Game of Death

Game of Death (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial 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 starring Bruce Lee. The project was paused to film and produce Enter the Dragon. For Game of Death, over 120 minutes of footage was shot. 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 $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 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.
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 by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), Hai battles his way up a five-level pagoda. 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's Jeet 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 unusually high sensitivity to light.
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.
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.
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. 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.
In 2000, the Japanese film Bruce 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 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.
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 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 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 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 by John Barry. The vocal theme song "Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow?" was sung by Colleen Camp.
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 United States 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 $240,000,000 in 2024)
This version of the film received a mixed critical reception, holding a 46% Rotten Tomatoes score. 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.
Upon its North American release, Cecilia Blanchfield in The 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."
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 like The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and The Way of the Dragon, Game of Death has more Western characters and the story structure is more straightforward and less culturally specific to Asia.
On 19 July 2019, timed with the 46th death anniversary of Bruce Lee, producer Alan Canvan premiered a newly edited version of Lee's Game of Death at the Asian American/Asian Research Institute in New York City, with biographer Matthew Polly joining Canvan in discussing the film and answering audience questions. The Redux edit only uses footage shot during the original production, while combining the score composed by John Barry for the 1978 version. It also restores dialogues that were missing in the 1978 version of Game of Death.
The film was released as a special feature (standard definition) in The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray box set of Bruce Lee films on 14 July 2020.
On 17 July 2023, Arrow Films released a 4K UHD/Blu-ray box set covering Bruce Lee's films at Golden Harvest. Included in the set is a 223-minute documentary on the production of Game of Death. The documentary includes all two hours of footage shot for the project by Lee before his death, restored from an interpositive. The documentary also includes an assembly of the footage, alongside a newly filmed introduction to cover the plot elements that were never shot.
After the death of Bruce Lee, several studios exploited the situation by making their own versions of Game 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 official Game of Death (1978).
Wong Jing's film City 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 numerous action films and video games.
Italian film scholars Simone Bedetti and Lorenzo De Luca identified Game of Death as an early example of what they call the "arcade movie" genre of action films. These "arcade movies" have three characteristic elements: the achievement of a goal, passing a series of levels, and ascending through a path (whether physical or symbolic). This is presented in Game 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 own Enter the Dragon, the Bruce Willis movie Die Hard (1988), Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Paul W. S. Anderson's Mortal Kombat (1995), and the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Sudden Death (1995).
The Raid, a 2011 Indonesian film, was influenced by Game 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. This Game of Death formula was also used in the film Dredd (2012) and appeared in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Several films pay homage to the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The scene is parodied in two Jackie Chan films, City Hunter (1993) where Chan fights two tall black men, and Rush Hour 3 (2007) which reverses it by having a shorter African-American man Chris Tucker fight a taller Chinese basketballer Sun Mingming. The Keanu Reeves film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) pays homage in a scene featuring NBA basketball player Boban Marjanović. The French film La Tour Montparnasse Infernale (2001) parodies the scene when Ramzy Bedia fights with Bô Gaultier de Kermoal, wearing the same costumes as Lee and Abdul-Jabbar.
William Zabka referenced Game of Death during his audition for the role of Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid (1984), when the director John 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 to Game of Death, to which Avildsen responded "Yeah, that's true." That convinced Avildsen to cast Zabka for the role.
The plot structure of Game of Death, where a series of martial arts opponents each have a weakness that must be discovered and exploited, established the "end-of-level boss" structure used by beat 'em up games for decades. This structure first crossed over into video games with the 1984 arcade game Kung-Fu Master, which established the beat 'em up genre. Kung Fu Master was initially released as Spartan X in Japan, as a tie-in for the 1984 Jackie Chan film Wheels on Meals (titled Spartan X in Japan), before an international release as Kung-Fu Master (sans Spartan X license). Its boss battle gameplay also became the basis for fighting games such as Street Fighter (1987). Kung-Fu Master also inspired Super Mario Bros. (1985), the Red Ribbon Army saga (1985–1986) in the manga and anime series Dragon Ball, and the French film Kung Fu Master (1988).
The superhero Shang-Chi was created as a result of the kung-fu craze started by Bruce Lee in 1973, with artist Paul Gulacy using Lee as a visual inspiration for Shang-Chi. The "Game of Rings" storyline from the comic series Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings was inspired by Game of Death.
The yellow-and-black jumpsuit 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 yellow Onitsuka 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-Faced Tiger, 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 to Andre 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 on DVD and Blu-ray and was released on the latter in a new 4K restoration in 2016, scanned from the original negative.