Movie Info
Movie Name: Game of Death
Studio: Golden Harvest
Genre(s): Martial Arts/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): March 23, 1978 (Hong Kong)/June 9, 1979 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Eerie similarities to Brandon Lee’s death…
Targeted by assassins from a crime syndicate run by Dr. Land (Dean Jagger), international superstar Billy Lo (Bruce Lee) finds he must fake his death to protect his girlfriend Ann Morris (Colleen Camp) and his journalist friend Jim Marshall (Gig Young) to take down Dr. Land and his syndicate. Billy is undercover and on the most dangerous mission of his life…and death is at every turn!
Directed by Robert Clouse, Game of Death is a martial arts film. The film is made from footage originally shot in 1972 for The Game of Death that was being directed by Bruce Lee before he left the production to shoot Enter the Dragon. The clips from the unfinished film were used with an entirely new plot and a stand-in actor for Lee in scenes to develop the story. The film was financially successful but also received criticism for the posthumous use of Lee’s footage.
The Game of Death would have been awesome. The movie’s storyline has been used multiple times with Bruce Lee fighting his way up a dojo with increasingly difficult warriors blocking his way (my favorite iteration of this story was the old NES game Kung Fu). This plotline actually was used in Have Sword Will Travel from 1969, but Game of Death really seemed to take the format over. Game of Death however feels like a bastardization of Bruce Lee’s legacy with a rather confusing plot that never quite works.
Bruce Lee…is that you under there? Guessing not…
The story for Game of Death is barely a movie. It is a plot loosely taped together and reminds me of Bowfinger…it is almost like Bruce Lee was alive when it was made and didn’t know he was in the picture. Billy “goes undercover” with his new face and uses it to root out Dr. Land and his men. It is just piecemealed together and easier to think of it as watching a highlight film.
Bruce Lee continues to be the master. Despite not starring in the film due to his death, he still holds the scenes he did complete. The movie even used parts of Bruce Lee’s real funeral (giving it an eerie real feel). While Gig Young, Dean Jagger, and others fill in the missing plot, actors like Chuck Norris and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (arguably the coolest of the fights in the film due to the size difference) had objections to the reuse of the footage.
One of the oddest looking fights ever…
Game of Death does have a lot of iconic Bruce Lee to it despite it being a hatchet job. Lee dons what has become his classic yellow and black tracksuit to battle (even if half the time it isn’t him). This combined with some great choreography fighting shows what the movie could have become if Lee had lived and finished it. The movie had immense potential, but the reedited film is lacking with tons of tricks to try to hide the Bruce Lee stand-in face.
Game of Death is worth seeing just to get the most out of watching Bruce Lee fight. He was a true performer, and Lee was also a true example of why it is considered martial “arts”. He floats and flies through his fights with grace and skill. It can be pointed out within the film that there is another eerie coincidence. Lee’s character is “killed” during a movie when a real bullet hits him…Bruce Lee’s son Brandon Lee was killed in a very similar situation while filming The Crow. It is another legacy of Bruce Lee that was unfortunately will be remembered.
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