Game of Death

Rating:
Summary: Game of Excellence
Review: Oh, this is a great one. This is the one in which Bruce Lee fights Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Oh man, that part is great. The whole movie is good, I think. And so is the music they play during the fighting.

There's this one cool part where Lee fights a motorcycle gang in a warehouse, and he hits a guy in the face with his bike! The end is excellent. Lee goes to this place and fights five martial arts masters in a row.

Also, in this movie, Lee uses nun chucks for at least ten minutes. It's so great. Lee died while shooting this movie, and most of it is a body double, but it's still very entertaining. His noises are great and so is his technique. No martial artist today can compare to Lee.

Watch out, though. After seeing this movie, I had a strong urge to fight people, and I did not control it. I went out and gave my neighbors a beating. They were doing some lawn work, so I hit one with a rake and used him to impale his son.

Rating:
Summary: A travesty of a film, except the ending........
Review: While watching this movie again, I actually got quite angry. I thought of all the things wrong with this turd of a movie. I thought of the greedy movie producers who say a payday in the lost footage of Game Of Death. I thought of the horrid & cheesy way they made this movie. I thought of the way Raymond Chow was responsible for this crap even though he had worked with Bruce for many years. This movie is a insult to Bruce Lee, plain and simple. This should have NEVER been made. And then you get to the last 15-20 min......

The ONLY, and I mean ONLY reason to watch (what I call) the worst movie I have EVER seen is for the last 15-20 min. It's there you get the footage of Bruce Lee fighting three enemies in the bogota that was later going to be part of the real Game Of Death. I will get to that in a bit. I would like to comment on how utterly crappy the rest of the film is.

The story goes something like this: Bruce was in the middle of filming Game Of Death when he got the green light on Enter The Dragon. He then halted production on Game Of Death and went to america to make the greatest martial arts film of all time. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he went to a "friend's" apartment and laid down to take a nap. He had a headache so this friend of his gave him some asperin. He never woke up. I won't go into all the conspiracies behind his death, but the point is, he died. Game of Death was then left unfinished. Fast foward SIX years....ugh.

It's 1979 and some producers get the idea to take the footage of Game Of Death that was shot and make a movie around it. What you have here is a double of Bruce playing most of the movie. It's got mostly american hollywood actors in it. It has an american director, Robert Klause (who I hope dies a painful death for directing this movie), and a terrible story. The worst part of the movie, however, is the cheesy way they intercut scenes from Bruce's other films to make it seem like he is in this movie. The double for Bruce rarely shows his full face. He hides behing huge sunglasses, even at night. They even have a scene where he gets shot in the face, has surgery, and comes out looking like a different double of Bruce!!! They even used footage of Bruce's real funeral in the movie. In the script, Bruce's fake character fakes his own death to get a crime syndicate off of his back. Instead of staging a fake funeral, like I said, they use REAL footage!! Another disgrace.

There is even a scene where the Bruce double is supposed to be looking into a mirror and they have put a cardboard cut-out of Bruce Lee's face over the double's image in the frame. I have never in my life seen something look so fake and ridiculous in a movie. Especially one that was supposed to be some big budget movie of 1979. The story is utter crap. The acting is actually the best of all of his films (except for Enter The Dragon), but the actors don't fit into this kind of movie. They are all established american actors, who don't belong in a Hong Kong kung fu film.

I could go on and on about how bad this movie is. It's a insult to Bruce Lee, plain and simple. I liken this to going to his grave, urinating on it, and then leaving. He deserved much better than this and it's a shame that Hollywood continued to treat him like this, even after his death.

Now, after all of that.....why would I even give this DVD two stars? Well, because of the footage that actually has Bruce in it. These are the best fight scenes he ever filmed. There is one the best nunchuku battles (with Dan Inosanto) to ever be filmed. He battles Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the last stage of the bogota. It's a fun battle to watch, due the height difference between the two. I am sure many of you have seen these lost scenes, so you know what I mean. It's the only reason to watch this movie. In fact, do yourself a favor and skip to these fights by using your chapter selection feature. You will be happy I saved you that extra 1:15 hrs. of your life.

Like the other DVD's of this boxed set, this disc has no special features.

Rating:
Summary: It hurts to say it, but . . .
Review: . . . this is Bruce Lee's best film. Look, I hear the groans already, but consider the competition. Having watched all his films in order just recently, I was reminded how clunky and slow "Enter the Dragon" was. Apparently, there came a point in Bruce's approach to fight scenes where he would barely receive a punch, and instead just utterly dominate the opponent, no ebb and flow -- like his ultra brisk, almost anti-climactic demolition of Bob Wall in ETD.

Now, we all know "Game of Death" simply exists to use The Footage. And the 20-ish minutes of The Footage does appear at the end, and it's a very stylish, having-fun Bruce Lee -- not the sullen, monotone Bruce of ETD. The makers of the film went with a "Bruce double" for the rest of the film, often in shadow, wearing HUGE sunglasses, keeping his face turned away, etc. Every now and again, a snippet of actual Bruce gets edited in from an earlier movie, say, upon his walking into a room, or for a reaction shot. And some of these cut-away bits are pretty awkward -- few of them flow smoothly.

But having said all that, this film -- as a kung-fu film about a star named Billy Lo trying to break away from the syndicate -- is way, way above the average for this genre. For the trio of syndicate heavies, we get Mel Novak, Hugh O'Brian and Dean Jagger -- and these guys are FAR more compelling actors than you usually get for this type of flick. Some of the exchanges, with Dean Jagger especially, are deliciously sinister. The guy (actually, there may be two of them) playing the "Bruce double," while not looking a whole lot like Bruce (hence the sunglasses) and not exactly a riveting screen presence, has the fluidity of Bruce's kicks down pat -- which is no doubt why they hired him. Moreover, some of the fight scenes end with him getting beaten down and out, an effective dramatic element which the real Bruce had seemingly discarded. The real Bruce was doing movies which were becoming more and more of an "I-am-indestructible" exercise, only offering his steady obliteration of everyone else, even against noteworthy foes. But because we're dealing with a stand-in of sorts, HE can be beat down to a pulp. This at least lends a bit of dramatic flux.

And, of course, this film has The Footage, arguably Bruce's best work, and edited together pretty well from whatever they had on hand. BUT -- before we get to The Footage, the "Bruce double" has an absolutely fantastic fight with Bob Wall -- after Bob Wall has just gotten done having a very cool fight scene with Sammo Hung for "The Martial Arts Championship of the World," complete with a stadium of screaming fans! How much campy-goodness is THAT?! People who are simply bothered by the way the studio glommed onto The Footage in order to make a profitable flick are totally overlooking the much-better-than-average elements going on. The soundtrack is beyond classic -- the triumphant yet haunting horns announcing the titles somehow mesh so strongly with the realization of Bruce's untimely death -- it becomes the perfect music for his passing, as well as for the movie itself. And lest I forget, this DVD transfer is really crystal clear -- even some of the jarring "real Bruce" cutaways are made to almost work by the fact that the DVD looks so good.

Yeah, this film really needs to be cut some slack. If people are going to call the 70's-clunky "Enter the Dragon" a timeless classic, then this one deserves much more recognition. Robert Clouse directed this one (1978) between "Enter the Dragon" (1973) and "The Big Brawl" (1980) -- so the timeline pedigree is solid as well.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT MOVIE THAT SHOWS A FINAL GLIMPSE OF THE TRUE MASTER
Review: BRUCE LEE DIED HALFWAY THROUGH THE MAKING OF THIS MOVIE, SIX YEARS LATER, WITH THE USE OF DOUBLES FILLING IN FOR LEE AND WITH THE SURVIVING CAST MEMBERS, THEY COMPLETED THIS MOVIE. IN LEE'S FINAL FILM OF HIS LIFE, HE PLAYS BILLY LO, A RISING MARTIAL ARTS FILM STAR THAT'S BEING HARASSED BY A CRIME SYNDICATE. WHEN HE IS SHOT, HE FAKES HIS DEATH AND SEEKS REVENGE. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE IS VERY LITTLE OF THE REAL BRUCE LEE SEEN HERE, SOME OF THE GREATEST FIGHT SCENES ARE SEEN HERE. THE FIGHT BETWEEN LEE AND KAREEM ABDUL-JABAR IS A MUST SEE. DESPITE THE NEGATIVE THINGS THAT MOST BRUCE LEE FANS SAY BOUT THIS MOVIE, THIS IS A CLASSIC THAT OFFERS ONE FINAL GLIMPSE OF A TRUE MASTER OF THE MARTIAL ARTS. I GUARANTEE ANY MARTIAL ARTS SHOULD LIKE IT.

Rating:
Summary: there's no reflection
Review: I would like to say this movie is a perfect example of people not knowing when to leave something alone. If only Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce's wife when he was alive, had had sole rights to the movie footage; because it should have never been completed. I respect the life and memory of Bruce Lee and this disrespectful and greedy attempt to make a profit is disgusting. It's likened to cinematic grave robbing. For the movie itself, Bruce can be seen in action and coming into his own with respect to style and production individuality, as well as being a film star and filmmaker in his own right, with regard to the fight scenes which include him. Overall, the film is disenchanting to say the least. With all due respect to the other actors and actresses, they hold together a badly directed and otherwise disgusting production. The only reason to purchase this movie would be to see Bruce Lee, which is why it was completed anyway. The value of having fight scenes featuring Bruce, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Chuck Norris, and Dan Innosanto (a personal freind and Martial Arts student of Bruce), and a few other scenes which contain the original footage is innescapable. You must buy it to see it, but you have to be a true fan. The scenes filmed before the halt in original production, in order to redirect efforts for the filming of "Enter the Dragon", are classic Bruce Lee. Sadly he died soon thereafter and actually never veiwed the final cut of "Enter the Dragon" himself, which is widely regarded as the best Martial Arts movie ever filmed. Due to his death, "Game of Death" was left unfinished, except for the approximate 20 minutes of previous fight scene footage. The movie was later resumed and completed with some original cast members but lacks direction and is a sheer disappointment to all Bruce Lee fans, but, if you have to see Bruce, it's worth the 20 minutes to those he inspires. There's no reflection that duplicates a man that stood alone!

Rating:
Summary: Bruce Lee's best along with Enter the Dragon
Review: I can see why so many Bruce Lee fans are offended with Game of Death. True, it didn't fully capture Bruce Lee's work due to his untimely death; however, the film itself is a good martial arts flick. I was impressed by the fight scenes displayed by Bruce Lee himself and the plot of the movie was not too bad either. I would strongly suggest getting the ultimate platnum region 2 DVD version of Game of Death with the restored footage of Bruce Lee's battles that were not included in the original movie. If you can't find it, then get "Bruce Lee-A Warrior's Journey" because that DVD not only has the lost footage on Game of Death but also has interviews with Bruce Lee about his personal life, doing martial arts flicks, etc... Though I have never actually seen A Warior's Journey, it is good based on reviewers who are Bruce Lee fans or people who just want to see the lost footage from Game of Death.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Look
Review: I have seen all major Bruce Lee films and admire and respect the man, and for the reward of seeing him at his best, this movie is a "must see". However, guard yourself from cinematic agony. The story itself is not in denial of a plot but is at times very distastefull. Note that the original sequences filmed with Bruce pryor to his death are some of the best scenes ever filmed, and include fight scenes which feature Chuck Norris, Kareem Abdul Jabar (with whom Bruce experienced a true life challenge, and is a fine example of his Martial Arts power and versatility), and most notable is the encounter between Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto (an actual personal friend, and one of the most accomplished students of Lee's fighting philosophy and technique). In all, the film "Game of Death" is at best very awkward, and more directly, it is a dis-respectfull compilation which exploits the talent and legacy of Bruce Lee. For all of the unsavory flavor of this film and it's overall production, if you are a Bruce Lee fan the actual footage of him in action is greatly rewarding. Keep in mind that due to stolen scenes from previous "Lee" films and other attempts to form a plot where art imitates life, you may prefer to see the only reason the film was completed. Not to discredit the other actors and actresses or their roles in the movie, but truthfully, it's all about Bruce Lee in action. Production and filming where halted for "game of Death" early on in the project and most fortunately for his fans, some of Bruce Lee's fight scenes were filmed out of sequence. Bruce stopped the production to film his most ambitious, and possibly the greatest Martial Arts film ever produced, "Enter the Dragon". Due to Bruce Lee's untimely death soon after, this meant that "Game of Death" was unfulfilled and would later be completed with a stand-in actor and without the benefit of Bruce Lee's power or abilities, however what remained is final tribute to his gift and abilities as a Martial Arts Icon and legend.

Rating:
Summary: It hurts to say it, but . . .
Review: . . . this is Bruce Lee's best film. Look, I hear the groans already, but consider the competition. Having watched all his films in order just recently, I was reminded how clunky and slow "Enter the Dragon" was. Apparently, there came a point in Bruce's approach to fight scenes where he would barely receive a punch, and instead just utterly dominate the opponent, no ebb and flow -- like his ultra brisk, almost anti-climactic demolition of Bob Wall in ETD.

Now, we all know "Game of Death" simply exists to use The Footage. And the 20-ish minutes of The Footage does appear at the end, and it's a very stylish, having-fun Bruce Lee -- not the sullen, monotone Bruce of ETD. The makers of the film went with a "Bruce double" for the rest of the film, often in shadow, wearing HUGE sunglasses, keeping his face turned away, etc. Every now and again, a snippet of actual Bruce gets edited in from an earlier movie, say, upon his walking into a room, or for a reaction shot. And some of these cut-away bits are pretty awkward -- few of them flow smoothly.

But having said all that, this film -- as a kung-fu film about a star named Billy Lo trying to break away from the syndicate -- is way, way above the average for this genre. For the trio of syndicate heavies, we get Mel Novak, Hugh O'Brian and Dean Jagger -- and these guys are FAR more compelling actors than you usually get for this type of flick. Some of the exchanges, with Dean Jagger especially, are deliciously sinister. The guy (actually, there may be two of them) playing the "Bruce double," while not looking a whole lot like Bruce (hence the sunglasses) and not exactly a riveting screen presence, has the fluidity of Bruce's kicks down pat -- which is no doubt why they hired him. Moreover, some of the fight scenes end with him getting beaten down and out, an effective dramatic element which the real Bruce had seemingly discarded. The real Bruce was doing movies which were becoming more and more of an "I-am-indestructible" exercise, only offering his steady obliteration of everyone else, even against noteworthy foes. But because we're dealing with a stand-in of sorts, HE can be beat down to a pulp. This at least lends a bit of dramatic flux.

And, of course, this film has The Footage, arguably Bruce's best work, and edited together pretty well from whatever they had on hand. BUT -- before we get to The Footage, the "Bruce double" has an absolutely fantastic fight with Bob Wall -- after Bob Wall has just gotten done having a very cool fight scene with Sammo Hung for "The Martial Arts Championship of the World," complete with a stadium of screaming fans! How much campy-goodness is THAT?! People who are simply bothered by the way the studio glommed onto The Footage in order to make a profitable flick are totally overlooking the much-better-than-average elements going on. The soundtrack is beyond classic -- the triumphant yet haunting horns announcing the titles somehow mesh so strongly with the realization of Bruce's untimely death -- it becomes the perfect music for his passing, as well as for the movie itself. And lest I forget, this DVD transfer is really crystal clear -- even some of the jarring "real Bruce" cutaways are made to almost work by the fact that the DVD looks so good.

Yeah, this film really needs to be cut some slack. If people are going to call the 70's-clunky "Enter the Dragon" a timeless classic, then this one deserves much more recognition. Robert Clouse directed this one (1978) between "Enter the Dragon" (1973) and "The Big Brawl" (1980) -- so the timeline pedigree is solid as well.

Rating:
Summary: ~I feel this is Bruce Lee at his best besides E.T.D.~
Review: Bruce Lee as we know is the master of Wing Chun Gung Fu, the creater of "the way of the intercepting fist"(for those of you who do not know that is Jeet Kune Do), and the master of about any weapon in his hand, especially the deadly Nunchuck. I feel many people did not give Bruce Lee his credit for this movie. You have to be blind to not see the value of this movie. I must admit that Enter the Dragon has this movie beat just alittle but not by much it still gives it a good run. Bruce lee inspired me to become a martial artist. He is the ultimate martial arts experience. Enjoy....===~~=== Nunchucks

Rating:
Summary: A film all Bruce Lee fans must judge for themselves
Review: Game of Death is much more than a film; for this Bruce Lee fan, it is an emotional experience - both good and bad. Bruce Lee died suddenly early in the shooting of the film, yet the fight scenes that would serve as the late moments of the movie were much too good to deny all of the Bruce Lee fans and mourners in the world. Finishing this movie and releasing it to the world was a tough decision, and the film suffers from both the plot manipulation that serves to tie the pieces of the scant 10-15 minutes of Bruce Lee footage together with the radically changed storyline as well from the competent stand-in who is in no way, shape, or form the equal of Bruce Lee, but for me personally, the merits of Game of Death far outweigh the negative connotations associated with it. Many a devoted Bruce Lee fan will disagree and decry this mutated film as a travesty and insult to the legendary man, and I can understand such feelings. In the end, each Bruce Lee devotee must come to his/her own conclusion as to the merits of this film. It is important to note that Game of Death was released six full years after Bruce Lee's death, and this fact does much in my mind to offset allegations some make that Bruce's memory was exploited purely for profit here; as I see it, Game of Death is a controversial gift to Bruce Lee's fans and in some ways a tribute to the amazing man's life and career. Many fans will hold the opposite opinion.

It is difficult to know the full history of this film as it evolved over time. As I understand it, much of the actual Bruce Lee footage (less than fifteen minutes of the released film) was shot in 1972, and Lee served as writer, choreographer, and even director of the film ; during production, though, he suspended filming in order to make the triumphant Enter the Dragon. After finishing that project, Lee apparently planned to rewrite and re-shoot Game of Death, but he died suddenly and tragically before his new vision could be formulated. Later, Robert Clouse decided to complete the project, using a stand-in (who is obviously not Bruce Lee) for most of the dramatic and some of the early fighting scenes, re-shooting some scenes with the original surviving actors, and pasting in some close-ups from Enter the Dragon. There is one awful shot early on showing an obviously pasted-on image of Lee's face which is just frighteningly amateurish, but the stand-in is also unimpressive. Consigned to sunglasses or a helmet in order to hide his eyes, the stand-in is most obvious in the fight scenes he takes part in; talented he may be, but he is no Bruce Lee. Some plot twists involving a faked death and plastic surgery serve as the new plot's weakest points, but perhaps the most controversial decision Clouse made was the inclusion of some shots of Bruce Lee's actual funeral.

The story really isn't that important; it is just a means to an end. The fight scenes making up the final portion of the film are what really matter, and it is here that we get to see the real Bruce Lee in action. Part of Lee's original vision of this film was a series of climactic fights showcasing different fighting styles, and we find his character working his way up through a ladder of increasingly dangerous opponents, culminating in the amazing fight between Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I believe Kareem actually studied under Lee for some time, and his performance is quite amazing, especially as he absolutely towers over Bruce Lee. I feel safe in saying that Kareem was the only man to ever make Bruce Lee look small. Of course, the larger they are, the harder they fall, especially when Bruce Lee is the man doing the chopping. This fight with Kareem is something that no Bruce Lee fan should miss; skip over the rest of the movie if you want to, but you owe it to yourself to watch this fight scene.

Of course, one must also mention the uncanny parallel between this film and the future life and career of Bruce Lee's son Brandon. In this film, Bruce Lee's martial arts movie star character is shot during the filming of a scene; here it is a willful act of murderous intent, but in the case of Brandon Lee's shooting death during the filming of The Crow the ironically parallel occurrence is a mystery that has never been adequately explained. Game of Death carries a unique and unsurpassed weight of emotional baggage, and I would simply urge Bruce Lee fans not to dismiss this film out of hand; whether you come to view it as a tribute or a travesty, it is a film that should not be ignored.