#9 – The Ice Factory showdown (The Big Boss, 1971)

Why Lee-mendous: The audience have had one major Lee fight scene before this set-piece. But, as The Big Boss nears its conclusion we are dazzled with a full-on display of martial arts fury.

Upon discovering the terrible secret at the factory where he works, Cheng then faces down the dozen or so hired goons aiming to silence him.

A breathless action set-piece, Cheng uses everything available to best his opponents, street-fighting style (although a saw to the head shot is forever lost).

Hints at the tensions that existed between Lee and director Lo Wei are present. Lee’s kick fires one foe like a cannonball through a wall and infamously, a man is punched through another wall leaving a perfect outline.

These comic effects would be reduced in his next film, Fist of Fury.

Interesting-Lee: Lee’s only nunchuck-free martial arts movie (excluding original cut UK versions of Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon and Game of Death). The only Lee film cut in Hong Kong for violence (that saw in the head shot).

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