Bruce Lee’s words on exploding on to the film scene 45 years ago

“This is probably the biggest thing to hit the Mandarin film business since the invention of fake blood,” ran the South China Morning Post story announcing Bruce Lee’s explosion onto the movie scene with The Big Boss, 45 years ago.

“It took exactly three days for this film to gross a million dollars, which is a new record,” the November 7 story continued. “Every cinema showing this film is packed to the fire exits. […] Newcomer Bruce Li (or is it Lee? The studio seems to spell it both ways) is a talented young fellow and is well-enough supported by his cast.

“He boxes better than he acts,” the writer noted, “but this is not necessarily a draw­back in Chinese films. The leading lady, Maria Yi, acts better than she boxes.”

A week later, on November 14, 1971, under the headline “‘Big Boss’ set for $3m gross”, the newspaper quoted producer Raymond Chow Man-wai as saying the film had taken $2.7 million, surpassing the old record, held by The Sound of Music (1965).