Game of Death (1978)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Robert Clouse
(more)

Writer:

Robert Clouse (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

8 June 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Bruce Lee challenges the underworld to a Game of Death.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Revenge | Mafia Boss | Star Died Before Release | Faked Death

Cast

Bruce Lee	...	Billy Lo
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
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
Casanova Wong	...	Lau Yea-chun
Han Jae Ji	...	Fighter
Yuan Chieh	...	Fighter
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	Lo Chen (as Hung Kim Po)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jim James	...	Surgeon
Robert Kerver
Taky Kimura
John Ladalski	...	Carl Miller's second
Ching-Ying Lam	...	Macau fighter
Chia Yung Liu
Mars	...	Thug
Andre Morgan
Yeung See
Betty Ting Pei
Ing-Sik Whang	...	Fighter
Wah Yuen	...	Lo Chen's second
Robert Baker	...	Fighter (closing credits) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Kun Li	...	(archive footage) (uncredited)
Nora Miao	...	(archive footage) (uncredited)
Maria Yi	...	(archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Clouse
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo		(uncredited)
Bruce Lee		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Robert Clouse		(written by) (as Jan Spears)
Bruce Lee		writer (uncredited)

Produced by
Raymond Chow	....	producer
Bruce Lee	....	executive producer
Bruce Lee	....	producer
Andre Morgan	....	executive producer

Original Music by
John Barry

Cinematography by
Godfrey A. Godar

Sound Department
Danny Daniel	....	sound recordist
Ken Dufva	....	foley artist
Mark Eggenweiler	....	assistant sound editor

Visual Effects by
Anthony Matt	....	digital restoration

Stunts
William H. Burton	....	motorcycle stunts (as Billy Burton)
David R. Ellis	....	motorcycle stunts (as David Ellis)
Buddy Joe Hooker	....	motorcycle stunts
Koo Loo Kuen	....	stunt double
Mars	....	stunt double
Biao Yuen	....	stunt double (as Bill Yuen)
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	....	stunts (uncredited)
Robert Wall	....	stunts (uncredited)
Wah Yuen	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
John Barry	....	conductor
Kenneth Hall	....	music editor
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer
John Barry	....	music producer (uncredited)

Other crew
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	....	martial arts director (as Hung Kim Po)
John Strong	....	title designer (as John Christopher Strong)
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	....	action choreographer (uncredited)
Bruce Lee	....	action choreographer (uncredited)
Bruce Lee	....	martial arts director (uncredited)
Biao Yuen	....	action choreographer (uncredited)
Biao Yuen	....	double: martial arts and acrobatics (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Concord Productions Inc.
• Golden Harvest Company

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1979) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• CBS/Fox (USA) (laserdisc)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2001) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• F.J. Lucas (Brazil) (VHS) (as "Jogo da Morte")
• Future Film (2001) (Finland) (DVD)
• Geneon Entertainment (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Happinet Pictures (1998) (Japan) (DVD)
• Hong Kong Legends (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Penta Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS) (as "No Jogo da Morte")
• Pioneer LDC (2001) (Japan) (DVD)
• Pioneer LDC (2003) (Japan) (DVD)
• Pony Canyon (????) (Japan) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (video)
• United Film & Entertainment Marketing (1990) (Finland) (VHS)
• YLE Teema (2002) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

Bruce Lee's Game of Death
Si wang you ju

Runtime:

85 min | Germany:92 min | Hong Kong:103 min (original premiere) | Hong Kong:125 min | Hong Kong:54 min (current existing footage) | Japan:115 min | Japan:40 min (2000 incomplete version) | USA:100 min | USA:110 min (original premiere) | USA:35 min (2000 incomplete version)

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English | Mandarin | Cantonese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:M | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Concord Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Director Robert Clouse wrote the script under the pseudonym Jan Spears.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the beginning of the movie, a scene where you can see Lee's face in the mirror of his trailer. It's obviously a cardboard cutout, as the neck below it moves freely about unconnected to the head.

Quotes:

Billy Lo: You lose Carl Miller!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mah nakorn (2004)

Soundtrack:

Game of Death

Definately falls between two stools - non-fans of the genre will hate it whilst true fans of Bruce Lee will loathe it.

A film that can only disappoint, in that it was cobbled together some years after Lee's death and the joins are all too obvious. For Bruce Lee fans this must deal the film numerous death blows - the knowledge that for most of the film a stand-in is used and the storyline is contrived around old footage.

The film is still reasonable entertainment for Kung-Fu fans, and non-purists won't find the stitched on elements that distracting. Story has Lee playing an actor who fakes his own death after being shot on set by a member of an extortion racket which he is refusing to bow to. This is slightly unsettling knowing that Lee had died years earlier whilst the future fate of Brandon Lee lends the film an even stronger aura of doom.

Great fight sequence with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - his menace was slightly diluted as I kept visualising him in 'Airplane'. The fights at the films climax probably look familiar to any Video Game fan with Bruce Lee in a yellow jumpsuit a spitting image for Law from the Tekken series.

The version I saw was dubbed into Chinese and then subtitled back to English which seemed slightly strange - maybe there are different versions around.