Game of Death II (aka Tower of Death) is a dichotomy of a film. It is a
Bruceploitation film (though it is one of the better ones) and it is an
exiting revenge flick. Raymond Chow had apparently not made enough
money off of the insipid Game of Death and was slowly leaking "newly
found" footage of Bruce so it was bound that he would create another
film with spliced in footage, redubbed dialog and, of course, Bruce's
namesake. A lot of people were using Lee's name to promote their own
productions, but Golden Harvest (who Bruce worked for; though
technically this was a Seasonal production) was the worst of these
offenders.
The first act of the movie is the least interesting and worst part of
the film. Bruce Lee stars (posthumously edited in) as Billy Lo (Bruce
Lee) who visits his friend Chin Ku (Hwang Jang Lee) who is currently
beating up an under-classed challenger. After an reestablishment of
friendship between the two (never a good sign in a Kung Fu film), he
visits an abbot (Roy Chiao revisiting his role from Enter the Dragon so
they can reuse and redub footage) to discuss about his contumacious
brother Bobby Lo (Tong Lung who also starred in Game of Death).
I'm back from another movie but hey! it's something!
Billy Lo's master.
Of course, the scenes that compromise the first act are not only
exploitative of Bruce Lee they are also poorly done. The most obvious
is that the backgrounds do not match between Bruce's footage and the
new footage. Also check out the sculpted back muscles of Bruce and
compare them to his double. It is not even close. The fight scenes with
Bruce (and his double) do not flow well. However, anytime you see a
fight scene and that Bruce (or his double) does a difficult move such
as a flip you will notice that it is the incomparable Yuen Biao (he
even has a small role toward the beginning.) Bruce later visits the
funeral of his friend Chin Ku and he is prevented from examining the
body (this must mean something to the plot.) When the ceremony takes
place a helicopter comes by and snags the coffin. For some strange
reason, well to dispose of the fake Bruce character, he jumps on the
coffin as it is flying away and is hit with a dart and falls to his
death. This is absolutely absurd. Though this is not as bad as the 70s
clothes at the funeral or the tacky real funeral footage of Bruce Lee
that would come next.
Now the movie gets more interesting and less exploitative. Bobby learns
of his brother's death from his father who tells him to meet Sherman
Lan. Sherman tells him to go to the Palace of Death. Now this is an
interesting place. It is owned by Lewis, played by Roy Horan who has
been an executive at Seasonal, an actor who also acted in Snake in the
Eagle's Shadow, a student of Hwang Jang Lee and currently a lecturer at
HK Polytechnic University; obviously his life is more interesting than
this film. Bobby suspects Lewis as the culprit behind his brother's
death. Lewis likes to eat raw meat, is surrounded by lions (who are fed
the fighters that he defeats), Killer Peacocks and a one-armed valet
(oh my). The one-armed assistant, a monk from the Fan Yu temple, does
not seem that he could be of great use to Lewis, but Lewis says that he
is faithful and he has known him for a long time (do not dwell on this
fact because the absurdity of what happens later is quite hilarious). I
really do not trust one-armed people in Hong Kong films unless they are
played by Jimmy Wang Yu.
After Billy Lo's death revenge is the only way.
Flying kick!
Lewis tells Bobby of a tower built by abbot Hung Kuang. However, it
cannot be found above ground. The abbot had it built underground (this
is a nice twist until you see how much they spent on the set design and
how many levels there actually are). Obviously there is going to be a
show down there with Bobby fighting however is behind all of this
madness. I will not give it away (or tell what happens at the Palace of
Death) but it is fairly obvious who it will be.
The final act of the film leads to some good fighting scenes, obviously
with the help of action director Yuen Wo-Ping, as Bobby makes his way
down the tower (try to see how many times Yuen Biao is used as a stunt
double; hint check every other move Bobby makes). Most of the film is
entertaining (not counting the irritating and unnecessary flashbacks).
There is always going to be tackiness involved anytime you invoke Bruce
Lee's inimitable name; but once the movie gets past that it is fun to
watch. In fact it is the best Bruceploitation film out there -- though
that does not necessarily mean that much.
All kinds of fights wil be faced by Bobby Lo.
The signature kick Bruce Lee uses in Way of the Dragon.
Game of Death II trivia:
Bruce Lee had filmed over 30 minutes of fight scenes for the original concept of Game of Death when work was suspended to allow Lee to work on Enter the Dragon. However, Lee died before he could return. Six years later, director Robert Clouse
fleshed out a feature around the original footage with a new cast,
including two stand-ins for Lee. After the success of Game of Death in
Japan(!), there was high demand for a new Bruce Lee movie there. As a result, much of the movie is filmed in and takes place in Japan.
Both the English dubbed and original Chinese versions (not the version
on the Hong Kong Universe DVD) feature music scores from other films.
The English dubbed versions feature a large number of Denny Zeitlin's
music cues from the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers,
while the original Chinese versions features a large number of Les
Baxter's music cues from The Dunwich Horror.
The exploitation genre has always been a cult item cherised by hundreds of thousands around the world, although, it may seem sometimes as an interest reserved for a little community of connoisseurs, things have changed dramatically since the internet hit the streets. What was once reserved to a few lucky collectors it is today's open door to everyone curious enough to explore the genre not only through its most important films but, also through the darkest, rarest lost gems that can not be reached in a store anymore.
Chile is a country well known for a few things. One is the exquisite wine they produce. A wine whose taste french would kill to have. The other element is Augusto Pinochet, the dictator who, aided by the CIA, ruled the country from 1973 up to 1989. Also, the country became known for the spotlight rescue of the 33 miners that were buried alive while mining. Others would say Chile is one of the places you have to visit before you die, due to his generous nature that offers all kinds of environments & climates. Anyways, Chile is a country that has a growing film scene of its own. Among the many films that come out each year, there has been an increasing interest for developing "B type" cinema that mostly remains known within the boundaries of latinamerica. This time, things seem to be getting better for the local scene, as they have produced & internationally released "Tráiganme la Cabeza de la Mujer Metralleta" AKA "Bring me the Head of Machinegun Woman" an exploitation tribute inspired by godlike film makers like Robert Rodríguez (who happens to be latino) & of course Quentin Tarantino.
an Early sketch about the lead roles.
She can even swallow bullets!
Director Ernesto Díaz is familiar with the exploitation genre as he, has already released two films following similar schemes. One being "Kiltro" a 70's martial arts style of film & "Mirageman" a film that is very much like in the line of the unusual blockbuster "Kick-Ass". Unfortunately both films didn't have enough distribution besides some countries in latinamerica. This time, things look brighter for Díaz and his crew as his third film did have an international release date (even before a local release)
"Bring me the Head of Machinegun Woman" is a revenge movie. it comes packed with all the clichés we've seen for ages in hundreds of films of the same genre and it doesn't fail. In fact, it is a well executed film that doesn't look like a failed tribute attempt that inevitably becomes a parody of the genre and a parody of itself.
The storyline is pretty simple, A powerful Chilean gangster (Argentinean in fact but, settled down in Chile) uses everything in his power to stop the
woman that wants to kill him, a sexy mercenary known only by the alias of "machinegun
woman". The staggering sum of cash he offers for her head sets in motion
an army of hitmen. And also, by accident, bursts in the life of a naive
Disc Jockey named Santiago, a regular boy that will have to steel his guts against the
underworld, and above all, survive the irresistible - and bloodthirsty -
Machinegun Woman.
Enter Machinegun Woman, a sex killing beast.
Killer boobs.
In director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza‘s fourth feature film (and first one to not star the martial arts talents of Marko Zaror),
he takes an interesting approach to have his more able character be the
objective of the protagonist instead of the actual protagonist.
Santiago is the DJ for a nightclub of one of the city’s most dangerous
criminals (named Che Longana), and he just so happens to end up going
into the restroom at the most non-opportunistic moment, as Longana and
two of his other criminal cohorts follow behind to spill the beans (no
gross pun intended) to each other about needing to kill Machine Gun
Woman. I guess they figured having this conversation in the men’s room
would mean she wouldn’t be able to hear them if she was nearby. Or maybe
they just don’t give a damn who hears them.
Unfortunately for Santiago, he does hear them talking, and they do
find out he hears them, and he isn’t as good at defending himself as
someone in his predicament should be. He is a convincing enough liar
though (or a pathetically timid enough individual), that the kingpin
gives him the opportunity to find Machine Gun Woman instead of shooting
him on the spot. Good thing for Santiago he plays a lot of video games,
so he knows precisely what to do.
Yes, that's why they call her machinegun!
Che Longana (middle) and his mob.
The film is almost exactly like watching someone else play GTA,
and is probably about as fun as that turns out to be. Everything from
the character introduction fonts (and bounty value of each person
accompanying their name) to the third person view of the vehicles as
they drive is an obvious, and deliberate, attempt to make you feel like
you’re watching Grand Theft Auto on the big screen. In that
sense, the film succeeds, and I can imagine it would play phenomenally
well for a hyper-violent video game audience. It’s direct, it doesn’t
hold back, and it has only about a seventy-minute running time. It’s too
short to be complacent about it being not very exciting, but it’s also
too derivative of too many other movies that have come before it since
Rodriguez’s El Mariachi and adding only the Grand Theft Auto aspect to the mix; and that aspect loses its appeal after the third proposed “mission” for Santiago.
Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman is better as a
concept than a finished product. There are some really fun elements to
it, and the fact that it exists in the same universe as one of
Espinoza’s other pictures lends itself to the promise of it playing into
something much bigger, and potentially more entertaining. Its title
character is someone I would enjoy seeing in another film that gives her
more room to do what she does; however, this film feels too much like a
serviceable distraction of something to watch if your fingers hurt from
stealing too many virtual vehicles for too long. It’s definitely better
than stealing actual vehicles, though.
Fernanda Urrejola's assets.
The Upside: Super fast runtime, good title character
to work with for future projects, and the fact that it doesn’t ever
abandon its visual themes will work well with the right niche audience.
The Downside: Too slight of a movie to feel the need to revisit and, if you are not on board with the Grand Theft Auto element ,it will start to feel tiresome.
On the Side: There is a referential cameo by one of
Marko Zaror’s prior heroes that director Diaz Espinoza plan to play with
in another project with Machine Gun Woman. The promise of that is worth
this less than desirable introductory picture.
Willing to even fight kids to death!
I like to go both ways!
The lead role is easily played by Fernanda Urrejola who happens to be a sitcom actress so this is her debut on the big screen. She has an awesome body with captivating beauty that makes us believe she is truly a femme fatale. The rest of the cast play their part too. Che Longana (It may be translated as Che Sausage) is played by argentinean comedian actor Jorge Alis. his part is very well executed as we're lead to believe he's a cheap mob wannabe. Matías Oviedo plays the DJ role and his idiot face does resemble the character he portrays, although at times it seems as he's overacting the role, it is ok as this is an exploitation film. The rest of the cast play mostly secondary characters that don't have enough on screen time as to make them deeper relevant characters.
Ernesto Diaz stated in several interviews that he was fond of Robert Rodríguez and Quentin Tarantino movies, specially Tarantino whose "Pulp Fiction" inspired him to become a film maker in the first place. So, obviously the film feautures the usual homage scenes to his mentors. Also Fernanda Urrejola(the lead role) has stated that she wants the movie to set a new standard in local film making, as to finally make room for a whole new set of "Latinxploitation" films.
Oops! he's dead.
Overall, a good entertainment movie that, like any of its kind, will not need 100% of your attention for full understanding and/or enjoyment. I'm sure it will not be so easy to find it outside latinamerica on DVD/Blu Ray disc but, it may be running online somewhere on a movie site or even at an actual movie theater somewhere. I dare to say the film has it similarities with "Hellride" another tribute film from a couple of years ago which featured a chilena actress.
Here's the cool movie trailer:
and as a bonus an interview (sorry, Spanish only) with the director and cast discussing the film just after its premiere in Chile:
Although
it may seem dated and cheesy to some viewers today Saturday Night Fever
remains one of the most underrated examples of '70s pop-culture. It is
undoubtedly the quintessential dance flick and remains one of the most
entertaining films of all-time. Yet, behind all the music and
entertaining aura you are actually viewing a drama studying the American
class system and young rebellion. Though at times it is slightly
exaggerated, it still manages to capture a vast amount of authenticity
and ultimately the sights and sounds of the time.
Saturday Night
Fever follows self-proclaimed "dance king" Tony Manero (John Travolta)
and his love of dancing and the trials and tribulations of his life in
the Bronx. He soon meets an arrogant fellow dancer named Stephanie
Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney). Quickly becoming attracted and influenced
by the women he starts questioning the way he lives his life.
The
film is not always upbeat and at times can be depressing, particularly
the scenes depicting peer-pressure. Although both have their
differences, both are very alike and ultimately want to be something
"big". There are also the elements of jealously, rivalry, religion,
rebellion, respect and racism added into the film. This captures the
realism of the time and with more accuracy and honesty than a lot of
films. Just take a look at the brief scene where Tony is on the tube,
this is an oddly poignant, effecting and compelling scene presenting
Tony's confused emotions.
Meet Tony Manero's gang.
Saturday Night Fever still carries the
vibe, rhythm and atmosphere it did back in '77. It remains one of the
most influential films for both the film-world and pop-culture.
Infamously holding some of the greatest dance sequences ever committed
film; you can feel the energy, emotions, time and determination that
were spent perfecting the dance scenes to the finest detail. The
lighting is perfect at creating the "disco world", the set-piece of the
2001 Disco is one of the film's many iconic highlights.
John
Travolta dedicates himself to his dancing and character, fitting the
role with a graceful ease. The film goes into depth at studying
characters too, it shows how desperate everyone is to fit in and be able
to make an impressive image. The fantastic shots on character's feet
show the "strut" in their walk, representing their desire to maintain
their reputation of being "cool". All the characters want to be
something, while a lot of them will never add up to anything due to
their working-class backgrounds. There are a fair amount of American
social-comments scattered throughout the film and retaining a surprising
amount of intelligent value.
The gloriously groovy and funky
soundtrack is possibly the film's finest element. The music accompanies
the dance sequences with an amazing amount of memorably robust imagery.
The use of The Bee Gees' music is wonderful to listen to and also for
helping to create an ambiguous atmosphere of love, drugs and sex. The
shooting techniques in the disco are magnificent for filming the dance
scenes and fit perfectly alongside the other technical elements.
You should be dancing too!
Saturday
Night Fever is a far more professional film than one might expect, it
has intelligence as well as entertainment, which is something that makes
a more than just admirable achievement. It is a truly remarkable
triumph and a film that deserves more appreciation than it gets.
42 facts you probably didn't know about the making of Saturday Night Fever.
1. John Travolta's sister Ann Travolta appears as the pizza lady, and his mother Helen Travolta appears as the woman for whom he gets the paint.
2. Norman Wexler's screenplay was adapted from the "non-fiction" magazine article written by Nik Cohn.
Years later, Cohn admitted that the story, supposedly a fact-based
account detailing the lives of Brooklyn teenagers in the early days of
the disco craze, was a complete fabrication.
3. Filming was frequently halted on the streets of New York City because teenage girl fans of John Travolta would scream when they saw him due to his popularity from the ABC show Welcome Back, Kotter.
4. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, "maneiro" is a widely-used word,
meaning "cool", taken from the character name, Tony Manero.
5. One piece of music from the soundtrack, "Manhattan Skyline" by David Shire
became very popular as background instrumental music. It was been
played in movie trailers, promotional films and commercials. It's the
piece that Stephanie is dancing to when Tony invites her to coffee.
What can I do for you ma'am?
6. Some VHS releases of this movie had the songs "Dr. Disco", "Disco Duck",
and "K-Jee" replaced with a generic disco song due to royalty disputes.
7. Fran Drescher confessed later she was not wearing underwear when she did her scene with Tony just before his big solo dance.
8. More than 40% of the cast made their feature debuts in this film including, Joseph Cali, Shelly Batt, Denny Dillon, Fran Drescher, Donald Gantry, Adrienne King, Ellen March, Bruce Ornstein, Paul Pape, Lisa Peluso, Donna Pescow, Ann Travolta and mother Helen Travolta (her only feature cameo).
9. Allan Carr designed the ad campaign for the film. It was so successful, that producer Robert Stigwood asked Carr to help him produce his next film, Grease.
10. The film was rated R when it was released in late 1977. The studio was
so eager to attract more young people to the film because they were
buying the soundtrack album, that the film was cut by a few minutes and
the shorter version was given a PG rating. The PG version was released
in 1978. Both versions were released on VHS but only the R rated version
was released on DVD.
Troubled family.
11. An unedited version of "How Deep is Your Love" remains in the vaults. It
is featured when Tony walks aimlessly to the subway, and is riding over
to Stephanie's.
12. Jessica Lange, Kathleen Quinlan and Carrie Fisher were all considered for the role of Stephanie Mangano, Amy Irving was one of the finalists for the role.
13. John Travolta
originally wanted his disco suit to be black, until it was pointed out
that in the darkened disco, his co-star's red dress would make her
easier to see than him.
14. In Tony (John Travolta)'s bedroom there's a poster for Rocky, a film directed by John G. Avildsen. The sequel to this film, Staying Alive, was written and directed by the star of "Rocky", Sylvester Stallone. In fact, Avildsen was the original director of this film but was fired by producer Robert Stigwood shortly before principal photography began due to "creative differences". John Badham was approached to fill in at the last minute. Tony also has a poster for Serpico
on his wall. Avildsen was originally considered to direct that film as
well, but left the project due to "creative differences."
15. The only scene that does not feature John Travolta's feet is the one where he's comparing his shoe to the shoe in the store window.
Greedy little girl.
16. The white polyester suit worn by John Travolta sold at auction for $145,000 and purchased by movie critic Gene Siskel.
17. John Travolta ran two miles a day and danced for three hours daily to get in shape for this film. In the end, he dropped 20 pounds.
18. Production had to be briefly halted so that John Travolta could attend the funeral of his girlfriend Diana Hyland.
19. Bobby's car is a 1964 Chevy Impala hardtop. While director John Badham
insisted on the Impala as Bobby's car, he was later told by
Brooklynites that they would only drive an old Cadillac - and never an
Impala. Each Impala (there were two used) was purchased by the film
company for $1200. The Impala hardtop (with no post) is difficult to
find today and will cost quite a bit more than the $1200 it did in 1977.
20. The soundtrack album sold over 20 million copies, and it was the top selling album in history until it was topped by Michael Jackson's Thriller six years later.
21. John Travolta had
worked hard on the "You Should Be Dancing" sequence and threatened to
quit the film when the studio suggested it should be shot in close up
instead of full-body.
Annete's madly in love with Tony.
22. When they shot the first bridge scene, director John Badham kept secret from Donna Pescow
the fact that when 'the guys "fell off" the bridge they actually landed
on a platform a few feet below. Badham and the other actors didn't tell
her about the platform because they wanted a genuine look of horror and
anger on Annette's face when Tony, Double-J and Joey appeared to fall
off. Therefore Donna's reaction to them falling, and her facial
expressions turning from horror and shock to outright anger, were real,
and her next line, "YOU FUCKERS!", was not scripted.
23. When Tony's dad hit him in the back of the head the third time during
dinner, his retort of "Just watch the hair!" and then his complaint
about being hit on the hair after he had worked on it for so long was John Travolta's own reaction and not scripted, but since it was so in character for Tony Manero to say, it was left in.
24. The scene where Fran Drescher puts her hand on John Travolta's butt was not in the original script. Travolta and director John Badham thought that it would be something that a woman like Connie (Drescher's character) would do, however, so it was kept in.
25. After being shortened from "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" (the
title of the New York Magazine article that inspired it), the working
title of the film was "Saturday Night". When The Bee Gees added a song to the soundtrack called "Night Fever", the word "Fever" was added to the film title. This is the second time a John Travolta project had the title altered due to a song (see trivia for Welcome Back, Kotter).
26. This was one of the very first films to utilize the Steadicam, a camera-stabilizing device invented by Garrett Brown (who would win a 1978 Oscar for his invention).
27. Five additional instrumental cues by David Shire
were recorded for the film: "Barracuda Hangout", "Tony and Stephanie",
"Near the Brooklyn Bridge", "Death on the Bridge", and "All Night
Train". However, only one was credited, and all remained unreleased.
Poor Annette!
28. Originally, director John Badham
filmed the dance rehearsal sequence with Tony and Annette's characters
playing music in the background at the same time with the action and
dialogue; a form of production conduct not usually done. The song was
"Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs. However, after filming the scene, John Badham got word from Scaggs' people they did not want the song in the picture, and so the sequence was dubbed, with John Travolta and Donna Pescow recording their lines in a vocal booth, and in the end composer David Shire
orchestrated an instrumental piece for the sequence; ultimately the
song (the title still unknown to this day) was picked up by the National
Football Leagues, and used to open and close the Monday Night Football
program for over 20 years.
29. Two additional songs for the film ended up not being used. One was The Bee Gees singing their self-penned version of "If I Can't Have You", and Samantha Sang's
"Emotion" (which was recorded by Destiny's Child in 2001 - the song was
played on radio playlists after the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks).
30. The movie was originally called "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday
Night," the title of the New York Magazine article that inspired it. The
film's title was ultimately shortened to "Saturday Night," as a direct
reference to the fact that Tony (John Travolta) and his buddies inhabited 2001 Odyssey on Saturday nights. However, when The Bee Gees
submitted the soundtrack, one of the songs, "Night Fever", was thought
to embody the film's spirit better than the original. Director John Badham added the word "Saturday" and it replaced the original title.
You're too poor for me Tony, I can't give you a blowjob.
You can't afford this hairy pussy Tony.
31. The elevated subway line shown in the film, the West End line, is the same one used in the famous chase sequence in Contra el imperio de la droga.
32. Film critic Gene Siskel often referred to this as his favorite film. He saw it 17 times and at one time owned the famous "white suit".
33. This was the first mainstream Hollywood movie in which the term "blow job" was used.
34. Fran Drescher's film debut.
35. Independent film director Lloyd Kaufman nearly dropped out of the film as a production assistant when longtime friend and associate John G. Avildsen left the project.
36. The line "Can you dig it? I knew that you could," spoken at various
times by Tony and his friends was originated by Billy Crystal on a 1975
episode of Saturday Night Live and became a national catchphrase.
37. Filming was almost interrupted when a local mafia group tried to extort
protection from the crew. In fact, the nightclub where the film was shot
was hit with a small firebomb.
38. A group of Hasidic Jews, who were against the crew filming in their
neighborhood, tried to disrupt filming and even tried to turn over one
of the cars used in the production.
Tony finds the awful truth about life.
39. Ray Liotta and David Caruso auditioned for the role of Joey.
40. The lighted wall and lighted floor at Odyssey 2001 were not actually at
the disco, but added in for the film. The "blinking light" effect on the
wall was created by covering the wall in tin foil and reflecting
blinking Christmas tree lights off of it.
41. Director John Badham
claims in the DVD commentary that for performing product placement of a
Trojan condom in one scene of the movie, he was given a lifetime supply -
and that he "donated" them all to someone else.
42. According to the DVD commentary, John Travolta
used two suits in the climax of the film, he had to switch suits
between takes because one would become heavily soaked with sweat and had
to be dried while he was wearing the other one for subsequent takes.
Overall, a great film that depicts the many aspects of human failure and how we, the regular people find ways to escape from our troubled lifes. I so recommend it to everyone but, be warned this isn't just a dance movie, it is the bitter testimony of dreamers that don't make it.
Here's the cool movie trailer and, I'd like to dedicate this review to my wife who loves this film as much as I love her:
The Game of Death is a 1972 film starring late martial arts legend Bruce Lee. It was almost the film Bruce Lee had planned to be the demonstration piece of his martial art Jeet Kune Do. Over 100 minutes of footage was shot prior to his death, some of which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives.
The remaining footage has been released with Bruce Lee's original
English and Cantonese dialogue, with John Little dubbing Bruce Lee's Hai Tien character as part of the documentary entitled Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
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 already made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death.
After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse
was enlisted to direct additional scenes featuring two stand-ins which,
when pieced together with the original footage as well as other footage
from earlier in Lee's career, would form a new film (also entitled Game of Death) which was released in 1978, five years after his death, by Golden Harvest.
Originally Hai Tien, later Billy Lo.
The movie we won't see: Original "Game of Death" plot
The original plot involves Lee playing the role of Hai Tien, a
retired champion martial artist who was confronted by the Korean
underworld gangs. They tell him the story of a pagoda
where guns are prohibited, and under heavy guard by highly skilled
martial artists who are protecting something (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 whose purpose is to retrieve said
item. They would be the second group to try to do so as the first
attempt with a previous group had failed. When Hai refuses, his younger
sister and brother are kidnapped, forcing him to participate. Hai, as
well as four other martial artists (two of which were played by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), then fight their way up a five-level pagoda, encountering a different challenge on each floor.
Immediately after defeating all of his oponents, 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 will affect Hai or his captive siblings...
Colleen Camp plays Lee's girlfriend. Boobs!
This is not Bruce Lee.
13 Production secrets revealed!
1. Bruce Lee had filmed over 30 minutes of fight scenes for this film when work was suspended to allow Lee to work on Operación dragón. However, Lee died before he could return. Six years later, director Robert Clouse
fleshed out a feature around the original footage with a new cast,
including two stand-ins for Lee, whose faces are hidden by dark sunglasses
and shadows (the trick doesn't really work that well but, it's something). Close-ups and stills of Lee's face (including a cardboard
cut-out!) were also used.
2. Dan Inosanto was the only cast member of the original 1972 footage shot by Bruce Lee to shoot scenes for the 1978 version of the film. The rest of the actors (James Tien, Han Jae Ji, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) only feature in archive footage. This footage can be seen in its entirety in Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. However, if Lee's "brothers" footage was included we could have enjoyed of longer fight sequences at the pagoda. The reason why this didn't happen is beyond me, I mean this is the final Bruce Lee film! why would you waste some scenes just because you decided to get rid of a couple of characters?
3. George Lazenby was originally meant to be in this film and was due to meet Bruce Lee on July 20 1973, the day Lee died. For other reasons, Lazenby was not involved in the final project as directed by Robert Clouse.
4. Chuck Norris was considered for the role of Steiner, but turned it down maybe, because he didn't want to play the bad guy again, or just because he didn't want to get his ass kicked (again) by Bruce Lee.
5. Chuck Norris
threatened legal action against Golden Harvest for giving him screen
credit for this film. Norris' appearance in the film is archive footage
from Way of the Dragon.
Deleted Lee's partners from the original film archives.
David & Goliath.
6. In the film, Bruce Lee's character fakes his own death; the funeral scene includes real footage of Lee's actual funeral.
7. 'Bruce Li' (Ho-Chung Tao) was offered the role as 'Bruce Lee's'
stand-in, but declined because he said it was disrespectful to Lee, as
it was his movie.
8. Sammo Hung almost didn't appear in the movie; after being asked
personally by Bruce Lee to be part of the film, Hung waited for eight
months without follow-up and eventually went to film projects in Korea
and Thailand, only flying back to the set in China when promised that it
would only take a couple days to film his part.
9. The inspiration for progressively ascending a pagoda tower to fight
opponents was originally featured in Chang Cheh's swordplay epic 'Bao
Biao (1969)' aka 'Have Sword Will Travel' written by resident Shaw
Brother screenwriter Kuang Ni.
10. Director Robert Clouse wrote the script under the pseudonym Jan Spears.
11.Robert Wall, who appears in the final version of "Game of Death", had also been slated to appear in the early 1970s version as intended by Bruce Lee.
12. In this movie, Bruce Lee's
character is shot with a prop gun that was secretly made to fire a real
bullet and kill him. Lee's son, Brandon, was killed on the set of The Crow, when a prop pistol accidentally shot him in the abdomen. Coincidence?
13. Hapkido Master Ji Han Jae, who plays the second guardian 'Bruce Lee'
battles in the Pagoda/Restaraunt, gets no screen credit in the 1978
version of the film. A strange omission considering his substantial role
in the original shoot.
The greatest nunchuck master of all times.
The movie we can see: Game of Death 1978's Robert Clouse cut
Completely
different to Bruce's original vision, the 1978 version is hugely
controversial. To some, it's a shameless cash-in and insult, to others
it's a curiosity. To me personally, it's a guilty pleasure. Obviously,
with such limited footage of Bruce Lee to use, the film was always going
to suffer. Not only that, but how do you incorporate the footage into a
film and give it context? The stand-in's that are used to fill the time
leading up to the Lee footage are never going to fool anyone. Even as a
kid, I could tell it is someone else. The techniques used to have Bruce
Lee on screen range from awful (superimposed heads) to tasteless (his
real funeral) to fairly good (quick cuts from old footage). The
disguises that Billy Lo and Bruce's doubles wear throughout the film are
hokey but nothing that we haven't seen in Lee's films before (Fist of
Fury), so that didn't bother me too much.
Corporate bad guys.
Despite some awful
dubbing and a poor script, 'Game of Death' is still watchable for it's
action. Fight choreographer Sammo Hung makes the non-Lee fight scenes
entertaining even if the doubles don't match Bruce Lee's speed or
technique. However, they do capture some traits of Lee's fights
including the slow motion finishing move. Also, the film's budget allows
for a number of locations ensuring that Billy's quest for revenge keeps
moving. In this regard, the Hollywood frills that are added give the
film a degree of watchability, especially the classy score which appears
throughout and heightens the final scenes.
But of course, the
main point of watching 'Game of Death' is to see Bruce in action.
Although criticised for cutting down the "pagoda sequence", I think it
still contains enough to satisfy. You have to remember that this
original footage included two companions of Lee's who don't feature in
the 1978 film, meaning a lot had to be left out. The nunchuk duel is
unique while the fight with Kareem Abdul Jabbar is bizarre but
thrilling.
Another wonderful but deleted scene from the final edition.
Finish him!
There are some moments of bad taste, but on the whole
the film is a cheesy and quite fun attempt to build up to the final 20
minutes. Whether you think this was a cash-in or a tribute, you still
need to see it in order to understand the 'Game of Death' phenomenon.
Overall, a tribute or failed tribute movie that wanted us to stare at the magnificence of a real martial arts artist. I know there are hundreds of questions this film will let unanswered forever, for instance why didn't the director & producers use Bruce Lee's original script? don't tell me they couldn't afford secondary characters! or why did the use real scenes from Bruce Lee's funeral to cover the idea of Billy Lo faking his death? isn't that a bit morbid? Why did Lee's brothers have to dissapear? you cut original Bruce Lee scenes in half by doing so!!! you morons!!!
I rate the film 5/10 only because we have Bruce Lee's last fighting sequences ever filmed. The plot is full of holes & most of the film is a neverending wait for the rea deal. You've been warned!
