I just bought the bruce lee ultimate collection dvd box and i wanted to know if the versions of way of dragon , big boss and fist of fury are all uncut ? bruce lee ultimate collection dvd box - http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Ultimat...4-1120842?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1187754080&sr=1-2
I can't tell from the picture on the Amazon.com website, but, if the boxset is the 20th Century Fox release then "Way of the Dragon" is the same as the uncut Hong Kong version. However, "The Big Boss" is heavily cut and has been since 1972, having said that, there is a strong and persistant reumour that the full uncut Mandarin cut will be available on DVD sometime this year. Similarly, "Fist of Fury" is also heavily cut in the US and up until recently Argentina was the only country to sell the uncut version officially. The uncut version is now widly available in the UK as a two disc (I think) set from the Hong Kong Legends label. Hope this helps.
Look for the "chucks" That's the key to knowing if you have the uncut versions or not. I'm not familar with that edition of the collection however so it's hard to tell up front.
Not necessarily, it depends on where you are in the world. Even with the great nunchuck cull of the 1970's some places heavily edited nunchuck scenes whilst other countries cut the entire scene out so that there wasn't even a glimpse of them. With the Big Boss some countries left in the nunchuck scenes but cut out other scenes of extreme violence and vice versa in other places. Censorship hey?
Yeah. I remember the first time I watched the nunchuck scenes in all the films, esp Enter The Dragon, and I remember thinking 'why was that censored?'.
I checked and it is the fox version..I also was watching fist of fury from the box set and the nunchucks scenes were all there ,so that means that it has the uncut version of fist of fury along with way of dragon.. the only one that is not uncut of course is big boss.. Does anybody know which version of big boss is more complete or less uncut of the fox version or the hkl version ?
The version of Fist of Fury that comes in the Ultimate box set by Fox is far complete even though it has the nunchuck scenes in it. just because it has those scenes in it doesn't mean it's uncut, it's just less cut. As far as I am aware Hong Kong Legends has the rights to the uncut version in Europe and the US, though Argentina lay claim to a longer version. the only one that is not uncut of course is big boss.. As already mentioned, Big Boss has never been available uncut though the Hong Kong Legends one is, apaprently, better than the Fox one. Also as already mentioned, there's rumour that the uncut Mandarin print of the Big Boss might be available in the near future,
I wonder what extra scenes the argentinan version of fist of fury must have im curious ? Im hoping if the mandarin version of big boss comes out that it will also include a english dubbed track and the saw scene .
I don't think they're extra scenes as such but more extended scenes with extra violence, nothing that should worry you too much, unless you're a completist. Heck, I bought the US version of Star Wars Episode II because it is about 1 second longer than the UK version and shows a headbutt in the Jango Fett and Obi Wan fight. Check this out for details of the original Mandarin cut. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Boss#Original_Mandarin_Cut
I think as a general rule of thumb, if your looking to buy 'uncut' DVD's within Europe or the US, then Hong Kong Legends are pretty near to what you need. I've got their versions of Way of The Dragon and Fist of Fury. Both seem reasonably complete. WOTD was always confusing due to the fact that the Nunchuk scene aside, there were cuts in the movie at the start where Bruce orders food in a restaurant. This scene never appeared in some UK released Videos and DVD's for example but did in others, but it is in WOTD by Hong Kong Legends. HKL have released a 2 x disc version of The Big Boss that is available off their web site. Does anyone know if this is the nearest we'll get to an uncut movie? FOF was also released as a 2 x disc set but I understand the movie was the same length as their previous release so it was only the extras that made it worth getting. Without getting off topic, I have recently watched HKL's remastered version of Hap Ki Do starring Angela Mao and Carter Wong. I thought they did a good job with it for what its worth.
Chimpcheng said:- omg, I've just remembered why I've always found Bruce Lee movies to be laughable tripe!
It's more complete than any other version on the market but still far from uncut. I'm a sucker for uncut/extended version of movies, even with movies I've not seen before I'd prefer to get the uncut version. However, if you're not familiar with the film you'd probably never know it was cut and by extension would you really miss those cuts..?
There are several uncut versions making the rounds in Hong Kong. The biggest difference to many of them is that many of the cut scenes were those where Bruce Lee squares off against Ed Fatheringham. To my knowledge those seens don't appear in any versions anywhere.
Don't forget, marketing people are sneaky and can bill something as uncut in a particular country (as it could be the only version of that film passed by the censors) despite there being a longer/alternate cut available in a different country. For example, I have an 'uncut' R2 copy of 'American Pie' (one of the greatest movies ever ) which is cut compared to the uncut R1 copy that I also own. I'm not talking about the different frame rates between NTSC and PAL but scenes which were trimmed/censored. Outrageous. If I want to see a guy getting jiggy with a pie I should be allowed to see a guy getting jiggy with a pie. I'm a grown man...
