Game of Death (1972) and (1978)
The Game of Death (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) 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 project. Lee died during the making of the film. Over 100 minutes of footage was shot prior to his death, which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives. The remaining footage has since been released with Lee’s original Cantonese and English dialogue, with John Little dubbing Lee’s Hai Tien character as part of the documentary titled Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey. Much 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 (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died of cerebral edema before the film’s release. At the time of his death, he had 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.
The story of Lee’s original 1972 film involves Lee’s character, in order to save his younger sister and brother, joining a group of martial artists who are hired to retrieve a stolen Chinese national treasure from the top floor of a five-story pagoda in South Korea, with each floor guarded by martial artists who must be defeated while ascending the tower. The 1978 film’s plot was altered to a revenge story, where the mafia attempts to kill Lee’s character, who fakes his death and seeks vengeance against those who tried to kill him. The final part of the film uses some of Lee’s original film footage, but with the pagoda setting changed to a restaurant building,
where he fights martial artists hired by the mafia in an attempt to rescue his fiancée Ann Morris (played by Colleen Camp). This revised version received a mixed critical reception but was commercially successful, grossing an estimated US$50,000,000 (equivalent to $210,000,000 in 2021) worldwide.
It was an influential film that had a significant cultural impact. The original version’s concept of ascending a tower while defeating enemies on each level was highly influential, inspiring numerous action films and video games. The film is also known for Lee’s iconic yellow-and-black jumpsuit as well as his fight scene with NBA player and student Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, both of which have been referenced in numerous media.
Original film, Plot.
The original plot involves Lee playing the role of Hai Tien (海天), 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 (which is not identified at all in any surviving material) 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 (two of whom were played by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), then fight their way up a five-level pagoda, encountering a different challenge on each floor. The setting of the pagoda is at Beopjusa temple in Songnisan National Park in South Korea.RELATED:
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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. Lee 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.
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, known as the “Temple of the Unknown”, where he fought Abdul-Jabbar. 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 (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. His dialogue often includes comments on their weaknesses.
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 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, it can now be found on the second disc of the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of Enter the Dragon, along with the documentary Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon.
Game of Death (1978 film)
Game of Death is a 1978 Hong Kong action film co-written (under the pseudonym Jan Spears alongside Raymond Chow) 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 stunt 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.RELATED:
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Plot.
The 1978 version uses portions of the original footage married to an entirely new plot involving a new character, Billy Lo (盧比利), 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 fiancée, Ann Morris (Colleen Camp), 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.
Production.
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 film, and also appears in the scene as ring opponent Lo Chen for Miller. To maintain continuity with the fight footage taken from the original film, Dan Inosanto (renamed Pasqual) and Ji Han-jae (whose character was unnamed and was not shown until near the end of the film) 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 (renamed Hakim) 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.
Release, Box office.
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. The film was successful at the box office in Hong Kong (23 March 1978 release), grossing HK$3,436,169. Within three weeks of its release (by 13 April 1978), the film grossed nearly US$8 million in the Far East. In Japan (14 April 1978 release), it became the eighth highest-grossing film of 1978 with distributor rental earnings of ¥1.45 billion, equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately ¥3.52 billion (US$16.7 million). In South Korea (May 1978 release), it sold 281,591 tickets in the capital city of Seoul, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately ₩337,909,200 (US$698,160).
In the United States (1979 release), the film earned millions of US dollars in its first few weeks, and went on to earn about US$5 million in theatrical rentals, equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately US$13 million. 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 €6,093,608 (US$8,264,929). In Germany, the film sold 750,513 tickets (575,000 tickets in 1978 and 175,513 tickets in 1981), equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately €1,876,283 (US$2,544,854). In Spain, the film sold 1,112,793 tickets, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately €1,446,631 (US$1,962,106).
Combined, the film grossed a total estimated worldwide box office revenue of approximately US$50,320,736 (equivalent to $210,000,000 in 2021)
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