate clothes. The fight scene has the Bruce Lee look alike between Kim Tai Chung and Yuen Biao for the flips. For the international version for this movie, it has been dubbed into English referring to this movie that is added to this original version. This deleted scene can be seen in both movies available on DVD as a special feature in Hong Kong Legends
By Richard Moody
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