The Game of Death (1978)
"Game of Death" (original title)

A martial arts movie star must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him.

Director:

Robert Clouse

Writer:

Robert Clouse

Stars:

Bruce Lee, Colleen Camp, Dean Jagger

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Lee	...	Billy-Lo (archive footage)
Colleen Camp	...	Ann Morris
Dean Jagger	...	Dr. Land
Gig Young	...	Jim Marshall
Tai Chung Kim	...	Billy Lo (as Kim Tai Jong)
Biao Yuen	...	Billy Lo (as Bill Yuen)
Robert Wall	...	Carl Miller
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	...	Hakim (archive footage)
Mel Novak	...	Stick
Hugh O'Brian	...	Steiner
James Tien	...	Charlie Wang
Dan Inosanto	...	Pasqual (as Danny Inosanto)
Chuck Norris	...	Fighter (archive footage)
Roy Chiao	...	Henry Lo
Russell Cawthorne	...	Surgeon

Storyline

In this movie, Bruce Lee is a very famous martial-arts master who stars in many films. After an unsuccessful murder attempt against him, everyone thinks his is dead, but he's just hiding, preparing his revenge...

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Plot Keywords:

martial arts | martial arts master | revenge | actor | katana sword | 

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Taglines:

Bruce Lee challenges the underworld to a Game of Death.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Hong Kong USA

Language:

English Mandarin Cantonese

Release Date:

8 June 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bruce Lee's Game of Death

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Concord Productions Inc., Golden Harvest Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 103 min (original premiere) 54 min (current existing footage) 40 min (2000 incomplete) 110 min (original premiere) 35 min (2000 incomplete)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In this movie, Bruce Lee's character is shot with a prop gun that was secretly made to fire a real bullet and kill him. Lee's son, Brandon, was killed on the set of The Crow, when a prop pistol accidentally shot him in the abdomen.

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Goofs

Throughout the final scenes of the movie, spliced-in footage of Bruce Lee does not correspond with doubles. Facing and body orientation relative to his opponent switches from shot to shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Director: Cut! Okay, that's a print. That was great, Billy! Okay everybody...
[stage light collapses, crew gasps]

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Connections

Referenced in City Hunter (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Street Dance No. 2"
(uncredited)
Music by Andre Morgan

User Reviews

Barely watchable. Bruce Lee would be turning in his grave.

I wish this wasn't credited to Bruce Lee's name, it's an embarrassment to all involved, and I honestly can't see why this film is praised by some people.

Lee filmed a few fight scenes for a movie before putting the project on hold to do Enter The Dragon, and of course his death. This is the finished product (without his input). His scenes were poorly edited into a full length piece of crap.

I tried to look past the fact that shots switched from old, grainy film to cleaner, sharper film continuously throughout any scene with the real Lee. I tried to look past the appalling effects; such as sticking a picture of Lee's face on a mirror, and filming it as if attached to someone's reflection. I even managed to look past the fact that the guy playing Lee's character for the rest of the film barely looked like him at all. But I still ended up with a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the film.

There is still a point of interest for Bruce Lee fans, the last 15 minutes are great, (the real) Lee's fight with Abdul-Jabar is amazing...But it didn't do the overall product very much help (for the full unedited version of what Bruce Lee filmed for this, check out the documentary on the man called 'Bruce Lee: A Warriors Journey'). This is my second bad experience with unfinished/unreleased films being edited into others, (see also, or more appropriately -- don't see also: Sam's Song starring Robert De Niro), so I have learnt my lesson. 2.5/10.