Big Boss info

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Big Boss info

Postby Samuel_Scott » 15 Jan 2007 13:19

Posted by chen-lung:

In 1971 Golden Harvest released ˜Big Boss™ to cinemas in Mandarin language. An English dub was created for international export purposes (not to mention other languages), which was believed to have been the same length to its counterpart Mandarin version (no-one can say if it was abridged). This English dub was never legally released (Video Asia attempted to release it in an incomplete form in 2004 but legal reasons restricted them from doing so).

However in 1973, National General Pictures acquired the US rights for the film and it is believed that they rejected the Golden Harvest dub in favour of a more polished effort and thus, the other dub has rarely been seen to the public - it was last heard through 2 conventions in 1996 in an English cinema (one was in Nottingham) without the missing scenes and is currently in the hands of collectors (a full version of this dub including the missing scenes may exist but no-one has reported to having one).

Both English dubs (1971 and 1973) have different voice artists, music and foley (the latter retains some). One of the differences was the running-time of the film which was cut down about 5-10 minutes for various reasons. Its™ not known whether Golden Harvest or National General Pictures performed the cuts, but it is certain that under the ˜1972 Hong Kong Censorship Act™, some scenes were forced to be dropped (the˜Saw-in-the-head™ scene among them) and it would seem Golden Harvest also took the opportunity to cut other scenes in order to retain the films™ appeal (and for pacing).

About 10 scenes (maybe more/less - we may never know) were removed from the 1971 release and today, the only thing that remains of it to the public is the Mandarin soundtrack which was abridged to fit the 1983 version that Star TV currently hold (Media Asia handled the film on behalf of Star TV but now Fortune Star do). Jason Hart's™ excellent article reveals an in-depth retrospective of the 1971 version (http://littledragon.builtfree.org/boss.html).

There was a special event held by ˜Kung Fu Monthly™ in London, England (1979) in which the uncut print was broadcast in Mandarin language. However, it's rumoured to have excluded a few scenes including the most infamous one - the ˜Saw-in-the-Head™. This is the closest to an uncut print ever since, such prints are in collectors hands. It's likely that the 1979 broadcasting was Golden Harvest's™ final version of the film in Mandarin to feature the majority of those scenes.

Scenes removed for the 1983 version which was included in the 1973 version:

1: Conversation between Cheng and Hsu after foiling the loaded dices at the gambling den = 1 1/2 Seconds.
2: Exchange between Hsu and the henchmen of the gambling den = 1 1/2 Seconds.
3: Cheng and Kun's exchange on how to approach the ice factory foreman = 2 Seconds.
4: The workers running into the Factory to enquire the whereabouts of their relatives = 5 Seconds.
5: Hsu's exchange with the ice factory boss about the missing workers = 2 Seconds.
6: Hsiao Mi talking to Hsu about the whereabouts of the missing workers = 1 1/2 Seconds.
7: Cheng's exchange with Hsiao Mi on the missing workers = 2 Seconds.
8: Another exchange with Cheng and Hsiao Mi on the missing workers = 2 Seconds.
9: Killer-Blows (see below):

1971 version:

Mi throws the knife at Cheng but he kicks it back into the formers stomach. Cheng quickly gets up and launches towards Mi with a ˜finger-thrust™ and stabs his ribcage. The latter pauses and then shuts his eyes in pain. The next take begins at the bottom of Mi's™ shirt with blood dripping down, the camera panning up to the two men as they give mean glares and then both move in a semi-circle (with Chengs™ fingers still in his body). After, we go to a long shot of the two men.

1973 ˜Stare-down™ version:

Mi throws the knife at Cheng but he kicks it back into the formers stomach (deletes a second of Mi leaning forward with the knife in), Cheng launches up and engages his finger thrust but then we immediately cut away to the men beginning their stare-down in a semi-circle immediately after Cheng attacks him (deletes the pause/eye-shutting, blood-dripping and camera panning up to the two men from the shirt) and ending with the long-shot. Because of the sudden cutting away of Cheng's™ ˜finger-thrust™, it was not certain what Cheng did (only the sound effect implied something happened) we only find out when he pulls his fingers out = 11 seconds.

1983 ˜Finger-Thrust™ version:

Mi throws the knife at Cheng but he kicks it back into the formers stomach. Cheng quickly gets up and launches towards Mi with a˜finger-thrust™ (into his ribcage) the latter pauses and then shuts his eyes in pain. The next take begins at the bottom of Mi's™ shirt with blood dripping, the camera panning up to the two men as they give mean glares, then it cuts to the long shot = 9 seconds.

Basically, both the 1973 and 1983 versions were once whole but now exist separately (in parts). This clip (http://youtube.com/watch?v=0YhYlDEgOVA) shows how it played in the 1971 versions (the audio is a mixture of the 1973 music and 1971 voices/foley so it isn't original included for accompaniment only).

The English audio on Star TV's version during the riverside mourning temporarily reverts from the 1973 dub to the 1971 dub. The Fox ˜Masters Collection™ DVD plays it correctly with the 1973 version. Distributors who used their soundtrack: HKL ˜Special/Limited Collectors Editions™, HKL Platinum Edition™, SME / Scanbox™ and Fox Ultimate Edition™.

For some reason, there are two differing sets of English/Chinese credits that exist: Each one's credits appear at different times - most noticeable when a name overlaps the title of the film. The English export international credits had a similar problem in which an English Big Boss™ is pasted over the previous bi-lingual English/Chinese title card.

All the soundtracks for the film:

1971 'Golden Harvest': Wang Fu Ling (HK+Rarely heard export versions in English e.t.c).
1973 'National General Pictures': Peter Thomas (released in the US 1973 and then exported to countries such as the UK) - English reissued version.
1974 (?) 'Golden Harvest' (?): Joseph Koo (released in Japan) - 2nd English reissued version (only called that if a Japanese soundtrack was created initially using Wang's score but rejected). Uses National General Pictures™ score at some points.
1983 'Golden Harvest': Joseph Koo (Hong Kong) - Cantonese reissued version that uses tracks from Pink Floyd and King Crimson.

So really, no DVDs contain the original 1971 release. Basically what we have today is the final definitive™ version Golden Harvest released to best represent the film (the 1983 Cantonese version).
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