The Big Boss(1971)

Cheng Cho-an (Bruce Lee) arrives from China to Thailand so he can give an extra pair of hands to his cousins,  working at an Ice factory.

Most of the workers find out that the factory is a front for cocaine smuggling, and was offered in on the action if they kept their mouths shut; they declined and were murdered for their trouble.

Cheng never noticed anything unusual other than the constant harassment the Thai workers put on the Chinese workers.  Angry, Cheng wants to do something to stop that but due to a promise (and a jade pendant as a constant reminder), he can’t fight.

During one of his workdays, he was being harassed by the foreman of the factory and as a result, his pendant was broken.  Cheng who couldn’t take it any more fought and defeated all the workers that harassed his cousins.  His cousins were amazed by his skills in martial arts and his attitude that they saw him as a leader.  The boss (Yin-Chieh Han) was also amazed that he hired Cheng to be his next foreman  It was then he found out from an unlikely source (A prostitute he slept with at the dinner party he was invited to) of the factory smuggling drugs into the ice blocks.

He went into the Ice Factory to find evidence, which he did, but he found more than he bargained for when he found one of his cousins dead and put into a block of ice.

Just when things couldn’t get any worse, Cheng is attacked by the other workers for knowing too much and for beating and humiliating him. He fought them again, but this time killed them in a bloody battle (there was a deleted scene where Bruce stabbed a guy’s head in with a hacksaw but the footage was lost.)

He then went home to find that all but Chiao Mei (Maria Yi) dead. Cheng decides to take revenge and he goes to the boss’ mansion where he kills the guards and faces off against the Big boss, after an exhausting battle, the boss pulls a knife out and throws it at Cheng, who kicks it back at him and punctures both his lungs with his bare hands.  But he isn’t finished. He then punches the boss out and furiously pummels him to death until he himself passes out in exhaustion.

The cops arrive and apprehend Cheng who at first tries to fight them off, but Chiao Mei tells him to give up.  Chen, knowing that it’s over, is taken away by the cops.

For the sequel to this film – go to FIST OF FURY (The Chinese Connection)