Shout Selects Announces Two Bruce Lee Classics For December

Shout Factory’s new Shout Selects line has been off to a pretty strong start. Their premier release, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across The 8th Dimension, is pretty much everything a fan of the film would want, and we say that as an old school fan of the film since its release. Their second release, the action comedy Midnight Run, is playing in the background as this is being written and looks lovely. And now the boutique home video label has announced its first two titles in their Selects line for December – Bruce Lee’s Fists Of Fury and The Chinese Connection.

Martial arts film fans know that Lee’s 1971 debut film The Big Boss was retitled Fists Of Fury for its US release in 1973. That retitling caused a problem when it came time to release Lee’s second film, Fist Of Fury (1972). That film was retitled to The Chinese Connection, in part to capitalize on the popularity of The French Connection. To further confuse matters, The Chinese Connection was actually released 6 months before Fists Of Fury in the US.

Shout has announced that they will be using the US release titles for the two films.

It is still a little early in the game for Shout to announce what special features will be on the blu-rays. Big Boss/Fists Of Fury had a number of scenes and shots that were deleted from its original release in 1972 due to concerns over the level of violence portrayed. Additionally Big Boss/Fists Of Fury has three different musical scores. If Shout manages to secure some or all of this material that would certainly make these discs worth adding to your blu-ray collection.

Look for both titles to be available in stores and online starting December 6.