Game of Death (3 Stars)

After his previous three martial arts films ("The Big Boss", "Fist of Fury" and "Way of the Dragon"), this was intended to be Bruce Lee's ultimate fighting film. The plot would be kept to a minimum, just a container for a series of the most spectacular martial arts scenes ever seen in a film. It was intended to showcase his personal fighting style, Jeet Kune Do, which he considered superior to all the existing styles. Bruce Lee would climb from floor to floor in a pagoda, on each floor meeting an opponent with a different fighting style. After each fight, Bruce would tell his vanquished opponent what weaknesses in his style led to his defeat.

The film production began in 1973 in Hong Kong. Approximately 100 minutes of footage were shot for the film, almost exclusively fight scenes. The talking parts were to be added later, and some of the scheduled opponents still hadn't arrived. Then Bruce Lee received a call asking him to make "Enter the Dragon" in America. This would be a financially more lucrative film than anything made in Hong Kong, so Bruce interrupted the filming of "Game of Death". After completing "Enter the Dragon" he returned to Hong Kong, but in the middle of planning the continuation of "Game of Death" he died.

After his death there were many conspiracy theories to explain how a 32-year-old in perfect physical health could die so suddenly. I even believed one of the theories at the time. George Lazenby, who met with Bruce Lee on the day of his death to discuss his role in "Game of Death", dismisses all the theories and says that it was natural causes. I think he's right.

There were calls from fans for "Game of Death" to be completed. Disaster struck. In the chaos of the Golden Harvest studios only eleven minutes of the already filmed footage could be found. I find that almost impossible to believe. Aren't the Chinese more efficient? Isn't everybody more efficient? These eleven minutes were included in a totally new film that had nothing to do with Bruce Lee's original vision. It's a mockery to even call it "Game of Death". In the new film a fighter called Billy Lo is under pressure from a Chinese syndicate that wants to manage him. They're willing to kill him and those closest to him if he refuses.

Two actors were used in the film to replace Bruce Lee. One of them was used in talking scenes, because his face looked similar. The other was used in fight scenes, because he was an acrobat who could imitate Bruce's fighting style. This was padded with a few short clips from Bruce's first three films. In a peak of monumental tastelessness, even newsreels of Bruce Lee's funeral procession in Hong Kong were included. The result is a hack job. The film is only worth watching for the eleven minutes of original footage, which are easy to recognise.

Ironically, Bruce Lee nostalgia was at its peak in 1978, so "Game of Death" made much more money at the box office than the far superior "Enter the Dragon".

20 years later someone was cleaning out the Golden Harvest studios and found film reels with another 49 minutes of the original film's footage. This footage could have been used to make "Game of Death" better. That would still have been a hack job, but a better hack job. The only way to do the film justice would be to completely remake it, with a new actor, preferably a practitioner of Jeet Kune Do, acting out the film as closely as possible to Bruce Lee's vision. The trouble is that the actors most qualified to play the lead role are the ones who would be least inclined to do it. They're martial artists who have such a deep respect for Bruce Lee that they feel unworthy to step into his footsteps.

I want "Game of Death" to be made – it's wrong to say remade, because the 1978 version doesn't qualify – but the possibility of failure is so high that I'd enter the cinema with dread.

Bruce Lee
November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973

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