I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs i used to own.
Then again in the early 2k on a dvd which I own.
Revisited it recently.
Here Lee plays a young man named Cheng who travels from China to Thailand to stay with his cousins. Before departing, he swore an oath to his mother to not get into any fights. Lee gets a job at an ice factory and inspite of trying to stay away from troubles, Cheng confronts the factory boss after the disappearance of his friends.
This one doesnt have the comic stuff which is ther in Way of the Dragon and for this reason i like this better than Way of the Dragon but this one has a lil flaw cos it has comedic wi fu movements where people just fly as if they have wings.
This one is very gory n has lil nudity.
Marilyn Bautista with her assets is very attractive in this movie.
The knife kickback scene will make Cristiano Ronaldo go rofl.
The villain throws a knife at Lee but Lee kicks it back n it lands in the stomach of the opponent.
Brother Hsu Chien (James Tien) is shown to be very good with karate n especially his wi fu where he keeps jumping, he cud have easily outrun n gone straight to his house or the police after confronting the boss but he n Ah Pei gets into fight rather than trying to get away.
Also what was the need to tell the boss straight on his face and that too in his house about complaining to the police.
Inspite of all the silliness, the movie is a must for fans of Lee.
Some solid n very visible mistakes:
After the prostitute (Marilyn Bautista) tells Cheng (Lee) about the drug smuggling, he leaves. She is sitting with her back to the door when the big boss' son sneaks in. You hear the knife flying through the air and see her face as it hits her in the chest. If she had her back to the door, how did the knife landed in her chest?
During the fight inside the ice factory when Cheng (Lee) gets caught, he ducks down a little too obviously before his opponent throws an object at him.
Cheng (Lee) bends down before the opponent throws something.
I wud still love to see this movie again but the original uncut version.
The version with the notorious "handsaw in the split head" shot.
Some say the uncut version has another very important scene where Cheng runs down the road from the creek, rather than showing him arriving at the Big Boss' mansion which is shown in all the available versions, in the uncut, Cheng returns to the Thai brothel for a third time. Here, he picks up a different prostitute (not Marilyn Bautista). Cheng and the prostitute go to her room; Cheng pushes her onto the bed, and the two begin to strip. Later Cheng lays his remaining money on her stomach, even though he already paid to be with her. He then picks up a bag of crisps from the bedside table; he tries one, then leaves. This scene is symbolic and quite important, as in the previous scene Cheng discards his belongings in the river, and here he gives away his money and enjoys his final pleasures and one last meal before either being killed or arrested, a message which is now partially lost.
In the cut version, Cheng (Lee) directly arrives at the boss' house after discarding his belongings in the river and full of rage but the movie shows Cheng walking in happily and enjoying a packet of chips.
That means he after being enraged, must have visited the brothel to unwind. Otherwise why wud he be eating chips, where did the chips come from n how did his mood changed.
In the cut version, during the fight after discovering the dead bodies in the ice, Cheng picks up a handsaw n the next scene is abruptly changed. He is not shown hitting anyone in the cut version.
That means an uncut version does exist somewhere.
A few seconds of this scene (including a shot of an apparently naked Bruce standing behind the bed) can be seen in the original 3mins 38 secs trailer on YouTube.
