Bruce Lee Game of Death Funny Face
A Bruce Lee movie that appears to have been edited by Ed Wood, Jr.!!
Warning: Spoilers
Let me explain the above comment. In the horrible movie PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, writer/director Ed Wood, Jr. incorporated some footage he'd shot of Bela Lugosi just before Bela's death. While the footage had nothing to do with the script for PLAN 9, Wood decided to "cleverly" use this film and hash out Lugosi's role by having a much taller guy (a dentist by the way) hold a cape over his face in all the Lugosi scenes not available in the original reel of footage! The result, not surprisingly, is horrid. Now all of the reason for PLAN 9 being named the worst movie ever made wasn't all due to the Lugosi footage, but it was one of the main factors contributing to the pure crappiness of the film.
In the case of GAME OF DEATH, some initial footage had been shot back in 1972 but was temporarily shelved in order to finish another Lee film. But, Lee's untimely death left about 30 or 40 minutes of unusable footage. So, the studio big-shots decided to "pull an Ed Wood" and use the old footage and write an entire movie around it--using extras and irrelevant footage to make a "coherent" film. Well, the result wasn't great but at least it was a good bit better than PLAN 9! As far as integrating a dead guy into a movie, the results were often pretty pathetic. Now I am NOT saying they shouldn't have made the movie. Instead, they should have just admitted that they were using a double and not even bothered trying to fool the audience--it just wasn't possible! Having an extra wearing sunglasses inside and out just looked stupid and playing the part straight, without stupid tricks, would have been better. A couple other stupid "tricks" they tried to make a coherent film included cutting closeup shots of Lee into scenes where he obviously wasn't acting! His clothes and the backgrounds just didn't match the double! The worst case was near the beginning when Lee was supposedly almost killed by a falling light. The close up was of the Real Lee--standing outside against a brick wall. But, the scene was filmed INSIDE and there was no brick wall! This was true Ed Wood editing!!! Even worse was one scene where they literally pasted Lee's face over another person's face for a very brief scene! Clutch Cargo episodes were constructed better than this! Probably the creepiest aspect of all this was that Bruce's son, Brandon, also died prematurely while filming THE CROW and the studio did pretty much the same trick (though with modern computer techniques it did look better). In addition, to add another creepier element, Brandon was killed in an on-set accident where he was killed by a prop gun---something that is in the plot of GAME OF DEATH--when a bad guy pretends to be using a prop gun but really shoots Bruce in the face!!!! This is just so surreal and sick. Also surreal and sick is seeing Gig Young in his final film--just months before he killed himself and his partner! This truly seemed like a cursed production! While I am trashing the film, I may as well point out a few other things before I actually go on to praise the film. First, while I greatly enjoyed watching Chuck Norris BRIEFLY at the beginning of the film, somebody should have told him to shave his back hair!!! Chuck just looked like some sort of missing link with all that hair--a major turn off and something I am surprised made it into both this film and another Lee picture, RETURN OF THE DRAGON. Second, the female co-star Colleen Camp very ably sang the final song in the film but when they show her singing earlier in the movie, she's obviously out of sync with the music.
Now apart from the MANY serious flaws with the film, let's talk about the good. While a tad cheesy, the overall production values were pretty good (apart from the way they dealt with Lee)--especially for a kung-fu movie. Seeing the American supporting actors (especially a foul-mouthed elderly Dean Jagger) was pretty interesting and the music for the film was exceptional. The opening titles were highly reminiscent of a James Bond film and the recurring strains throughout the film were very clearly inspired by the music from ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. Plus, the effects and fight scenes were pretty good throughout.
Despite occasionally seeing tiny glimpses of Lee in the first 2/3 of the film, he is the clear star of the final portion of the film--the only portion of the movie that should have included Lee in my opinion. Here, he does perhaps his best stunt-work ever and the battles are well worth seeing for fans of the genre. In particular, seeing Lee fight Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was majorly cool. It really is a shame that such great material was never used the way it was originally intended. For fans of Lee, this is STILL a must-see film, but for most others it's a mixed bag--a lot of good and a lot of really, really, REALLY bad editing.
FYI--In the wonderful kung fu comedy, SHAOLIN SOCCER, the goalie is clearly meant to look and act just like Bruce Lee. In fact, his yellow outfit is a copy of Lee's in the finale of GAME OF DEATH. This was a cute little homage to Lee.
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Bruce Lee's Back (Courtesy of stock footage).
Game of Death (1978) was another film project that was a Warner Brothers and Golden Harvest joint production. Movie goers all around the world were still in shock from the sudden death of Bruce Lee. His last film Enter the Dragon was a worldwide success. After his death a plethora of knock-offs and wannabe Bruce Lees flooded the market place. Raymond Chow and company saw an untapped market for another film "starring" Bruce Lee. He heard of an unfinished film that Bruce was working on before he was dead. So he hired Robert Clouse to direct new footage so it could be worked into the existing one. Sammo Hung was hired to become the action director (he also appears as a prize fighter).
Robert Clouse used two doubles for Bruce Lee (one of them was Yuen Biao) and a lot of stock footage was used whenever it could. The use of the footage was a very, very bad idea. Many of the seems were obviously cut-and-paste and made the film look very cheap and exploitive fare. This was going to be another movie with Hong Kong actors and American ones thrown into the mix. Gig Young, Dean Jagger and Collen Camp (when she was extremely hot) co-star as well as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and several of Bruce Lee's friends. Instead of fleshing out the movie that Bruce was working on before he died, the film makers noticed that there were already several different films that were already made that bore a similarity to the original Game of Death. The new movie centered around a murder mystery and a lot of fighting peppered with a lot of action direction work from Sammo Hung.
The finished results were a mixed bag. The American cut of the film was not that great and is pretty mediocre. The Hong Kong version is a whole lot better with extra footage (It's also edited differently, has all the trademarks of a Sammo Hung film project instead of one by Robert Clouse). and more Hong Kong actors and plot. It must have been a success in Hong Kong because a sequel was made from even more unused footage and outtakes of Bruce Lee. This movie is actually better than this one because it doesn't take itself seriously, not as much recycled footage and the fight scenes are even better.
If I were to watch this movie I would recommend finding the Hong Kong version. It's a lot better than the boring American release.
Followed by the Tower of Death a.k.a. Game of Death 2.
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A total hack job, but still quite entertaining
'Game of Death' is the equivalent of having your dog swallow a gold ring - you've got to sift through the cr*p to find the polished stuff.
Completely different to Bruce's original vision, the 1978 version is hugely controversial. To some, it's a shameless cash-in and insult, to others it's a curiosity. To me personally, it's a guilty pleasure. Obviously, with such limited footage of Bruce Lee to use, the film was always going to suffer. Not only that, but how do you incorporate the footage into a film and give it context? The stand-in's that are used to fill the time leading up to the Lee footage are never going to fool anyone. Even as a kid, I could tell it someone else. The techniques used to have Bruce Lee on screen range from awful (superimposed heads) to tasteless (his real funeral) to fairly good (quick cuts from old footage). The disguises that Billy Lo and Bruce's doubles wear throughout the film are hokey but nothing that we haven't seen in Lee's films before (Fist of Fury), so that didn't bother me too much.
Despite some awful dubbing and a poor script, 'Game of Death' is still watchable for it's action. Fight choreographer Sammo Hung makes the non-Lee fight scenes entertaining even if the doubles don't match Bruce Lee's speed or technique. However, they do capture some traits of Lee's fights including the slow motion finishing move. Also, the film's budget allows for a number of locations ensuring that Billy's quest for revenge keeps moving. In this regard, the Hollywood frills that are added give the film a degree of watchability, especially the classy score which appears throughout and heightens the final scenes.
But of course, the main point of watching 'Game of Death' is to see Bruce in action. Although criticised for cutting down the "pagoda sequence", I think it still contains enough to satisfy. You have to remember that this original footage included two companions of Lee's who don't feature in the 1978 film, meaning a lot had to be left out. The nunchuk duel is unique while the fight with Kareem Abdul Jabbar is bizarre but thrilling.
There are some moments of bad taste, but on the whole the film is a cheesy and quite fun attempt to build up to the final 20 minutes. Whether you think this was a cash-in or a tribute, you still need to see it in order to understand the 'Game of Death' phenomenon.
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A tale of two movies
"Game of Death", a frankenstein concoction of bits and peices of Bruce Lee's final performance in a movie originally shot in 1972-73 and a later filmshot in 1978 after Lee's death is really two movies in one.
The first, a crime/revenge caper helmed by Robert Clouse is not as bad as you may have heard. The scenes are intercut badly and Lee's many doubles do look bad, but as a movie on it's own merit it isnt that bad.
The film concerns a young movie star, Billy Lo (played by several uncredited doubles) and a crime syndicate headed by evil Dr. Land (Dean Jagger who is good) His henchman (Hugh O'Brian, Mel Novak, and Bob Wall) won't let our hero rest until he signs an exclusive contract with them, which will put Billy under their control. Colleen Camp and Gig Young Co-star. Camp is benign as Billy's voluptuous girlfriend and Young looks like he wants to be anywhere else. The score is excellent courtesy of John Barry's music which sets a mood for the picture. The second part of the movie is the final fight scenes in a pagoda which include Bruce Lee himself in some magnificent fight scenes with several worthy advesaries including Kareem Abdul Jabbar(!) and Danny Inosanto. The last 15-20 minutes are the only to feature the real Bruce Lee, but watch the locker room fight, it is very good on it's own merit. In summary, a cheesy 70's Kung Fu movie that wraps around some spectacular footage of Bruce Lee in his "final performance", but which also has some charm of it's own.
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funny, sad, and enjoyable
The sad:
Bruce's premature death, the disposal of the original script, the inclusion of the current one, the cop-out ending, "Bruce's" punking out...
The Funny:
The double used through mist if the film meant to be passed off as Bruce Lee, the blatant use of stock footage from other Bruce films, the acting...
The enjoyable:
The score is very underrated, one of John Barry's finest (I have the soundtrack to this movie, along with another Barry film, Night Games.) Some real good martial arts sequences make the wait for the real Bruce footage towards the end, especially the locker room fight between "Bruce" and Bob Wall (choreaographed by Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who reportedly portrayed Bruce in that scene.) Sammo himself appears as a fighter in the film. I give this movie a modest recommendation.
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Bruce Lee's last film {well,sort of} is a total mess and somewhat tasteless,but kind of fun
Game Of Death is a mess of a film,and that's putting it lightly. Nothing to do with Bruce Lee's original conception for the film in 1973,the filmmakers here took the fight footage {somewhat edited down} that he shot for that proposed film,placed it at the end of the film,and than decided to pretend that the rest of the film also features Bruce Lee. Badly. In fact the sheer ineptitude of this aspect of the film is extraordinary,as well as several doubles,none of whom look like Lee and usually wear sunglasses to try to hide the fact,there are also shots and brief bits from previous Lee films edited in and even a scene with a guy wearing a Lee mask!
Nonetheless,there is a certain fascination to the film. The plot is kind of interesting and even has a scene in which Lee's character,a movie star, fakes his own death by being shot whilst filming a scene,this being disturbingly similar to the way Lee's son Brandon died many years ago. There is loads of fighting,not all of it great,but it's pretty constant and contains at least two good sequences {a fight in a changing room and a battle with some motorcyclists}en route to the 'real' Lee stuff at the end,which is certainly worth the wait. The duel with Kareem Abdul Jabbar is almost as good as the famous one with Chuck Norris. Dean Jagger is a great slimy main villain,and John Barry {an odd film for him} provides great musical backing,even if the main female star Coleen Camp is not really good enough to sing his lovely theme song.
Game Of Death is undeniably a piece of exploitation and sometimes leaves a bad taste in the mouth,as when a funeral scene is interspersed with shots of Lee's real funeral. It's really a bad movie and for the most part a badly made movie too, but it's certainly not dull and is kind of fun, as many bad movies are.
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As Brandon Lee once said: "Game of Death has 40 minutes of footage and the rest is junk"
Before Bruce Lee died he worked on scripts for Game of Death (also known under some titles as "song of the knife")...and shot some 40 odd minutes of footage including test screenings and actual fight sequences.
The idea of the film was to make a multi-layer, philosophical film made for the chinese and eastern audience to ask the question over martial arts style - the advantages and disadvantages of each style, as well as questioning the need for style anyway.
The film's main plot was to be based in Korea. Bruce Lee would be forced into storming a 4 or 5 storey Pagoda which is said to hold a infinite treasure with each level guarded by a different style.
The bottom floor would be held by hundreds of Karate students (much like the ending of Enter the Dragon), the first layer would be a style under the handle of "Gate of Enlightment".
The Second layer would be the Preying Mantis with elements of Wing Chun.
The Third layer would be a Philophino style whilst the Fourth, the Temple of Gold would be held by a Hapikdo expert (though I'm not sure about this).
The Fourth layer would be the Temple of the Unknown, guarded by one Kareem Abdul Jabbar - doing an unknown style.
Whilst shooting, most of the footage was lost to the ravages of time. And when Bruce Lee died, his fans cried out for any footage to be shown as a mark of respect.
The end footage of Bruce Lee fighting Jabbar and previous footage would be cut to bits by Robert Clouse and put into a new film under the same name. The end film is offensive and shatters the whole idea of the original GOD plot and story - but then again there wasn't enough info on the film to start with.
Bruce Lee fans were in uproar...the film was a shambles, yet was commerically succesful. Most of the film had no Bruce Lee in it, or had lookalikes or even worse used Stock Footage of old Bruce Lee films and interspliced it into the film.
The DVD, whilst is good, doesn't do much to help the film - there isn't enough info on the script notes...why is there so much text, why didn't they try to recreate the scenes, the floors or even re-do the film as new?
You'd be better off not to buy either the DVD or video version unless you want to waste money or actually are a die-hard bruce lee fan.
The DVD doesn't give you much - but then again there was never much to start with. You'd be better off looking on the Internet for the original GOD scripts and info or even multimedia - as even now on the web you can see the footage that Bruce Lee shot and never got into the original DVD or movie.
Overall this is a very, very weak film with a good score and bad camera angles and discredits Bruce Lee's image so much it becomes deeply offensive and patronising to the viewer.
In fact you could argue that this film singly-handly started the Bruce Lee imitators phenomnen.
Whether the film's patronising and offensive viewpoint is the fault of Robert Clouse, Sammo Hung who directed the fight sequences and drafted in the services of two look-a-likes or even the producer Raymond Chow is unknown, but what is clear is the fact they tried. and failed.
As Brandon Lee once said: "Game of Death has 40 minutes of footage, and the rest is junk". I couldn't agree with him more.
Overall: 2/10
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Martial arts expert Bruce Lee fights off mobsters and violent fighters at a Pagoda tower
Bruce Lee challenges the underworld to a Game of Death. A martial arts movie star (Bruce Lee) and his girlfriend (Colleen Camp) must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him . Syndicate boss (Dean Jagger) and his hoodlums (Hugh O'Brian) hire the best foreign martial artists (Robert Wall who played some films with Lee , he had also been slated to appear in the early 1970s version as intended by Bruce) to fight Lee , but he easily finishes them off . The giant American , basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is also hired and takes place a deadly ending combat .
This violent Chop-Socky displays action-packed , thrills , fast-paced and wild fighting images . It is a corny , action-filled and violent film , being filmed in Hong Kong . Breathtaking fights and embarrassing acting , the whole thing was shot without sound, with the actors looping their lines in post-production . Overwhelming final duel between Lee and various fighters , in fact it was last movie to be filmed by Lee . In the film, Bruce Lee's character fakes his own death ; the funeral scene includes real footage of Lee's actual funeral . Bruce Lee had filmed over 30 minutes of fight scenes for this film when work was suspended to allow Lee to work on Enter the dragon . However, Lee died before he could return . Six years later, director Robert Clouse fleshed out a feature around the original footage with a new cast, including two stand-ins for Lee, who faces are hidden by dark sunglasses and shadows. Close-ups and stills of Lee's face -including a cardboard cut-out- were also used.Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Muhammad Ali refused roles in the film because they felt it exploited Bruce Lee's death . And 'Bruce Li' or Ho-Chung Tao was offered the role as 'Bruce Lee's' stand-in, but declined because he said it was disrespectful to Lee . In 1978 was added a footage shot by Bruce Lee ; Dan Inosanto was the only cast member of the original to shoot scenes , the rest of the actors , James Tien, Han Jae Ji, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar only feature in archive footage . Hapkido Master Ji Han Jae, who plays the second guardian 'Bruce Lee' battles in the Pagoda/Restaurant, gets no screen credit in the 1978 version of the film. The inspiration for progressively ascending a pagoda tower to fight opponents was originally featured in Chang Cheh's swordplay epic 'Have Sword Will Travel' . The motion picture was lousily realized by director Robert Clouse who wrote the script under the pseudonym Jan Spears .
Bruce Lee formerly played one of the biggest international hit smashes , ¨Fist of Fury¨ , it was previously realized to his American box office ¨Enter the dragon¨. This one was made later but released before ¨Lee's Return of dragon¨ , and Lee had formerly starred ¨Fists of fury¨ or ¨The big boss¨. ¨Enter the dragon¨ was realized by an expert on Chop-Socky movies , Robert Clouse , and he directed Bruce Lee's last film , this ¨Game of death¨ . ¨Enter the Dragon¨ is his last complete movie character but his next film ¨ Game of death¨ was absurdly edited after his death .Bruce Lee also realized the Kung-Fu actioner titled ¨Return of Dragon¨ . His last picture was ¨Game of death ¨ , it is indispensable and essential seeing for Lee fans and Karate enthusiastic for its last 20 minutes . It is not ¨Enter the Dragon¨ but his fans -who have so few to choose from- undoubtedly will want to see it again .
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dubious but entertaining
lee didn't manage to finish this film but director robert clouse (of e.t.dragon fame) manages to pick up the pieces left behind and make a film out of it which is where the film falls down. you see they had to bring in stunt doubles to replace Lee so everytime he's wearing shades or has his back to you you just know that it's not really lee. for the scene in which lee is shot they reused scenes from the superb fist of fury(it is sooooo obvious because the colour quality is different)!!! apart from the fun of spotting which scenes lee failed to complete, the changing room scene is fantasticly good fun to watch, your jaw will drop open at lee's two final finishing moves the penultimate kick is compareable to lee's complete bicycle kick in e.t.dragon. overall this film is well worth the mere £5.99 of which it costs in england
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Embarrassing At Times But The Ending is a Must See
Game of Death (1978)
** (out of 4)
Billy Lo (Bruce Lee) is a popular action star who is being forced by a mob ruler to sign with them. He refuses and has several attempts on his life so he stages his on-set murder so that he can find out who is behind all of it and seek revenge.
GAME OF DEATH is perhaps the most controversial kung fu movie ever released. In case you don't know, Lee started filming this movie in 1972 but put it on the back burner to go film ENTER THE DRAGON. Before he could finish GAME OF DEATH he died and the footage pretty much remained unreleased until the producer decided to try and build a movie around it. What you have is GAME OF DEATH being released in 1978 with the footage of Lee surrounded by actors filling in for him.
I can certainly understand the hatred that some people have for this movie and I can understand why some don't consider it a real Bruce Lee movie. At the same time, there is actual footage of him used here and it's quite excellent so it's somewhat hard not to recommend the movie even if the producers were obviously trying to make a cash grab with what they did. There's no question that there are some embarrassing moments here that put this closer in the category of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE rather than THE CROW.
The biggest problem with this film is that they simply don't have too much of a movie. There's maybe twenty-five or so minutes of Lee footage here and the rest is done by an actor who doesn't look anything like him and more times than not he's wearing glasses or even a beard. Trying to cover up the fact that this isn't Lee just makes the film look really cheap and it's so poorly done that you can't help but laugh at it. I'd also argue that all of the new footage just doesn't contain anything interesting in it. Heck, Chuck Norris gets a credit and appears less than a minute worth of running time.
As far as what makes the film worth watching, it's certainly the footage of Lee, which takes up the ending here. This includes some terrific fight sequences and it's hard not to recommend the movie based on these scenes alone. Lee, decked out in that now legendary yellow outfit, does a great job during the fighting sequences and especially his big battle against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This entire sequence is wonderful to watch as are the other fights. How can a Lee fan not be thrilled by these scenes?
GAME OF DEATH is exploitation at its highest power but the ending is just so great and so thrilling that the film is still worth watching.
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The last 15 minutes of the film is worth watching
I wish I could say the same thing for the first 60 minutes of the film..
Before watching this film,I knew that Bruce Lee died before finishing it,so my expectations where that Bruce would come out in some parts of the films and other parts would be doubled.
That is the frame of my mind you have to have with this film. However you will probably have to fast forward to the only fluid moments with the Master Bruce Lee. The 60 minutes use pictures of Bruce Lee in the fights but it's a bad idea. The movie could have been cut considerably into maybe a 30 min to 45 min ,but instead we are forced to stomach, a Bruce Lee wannabee who cant compare an eye to the Master, and who gets his butt kicked throught the movie.
The footage with Bruce Lee, is incredible. The fight scenes last up to 10-15 minutes total, but they are so physical, they probably took up several rehearsals to shoot.
Bruce was filming "Enter The Dragon" while filming this film. He and the Directors did the right thing by filming the end first because of Bruce's busy schedule.
You cant call this film an overall great action movie like one reviewer said because it has many faults. It's too too long (90 minutes) and the Bruce Look alike gets beat for half the film until the Real Bruce Lee shows up at the end.
Also the Bruce Lee double in this film is just plain puny looking. He looks as if he has never lifted weights.
What I would have done to make the film more enjoyable is shorten the film, immensely, then put a biograpy about Bruce , so as not to leave the viewer unsatisfied with the film.
No one today can do what Bruce Lee did in his prime (ask Chuck Norris who has failed miserably copying his moves and is now doing a laughable show called Walker).
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This was the very first Bruce Lee film I ever saw!
Warning: Spoilers
It was part of a double bill at my hometown theater (a "monoplex," you'd probably call it, today). As this occurred in 1978, I guess it was done to honor the fifth anniversary of Bruce's death. And, I was ABSOLUTELY FLOORED by all the fight sequences!
*Borderline spoilers ahead.*
Especially, the ones with Kareem and Inosanto. Being a seventh-grader, at the time, I didn't know what bad editing looked like, so (from my p.o.v.) the revised product was flawless. And, the story idea? Not too bad!
*Hey! Even on _today's_ cop shows, you still have episodes about mobbed-up boxers, jockeys, and other sports figures. So, why not martial artists?*
If I rented it on VHS, today, I'd probably find it unworthy. But, I don't want to taint my nostalgia. So, I'll just give it the same four-star rating I gave it then. And, to heck with all the nay-sayers!
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Sure its his worst movie but its still entertaining
Warning: Spoilers
Rated R for Violence Quebec Rating:13+ Canadian Home Video Rating:14A
Game Of Death was Bruce Lee's final film.He originally had a different vision for it however Bruce died in 1973.A few years later, they decided to finish it for Bruce but they didn't use much of Bruce Lee's original ideas.It has been a while since I have seen this movie so I cant remember much of it.All I really remember is Bruce Lee is an actor who is in trouble with the mafia.So he fakes his own death and gets revenge on them basically.The fight scenes are pretty good especially the end with basketball player Kareem Abadul Jabar.Game Of Death is an entertaining movie but it could have been much better if Bruce was still alive.Funny thing is only some of the film is really Bruce Lee.The rest of the film has a Bruce Lee look-a-like named Bruce Li who made cheap Bruce Lee rip-off films in Hong Kong during the 1970's.A disturbing thing about this movie was that during one of the scenes where Bruce is filming a movie, somebody puts real bullets in the gun and actually shoots Bruce.This is how he fakes his death.Bruce Lee's son Brandon Lee got shot and killed on the set of the 1994 film The Crow the exact same way.
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Could Have Been His Best
Aside from the obvious its a shame Lee died at this time. It robbed us of an amazing opportunity in movie history.
This movie as it is, is pretty cool, the idea that he fights a different skilled opponent of increasing difficulty on each level is really cool. His death turns the film in to a bit of a chopped up mess.
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Barely watchable. Bruce Lee would be turning in his grave.
I wish this wasn't credited to Bruce Lee's name, it's an embarrassment to all involved, and I honestly can't see why this film is praised by some people.
Lee filmed a few fight scenes for a movie before putting the project on hold to do Enter The Dragon, and of course his death. This is the finished product (without his input). His scenes were poorly edited into a full length piece of crap.
I tried to look past the fact that shots switched from old, grainy film to cleaner, sharper film continuously throughout any scene with the real Lee. I tried to look past the appalling effects; such as sticking a picture of Lee's face on a mirror, and filming it as if attached to someone's reflection. I even managed to look past the fact that the guy playing Lee's character for the rest of the film barely looked like him at all. But I still ended up with a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the film.
There is still a point of interest for Bruce Lee fans, the last 15 minutes are great, (the real) Lee's fight with Abdul-Jabar is amazing...But it didn't do the overall product very much help (for the full unedited version of what Bruce Lee filmed for this, check out the documentary on the man called 'Bruce Lee: A Warriors Journey'). This is my second bad experience with unfinished/unreleased films being edited into others, (see also, or more appropriately -- don't see also: Sam's Song starring Robert De Niro), so I have learnt my lesson. 2.5/10.
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Disjointed and embarrassing
Warning: Spoilers
Although this is best viewed as a curiosity piece, it still manages to pack in some fun martial arts fights during the running time - most of which take place within the last twenty minutes. Up until then, the "entertainment" comes from watching a poor double of Lee trying to hide his face from the camera in any way possible (wearing hats, helmets, huge dark sunglasses, and a fake beard), scenes which are occasionally interspersed with poor stock footage and clips of Lee from other movies to make it look as it he is in the film...at one point his face being pasted onto another actor!
Inevitably, due to the fact that Lee was dead before this film was made and that they had to base the story around 11 minutes of fights he had previously filmed, it's a muddled and disjointed affair, but considering what they were up against, I think the editing guys did a fairly good job with this. The best that they could have, at least. Robert Clouse (who had already made his mark with ENTER THE DRAGON) isn't a particularly good director, but he keeps the action flowing smoothly and ensues that things never get boring.
Kicking off with some neat self-referencing (Lee fights a young Chuck Norris, in a scene actually filmed for an earlier movie of his yet ripped off here), we are immediately introduced to a diverse group of multi-cultural bad guys for Lee to fight. Yes, the plot is simplistic in the extreme and consists of mostly action-orientated scenes, but it's a solid basis for what is basically a martial arts movie like this. The actors and actresses drafted in to make sense of the plot are totally wasted - Colleen Camp appears and disappears as Lee's on/off girlfriend - yet the fact that they have never actually acted with Lee is quite well hidden.
For the first hour, things are pretty average, including the martial arts scenes. The viewer sits arounds waiting until Bruce Lee himself shows up, battling a couple of experts before fighting the basketball star Kareem Abdul Jabbar (the difference in their sizes is incredible), which is a superb fight scene and the best part of the movie. After this, Lee reverts back to a double for the ending. Fans with a morbid interest in Lee's death will be interested to see a brief-but-real shot of his corpse in the film - he had a public funeral with an open coffin, and you might have guessed that somebody with a camera would happen to be there at just the right time.
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Quick Reviews!!
Warning: Spoilers
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!
Structurally and historically a mess, Lee's final film had the potential to be the greatest ever martial arts movie. Unfortunately, Lee died well before filming was completed, and his vision was never finished. However, the producers managed to finish the film by taking what had already been filmed, mostly fight scenes, and make a story round it, one based roughly on the many pages of scripts and ideas that Lee had left behind. As Lee's original story was so complex though, and probably only he could have made it the way it should have been, the finished product is a mere shadow of the what was in Lee's head.
The story sees Lee's character, a famous martial artist and actor faking his own death so that he can uncover the corruption of those who had previously tried to kill him. Not even his girlfriend is aware that his death was a fake. As the film progresses, Lee stalks the bad guys, his girlfriend gets suspicious, and Lee reaches a pagoda where he must overcome the trials of each floor in order to reach the top, and fulfill his revenge. Lee's original script focused much more on the Pagoda scenes, with each floor showcasing a different martial arts style that Lee must overcome, using his own 'way of no way' style. With each floor completed, he would achieve a higher level of spiritual and fighting skill.
The fight scenes are easily some of the best ever filmed, skillfully thought out, and beautifully directed, and no-one since has been able to capture the technique, skill, or intensity of Lee. The other fight scenes are also good, including the motorcycle scene, and Shower room fight. If anyone has any of the Hong Kong Legends DVDs they feature many deleted scenes, the Game of Death one being particularly good- The glass house fight is a classic.
The actors brought in to finish shooting are unsure of themselves, which comes across on camera, but this is understandable considering they were finishing a film starring a man who had died years before. The music is excellent, the story messy, but the fights stand out. The overall tone of the film is dark and ominous, as Lee's character is almost killed mysteriously, then fakes his own death, and the ending is not conclusive. Footage of Lee's own funeral is used, adding to the tone. However, it is a vital piece of work for any fan of Lee and should be remembered for its ideas, if not for how it eventually turned out to be. 7 out of 10
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Worth seeing for the ending alone.
Game of Death, Bruce Lee's most ambitious project to date, was designed to fully showcase Jeet Kune Do, the unique, fluid fighting style developed by its star; the story was to revolve around a martial artist's deadly mission to retrieve a valuable object from the top floor of a five storey pagoda, defeating a different foe in order to progress to each new level.
Although filming on Game of Death began shortly after completion of The Way of the Dragon, the production was put on hold when the star was offered the lead role in Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon. Before the kung fu legend was able to resume work on the project, he had suffered a massive cerebral edema that tragically ended his life.
Bruce's sudden and unexpected death unsurprisingly threw a major spanner in the works of Game of Death: with 40 minutes of test footage and actual fight action in the can, but little else of use, the film sat on the shelf for three years before Enter The Dragon's director Robert Clouse was enlisted to somehow finish the film without the benefit of its main attraction.
Taking the audacious decision to radically alter the script, using 'doubles' to stand in for Bruce in most of the new scenes, Clouse eventually completed the film, which was released in 1978, five years after its star's demise. With Bruce's original storyline replaced by a dumb plot in which martial arts movie star Billy Lo (played by Lee and his stand-ins) is forced to take action against an evil racketeering syndicate that is keen to cash in on his success, and the tasteless inclusion of real footage from Lee's funeral, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that much of the movie is a total mess.
But even though Game of Death is far from the film that Lee had originally envisioned, it is still recommended viewing for kung fu fans thanks to one or two decent scraps amidst the mundane first hour or so (the bout between Sammo Hung's Lo Chen and bad guy Carl Miller, for example, is a lot of fun), excellent production values, a spiffing Bond style score courtesy of John Barry that enhances the action, suitably Bond-like opening credits, the iconic yellow tracksuit, and of course, the existing footage of the legendary pagoda sequence that makes it into the film's finale. It's definitely worth persevering through the poorly edited and exploitative dross featuring badly disguised stand-ins to witness Lee's incredible fight action at the end of the movie, the stand-out scenes being an awesome nunchuk duel and the unforgettable battle between Game of Death's diminutive star and 7'2" basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
It is these undeniably great moments that makes one wonder what might have been if only Bruce had lived to finish what he had started.
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Pretty entertaining, given the circumstances.
Warning: Spoilers
In his final project, kung fu icon Bruce Lee stars as Billy Lo, a martial arts movie star who is targeted by a "syndicate" that likes to lay claim to entertainers such as him. Of course, they want more than just a piece of the action. When an attempt is made on his life on a film set, he decides to "play dead" (a morbid twist, given Lees' fate) in order to pull the wool over the eyes of the gangsters, and rescue his girlfriend Ann (a very appealing and sexy Colleen Camp), a successful singer.
For a movie that will always be viewed by some as an exploitative hack-job, "Game of Death" is entertaining enough to keep the audience watching. Production on this had started back in 1972, but only limited footage of Lee had been produced. Several years later, Robert Clouse, who had directed Lee in his most well-known film, "Enter the Dragon", reunited the surviving cast members and used doubles (Tae-jeong Kim and Biao Yuen) to fashion new scenes for the Billy character. This works moderately well, except for one glaring instance near the beginning where Lees' head is obviously superimposed over somebody else.
"Game of Death" benefits from a rich cast of familiar faces - Gig Young as Billy and Anns' newspaperman friend, Dean Jagger and Hugh O'Brian as mobsters, Mel Novak, Danny Inosanto, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (!) as henchmen, Chuck Norris as a fighter, Roy Chiao as Billy's uncle, etc. Old pros Young, O'Brian, and especially Jagger come off pretty well, and Camp offers a bright presence as the girlfriend. Lee, as always, is cool and charismatic, what little we see of him.
As could be expected, it really comes to life in various fight and action scenes. The final 20 or so minutes, when Billy works his way up the floors of a warehouse and combats one henchman after another, is an impressive highlight; even the fight with Kareem is pretty effective.
In some ways, this *can* be seen as a tasteless effort to trade on Lees' brand name (real footage of his funeral is utilized), and martial arts enthusiasts may be disappointed. Among those who refused to participate were Steve McQueen, James Coburn, and Muhammad Ali, who each dismissed the project as exploitative and were underwhelmed by the paychecks offered. But more casual fans of this kind of thing may find it an okay view, if not a particularly good film.
In an extremely sad note, the maiming of Billy on the film set is all too reminiscent of what would happen to Bruces' son Brandon approximately 20 years later when the latter starred in "The Crow".
Seven out of 10.
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Robert Clouse's version of Game of Death
Warning: Spoilers
Robert Clouse assembles a pretty decent cast for what is essentially a 100 minute movie centered around ten or so minutes of usable footage from a film Bruce Lee was preparing before his unfortunate, untimely demise. Clouse puts together a plot about mobsters in Hong Kong who desire to ink a martial artist/movie star to a contract to participate in karate tournaments, not taking no for an answer. Colleen Camp, who I carry a major torch for, is a singer in love with Billy Lo, Ann Morris, the star mob kingpin Dr. Land(Dean Jagger) so covets, that he's willing to cross whatever lines possible to attain his services. He sends dangerous goons on motorcycles, in jump suits, not to mention his prize fighter, Carl Miller(..the towering Robert Wall, all legs), out to send a message to sign on the dotted line or else. Gig Young is a newspaper reporter and the confident/friend of both Lo and Ann, Jim Marshall, providing guidance and moral support.
Clouse does what he can to establish Lee's presence, splicing in his face and body when able. I admire his attempts, since he has such limits restraining him, I will admit to being disturbed, and feeling indifferent towards the funeral scene. And, Clouse's movie opened the door to "Brucesploitation" where look-a-likes would either carry versions of his name or imitate his fighting style and high pitch when connecting blows and flying in the air. I have to say I was impressed with the stand-ins Clouse was able to use to substitute in Lee's place, trying to set up shots where their exact faces weren't so obviously not the legend's. The whole mobsters causing Billy Lo's grief, threatening his girlfriend if both don't adhere to their cruel tactics of joining their team, is ultimately padding for the phenomenal 10 minutes where Bruce Lee moves up three levels fighting dangerous adversaries each time, ending with the superb duel with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Clouse's screenplay sets up Lo's attempts to get even after Land's henchman, Stick(Mel Novak)shoots him in the face during a movie set scene. Also, Hugh O'Brien is Land's chief, Steiner, the one with a cane which discharges a blade when warning those who will not submit what lies in wait for them.
This entire plot is treated seriously, but I must say that I was chomping at the bit to see the "game of death" with the true Bruce Lee unleashed, getting a bit antsy, yearning for the developing plot to get to this point. Before this, there are fight sequences here and there using doubles Tai Chung Kim and Biao Yuen, facing motorcycle gangs and Land's host of hired thugs(..Billy almost strangles Land when they negotiate a deal in Macau with Chinese mafia over a gambling bet for an up and coming fight regarding Carl against Lo Chen), including a memorable locker room battle with Robert Wall. But, the game itself is what I figure will grab his fans, while the other stuff follows far behind. Besides this, my favorite sequence is set in a warehouse where Lo rescues Ann, combating goons on motorcycles, conveniently securing the famous yellow jumpsuit worn by Lee during the game of death.
In this film, Clouse has the game of death set in Land's Red Pepper Restaurant, Lo moving to each level to get his hands on the architect of fear in Hong Kong. Seeing Lee using knun-chux and the large footprint left on his chest by Jabbar are two among many wonderful moments in the game of death. I HIGHLY suggest taking a look at the outtakes on this DVD to appreciate the footage not used in Clouse's movie..this was later put together and remastered for a Bruce Lee special and, if you can find it, is well worth seeking out. Footage from Return of the Dragon, featuring Chuck Norris, appears and Sammo Hung fans will find it neat, I reckon, to see him as Lo Chen, the fighter who is upended by Wall in a spirited fight before a rambunctious crowd in an arena match up.
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Definately falls between two stools - non-fans of the genre will hate it whilst true fans of Bruce Lee will loathe it.
A film that can only disappoint, in that it was cobbled together some years after Lee's death and the joins are all too obvious. For Bruce Lee fans this must deal the film numerous death blows - the knowledge that for most of the film a stand-in is used and the storyline is contrived around old footage.
The film is still reasonable entertainment for Kung-Fu fans, and non-purists won't find the stitched on elements that distracting. Story has Lee playing an actor who fakes his own death after being shot on set by a member of an extortion racket which he is refusing to bow to. This is slightly unsettling knowing that Lee had died years earlier whilst the future fate of Brandon Lee lends the film an even stronger aura of doom.
Great fight sequence with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - his menace was slightly diluted as I kept visualising him in 'Airplane'. The fights at the films climax probably look familiar to any Video Game fan with Bruce Lee in a yellow jumpsuit a spitting image for Law from the Tekken series.
The version I saw was dubbed into Chinese and then subtitled back to English which seemed slightly strange - maybe there are different versions around.
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It's the Billy Lo syndrome...
Warning: Spoilers
Billy Lo, is a box office draw. His girlfriend, Ann Morris is a singer who is also climbing to the top. Now it seems the syndicate wants Billy and Ann to join their "management firm".
Billy knows that they will be treated like property, so he refuses and tells her to do the same.
They try to "encourage" him to join but he still refuses. But they persist, in more and more violent ways, so he must stop them, permanently.
He is even more hesitant to do that but when an attempt on his life is made, he fakes his death and alters his appearance, and decides to go after the syndicate; taking them out one at a time......
Its a controversial film for sure, and you can either be in two camps, the one who feel that its a tribute to the legend, or the other whom feel that its a blatant cash in on the man.
It is a cash in on the man more than a tribute, but the way he is stood in for, is the main reason to watch the film leading up to the genuine footage of Lee. When a cut out of an actors face is stuck on to mirror to depict him being there, its a film with a lot of gusto.
Add footage from other Lee movies, his funeral of all things, and a stand in who wears sunglasses and sits in the dark all the time, you have the making of a cult classic.
But the narrative is all over the place, and the story is a bit rubbish. All the film really has going for it is the wonderful score, the outfit that inspired Kill Bill, and the brilliant last fifteen minutes.
Watch this the once, just for the ridiculousness of it all, and then get the DVD, and watch the 40 minute footage that was originally filmed.
Its brilliant stuff...
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Monumentally awful and NOT a Bruce Lee film.
What did Golden Harvest Studios get when they spliced fifteen minutes of Bruce Lee demo footage onto a clumsy, poorly-written mess full of Mafia heavies, motorcycle-riding thugs, and faded Hollywood stars like Gig Young and Dean Jagger? Well, it's not a Bruce Lee movie, but it *is* called "Game of Death" (the title Lee had intended to use for a totally different film before he died). And it's a disaster. Not only are there two unconvincing doubles (Kim Tai-chung and Chen Yao-po) who stand in for Lee, but there's an equally unconvincing Kareem Abdul Jabbar double! That's right, Lee's student and friend wisely chose to have nothing to do with this humiliating bastard of a project, and--like Lee--appears only in the climactic fight scenes. Speaking of those scenes (in which Lee also takes on former student/instructor/nunchaku expert Dan Inosanto and hapkido master Ji Han Jae), they were shot immediately before work on "Enter the Dragon" began and obviously were not intended to be used in the final "Game of Death" project. They're interesting to watch, but they are ONLY demonstration footage; the choreography has a lot of rough edges. (Watch John Little's "Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey" to see the footage placed in its proper perspective.) The rest of the fights in the film are not up to the standard of the Lee scenes, of course. The locker room showdown between Kim Tai-chung and Bob Wall is okay, but if director Robert Clouse wanted to fool the audience into believing that the protagonist in this fight was Bruce Lee (and he obviously did, judging from all the split-second reaction clips of Lee from other films that were spliced into "Game of Death", both during the Bob Wall fight and elsewhere), he failed miserably. This is a rotten piece of work, people. And I repeat, it is NOT a Bruce Lee movie! In his definitive article on the Bruceploitation phenomenon in "Martial Arts Movies" magazine back in the '80s, Daniel C. Lee included "Game of Death" in his filmography of Bruce Lee exploitation flicks, and he was right--that's exactly where it belongs. This movie is an insult to Lee's memory and, thankfully, most fans now seem to recognize it as such. Single worst moment: about five minutes into the film, when a picture of Lee's face is pasted to a mirror, and the neck and shoulders of one of the doubles are placed immediately beneath the photo. Groooaaannnnn...how cheap and awful can you get? And no, Chuck Norris is not in "Game of Death", so why does his name appear in the credits? EVERYTHING about this movie is terrible, and not in a so-bad-it's-good way. AVOID!
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1 for the 1978 travesty, 10 for the footage Bruce Lee shot.
Warning: Spoilers
"Game of Death" was a film that Bruce Lee failed to complete on account of halting production so he could make "Enter the Dragon." After the tragic passing of the martial artist in 1973, his unfinished movie was eventually released in 1979. For the fans, it was to be a final glimpse of their idol after Bruce Lee had revolutionised both the Hong Kong film industry and Martial Arts in general. The travesty for the film that was made in the late 1970s, is in such poor taste. The reason for this, is on account of it being exploitive, it's an insult to Bruce Lee and everything he stood for. In addition - and I was stunned by this - actual footage of Lee's funeral was used for the film! Why Robert Clouse wanted to become involved is anyone's guess! He had gone from making the classic "Enter the Dragon," followed by "Black Belt Jones" and now this. The so-called plot is exploitation personified and bears no resemblance whatever to Lee's concept for his own version. The lookalikes for Bruce Lee aren't very good at all but at least they look as though they can fight quite well. A seasoned character actor like Dean Jagger should have turned this film down. Begrudgingly, there are a couple of fight scenes that are digestible but not much else to enjoy. Sammo Hung has a pretty good fight with Bob Wall. The confrontation in the locker room between one of the lookalikes and Wall is also OK. Then and almost out of nowhere, the man himself makes a late appearance in the film's plot and we suddenly whiz back in time to the latter half of 1972 when Bruce Lee was working on "Game of Death." His three fight scenes are excellent as always and this is the first time that a one on one nunchuku scene had been put on film. Lee is on screen for 11 minutes but it is by far the best footage by many miles. The footage looks a lot more cinematic and professional than Bruce Lee's previous three movies. It is a considerable loss that he couldn't complete the film. Briefly, the original idea was for Bruce Lee and a team of his fellow martial artists to discover what was inside this Pagoda, which had a martial artist guarding each floor of the building. Lee and his party were to have progressed by defeating each guard and reach the top floor. Bruce Lee began shooting his version in August of 1972 and halted production in October of the same year. His film would have dwarfed the one that was released in every way possible!
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