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Game of Death (死亡遊戲) was the film Bruce Lee had planned to be the demonstration piece of his martial art Jeet Kune Do. 54 minutes of footage was shot before his death, some of which was later lost and has not yet been recovered. The remaining footage has been released with Bruce Lee's original English dubbing as part of the documentary entitled A Warrior's Journey. Most of the footage which was shot is from what was to be the centre piece of the film.
While in the middle of filming Game of Death, Bruce Lee was given the 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, it was an offer Lee couldn't refuse. Unfortunately, Lee died of cerebral edema only a month before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had already made plans to resume the filming of Game of Death.
After Lee's death, Enter The Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to direct additional scenes featuring a stand-in which, when pieced together with the original footage as well as other footage from earlier in Bruce Lee's career, would form a new film (also entitled Game of Death) which was released in 1978, five years after his death, by Columbia Pictures.
Original Plot
The original plot involved Bruce Lee's character, as well as two other martial artists (played by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), fighting their way through a five-level pagoda, encountering a different challenge on each floor.The setting of the pagoda was at Popju-sa temple in Songni-san 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 a small army of poorly-trained lackeys, 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 Lee must face each of the martial artists in one-on-one combat. He defeats Filipino martial arts master Dan Inosanto, 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 Kareem's character has great size and strength in addition to a fighting style as potent as Lee's, he can only be defeated once Lee recognizes his one weakness-an unusual sensitivity to light. Lee smashes the surrounding windows, weakening him with exposure to daylight, and finally manages to kill him.
Although the pagoda was supposed to have five floors, complete scenes were only shot for three of the floors-the "Palace of the Tiger," where Lee faced Inosanto, the "Palace of the Dragon," where he fought Ji Han Jae, and the final floor, where he fought Abdul-Jabbar. Hapkido master Ing-Sik Whang was slated to play the guardian of the first floor, a master of a kick-oriented style, while Bruce's longtime student Taky Kimura was asked to play the guardian of the second floor, a stylist of praying mantis kung fu. However, no footage was filmed for these scenes.
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 (including Lee's allies), 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.
Game of Death (1978)
...Or at least that was the original vision behind the movie. 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 (Hugh O'Brian) and his gangs of thugs, syndicate owner Dr. Land (Dean Jagger) orders his assassination to serve as an example to others.
Disguised as a stuntman, Land's assassin Stick (Mel Novak) 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 fiancee, Ann Morris (Colleen Camp), Billy is forced to come out of hiding in order 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.
The revised version of the film uses only 11 minutes and 7 seconds of the footage from the original Game of Death, and for the vast majority of the film, the role of Billy Lo was shared by Yuen Biao and taekwondo master Tai Chung Kim. 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 recognizable due to the difference in film quality between the old and new footage. One especially egregious trick, 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.
Several of the actors from the original Game of Death, as well as some of Lee's former co-stars, agreed to star alongside the body double in the new film footage. Chuck Norris played an unnamed fighter with whom Billy Lo was making a martial arts film, while Robert Wall played a kickboxer named Carl Miller who worked as an enforcer for Dr. Land. Sammo Hung served as the fight coordinator for the film, and also played Miller's opponent in a kickboxing match. In order to maintain continuity with the fight footage taken from the original film, Dan Inosanto (renamed Pasqual), Ji Han Jae (whose character was unnamed), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (renamed Hakim) were given small parts as additional enforcers for the syndicate. The critical backlash against the film by devoted fans sometimes extended to these actors, as well.
Apart from the cheesy techniques used to disguise the fact that Bruce Lee was being played by stand-ins, the movie enjoyed respectable production values. 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 (Dean Jagger and Gig Young) and several who have been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, including Dean Jagger, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Hugh O'Brian, and Gig Young.
Game of Death II
The revised film had a sequel in 1981, Game Of Death II, which also used footage from Bruce's earlier films to have him make an appearance in the beginning of the film, only to be killed off midway, allowing his on-screen brother take on the role of protagonist. Apart from Bruce, it features none of the original cast or crew.
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
Several years later, Bruce Lee historian John Little released Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, a documentary revealing the original footage and alleged storyline of Game of Death. The documentary also includes a fairly in-depth biography of Lee and leads into the filming of 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 死亡的遊戯 (Shibouteki Yuugi)
In 2000, the Japanese film Bruce Lee in G.O.D 死亡的遊戯 was released on DVD. This film shows Lee's original vision from the film through the existing footage that was shot for the film before he died, interviews, and historical reenactments of what went on behind the scenes. A "special edition" DVD was released in 2003.
The yellow tracksuit
The yellow-and-black 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 rationalized its presence by including a scene where Billy Lo disguises himself as one of Dr. Land's motorcycle-riding thugs.
Uma Thurman wears a similar suit in Kill Bill Volume 1 when she travels to Japan to take on an underworld boss and assassin played by Lucy Liu. In homage to both the film and the remake, Thurman wears the suit as part of her motorcyle-riding gear, and keeps the suit on during her battle with Liu and her gang, the Crazy 88. In the film Shaolin Soccer, a similar suit is worn by a goalie who resembles Bruce Lee. In the Jet Li movie High Risk, Jacky Cheung plays a movie star who is losing his fighting ability thanks to his cowardice. When he regains his courage at the end of the film, he wears a copy of the yellow tracksuit. The role is generally felt to be a parody of Jackie Chan, but the references to Bruce Lee are also obvious. The 1980's film The Last Dragon produced by Motown legend Berry Gordy centred around a Bruce Lee fan in search of reaching Martial Arts enlightenment who instructed his students wearing the same tracksuit
The second episode of the anime series Cowboy Bebop, "Stray Dog Strut," further plays homage with the episode's main antagonist being named Abdul Hakim (after Kareem Abdul-Jabar's character) and bearing a strikingly similar appearance. Early in the episode Spike goes shopping for nunchucks which are commented on as being "Way of the dragon", a weapon very closely associated with Bruce Lee. The character Sashi, from the anime Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, also gets a uniform called the Game of Death suit, later imitating Lee in both appearance and mannerisms. Another reference is found in GTO, where the main character, Onizuka Eikichi, wears the same suits when performing strenght feats like breaking a baseball bat with a kick in front of his class.
The suit has even been adapted into video games. It is present in the MMORPG Anarchy Online as a piece of equipment for powerful martial artist characters. Marshall Law and Forrest Law, from the Tekken series of fighting games, resemble Bruce Lee's with their moveset, whoops and yells and wear a sleeveless versions of the tracksuit. In addition, the Dead Or Alive series of fighting games includes a character named Jann Lee who uses Jeet Kune Do to fight in the game and also utilizes the "whoops and yells" of Bruce Lee. In Dead Or Alive 4 his fourth costume is none other than the tracksuit and his ending movie includes him watching Bruce Lee movies to help him practice Jeet Kune Do.
The suit was also featured in two music videos. A short promotional video for the Gorillaz showed the fictional animated guitarist, Noodle, taking on a pack of thugs while dressed in the tracksuit and imitating Lee's fighting style. The band Sugar Ray, in their video for the single "When It's Over," included a segment in which one of the band members fantasizes about having a kung fu battle similar to the fight scene between Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The band member wears Lee's tracksuit, his opponent wears a beard, clothes, and sunglasses similar to Abdul-Jabbar's, and the video duplicates the scene in which a seated Kareem kicks Lee in the chest, knocking him down and leaving a huge footprint on his chest.
In the Karate Island episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, Sandy Cheeks wears a yellow tracksuit similar to Bruce's.
In the anime Urusei Yatsura's episode titled "The Mendo Family's Masquerade War", Ataru was wearing a yellow tracksuit with black stripes while trying to court Mendou's sister who is sporting nunchakus. Both Ataru's yellow tracksuit and the Mendou sister's nunchakus are a homage to Bruce Lee. Sources: http://lum-chan.bbox.org/eps-guide/81-90.html and http://forum.lum-chan.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=69c683315fecb1bc88ab48bd4e4592f0&topic=517.new#new
Trivia
- Game of Death is actually based on a true story in S. Korea, about a Korean martial artist who was assigned to steal a treasure at the top of a pagoda. However, he declined to do so, as a result, his wife and child were kidnapped. He had no choice, but to participate in the mission along with other top martial artists at the time.
- On Ji Han Jae's floor, the sign near his arena read, in Chinese, "Temple of Gold". When Bruce was filming his final 3 fight scenes, the set designers mistakenly thought that Ji's floor was the last floor before reaching the top treasure. The sign, according to Bruce's notes, should've read "Temple of the Dragon".
- The rumors surrounding Bruce Lee's death and the involvement of the Chinese Triads may have been initiated by this film. Some believe that the plot of this film was constructed to make audiences believe Bruce Lee, in the form of Billy Lo, was still alive, "laying low" and making movies (as further evidenced by additional movies released after Game of Death comprised entirely of stock footage)*
- Footage from two previous movies, Way of the Dragon and Fist of Fury were used in the making of Game of Death. Most notably, the scene where Billy Lo is shot is perfectly derived from the final scenes of Fist of Fury and the Kim Tai-Jung shot scenes also reuse the original sets and scenery. Also, the footage featuring Chuck Norris was reused from Return of the Dragon.*
- The funeral scenes of Billy Lo are, in fact, footage of Bruce Lee's own funeral.
- When Billy Lo confronts the martial arts masters in the pagoda (now the "Red Pepper" restaurant run by the racketeers) the scene is clearly during the middle of the night. However, he defeats Kareem Abdul-Jabar's character, Hakim, by blinding him with natural sunlight when he tears down one of the original pagoda's walls. Beyond the wall, one can see that it's clearly meant to be daytime. When Billy Lo confronts the crime boss on the restaurant's rooftop, once again it becomes night.
- One of the Bruce Lee doubles in Clouse's version of the film was played by Yuen Biao, who would later become a martial arts star in his own right.
- The "death" of Lee's character in Clouse's version would later eerily mirror the tragic death of his son Brandon Lee in 1993, who was accidentally fatally shot on the set of The Crow.
- Ironically, Gig Young played his final role in this film, before killing both himself and his wife, Kim Schmidt, whom he met in Hong Kong during the filming of Game of Death.
- In the Chinese version, there's a theme song sung by the late Roman Tam entitled Game of Death. Tam sung the song in both Cantonese and Mandarin (one for each respective version). This song went on to become a No. 1 hit when it was released in 1978. It was released on LP and Cassette under the album title Game of Death. Both songs are only available in CD format on the Japanese soundtrack for this film which as of 2006, is out of print.
- The film is available on DVD from 20th Century Fox, while the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey is available from Warner Home Entertainment, on its own and on the second disc of the 2004 Special Edition of Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.
- Many computer and video games, such as Kung Fu Master, have followed a similar plot, in which the main character must fight different opponents on different floors of a tower.
- A movie Goodbye, Bruce Lee-His Last Game of Death exists (1975/76), starring Bruce Li.
- The Nike ad campaign of "LeBron James in Chamber of Fear" is based on the movie. In it, LeBron dribbles his way up a pagoda while facing Hype, Temptation, Haters (the Fo Shizzles), the Dragons of Complacency, and Self-Doubt.
External links
1978 films | Bruce Lee films | Kung fu films | Martial arts films | Unfinished films
Game of Death | Game of Death | 死亡遊戯 | Игра смерти (фильм) | 死亡遊戲
"Game of Death"