NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (June 2020): Criterion have transferred Bruce Lee's five most noteworthy films; The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon (both a theatrical and 'special edition version) and Game of Death (along with Game of Death II)  to a Blu-ray boxset entitled 'Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits'. They are described as "4K digital restorations of The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, and The Way of the Dragon" and "New 2K digital restorations" for the two Enter the Dragon versions. These are all much improved over the compared Shout! Factory's 2013, now out-of-print, 'The Bruce Lee Legacy Collection' (that omits Enter the Dragon) - reviewed HERE (Not the 2016-2017 Shout Select Blu-ray series, labeled Fists of Fury = The Big Boss, The Chinese Connection = Fist of Fury, Return of the Dragon = The Way of the Dragon.)

Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon are massively improved in terms of video - notably colors (flesh tones) and contrast. It looks to me as though these may be from the Warner source - when you look at their DVDs. Even on Enter the Dragon colors improve (see John Saxon's red golf sweater.) Overall, I would say that these are notable improvements - all with max'ed out bitrates. Comparatively the 2013 Shout! Factory's look blue-ish-green beside the Criterion (see Uncle Wang Chung Hsin's chef's hat in The Way of the Dragon as well as the heavy blue-green alleyway of both the Kam + Ronson and Shout! 1080P transfers - which we can now assume are from the same source or even D1.)  

NOTE: We have added 77 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion offer linear PCM uncompressed original monaural soundtracks (24-bit) in the original language - either in Mandarin, Cantonese options (for Fist if Fury and The Way of the Dragon) or English languages (Enter the Dragon and Game of Death.) The English DUBs (including alternate options of Japanese release English DUBs for Game of Death and The Way of the Dragon) for the first three films are included as an option. Effects still pack a whiplash-like wallop and it is gratifying to hear Lee's impetuous squeaks or high-pitched hums as he bounces around during a conflict. For the scores - on The Big Boss we have the choice of Peter Thomas (soundtrack for Europe) in lossy Dolby or Fu-Ling Wang score track, Joseph Koo's compositions for Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon, Lalo Schifrin (famous as the guy behind the Mission: Impossible theme as well as Charley Varrick, Day of the Animals, Hit!, Man on a Swing, Rollercoaster, Tango and many other films) for Enter the Dragon and John Barry (Inside Moves, The Whisperers, Boom, Deadfall, The Chase, Midnight Cowboy, Dances With Wolves and the Bond themes among his many credits)  for Game of Death. It all sounds flat and nostalgic in the uncompressed. NOTE: There is a DTS-HD Master 5.1 option for Enter the Dragon - for the 103-minute version the Criterion Blu-ray features a scene and some dialogue not present in the 1973 theatrical cut. The monaural track features mostly Bruce Lee's voice in the extra scene, while Lee's voice was dubbed for the 5.1 track.  Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-rays.

There are supplements on each disc with the features and two 'Bonus Blu-ray discs' with more. There have been many extras floating around the digital space and many of these have been duplicated with Criterion adding hours of new supplements. Firstly, there are commentaries on all - the Mike Leeder tracks (all recorded in 2013) for The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, and The Way of the Dragon - Brandon Bentley for The Big Boss (recorded in 2016), and Paul Heller (recorded in 2003) for the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon. There are previously seen interviews with Linda Lee Cadwell for over 1/4 hour, Lee’s widow, and many of Lee’s collaborators and admirers, including actors Jon T. Benn, Riki Hashimoto, Nora Miao, Jun Katsumura, Robert Wall, Yuen Wah, Tung Wai and Simon Yam and directors Clarence Fok, Sammo Hung, and Wong Jing. These can be separate or part of documentaries such as the 3/4 hour The Legacy of the Dragon, the hour-long The Grandmaster and the Dragon, Bruce Lee Remembered, Bruce Lee: In His Own Words and Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend - the 1.5 hour 1973 documentary chronicling the life and work of Bruce Lee featuring Lee's biographer and widow, Lind Lee; actors James Coburn, George Lazenby, Chuck Norris, and others. There is also a trailer for it included. These run many hour's worth. I appreciated the inclusion of the promotional materials, alternate opening credits and titles, alternate endings, extended scenes and many different trailer versions from different countries plus TV and radio spots. They are a handful by themselves, and have historic and nostalgic value. They are culled from a variety of sources, ex. brief edited excerpts show some scenes with additional footage, as they were presented in alternate versions of the films in different markets. Notable is 1/2 hour Blood and Steel which was directed by Paul Heller and features producer Fred Weintraub, writer Michael Allin, cinematographer Gil Hubbs, actor John Saxon, and others. This 2003 documentary chronicles the making of Enter the Dragon.  I don't recall the 2013 video essay, edited and narrated by film critic and Bruce Lee aficionado Brandon Bentley, detailing the creation of a score for The Big Boss by composer Peter Thomas, presented as an alternate musical option in this Blu-ray boxset release.

New supplements via Criterion are plentiful and educational, starting with interviews for all five films with Matthew Polly author of Bruce Lee: A Life. As you might expect, he knows his stuff and can export interesting minutia about Lee and these productions that you won't find anywhere else. These are great additions and run almost 50-minutes in total for the five films. As well as the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon, Criterion include a high-definition presentation of Game of Death II, the 1981 sequel to Game of Death - also known as Tower of Death, this English-dubbed release mirrors its predecessor by using footage of Bruce Lee from previous works to create a sequel for the Game of Death character Billy Lo. It fills 23,874,846,720 bytes with a 31.19Mbps bitrate, lossy Dolby Digital English audio, no subtitles and a running of 1:36:51.889.  Some may appreciate the 34-minute Game of Death Redux, a new presentation of Lee’s original Game of Death footage, produced by Alan Canvan. In a 2020 1/4 hour interview by the Criterion Collection, producer Andre Morgan reflects on the impact of the studio Golden Harvest on the Hong Kong film industry. Also produced by Criterion is a delightful program featuring author Grady Hendrix (The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires) who delves into the cinematic phenomenon of Bruce Lee imitators that followed the star's death. It runs 10-minutes with the “Bruceploitation” subgenre trailers running almost a 1/4 hour. There is also a new program about English-language dubbing with voice performers Michael Kaye (the English-speaking voice of Lee’s Chen Zhen in Fist of Fury) and Vaughan Savidge running a dozen minutes. Criterion include a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Jeff Chang. 

With their 'Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits' Blu-ray boxset Criterion have easily bested the past packages 1) with the inclusion of Enter the Dragon, 2) the 4K transfers for 4 of the features and 3) the mammoth amount of supplemental material. For far too long there are been slipshod digital editions of Bruce Lee's films floating around and fans will be so pleased to have this as the definitive with massive supplements that can be viewed for months attached to the best a/v available for The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon (both a theatrical and 'special edition version) and Game of Death (along with Game of Death II). It's a package that we are grateful that a company like Criterion concentrated their laser-like focus to create this extraordinary Blu-ray boxset. Physical media still rules and this is a must-own.

Gary Tooze