| The Game of Death | |
|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 死亡的遊戲 |
| Simplified Chinese | 死亡的遊戏 |
| Literal meaning | Death Game |
| Hanyu Pinyin | sǐwáng de yóuxì |
| Jyutping | sei2 mong4 dik1 jau4 hei3 |
| Directed by | Bruce Lee |
| Written by | Bruce Lee |
| Produced by | Raymond Chow Bruce Lee |
| Starring | Bruce Lee James Tien Chieh Yuan Dan Inosanto Ji Han-jae Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Hwang In-shik |
| Cinematography | Tadashi Nishimoto (ja) Ho Lan Shan |
| Edited by | Peter Cheung |
| Music by | Joseph Koo Peter Thomas |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Golden Harvest Media Asia Group Fortune Star Media Arrow Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 40 minutes(incomplete) |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Languages | Cantonese English |
| Budget | $850,000[1] |
Game of Death (Chinese:死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kongmartial arts film, of which portions were filmed between September and October 1972, and was planned and scheduled to be released by 1973, directed, written, produced by and starringBruce Lee. The project was paused to film and produceEnter the Dragon. ForGame of Death, over 120 minutes of footage was shot.[2] 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 titledBruce 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 inEnter the Dragon, the firstkung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died ofcerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had made plans to resume the filming ofThe Game of Death. After Lee's death,Enter the Dragon directorRobert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two stand-ins; it was released in 1978 asGame 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 ofmartial artists who are hired to retrieve a stolen Chinesenational treasure[need quotation to verify] from the top floor of a five-storypagoda in South Korea, with each floor guarded by martial artists who must be defeated while ascending the tower.[3][additional citation(s) needed] The 1978 film's plot was altered to a revenge story, where themafia 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 byColleen Camp). This revised version received a mixed critical reception but was commercially successful, grossing an estimatedUS$50,000,000 (equivalent to $240,000,000 in 2024) 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 numerousaction films andvideo games. The film is also known for Lee's iconic yellow-and-black jumpsuit as well as his fight scene withNBA player and studentKareem Abdul-Jabbar, both of which have been referenced in numerous media.
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. The pagoda is under heavy guard by highly skilled martial artists; they are protecting a stolen Chinese national treasure (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 of martial artists he assembled, to help retrieve said item by fighting the guardians. This is the boss's second team he's sending; the first team he sent was nearly wiped out. They force the reluctant Hai to participate by abducting his two younger siblings. Along with four other martial artists (two played byJames Tien andChieh Yuan), Hai battles his way up a five-levelpagoda. The team encounters a different, and stronger, challenge on each floor.
As originally scripted by Lee, Hai and company enter the temple grounds, where at the pagoda's base, they fight 10 Karate black belts. Inside the pagoda, Hai's team encounters a different opponent on each floor, each one more formidable than the last. The other fighters assisting Hai are handily defeated by the pagoda guardians, as they're not as skilled as Hai; the guardian in turn must be defeated by Hai.
At the pagoda raid, Hai's group was to fight 25 floor guardians:
Hai would defeat all 25 formidable masters after his follow raiders were taken down by each master of the floor, the last one being James Tien's character. He's beaten by the final guardian (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), a giant fighter who fights with a free and fluid fighting style similar to Hai'sJeet Kune Do. Because of the guardian's great size and strength, in addition to his potent martial artistry, he can only be defeated when Hai recognizes and exploits his greatest weakness: an unusuallyhigh sensitivity to light.[4]
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 affects Hai or his captive siblings.[5]
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 masterHwang 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 friendTaky Kimura was asked to play the guardian of the second floor, a stylist of praying mantiskung fu.[4]
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 lackeconomy 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.[5][4]
Several years later, Bruce Lee historianJohn Little releasedBruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, a documentary revealing the original footage and storyline ofThe Game of Death. The documentary also includes a fairly in-depth biography of Lee and leads into the filming ofThe Game of Death. 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 ofEnter the Dragon, along with the documentaryBruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon.
In 2000, the Japanese filmBruce Lee in G.O.D 死亡的遊戯 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.
| Game of Death | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Game of Death film poster | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 死亡遊戲 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 死亡游戏 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Directed by | Robert Clouse Bruce Lee(G.O.D. footage) (action) Sammo Hung(action) | ||||||||||||||
| Written by | Jan Spears(Clouse/Chow) Bruce Lee(HK Version Opening Credit) | ||||||||||||||
| Produced by | Raymond Chow | ||||||||||||||
| Starring | Bruce Lee Gig Young Dean Jagger Colleen Camp Kim Tai-jong Yuen Biao Robert Wall Hugh O'Brian Dan Inosanto Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Mel Novak Sammo Hung Ji Han-jae Casanova Wong | ||||||||||||||
| Cinematography | Ho Lan-shan Godfrey A. Godar | ||||||||||||||
| Edited by | Alan Pattillo | ||||||||||||||
| Music by | John Barry Joseph Koo | ||||||||||||||
Production company | |||||||||||||||
| Distributed by | Golden Harvest(International) Columbia Pictures(US theatrical) EMI FilmsUnited Kingdom theatrical 20th Century Fox(NA home video), (Kosovo) Fortune Star Media Ltd.(current) | ||||||||||||||
Release dates |
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Running time | 103 minutes(Int'l cut) 94 minutes(HK cut) 125 minutes(HK premiere) 100 minutes(US cut) | ||||||||||||||
| Country | Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||
| Languages | Cantonese English | ||||||||||||||
| Box office | US$50 million (est.) | ||||||||||||||
Game of Death is a 1978Hong Kong action film co-written (under the pseudonymJan Spears alongsideRaymond Chow) and directed byRobert Clouse, with action directed bySammo Hung. The film starsBruce Lee, withKim Tai-jong andYuen Biao as his stunt doubles, along withGig Young,Dean Jagger,Colleen Camp,Robert Wall,Hugh O'Brian,Dan Inosanto,Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,Mel Novak,Sammo Hung,Ji Han-jae andCasanova Wong.
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 aracketeering "syndicate" after gaining international success as a martial arts movie star. When Billy refuses to be intimidated by syndicate henchman Steiner and his gangs of thugs, syndicate owner Dr. Land 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 but chopped footage, Bruce Lee's fight scenes inside the pagoda are assumed to take place in the upper floors of the Red Pepper restaurant:
Dr. Land (Dean Jagger) and his thugs have laid an ambush, but in the end, Billy survives the ambush, rescues Ann, and destroys each of the main mobsters one-by-one.
The revised version of the film uses only 12 minutes and 41 seconds of the footage from the originalThe Game of Death, and for the vast majority of the film, the role of Billy Lo was shared by Koreantaekwondo masterKim Tai-jong and Hong Kong martial arts actorYuen 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 taking 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.
The American score was composed byJohn Barry. The vocal theme song "Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow?" was sung byColleen Camp.[8]
Game of Death was released in Hong Kong on 23 March 1978. In the United States, the film was released byColumbia Pictures on 9 June 1979. The film was released in the Philippines by Asia Films on 15 December 1988.[9]
The film was successful at the box office in Hong Kong (23 March 1978 release), grossingHK$3,436,169.[10] Within three weeks of its release (by 13 April 1978), the film grossed nearlyUS$8 million in theFar East.[11] In Japan (14 April 1978 release), it became the eighth highest-grossing film of 1978 withdistributor rental earnings of¥1.45 billion,[12] equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately¥3.52 billion[13] (US$16.7 million).[14] In South Korea (May 1978 release), it sold 281,591 tickets in the capital city ofSeoul,[15] equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately₩337,909,200[16] (US$698,160).[17]
In the United States (1979 release), the film earned millions ofUnited States dollars in its first few weeks,[18] and went on to earn aboutUS$5 million intheatrical rentals,[19] equivalent to estimatedbox office gross receipts of approximatelyUS$13 million.[20] In France, it was the 14th highest-grossing film of 1978 with 2,256,892 ticket sales,[21] equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately€6,093,608[22] (US$8,264,929).[23] In Germany, the film sold 750,513 tickets (575,000 tickets in 1978[24] and 175,513 tickets in 1981),[25] equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately €1,876,283[22] (US$2,544,854).[26] In Spain, the film sold 1,112,793 tickets,[27] equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately €1,446,631[22] (US$1,962,106).[28]
Combined, the film grossed a total estimated worldwide box office revenue of approximatelyUS$50,320,736 (equivalent to $240,000,000 in 2024)
This version of the film received a mixed critical reception, holding a 46%Rotten Tomatoes score.[29] Criticism of the revised version included the inclusion of scenes that could be considered in bad taste, such as the incorporation of footage of Lee's actual funeral. Another scene, 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.[30]
Upon its North American release, Cecilia Blanchfield inThe Calgary Herald rated it three stars, praising the climactic fight scenes as "Bruce Lee at his best" while criticizing the "abysmal" writing and "clumsily executed" production up until then, calling the film a "poor tribute to a remarkably talented man."[31]
Bey Logan points out a few logic issues with the 1978 film. In order for the henchmen to remain low key, they should be wearing more casual clothes instead of the multicolored tracksuits seen at various parts of the film. But as a rationale, this explains why Lee wears the yellow tracksuit. Also, during the fight between Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the scene near the vase in Logan's opinion appears to look choppy, along with the short fight with Hugh O'Brian. In the first half of the English version, during the fight sequences, Lee is seen to be beaten down instead of making short work of the henchmen.
Game of Death could be considered more accessible to Western audiences than Lee's previous films. Compared to other Bruce Lee films likeThe Big Boss,Fist of Fury, andThe Way of the Dragon,Game of Death has more Western characters and the story structure is more straightforward and less culturally specific to Asia.[32][33]
On 19 July 2019, timed with the 46th death anniversary of Bruce Lee, producer Alan Canvan premiered a newly edited version of Lee'sGame of Death at the Asian American/Asian Research Institute inNew York City, with biographerMatthew Polly joining Canvan in discussing the film and answering audience questions.[34] TheRedux edit only uses footage shot during the original production, while combining the score composed byJohn Barry for the 1978 version.[34] It also restores dialogues that were missing in the 1978 version ofGame of Death.[35]
The film was released as a special feature (standard definition) inThe Criterion Collection's Blu-ray box set of Bruce Lee films on 14 July 2020.[36]
On 17 July 2023,Arrow Films released a 4K UHD/Blu-ray box set covering Bruce Lee's films at Golden Harvest.[37] Included in the set is a 223-minute documentary on the production ofGame of Death.[38] The documentary includes all two hours of footage shot for the project by Lee before his death, restored from an interpositive.[39] The documentary also includes an assembly of the footage, alongside a newly filmed introduction to cover the plot elements that were never shot.[40]
After the death of Bruce Lee, several studios exploited the situation by making their own versions ofGame of Death based on what they had learned of the story from production stills and magazine articles. Some of these films pre-dated Robert Clouse's officialGame of Death (1978).
Wong Jing's filmCity Hunter has a similar premise for a scene.Jackie Chan as Ryu Saeba takes on two tall black men, and the film uses clips of Lee's fight scene against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to get the better of the two.
The original film's concept of ascending a tower while defeating enemies on each level was highly influential, inspiring numerousaction films andvideo games.[3]
Italian film scholars Simone Bedetti and Lorenzo De Luca identifiedGame of Death as an early example of what they call the "arcade movie" genre ofaction films. These "arcade movies" have three characteristic elements: the achievement of agoal, passing a series oflevels, and ascending through apath (whether physical or symbolic). This is presented inGame of Death as Lee going up higher floors while facing increasingly dangerous opponents as he ascends the tower. Later examples of action films which Bedetti and De Luca identify as "arcade movies" include Bruce Lee's ownEnter the Dragon, theBruce Willis movieDie Hard (1988),Steven Spielberg'sIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989),Paul W. S. Anderson'sMortal Kombat (1995), and theJean-Claude Van Damme movieSudden Death (1995).[41]
The Raid, a 2011Indonesian film, was influenced byGame of Death. It has a similar plot structure, set in a single main location, a grungy high-rise building, with grunts at the bottom and the big boss at the top.[42][43] ThisGame of Death formula was also used in the filmDredd (2012) and appeared in an episode ofSpongeBob SquarePants.[44]
Several films pay homage to the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The scene is parodied in twoJackie Chan films,City Hunter (1993) where Chan fights two tall black men,[45] andRush Hour 3 (2007) which reverses it by having a shorterAfrican-American manChris Tucker fight a taller Chinese basketballerSun Mingming.[46] TheKeanu Reeves filmJohn Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) pays homage in a scene featuringNBAbasketball playerBoban Marjanović.[47] The French filmLa Tour Montparnasse Infernale (2001) parodies the scene whenRamzy Bedia fights with Bô Gaultier de Kermoal, wearing the same costumes as Lee and Abdul-Jabbar.
William Zabka referencedGame of Death during his audition for the role ofJohnny Lawrence inThe Karate Kid (1984), when the directorJohn Avildsen asked him "how old are you? You're a little bigger than our karate kid." Zabka responded, "Bruce Lee was smaller than Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but he beat him" in reference toGame of Death, to which Avlidsen responded "Yeah, that's true." That convinced Avlidsen to cast Zabka for the role.[48]
The plot structure ofGame of Death, where a series of martial arts opponents each have a weakness that must be discovered and exploited, established the "end-of-levelboss" structure used bybeat 'em up games for decades.[49][50] This structure first crossed over into video games with the 1984arcade gameKung-Fu Master, which established thebeat 'em up genre.[51][49]Kung Fu Master was initially released asSpartan X in Japan, as atie-in for the 1984Jackie Chan filmWheels on Meals (titledSpartan X in Japan), before an international release asKung-Fu Master (sansSpartan X license).[51] Its boss battle gameplay also became the basis forfighting games such asStreet Fighter (1987).[50]Kung-Fu Master also inspiredSuper Mario Bros. (1985),[52] theRed Ribbon Army saga (1985–1986) in themanga andanime seriesDragon Ball,[53] and the French filmKung Fu Master (1988).[54]
ThesuperheroShang-Chi was created as a result of the kung-fu craze started by Bruce Lee in 1973, with artistPaul Gulacy using Lee as a visual inspiration for Shang-Chi. The "Game of Rings" storyline from the comic seriesShang-Chi and theTen Rings was inspired byGame of Death.
The yellow-and-blackjumpsuit 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 rationalised its presence by including a scene where Billy Lo disguises himself as one of Dr. Land's motorcycle-riding thugs, who all wear striped jumpsuits.
In the warehouse scene, Billy Lo wears a pair of yellow Adidas shoes with black stripes and white shelltoes. Towards the end of the film, Billy wears a pair of yellowOnitsuka Tiger shoes, with black stripes. This is because the real Bruce Lee wore the latter when he was filming, and the double wore the former in the 1978 version to resemble his shoes.
In the Lee-directed unfinished version, the jumpsuit should portray personal freedom in the art of combat, without being bounded to a certain fighting style. The cinematic explanation for its presence was the nickname of Hai Tien, Yellow-FacedTiger, because his fighting outfit and shoes resemble the colours of a Tiger. Over the years, there were many speculations about the colour of the jumpsuit and its meaning. According toAndre Morgan from Golden Harvest, they had a yellow suit with black bars and a black suit with yellow bars. Lee first chose the black suit, but changed it to the yellow because Abdul-Jabbar's footprints were better visible on it.
As one of Bruce Lee's perennially popular handful of films to receive wide exposure to Western audiences,Game of Death has seen many reissues in every home video format. It is particularly widespread onDVD[60] andBlu-ray[61] and was released on the latter in a new4K restoration in 2016, scanned from the original negative.[62][63]
{{cite book}}:|newspaper= ignored (help)1978 (...) Box Office Gross Receipts (...) in millions of Yen (...) 160,509 (..) Distributor's Income (...) in millions of Yen (...) 66,113
Average Ticket Prices in Korea, 1974-1997 [...] * Source: Korea Cinema Yearbook (1997-1998) * Currency: won [...] Foreign [...] 1978 [...] 1,200
A new film, "The Game of Death," was released a few weeks ago, even though Lee had completed only 15 to 30 minutes of footage when he died. It was completed by doubles, and already has earned millions.
1979 (...) MPAA U.S. rentals % of BO (...) 37.8
{{cite book}}:|website= ignored (help)Van Damme si era cimentato nei filoni più in voga deltechno action, adattandosi alle nuove esigenze di Hollywood – con l'apparente complicità dei producttori – e allontanandosi dai personaggi che gli avevano regalato la fama per aderire al nuovo corso hollywoodiano e seguire il genere nel «definitivo», filone dell'arcade movie. (...) Il gioco immortale (...) InThe Game of Death (L'ultimo combattimento di Chen, 1973/1978, di Robert Clouse), salendo a piani superiori, Billy Lo affronta avversari sempre più pericolosi; inEnter the Dragon, Lee deve sconfiggere in un torneo gli avversari più terribili con prove sempre più ardite; inIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Indiana Jones e l'ultima crociata, 1989, di Steven Spielberg) Indiana Jones deve affrontare un serie di prove sempre più dure per conquistare il Santo Graal; in Die Hard, John McClane deve superare livelli sempre più arditi salendo e scendendo dentro lo spazio chiuso di un grattacielo; inMortal Kombat (Id., 1994, di Paul Anderson) – tratto da un videocioco – vincere il torneo diventa l'unico modo per salvare il mondo; inSudden Death (...) Tutti questi film sono caratterizzati da tre elementi fondamentali: 1) il raggiungimeno di unobiettivo; 2) il superamento dilivello; 3) il percoso di ascesa (spaztiele e/o simbolico). Questi tre elementi contraddistinguono l'arcade movie.
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