Game of Death


The Game of Death is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, filmed between August and October 1972, directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee, in his final film attempt. Lee died during the making of the film.
Over 100 minutes of footage was shot prior to his death, some of which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives. The remaining footage has been released with Lee's original Cantonese and English dialogue, with John Little dubbing Lee's Hai Tien character as part of the documentary entitled . Most of the footage that was shot is from what was to be the climax of the film.
During filming, Lee received an offer to star in Enter the Dragon, the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio, and with a budget unprecedented for the genre. Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had already made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death.
After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two stand-ins; it was released in 1978 as Game of Death, five years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest.

Original film

Plot

The original plot involves Lee playing the role of Hai Tien, a retired champion martial artist who is confronted by Korean underworld gangs. They tell him the story of a pagoda where guns are prohibited, and under heavy guard by highly skilled martial artists who are protecting something held on its top level. The gang boss wants Hai to be a part of a group whose purpose is to retrieve said item. They would be the second group to try to do so as the first attempt with a previous group had failed. When Hai refuses, his younger sister and brother are kidnapped, forcing him to participate. Hai, as well as four other martial artists, then fight their way up a five-level pagoda, encountering a different challenge on each floor. The setting of the pagoda was at Beopjusa temple in Songnisan National Park in South Korea.
The pagoda, called Palsang-jon, is the only remaining wooden pagoda in South Korea. At the base of the pagoda they fight 10 people, all black belts in Karate. While inside the pagoda, they encounter a different opponent on each floor, each more challenging than the last. Although his allies try to help out, they are handily defeated, and Hai must face each of the martial artists in one-on-one combat. In the unfilmed portion of their mission, Lee's group were to defeat Korean Hapkido master Hwang In-Shik, playing a kicking master, then a Praying mantis style kung fu master, played by Taky Kimura. He then defeats Filipino Eskrima master Dan Inosanto, Korean Hapkido master Ji Han-jae, and finally Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who fights with a free and fluid style mirroring Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Because Abdul-Jabbar's character has great size and strength in addition to a fighting style as potent as Lee's, he can only be defeated once Hai recognises that an unusually high sensitivity to light is his greatest weakness.
Immediately after defeating the giant guardian, Hai turns around and descends the staircase, heading out of the pagoda. Despite all the talk of something awaiting up top of the flight of stairs, there is no mention of anyone going up to retrieve it. No surviving material explains how this will affect Hai or his captive siblings.

Production

Although the pagoda was supposed to have five floors, complete scenes were only shot for three of the floors: the "Temple of the Tiger," where Lee faced Inosanto; the "Temple of the Dragon", where he fought Ji Han-jae; and the final floor, where he fought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the "Temple of the Unknown". Hapkido master Hwang In-Shik was slated to play the guardian of the first floor, a master of a kick-oriented style, while Bruce's long time student and good friend Taky Kimura was asked to play the guardian of the second floor, a stylist of praying mantis kung fu.
The goal of the film's plot was to showcase Lee's beliefs regarding the principles of martial arts. As each martial artist is defeated, the flaws in their fighting style are revealed. Some, like Dan Inosanto's character, rely too much on fixed patterns of offensive and defensive techniques, while others lack economy of motion. Lee defeats his opponents by having a fighting style that involves fluid movement, unpredictability, and an eclectic blend of techniques. His dialogue often includes comments on their weaknesses.

''Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey''

Several years later, Bruce Lee historian John Little released , a documentary revealing the original footage and storyline of The Game of Death. The documentary also includes a fairly in-depth biography of Lee and leads into the filming of The Game of Death. Fans still believe there is more footage to be found. Originally meant to be a documentary in its own right, now it can be found on the second disc of the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of Enter the Dragon, along with the documentary Bruce Lee: Curse of the Dragon.

''Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: Shibōteki Yūgi''

In 2000, the Japanese film was released on DVD. This film shows Lee's original vision of the film through the existing footage that was shot for the film before he died, interviews, and historical re-enactments of what went on behind the scenes. A "special edition" DVD was released in 2003.

Cast

Filmed cast

Game of Death is a 1978 Hong Kong action film co-written and directed by Robert Clouse, with action directed by Sammo Hung. The film stars Bruce Lee, with Kim Tai-jong and Yuen Biao as his doubles, along with Gig Young, Dean Jagger, Colleen Camp, Robert Wall, Hugh O'Brian, Dan Inosanto, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mel Novak, Sammo Hung, Ji Han-jae and Casanova Wong.

Plot

The 1978 version uses portions of the original footage married to an entirely new plot involving a new character, Billy Lo, struggling against a racketeering "syndicate" after gaining international success as a martial arts movie star. When Billy refuses to be intimidated by syndicate henchman Steiner and his gangs of thugs, syndicate owner Dr. Land orders his assassination to serve as an example to others.
Disguised as a stuntman, Land's assassin, Stick, sneaks onto the set of Billy's new film, and shoots Billy during filming. A fragment of the bullet passes through Billy's face, leaving him alive but in need of plastic surgery which alters his facial features. Billy takes the opportunity to fake his death and disguise himself, exacting revenge against those who wronged him one at a time. When the syndicate threatens and kidnaps his fiancée, Ann Morris, Billy is forced to come out of hiding to save her. In the revised film, Bruce Lee's fight scenes inside the pagoda are assumed to take place in the upper floors of the Red Pepper restaurant, where Dr. Land and his thugs have laid an ambush. In the end Billy survives the ambush, rescues Ann, and destroys each of the main mobsters one-by-one.

Cast

The revised version of the film uses only 11 minutes and 7 seconds of the footage from the original The Game of Death, and for the vast majority of the film, the role of Billy Lo was shared by Korean taekwondo master Kim Tai-jong and Hong Kong martial arts actor Yuen Biao, and was voiced by Chris Kent. The plot of the film allowed Kim and Yuen to spend much of the film in disguises, usually involving false beards and large, dark sunglasses that obscured the fact that they bore little resemblance to Lee. Many scenes, including fight scenes, also included brief close-up bits of stock footage of the real Bruce Lee from his pre-Enter the Dragon films, often only lasting a second or two. These clips are easily recognisable due to the difference in film quality between the old and new footage. At one point in the movie, real footage of Lee's corpse in his open-topped casket is used to show the character Billy Lo faking his death. There is even a scene, taken place in Billy's dressing room, where a cut-out of Lee's face was taped to a mirror, covering the stand-in's own face.
Several actors associated with previous Lee movies were included in the re-shoot for the final 1978 film. For example, Robert Wall, a villain in both Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon, plays a kickboxer named Carl Miller who must battle with Billy Lo. Sammo Hung, who appeared in Enter the Dragon, served as the fight coordinator for the re-shoot of Game of Death, and also appears in the scene as a ring opponent for Miller. To maintain continuity with the fight footage taken from the original film, Dan Inosanto and Ji Han-jae were given small parts as additional enforcers for the syndicate. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar refused to participate in the re-shoot, with another tall African-American stand-in included instead. Although Chuck Norris is credited as starring in the film, his role is limited to clips from Way of the Dragon inserted into the film.
The film quality of the Clouse-directed footage was noticeably higher than that of Lee's earlier Hong Kong films, and John Barry provided an original soundtrack. The film also featured performances by experienced actors as well as up-and-coming stars, including two recipients of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and several who have been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, including Bruce Lee, Dean Jagger, Chuck Norris, Hugh O'Brian, and Gig Young.
For Chinese-speaking audiences, the film was dubbed into Cantonese and Mandarin, and had significant changes, such as the inclusion of a fight in a greenhouse with Casanova Wong and a different opening and closing credits sequence, featuring a new theme song, plus a couple of minor scenes. Unlike the English version, they use Lee's actual battle sounds. Several scenes were removed, also, including the fight in the opera house dressing room.
In the original Hong Kong version, the fight with Ji Han-jae is included, whilst the ending did not show Billy Lo being arrested. Instead, both he and Ann share their good-byes to Jim as they appear to depart Hong Kong on a boat. The Singaporean version ended with Billy's arrest, and it did not feature the Ji Han-jae fight. This is the version commonly found in Chinese.
The Mandarin dubbed version of the film featured a different theme song to that of the Cantonese version. The theme song sounded familiar to the main theme of Way of the Dragon. This version also included the scene where Billy and Ann share their good-byes to Jim. The Cantonese dubbed version shows the commonly found scene where Billy is arrested by the police.

Soundtrack

The American score was composed by John Barry. The vocal theme song "Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow?" was sung by Colleen Camp.

Theme song

;"Game of Death"

Release

Game of Death was released in Hong Kong on 23 March 1978. In the United States, the film was released by Columbia Pictures on 9 June 1979. The film was released in the Philippines by Asia Films on 15 December 1988.

Box office

The film was successful at the Hong Kong box office, grossing 3,436,169. In the United States, the film earned about in theatrical rentals, equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately.
In Japan, it was the eighth highest-grossing film of 1978, earning a distribution rental income of, equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately . In South Korea, it sold 281,591 tickets in the capital city of Seoul, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately .
In France, it was the 14th highest-grossing film of 1978, with 2,256,892 ticket sales, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately . In Germany, the film sold 750,513 tickets, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately . In Spain, the film sold 1,112,793 tickets, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately .
Combined, the film grossed a total estimated worldwide box office revenue of approximately, equivalent to about adjusted for inflation.

Critical reception

The film received a mixed-to-positive critical reception. Criticism of the revised version included the inclusion of scenes that could be considered in bad taste, such as the incorporation of footage of Lee's actual funeral. Another scene, often pointed out by critics of the film, involved a shot of Kim looking at himself in the mirror, with an obvious cardboard cut-out of Lee's face pasted onto the mirror's surface.
Bey Logan points out a few logic issues with the 1978 film. In order for the henchmen to remain low key, they should be wearing more casual clothes instead of the multicolored tracksuits seen at various parts of the film. But as a rationale, this explains why Lee wears the yellow tracksuit. Also in the fight between Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the scene near the vase in Logan's opinion appears to look choppy along with the short fight with Hugh O'Brian. In the first half of the English version, during the fight sequences Lee is seen to be beaten down instead of making short work of the henchmen.
Game of Death could be considered more accessible to Western audiences than Lee's previous films. Compared to other Bruce Lee films like The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon, Game of Death has more Western characters and the story structure is more straightforward and less culturally specific to Asia.

''Game of Death Redux'' (2019)

On July 19, 2019, timed with the 46th death anniversary of Bruce Lee, producer Alan Canvan premiered a newly edited version of Lee's Game of Death at the Asian American/Asian Research Institute in New York City, with biographer Matthew Polly joining Canvan in discussing the film and answering audience questions. The Redux edit only uses footage shot during the original production, while combining the score composed by John Barry for the 1978 version. It also restores dialogues that were missing in the 1978 version of Game of Death.
The film will be released as a special feature in The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray box set of Bruce Lee films, currently slated for release on July 14, 2020.

Legacy

Other ''Game of Death'' films

After the death of Bruce Lee, several studios exploited the situation by making their own versions of Game of Death based on what they had learned of the story from production stills and magazine articles. Some of these films pre-dated Robert Clouse's official Game of Death.
Wong Jing's film City Hunter has a similar premise for a scene. Jackie Chan as Ryu Saeba takes on two tall black men, and the film uses clips of Lee's fight scene against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to get the better of the two.

Influence

Film

Italian film scholars Simone Bedetti and Lorenzo De Luca identified Game of Death as an early example of what they call the "arcade movie" genre of action films. These "arcade movies" have three characteristic elements: the achievement of a goal, passing a series of levels, and ascending through a path. This is presented in Game of Death as Lee going up higher floors while facing increasingly dangerous opponents as he ascends the tower. Later examples of action films which Bedetti and De Luca identify as "arcade movies" include Bruce Lee's own Enter the Dragon, the Bruce Willis movie Die Hard, Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Paul W. S. Anderson's Mortal Kombat, and the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Sudden Death.
The Raid, a 2011 Indonesian film, was influenced by Game of Death. It has a similar plot structure, set in a single main location, a grungy high-rise building, with grunts at the bottom and the big boss at the top.
Several films pay homage to the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The scene is parodied in the Jackie Chan film City Hunter. The Keanu Reeves film pays homage in a scene featuring NBA basketball player Boban Marjanović.

Video games

Game of Death was the foundation for the beat 'em up genre of action video games, similar to how Enter the Dragon was the foundation for fighting games. The plot structure of Game of Death, where a series of tough martial arts opponents have a weakness that must be discovered and exploited, set the 'end-of-level boss' gameplay structure used by beat 'em up games for decades.
The seminal 1984 beat 'em up arcade game Kung-Fu Master was inspired by Game of Death. The player protagonist fights bosses at the end of each level before climbing the stairs to the next, more difficult stage in a "Devil's Temple" with five floors. Despite being inspired by Game of Death, the game was initially released as Spartan X in Japan, as a tie-in to the unrelated 1984 Jackie Chan film Wheels on Meals, before being released as Kung-Fu Master internationally.

Yellow-and-black tracksuit

The yellow-and-black one-piece tracksuit which Lee wore in the film has come to be seen as something of a trademark for the actor, and is paid homage to in numerous other media. In the Clouse-directed remake, the filmmakers rationalised its presence by including a scene where Billy Lo disguises himself as one of Dr. Land's motorcycle-riding thugs, who all wear striped jumpsuits.
In the warehouse scene, Billy Lo wears a pair of yellow Adidas shoes with black stripes and white shelltoes. Towards the end of the film, Billy wears a pair of yellow Moonstar Jaguar shoes, with black stripes. This was because the real Bruce Lee wore the latter when he was filming, and the double wore the former in the 1978 version to resemble his shoes.

Film

As one of Bruce Lee's perennially popular handful of films to receive wide exposure to western audiences, Game of Death has seen many reissues on every home video format. It is particularly widespread on DVD and Blu-ray and in 2016 was released on the latter in a new 4K restoration, scanned from the original negative.