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The Game of Death is an incomplete 1972 Hong Kong martial arts film 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 Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Most of the footage that was shot is from what was to be the centerpiece of the film.
The Game of Death | |
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Directed by | Bruce Lee |
Produced by | Raymond Chow Bruce Lee |
Written by | Bruce Lee |
Starring | Bruce Lee James Tien Chieh Yuan Dan Inosanto Ji Han-jae Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Hwang In-shik |
Music by | Joseph Koo Peter Thomas |
Cinematography | Tadashi Nishimoto (???)(in Japanese) |
Edited by | Peter Cheung |
Production company | Golden Harvest Concord Production Inc. |
Distributed by | Golden Harvest Media Asia Group |
Release date |
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Running time | 39 minutes (Incomplete) |
Country | Hong Kong |
Language | Cantonese English |
Budget | $850,000 |
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 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, five years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest.
Screenplay
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 (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 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. He 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 (now unguarded) 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 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 (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, 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.: Shib?teki Y?gi
In 2000, the Japanese film Bruce Lee in G.O.D ????? 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
- Bruce Lee as "Hai Tien" (also called "the Yellow-Faced Tiger")
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as "Mantis, the 5th Floor Guardian"
- James Tien as "Mr. Tien, the Second Fighter"
- Chieh Yuan as "Yuan, the Third Fighter"
- Dan Inosanto as "Dan, the 3rd Floor Guardian"
- Ji Han-jae as "4th Floor Guardian"
- Lee Kwan as "Mr. Kuan the Locksmith" (voice is heard at film's end)
Unfilmed cast
- Hwang In-shik as "1st Floor Guardian"
- Taky Kimura as "2nd Floor Guardian"
- Robert Wall as "Mr. Wall, the American Fighter and Hai Tien's ally"
- George Lazenby as "Hai Tien's master"
- Nora Miao as "Hai Tien's sister"
- Uncast Child Actor as "Hai Tien's brother"
- Carter Wong as "Mr. Wong"
- Shih Kien as "Crime Lord"
- Tony Liu as "Huang"
- Wan Kam Leung as "Lee Guo Hao, the Fifth Fighter"
- Betty Ting Pei as "Hai Tien's wife"
- Bolo Yeung as "Black Belt Karate Leader - Ground Floor"
- Lam Ching-ying, Yuen Wah, Unicorn Chan, Bee Chan, Wu Ngan, and 14 others as "Black Belt Karate Fighters - Ground Floor"
- Han Yin-Chieh as "Thug 1"
- Yuen Biao as "Thug 2"
- Alan Chui Chung-San as "Thug 3"
- Corey Yuen as "Thug 4"
- Jackie Chan as "Fan who asks for Hai Tien's autograph"
Intended cast
- Wong Shun Leung was originally approached to play the role of the Wing Chun-oriented 2nd Floor Guardian, but he declined, and was replaced by Taky Kimura.
- Robert Baker, student of Lee's, was considered for the role eventually given to Robert Wall.
- Sammo Hung had been cast as the Third Fighter, but by the time Lee was ready to film with him, Hung had moved on to another project; Chieh Yuan took the part in his stead.
- Chuck Norris
- Jim Kelly
- Joe Lewis
- Mike Stone
Game of Death (1978) | |||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | ???? | ||||||||||||||
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Simplified Chinese | ???? | ||||||||||||||
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