- English name：Game of Death
- Broadcast time：March 23, 1978
- Starring：李小龙（Bruce Lee）、唐龙、吉格·杨（Gig Young）、Dean Jagger、Colleen Camp、Hugh Charles Krampe、洪金宝（Sammo Hung Kam-Bo）、田俊
- director：李小龙（Bruce Lee）、Robert Clouse、洪金宝（Sammo Hung Kam-Bo）
Introduction
Today, we are going to talk about a 1978 film,the DVD Released version is in 2001,named Game of Death(死亡游戏sǐwáng yóuxì). Bruce Lee (李小龙Lǐ Xiǎolóng) originally intended Game of Death to be a more philosophical treatment of martial arts. He started working on the film in 1972, after completing Way of the Dragon. Reportedly he shot about 90 minutes of footage (连续镜头liánxù jìngtóu) for the end of the film (of which 23 minutes can be used today). He never wrote a screenplay(剧本jùběn) for it.
He envisioned a pagoda set on an island off the coast of Korea, with each level guarded by a different martial arts stylist. Three challengers – Bruce’s character (Jeet Kune Do), Chieh Yuan (traditional Kung Fu) and James Tien – fight their way to the top of the pagoda and ultimate victory. The footage he shot only covers the upper 3 levels, guarded by Dan Inosanoto (Escrima), Chi Hon Tsoi (Hapkido) and Kareem Abdul Jabbar respectively. There is a sign at Dan Inosanto’s floor which reads “Fu Deen” (Tiger Palace) and one at Chi Hon Tsoi’s which reads “Lung Deen” (Dragon Palace).
Bruce Lee died after shooting only a few scenes of his ambitious Game of Death, but that didn’t stop greedy producers from finishing and releasing “Lee’s last film,” even if he’s doubled for most of it. Lee planned an ambitious expression of his fighting philosophy, and his story culminates in the rigorous challenge of the “Game of Death,” in which combatants take on successively greater and greater masters as they fight their way to the top of a tower.
Only a few fight scenes were completed, and the released film is about a martial arts movie star who takes on a syndicate of drug dealers. Lee faces down the towering Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in an impressive battle, one of the only surviving scenes from Lee’s original shoot, while outtakes from his battle with Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon are used along with real-life footage from Lee’s funeral.
The rest of the film is a mishmash of car chases and clumsily edited fights, complete with awkward inserts of Lee’s face. His double remains hidden behind a pair of dark glasses or a motorcycle helmet throughout, and he abruptly changes into a yellow jumpsuit for no reason other than to match Lee’s costume in the final scene.
Plot
Kung Fu star Ruby Lee (Bruce Lee) encountered a strange accident on the set of a movie, but fortunately he was not injured. It turned out that he was appreciated by the gang leader Dr. Lam. Lam tried to threaten and win over Lu to join his gang many times, and even threatened his girlfriend, but Lu vowed not to go along with the gang.
Soon, the killers attacked one after another. Lu was planning to take his girlfriend Li out for a temporary shelter, but it was difficult to prevent the hidden arrows. During a movie shooting, Lu was seriously injured by the gunman Stace, so Lu pretended to die and began to plan to destroy Dr. Lam during the treatment.
Lan and his gang went to Macau to manipulate gambling for profit. Lu disguised himself and sneaked into Lan’s apartment to injure Lan and several thugs. Lan began to doubt Lu’s “death”. Then, Macau held the World Karate Competition, and Lan sent a master to compete. During the competition, Lu’s girlfriend rushed to the stadium and wanted to assassinate Lan to avenge Lu, but Lu immediately stopped her.
After the game, Lu sneaked into the players’ locker room and defeated Lan’s karate champion. Lan sent people to investigate Lu’s grave and finally learned that Lu was not dead. Furious, Lan kidnapped Li and ordered Lu to go to a cargo hold at 1 a.m. Lu fought with the gangsters with his superb skills and finally defeated them one by one.
Lu rushed to Lan’s criminal organization overnight and decided to catch them all. Unexpectedly, three masters were ambushed in the building. In order to expand the fighting scene, Bruce Lee invited Elisandro from the Philippines and Korean masters who were famous for their wrestling tricks with his status in the international martial arts world. Bruce Lee also specially invited Kalim Yabu Djordjebal from the United States to Hong Kong. Jebal is a star player of the American professional basketball team with a height of 220 cm. He is well-known and is also one of Bruce Lee’s apprentices.
Lu’s competition with the Filipino master on the first floor with nunchakus is the essence of the whole play. Li and Elisandro use the same equipment, different fighting methods, and high-level stick techniques. After several hard battles, Lu dazzled the audience, overcame all obstacles, and approached layer by layer, and finally completely crushed Dr. Lan’s criminal gang.
