Bruce Lee’s screen debut revisited
The Film Archive’s “World Class Cinema Screenings” that began in March shift focus this month to a classic Bruce Lee movie, “The Big Boss”.
The remastered “Big Boss” will be shown at Bangkok’s Scala Theatre on Sunday (May 14) at noon.
This is the 1971 Hong Kong release that gave birth to the Bruce Lee legend and, along with plenty of martial-arts action, it features vintage scenes of Thailand.
Better known among Thais by the title “Ai Noom Cin Tueng”, the film has Lee playing Cheng Chaoan, an immigrant from mainland China who joins his cousins in Thailand and works in an ice factory.
Cheng promised his mother back home that he’d stay out of fights, but his cousin Hsu Chien (James Tien) is killed after discovering the factory is a front for drug smuggling. His death must be avenged.
The film was a huge success upon release, becoming the highest-grossing Hong Kong film in history, a record unsurpassed – until Bruce Lee’s second picture, “Fists of Fury”, stormed box offices around the world.
Admission to Sunday’s screening is Bt100 and advance tickets are now available at the cinema. Find out more from the Film Archive at (02) 482 201314 and Scala Theatre at (02) 251 2861
