Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Game of Death (1978)

Game of Death (1978)

 


Starring: Bruce Lee, Kim Tai Chung, Coleen Camp, Gig Young, Dean Jagger, Hugh O'Brien, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dan Inosanto, Sammo Hung 
Director: Robert Clouse 
Choreographer: Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung 

Early in the second half of 1972, Bruce Lee begun work on a project called 
Game of Death. The project was meant to be the ultimate expression of his jeet kune do style. The story would have followed the adventures of a retired martial arts champion whom the Korean underworld blackmails into entering a mysterious pagoda inhabited by different fighters in order to find an undisclosed treasure at the top level. Bruce Lee had filmed 100 minutes of footage—mainly three of the five planned fights inside the pagoda and, as shown in Bruce Lee, the Legend, some of the fights with pagoda’s outer guards. Filming was interrupted by Bruce Lee’s being invited to star in Enter the Dragon, and his plans to pick up filming afterward were permanently ended by his untimely death.

More than four years after his passing, producer Raymond Chow of Golden Harvest decided to shoot new footage and complete the film. He hired Robert Clouse, best known for directing the highly-successful Enter the Dragon, to helm the new scenes, which Clouse himself penned. A Korean tae kwon do expert, Kim Tai Chung, was hired to play Bruce Lee’s character, Billy Lo, in the new scenes. Chow and Clouse assembled a new cast of American actors, including Oscar winners Dean Jagger and Gig Young. The movie was a global hit, making about 43 million dollars, or a 170 million dollars adjusted for inflation. Today the finished film gets a lot of flack from genre fans, when in fact it is actually a very solid martial arts film. In fact, it's actually (take a deep breath here) one of my favorites. 

We open James Bond-esque opening title sequence, complete with an awesome theme from from 007 composer John Barry. We cut to a movie studio, where a fight scene being filmed. The fight is between Billy Lo (Bruce Lee and Kim Tai-Chung) and Chuck Norris (courtesy of Way of the Dragon stock footage). When the scene is finished, a light fixture falls from the rafters, almost hitting Billy. It's dimissed as an accident and Billy goes about his business. A mysterious man named Steiner (Hugh O'Brien, of Killer Force and The Shootist) pays Billy a visit in his dressing room. Steiner threatens Billy about not joining his outfit, known as “The Syndicate”, who responds by smacking Steiner in the face. 

Reporting back to his superior, the diabolical Dr. Land (Brigham Young himself, Dean Jagger), Steiner tells of Billy Lo's increasing resistance to their efforts to get him to join them. Suggesting that they "squeeze" him a little more, Steiner and his motorcycle-driving goons attack Billy and his singer girlfriend, Ann (Coleen Camp, who starred the previous year in Death Game). That evening, Billy and Ann have dinner with Jim Marshall (Gig Young, who did some karate chopping of his own in The Shuttered Room), Billy's journalist friend. Jim warns Billy about the Syndicate, and how  rebellious celebrities—or even those in a slump—often find themselves committing suicide against their will. 

 

“You lose, Carl Miller!”


The next day, Billy goes to see his uncle (A Touch of Zen’s Roy Chiao), a famous Peking Opera actor. Their meeting is interrupted by the appearance of the Syndicate, including Karl Miller (Robert Wall, of Enter the Dragon) and Pasqual (Chinese Stuntman’s Dan Inosanto). Billy manages to hold them off, but they eventually best him and leave him a final warning. When he doesn't call back, the Syndicate decides to make an example out of him. 

Billy realizes that there’s no way out and decides to finish his last movie before confronting them head on. He warns Ann to leave Hong Kong and go back to the USA, so she doesn't get caught in the cross-fire. On the set of his last movie (cue stock footage from Fist of Fury), Billy is shot in the face by a Syndicate hitman (Mel Novak, who shows up today in low-budget schlock like Ebola Rex and Samurai Cop 2) dressed as an extra. I find it interesting that this happens to Bruce Lee's character in this film and then his real-life son Brandon Lee was killed essentially the same way on the set of 
The Crow. Coincidence? What do you think? 

In any case, Billy Lo survives and revenge is now on the menu.

The story is nothing new, as we've seen Bruce Lee pushed over the edge before. Bruce Lee in reality only really comes into the movie for the climax. The Billy Lo for the majority of the film is played by Korean actor Kim Tai-Chung[1]. You can tell that they were trying to mask the fact it wasn't the real Little Dragon in most of the scenes. There are a lot camera shots from behind or shots of Kim in a fake beard and huge dark sunglasses. Once in a while, there are scenes of Bruce Lee looking at stuff from his other films spliced in here and there. The worst example of that is when Billy Lo is fighting Carl Miller in a locker room: Billy gets kicked in the head and we cut to Bruce Lee in a restaurant (from Way of the Dragon) getting slapped. The change of scenery is painfully obvious. Even more embarrassing is in the very beginning you can actually see an actual cut-and-paste job where the editors pasted Bruce Lee onto Kim Tai-Chung's form on the filmstock. Admittedly, it fooled me the first two times I saw this film back in middle school. Yeah, it's pretty bad, but wuddiagonnado?

Now the most important part about this film is the fight scenes. There are two choreographers: Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung. Bruce choreographed his own fight scenes, which include the stock footage at the beginning and the three major climatic duels. The first of these three has Bruce taking on Dan Inosanto with nunchaku and a bamboo cane. Inosanto is best known for being the one who taught Lee how to use the nunchaku. The two engage in a wild nunchaku swing-off after Inosanto’s escrima proves to be too rigid. Next, Bruce faces off with hapkido grandmaster Ji Han Jae (Fist of Unicorn) using his usual moves plus a lot of the jujitsu that Bruce Lee had incorporated into his Jeet Kune Do style. Hapkido as a style is known for its elaborate kicking, joint locks and throws. Master Ji mainly demonstrates the throws and grabs associated with his style. Finally, the final duel is between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Standing at seven-foot-two, the basketball legend was also student of Bruce’s and fights with jeet kune do, plus the advantage that his size gives him against a much-smaller opponent. These three fights[2] make up one of the greatest climatic sequences ever filmed. 

 

 

“Rude bitch.”

“One rebel begats another. It's the Billy Lo syndrome.”

“A venereal disease. Often terminal.”

 


As a Golden Harvest production, Raymond Chow had his top action director, Sammo Hung, choreograph the fight sequences for the new footage. Most people who are familiar with Asian cinema will know that Sammo Hung is THE greatest Bruce Lee impersonator in the business, which may come across as a surprise, as he weighs over 200 lbs. This title was earned through his work in
 Enter the Fat Dragon and Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon. Having done this film before either, you can see the beginnings of his talent in that regard. However, he proceeds to make Kim Tai-Chung look quite good. While not as good as Bruce Lee, he kicks great and manages to do the Bruce Lee-isms without going overboard. 

One observation I would like to make about the action is the portrayal of the Billy Lo character. Much like Steven Seagal, Bruce Lee tended to destroy all the bad guys that he fought in his films (setting aside the main villain). I remember my brother complaining that this film didn't make Bruce Lee out to be invincible. I'm glad for it. It's a nice change of pace. In all of the fight scenes, Billy Lo takes a couple of good hits. You know what? Excellent. It makes his character all the more human. 

It is also worth pointing out that this movie uses its talent well, especially Sammo Hung and Robert Wall. Prior to this film, Sammo Hung had a cameo in 
Enter the Dragon as Bruce Lee's opponent at the very beginning. Robert Wall was in both that and Way of the Dragon. In neither of these two movies were those actors given much of a showcase. Bruce Lee destroyed both of them with the greatest of easeThat is remedied here. . The greatest martial arts movies in my opinion are the ones that make the most of the talent involved. Wall is given two major fight scenes (one against Hung and one against Kim Tai-Chung), both of which show us that he actually knows martial arts (you wouldn't have guessed that from his role as O'Hara in Enter the Dragon). Hung also gets to show off some his fighting/acrobatic skills (in addition to his choreography talents) in his fight against Wall. Sure, he's done far better, but it's better than what Enter the Dragon did for him. 

“Get away from me, you bastard!”


Two of the men credited with the stuntwork are Bill Yuen and Mars. Mars was a regular from Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies. Bill Yuen is better known as Yuen Biao, a long-time friend, collaborator, and co-student of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. In addition to the flips and somersaults that Yuen Biao does, he probably also did the two best moves of the movie. The first one is when Billy Lo does a back flip and kicks Robert Wall in the face. The second is the multiple "Chun Li" kicks that he performs in the same fight. That was the first time I ever saw those kicks, although it wouldn't be the last time. Donnie Yen has used those kicks in some of his movies, including the popular 
Iron MonkeyHigh Voltage, and his TV series The Kung Fu Master.  

Now the film's influence extends to even into the 21st century. The yellow jumpsuit that Billy Lo dons during the warehouse fight has become a Bruce Lee trademark. It was used in a few Brucesploitation films, including New Game of Death (1975) and Enter the Game of Death (1978). Pop-singer Jackie Cheung, playing a parody of Jackie Chan, wears it at the climax of the 1995 Jet Li film High Risk. Most famously, Uma Thurman donned the outfit for Quentin Tarantino's epic Kill Bill Vol. 1, which itself has been parodied numerous times, like in the cartoons Family Guy and Billy and Mandy.

In addition to the costume, Jackie Chan's endearingly goofy City Hunter (1993) paid homage to this film. In it, there's a scene where Jackie takes on a pair of seven-foot tall black men in a cruise ship's theatre and ends up taking some hints from Bruce Lee's fight with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which is playing in the background. Michelle Yeoh had a similar David-and-Goliath throwdown in Project S (1993), as did Yuen Biao in 
Don't Give a Damn (1995). Even in recent times, films like Legendary Assassin (2009) can trace their lineage back to this one through their David and Goliath fights.

“Where’s the doctah!!!!????”


In closing, if you want hot Hollywood actors performing movie fighting in front of a green screen, look somewhere else. If you want people flying around on wires looking pretty, this isn't your film. If you want a complex storyline revolving around well-developed characters, watch a Chiense wuxia TV series. If you want to see the best Bruce Lee fights, some good choreography from a young Sammo Hung, some good Bruce Lee impersonating, a young Sammo Hung in action, and an older Robert Wall in action, then this is the film for you. 


[1] - Kim Tai-Chung would continue the Brucesploitation angle throughout his career: he starred in this film’s sequel, Tower of Death (1981); the Korean chopsockey film Bruce and Jackie to the Rescue (1982); and he played the ghost of Bruce Lee in No Retreat, No Surrender (1986).

[2] - The documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey (2000) informs us that there had been two more fights planned. In one, Bruce would have thrown down with Korean hapkido Whang In-Sik. Whang, who fought Bruce in Way of the Dragon, would have played a kicking expert. The second unfilmed fight would have been with the late Taky Kimura, who was going to play a praying mantis stylist. One would assume that Bruce would have used the fights to decry flashy-but-ineffective kicks and the too-rigid traditional stances of Chinese kung fu, respectively.

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